The Quilt Guild Freebie Table Idea

One quilter's castoff is another's treasure...

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The Quilt Guild Freebie Table has become a happenin' spot at our local Pride of the Prairie guild meetings.

It's not surprising.

Quilters in droves are coming to the crushing realization they simply have TOO MUCH STUFF.

Way more then humanly possible in a normal lifetime.

One quilter's castoff can be another's treasure...IF they find each other. Learn how one group makes it happen with their Quilt Guild 'Freebie Table'.

Remember to Pin to enjoy this later!

A Freebie Table is a terrific way to find a home for all that fiber treasure abundance.

Since the table's there every month, a quilter can work through the mountains of her stash over time. Much less overwhelming that way.

In this article you'll:

Learn how simple it is to set this up at your own guild

See one quilter's castoff turned into another's treasure

Let's get started.

How a Quilt Guild Freebie Table works

Guild members are gently reminded in the newsletter to bring their quilt-related (and only quilt-related) excess, put it on the table and walk away. It can be bagged or boxed.

Members are invited to rummage through it all, taking whatever tickles their fancy. All or part or none. The table is open before the meeting starts and during the break between the business meeting and program.

A win-win for members.

At the end of the night, our Philanthropy Committee has a look. If there's anything that can be turned into donation or Quilts of Valor quilts, it's put aside.

Quilt show committee chairs check for:

Fabrics for 'Strip Search'
Books, magazines and patterns for resale

Everything remaining is donated locally to Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent, Morningstar Mission, etc.

Should your Guild members be particularly generous in their donations to the Freebie Table, consider investing in a collapsible wagon to move any leftovers to your vehicle at the end of the night.

It's a lot easier to roll than carry. ;)

Quilt-related only???

Someone's going to be schlepping anything that didn't find a new home to place a like Goodwill.

It could be a wicked-big job at the end of the night, especially if a quilter decided to clean out their basement.

No.

Quilt-related is plenty.

Oh! The things you'll find

Sometimes it's fabric. Sometimes it's books and patterns. Sometimes it's tools and rulers.

And still other times, you find a bag of blocks someone else is just plain done with.

That's what Laura M. stumbled upon earlier this year.

She came across a bag of finished 3-dimensional blocks—enough for a small quilt top.

I had the pleasure of watching this come together at our Bee's regular 'once-a-month-for-the-whole-weekend' Sew-In—yeah...I'm kinda bragging! :)—Laura just kept at it.

The blocks are all 3-dimensional, similar to the 3-D Flying Geese or 3-D Bow Tie tutorials that are on this site.

There's lots of extra fabric in the seams due to the dimensionality so it would be a challenge to assemble.

Sometimes I have a hard enough time with a quilt that I've made myself, critiquing my work all along the way—can't begin to imagine how it'd be putting someone else's work together.

Laura's quite the fiber-adventurer and relatively new to the quilt world.

Always trying new techniques.

Always asking 'what if'; then 'doing' to find out.

She's so much fun (and inspiring) to watch as she grows.

I'm happy to say that Laura persevered. She made things work where they needed to and...

...FINISHED her adopted quilt!