Guild Info

          Quilt guilds and groups are the backbone of quilting, here in British Columbia and throughout the world wherever there are quilters. Guilds are responsible for almost all new developments in quilting, through organizing individuals, especially newcomers, teaching, challenges, projects, retreats, conferences, shows and community involvement.

Guilds and groups are vital to us, also.

          We consider them, not just as readers and subscribers, but as partners in our efforts to bring B.C. quilters together. Almost every one of our subscribers belongs to a guild or group. In fact almost all our subscribers first learned of Connections FOR QUILTERS through their guild. That continues to be true today. It will continue as long as guilds still announce the arrival of each new issue and as long as our newsletter is available in guild libraries.

          We now mail to more than 200 guilds in B.C. We think that is about half.

How we can help...
          Our Events Calendar is probably most important to guilds and groups. We list events as far ahead as possible, to help with your planning.
          This is critical to avoid serious conflicts in bookings. As an example, the Kelowna Orchard Valley QG was able to avoid a problem by changing its 2005 quilt show dates after checking our Events Calendar. Using the calendar organizers found their choice of May 13 to 15 was already booked by the Fraser Valley QG. With enough advance warning the OVQG chose May 27 to 29 instead.
          We use Events Calendar information to publicize events in other ways, too, including items in Scrap Bag and Guild News.
          Finally, we can help guilds promote their events through creative advertising strategies, including inserts.

How you can help...
          If you have an event planned, make sure we have it listed, and please check to make sure the information is correct. If it isn’t, contact us immediately.
          If you don’t receive Connections FOR QUILTERS, please contact us. When you contact other guilds, check to see if they receive our newsletter, too, and contact us if they don’t, plus… ask them to contact us.
          Finally, send us your newsletters. They are our very best source of information and provide us direct contacts for follow-ups. If you don’t have a newsletter, we will always welcome a letter or an email about your activities.

• • •

          Please help us build this network of British Columbia quilters even stronger.
          Remember guild or group size doesn’t matter—our smallest has only three members while our largest has more than 500. Remember, too, we also welcome any criticisms or suggestions you may have for us. If we all try our best this 
newsletter can truly be like a letter from home.