Activities

We hold general guild meetings twice a month. On the second Wednesday of the month, we meet in person at Christian Community Presbyterian Church (3120 Belair Drive, Bowie, Maryland). On the fourth Wednesday of the month, we meet virtually on Zoom. The meeting space is opened at 6:30 for socialization and the business portion begins at 7:00.

During meetings, members discuss guild operations and activities. We have a Show & Tell portion when members, and visitors, can share their recent projects or stories. After a short break, we hold the program portion of the meeting, from designer trunk shows to technique demonstrations. See our calendar for program information for specific meeting dates.

Our meetings are open to visitors who want to learn more about our guild, activities, operations, and members. A door prize is awarded to a random attendee in our nametag drawing. Selections from the guild library are available for borrowing, and members often clean out their stash of fabric, magazines, and other supplies for other guild members to enjoy. And most important, we gather to enjoy our quilting community. We’d love to have you stop by!

As you walk around Boswell Hall, on display are lovely quilts made by our members. Stroll past them and admire the patterns, colors, stitching, imagining one draped across your bed. Along another wall, you see an assortment of smaller quilted items, like wall hangings, table runners, quilted bags, and more. There are raffle baskets in a variety of themes, a bake sale, and across the hall is our annual raffle quilt on display, possibly the prettiest you’ve ever seen.

This is Quilt Bingo, our flagship event and your chance to win one of these quilts for yourself. We play 20 games of Bingos, each with a winner of a larger quilt. If there are multiple Bingo callers, they faceoff to decide who wins a smaller quilted item as consolation.

Along with the Bingo games, you can enter for chances to win one of the raffle baskets. Past themes have Beginner Quilt Supplies, Scratchers & Liquor Samplers, and Gourmet Foods & Spices. If the baskets aren’t enough, we have several small- to mid-sized quilted items in our Silent Auction. And for the peckish folks, our bake sale always has delicious treats and snacks.

Join us at Quilt Bingo every March at the Knights of Columbus, Bowie. It’s a great time for some friendly competition with your friends and admiring lovely quilted pieces. Check our calendar for details about this year’s Quilt Bingo event.

Every year, a theme is put forth, challenging guild members to stretch their creativity and to design a wholly unique and inspired quilt. The challenge culminates in the fall when we host our Challenge Showcase & Homemade Craft Sale and visitors vote for their favorites.

This year’s theme is “Homogenized Literature,” to make a quilt inspired by and incorporating elements from three books. From cook book to novel to autobiography, no tome is excluded from our members’ creative grasp.

Has the Challenge Quilt theme got you curious to see what designs people come up with? At the end of the challenge, we put all the quilts on display in the fall at our annual Showcase. Bring your friends and family to admire our guild’s array of unique takes on this year’s challenge, and vote for your favorite quilt!

While you’re visiting, have a walk through our member-made boutique of arts, crafts, and quilts for sale. Wall hangings, holiday decor, home goods, craft kits, bed quilts, shawls. We have many items that make perfect gifts for family, teachers, friends, and yourself.

Community Quilts is very active among all guild members. Through gifts in kind and proceeds from Bingo and fall maker’s market, Southern Comforters supports the following causes:

• Chapel Forge Elementary School
• Hospice of the Chesapeake
• Holy Family Catholic Church, Largo
• Ukraine Refugee resettlement
• Post-disaster areas (Hawaii wildfires, Los Angeles wildfires, and more)

UFO
/ˌyo͞oˌefˈō,ˈyo͞oˌfō/
noun
a mysterious object seen in your closet, for which no motivation to complete can be found.

We all have at least one work in progress sitting on a shelf, waiting to be finished. Let your guildmates challenge you to pick one and get it done! Early each year, the challenge kicks off with members presenting two UFOs and everyone present votes which one is your challenge. Don’t worry; you get several months to work on it.

Every month at our in-person meetings, a new block theme is announced, specifying size, colors, and other details. At the next meeting, whoever chooses to join gets one entry per block in a drawing to win all of them!

Make a center quilt block, pass it to your group, and 4 rounds later you are surprised with a fun and exciting quilt top! Each round challenges your skills with a specific technique required, and challenges your creativity as put your flair on someone else’s quilt top. This is the perfect use for that one orphan block that deserves to be a centerpiece!