Auckland Quilt Guild is based at Freemans Bay Community Centre, 52 Hepburn St, Ponsonby, Auckland, where we hold our meetings.
The doors open at 10am on the first Saturday of the month (including public holidays), except for January and November. The meeting itself usually gets underway around 12.30pm. The couple of hours prior to the actual meeting is spent catching up with fellow quilters, browsing the extensive library and choosing books to take home for the next month, indulging in some quilting retail therapy from the guest merchant, helping out with the community quilts or purchasing coffee and delicious morning tea or lunch from our caterers.
Situated at the entrance of our venue is the Greeting Table, where you will be welcomed and shown the members book to sign. If you are not a member, a book for national or international visitors/guests is also here. If you are a visitor, please make yourself known at the greeting table or to one of our hostesses. The ladies at the greeting table will also sell tickets for the raffle which is kindly sponsored by the merchant of the month.
You will also see a roster sheet; it is much appreciated if you can spare a little time to help at the next meeting; choose what you would be willing to help with by printing your name in the time slot. i.e. Greet, Hostess, sell raffle tickets. At each meeting we have two members who kindly volunteer to act as Hostesses; you can’t miss them, they are the ones with the bright yellow sashes! They are on hand to give a guided tour and will cheerfully answer any questions about guild day. At 12.30pm our formal meeting takes place. Here we attend to Guild business, present Community Quilts to their recipients, draw the merchant raffle and Block of the Month winners, listen to the Guest Speaker and enjoy Show and Tell.
At each meeting we have two members who kindly volunteer to act as Hostesses; you can’t miss them, they are the ones with the bright yellow sashes! They are on hand to give a guided tour and will cheerfully answer any questions about guild day.
At 12.30pm our formal meeting takes place. Here we attend to Guild business, present Community Quilts to their recipients, draw the merchant raffle and Block of the Month winners, listen to the Guest Speaker and finally enjoy Show and Tell.
If you have a suggestion for a meeting speaker, please contact the Speaker Coordinator.
Scrumptious lunch is on sale at every guild day meeting – sandwiches, cake, slices, muffins and biscuits with tea and coffee available in the kitchen.
Members’ quilts are on show reflecting our chosen monthly theme. While you are at Guild, take advantage of our fantastic Library where you can borrow books, magazines and other equipment.
Or visit and help out at our Community Quilts table
Suitcase Sales
Members can book a table in the foyer to hold their own ‘suitcase sale’ at a Guild meeting where you can sell off surplus fabric, books patterns etc.
To book a table contact the Meeting Coordinator to make a reservation. There is only room for one suitcase sale at a time, but you can share your table with a friend. It’s over to you to set prices for your goods and bring some change. This is a wonderful way to have a clear out and make room for more purchases.
Merchant Sales
As you enter the main hall you will see a merchant’s sales table; each of the local quilt shops is given the opportunity to be rostered to set up shop at a meeting, where they sell a selection of their range of fabrics, threads, patterns and books. In return for their space, they donate a prize for a raffle drawn later in the day. Don’t forget to be in to win.
Block of the Month
You will also see a Block of the Month table, where for a small sum you purchase a block pattern and basic instructions, complete the block by the following month, and enter a draw as you return it.
Patterns for the Block of the Month are 20 cents per page; as you buy your copy, record your name in the book. Blocks returned the next month are displayed on the back-cloth behind the BOM table. Each completed block that is brought back entitles the maker to one entry into the draw; if there enough blocks, two or more draws may be made. If you’re the lucky winner, you take the lot and are well on the way to a quilt top.
Show and Tell
One of the most popular parts of our monthly meetings is Show and Tell. We all love to admire and be inspired by others’ work, so bring along your finished or unfinished quilt; we will hang it at the meeting and you can tell us about it. If you are shy and don’t like speaking to a big group, write a few words and pin to the quilt. We often have a theme for the month, and that’s a time when we particularly love to see what everyone has made.
Silent Auctions
From time to time we hold a Silent Auction. Bring along a quilt-related ‘white elephant’ – perhaps a quilt top you no longer like, or a set of blocks you don’t feel like making into a quilt, for example. Complete the form provided with a description of the goods for sale, your name and reserve price. Prospective buyers write in their bids as the morning progresses. The auction
closes about half an hour before the meeting starts to give time for buyers and sellers to complete their transactions.
