My Modern Guild meeting report

The Modern Quilt Guild in Kansas City is celebrating it's first anniversary. And it's just outgrown another meeting space. I arrived a few minutes late for last night's meeting and overflow chairs were being set up. There are more than 100 members and 10-20 guests were there for the first time last night.
 It is a quilt guild meeting like other guild meetings but with energy bursting from the seams.

First, you note the sea of heads is not all gray heads. Second, it's clear much of the framework of this guild is on the internet. Third: joy and affirmation dominate the group interactions.

The highlight of this meeting was not a speaker but a show and tell by members for a Kona solids fabric challenge issued a few months ago. The quilts shown ranged in size from small to throw size. There was the usual oohing and aahing from the crowd as quilts were shown. But when one member admitted this was her first quilt, someone yelled, "Standing ovation" and everyone lept to their feet and applauded. And that continued for every first quilt shown....

Many of us are trying to describe the Modern Guild aesthetic. I note quilts tend to have light backgrounds and solids are popular. They are not traditional quilts and often created without patterns.

What struck me most from observing this group is the lack of judgment about what quilting should and should not be. I might be a bit prickly about that, as my quilts have always strayed a bit outside the mainstream. To be part of a group that embraces the concept that there do not have to be rules is refreshing, invigorating. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
Way to go, Kansas City Guild.