I implore you to join a local guild or society

Before I get to the point, let me begin with a long, rambling, only adjacently connected introductory anecdote.

I saw a clip from an interview with Margaret Atwood the other day, and the interviewer mentioned that Margaret Atwood reads palms, and asked her to read his palms. She was like “what, here in front of every body?” and then went on to look at his hands and say several things including “you have an untapped artistic talent of, excuse me, a minor kind”. I (correctly) took this as her saying he had a minor talent, but someone in the comments asked what she meant and another person replied something like “I think she means he could do some kind of minor art, like quilting.”

EXCUSE ME??????

If you think quilting is “a minor art” you CLEARLY have not been to a quilt guild meeting and seen what these bitches are getting up to!!!!!!! Don’t piss me off!!! The last item of business at quilt guild meetings is a show and tell time and pals, it’s art. Please enjoy this small selection of quilts I’ve seen at shows to illustrate my point:

As much as I would enjoy flying off the handle about the classification of textile art which is traditionally considered “women’s work” as a lesser form of art than other, traditionally male-dominated, forms of art, that is not what we are here to discuss today. Today I am going to tell you that you need to join a local guild/society/club asap, do not pass go, do not collect $200, etc.

Currently I’m a member of two guilds (calling them all guilds rather than continuing to type guilds/societies/clubs for the sake of my mental health), one for quilting and one for orchid growing. I used to be on the board of the orchid society but the fact of the matter is that I have a toddler in daycare and fall ill so often that I was not being a properly contributing member of the team. Maybe I’ll get back on the horse when she’s older, maybe I’ll join a committee in the quilt guild, maybe I’ll add another guild to the roster, only time will tell*.

The advantages of being in a guild include, but are not limited to: making new pals, learning from people with more experience than you, sharing resources, getting inspiration and ideas, contributing to local cultural events, and building community. The disadvantages include, I don’t know, I have to drive across the city to a guild meeting once a month I guess?

I promise you, if you have essentially any interest and you live in at least a medium sized city, there IS a guild you can join and you will be glad you did. Like I said, I’m in guilds focused on quilting and growing orchids. I have my eye on membership in a few other guilds, including ones focused on rug-hooking, weaving, miniatures, needlecraft, another quilt guild, and the list goes on. Those are the ones I’ve found because those are some of the things I’m interested in and realistically have time/space for. There’s also, of course, a model train guild, and my neighbour is in a blacksmith guild, and I chatted with someone in the woodturner’s guild, and again, the list goes on.

Specifically with my specific quilt guild, every year they offer a $500 grant to members to learn a new skill and last year I applied and got it and that allowed me to learn to use a long-arm quilting machine**. I still have enough grant money left to rent time for another, much larger quilt! Getting the grant DOES mean I have to do a presentation at the guild but guess what, I love talking about quilting so that’s fine! Being in a guild has improved my life!

How do you find a guild? You are literally reading this on the internet right now, open a search engine and put in “[your city] [your interest] guild -ai”***, or add “reddit” to that search, or go to Reddit and look for r/where you live, and do a search on the board for local guilds. you could also search on fbook but honestly I don’t know how good the search engine is on there? Joining a guild will expand your knowledge and skills and social circle and will ALSO contribute to keeping whatever your interest is alive and active in your local community! JOIN A GUILD.

If you aren’t convinced yet, keep in mind that it’s likely the people in your guild (especially if it’s focused on quilting) will say things like “I’m so glad you joined, we need some young people” and truly where else are you going to hear that at 37 years of age? Ok that’s all, join a guild today, do it OR ELSE.

* Sometimes being on the board is one of those “everyone wants to live in community but no one wants to wash the dishes” things and you Simply Gotta Do It, but you ALSO need to be realistic about your own capacity. It’s all about balance, baybeee^

^ Pals between the time of writing and now, I got an email from the quilt guild about do I want to join the board and…….I’m going to do it. It’s a less demanding role than I had at the orchid society!

** A long arm is a gigantic, powerful sewing machine, and you can rent time on one at many quilt shops, or you can buy a basic one for ~$30,000.

*** If nothing comes up for guild, try society, if nothing comes up for society, try club, try “club” last because the search will probably bring up a bunch of night clubs which is fantastic if you’re looking for a night club, but less useful if you want a quilt club.