On With the Show!

This weekend, I had the opportunity (again) to experience a show from the hosting guild's perspective. Presenting a show gives you great appreciation for all the effort that goes into preparing, producing, and executing a (usually) weekend long quilting party. Just before your guests arrive, you get anxious, and wonder what in the world you were thinking. By the time your guests arrive, you are happy, and when it is over, you are pooped, and vow to be so much better prepared if you ever do this craziness again. The twist with a quilt show it that it is usually a new cast of characters at the helm, and they may or may not have had the experiences you did.

A show is a wonderful gift to both your members and the quilting community at large. It offers:

1. a chance to share with a wider circle of people the talents of your guild members;
2. a chance for the guild to gain new members;
3. a chance to introduce new quilters to quilting or change a person's idea of what a quilt is or is not;
4. a chance to meet other quilters from nearby areas and guilds;
   
5. a chance for the ever-shrinking group of vendors to find new customers and stay afloat in a difficult economy; and
   
6. a chance to offer speakers, or classes that attendees might not otherwise have a chance to see.

A show can be fun....for the people not involved with producing it. However, based on the comments, smiling faces, and bags I saw at the Urban Inspirations show put on by Empire Quilters Guild, it was worth it.