Game Ideas for a Quilt Guild

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Please feel free to print out and share these ideas. Just give credit to the website, https://quiltguilds.com

All Shook Up
Each team must unscramble quilt block names.

Anagrams
A word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, Pecan Hint to Nine Patch.  You can play with anagrams here on the Wordsmith site.   Here are some ideas.

1 a cosy cliché (Clay’s choice)
2 a green pole ( orange peel)
3 and help it bounce ( double nine patch)
4 bad closed jar ( Jacob’s ladder)
5 broken assaults ( Kansas troubles)
6 crack dirt ( card trick)
7 crush hand (churn dash)
8 enter pie ( pine tree)
9 fear shattered ( feathered star)
10 female pal ( maple leaf)
11 fertile foe ( tree of life)
12 honorable one-third hole ( in the barn door)
13 in his chair (Irish chain)
14 intact widow (attic window)
15 logic ban ( log cabin)
16 many neglect fans ( gentlemen’s fancy)
17 never giants ( evening star)
18 nice flare ( rail fence)
19 outward print holder ( trip around the world)
20 prank adds hurt ( drunkard’s path)
21 punch must dazzle ( Dutchman’s puzzle)
22 reckon why men ( monkey wrench)
23 rotate mass ( storm at sea)
24 school-wide ages ( wild goose chase)
25 shooting opened ( goose in the pond)
26 snob shrieked ( broken dishes)
27 soaked police ( kaleidoscope)
28 then panic ( nine patch)
29 wrap base ( bear’s paw)
30 wrong building deed ( double wedding ring)

Baskets of Fun
Make up little baskets with slips of paper in them, then collect these items:

1 Bag – To help you keep it all together
1 Bandaid……To heal hurt feelings 
1 Button…..To close your mouth before saying an unkind word. 
1 Candy Kiss….to remind you everyone needs T.L.C.
1 Candy Hug – Because we all need hugs & kisses 
1 Candle – to remind you to share your light with others 
1 Cotton Ball – for the rough roads ahead
1 Earplug – To remind you to tune out the negative 
1 Eraser – everyone makes mistakes and it’s O.K.  Every day you can start over.  
1 Happy Face – smiling not only increases your face value, but it’s contagious
1 Lifesaver – To remind you that many times you or others need help
1 Marbles – To remind you to keep rolling along (in case you lose yours)
1 Match – To light your fire when you feel burned out
1 Mint…..Because you are worth a mint. 
1 Pencil – To remind you to keep sharp 
1 Recipe – to make when you want to do something special for someone special
1 Rubber Band – To remind you to be flexible and bind us in friendship
1 Sandpaper…..To sand off the rough edges of people around you. 
1 Smartie – To help you on those days when you don’t feel so smart 
1 Snickers – To remind you to take time out to laugh
1 Star…..Because everyone is good at something.
1 Starburst – To give you a burst of energy on those days when you don’t have any
1 Stick of Gum – To remind you to stick with it
1 Sweet & Sour Candy – to help you accept and appreciate the differences in others
1 Sweet Tart – Remember, there are sweet and tart things in everything we do
1 Toothpick – To remind you to pick out the good qualities
1 Tissue….To dry the tears of a friend who is hurting.
1 Tootsie Roll – To remind you not to bite off more than you can chew

Bingo
Change all the card tops from a set of BINGO cards to quilt. (So instead of calling out B 7 , you’d be calling out Q 7.) When someone gets a bingo , they yell out quilt instead of bingo. Charge one Fat Quarter per card.  If there is just one bingo, all the fat quarters go to that person. If there is more than one the fat quarters get split up between the winners.

Block Wheel of Fortune
Fill in the blanks to find the block name.  (Use these ideas or make up your own.)

1. l _ _ _ a _ i _                    (log cabin)
2. _ e _ r _ _ w                     (bear paw)
3. _ i n _ _ a t _ h                 (nine patch)
4. s _ o _ m _ t _ e _            (storm at sea)
5. _ _ i s _ c _ a _ n             (irish chain)
6. m _ _ _ e l _ _ f                 (maple leaf)
7. _ t t _ _ w _ n _ o _             (attic window)
8. f e _ _ h _ _ e _ _ t _ r         (feathered star)
9. r _ _ l _ _ _ c e                     (rail fence)
10.  _ a _ a _ _ a                         (lasagna)
11. t u _ _ _ _ g t w _ _ _ _         (turning twenty)
12. _ a _ d _ _ a _ e                     (landscape)
     

Color Challenge
Each team has to match colors with descriptions

Cookies for Santa – a Holiday game
Each person brings a wrapped quilt related gift. The group stands or sits in a circle and someone reads the following story. The gifts are passed LEFT or RIGHT as word is said. When the game ends, open the gift you have!

Mr & Mrs WRIGHT woke up early on the day before Christmas. Mrs. WRIGHT planned to bake some cookies for Santa’s visit. She told Mr WRIGHT, “I want to have just the RIGHT cookie for Santa when he comes tonight.”

She looked in the pantry and discovered that she had no sugar LEFT. “Mr. WRIGHT,” Mrs. WRIGHT cried, “I have no sugar LEFT in my pantry. I need some to bake just the RIGHT cookie for Santa. Will you go to the store to get some for me?”

Mr. WRIGHT said, “You’re RIGHT. I’ll go RIGHT now.” And he LEFT immediately.

Mrs. WRIGHT began to prepare her cookie batter. When she reached for the sack of flour, she saw there was only a little flour LEFT…not nearly enough to make her cookies. “Oh dear,” said Mrs. WRIGHT. “Mr WRIGHT just LEFT for the store. He will not like to have to go back again.” Mrs. WRIGHT quickly LEFT her baking and called the grocer. “This is Mrs WRIGHT. My husband, Mr. WRIGHT just LEFT to get some sugar at your store. I just discovered I don’t have enough flour LEFT for my cookies. Will you tell him to buy some flour too?”

“Oh Mars WRIGHT,” the grocer said, “Mr WRIGHT just LEFT with your sugar. In fact, he bought the only sack we had LEFT on the shelf. I’ll try to catch him RIGHT quick so he can bring your flour too. We have plenty of that LEFT.”

Just then Mr WRIGHT drove up with the sack of sugar. “Here Mrs. WRIGHT. This is the only sack they had LEFT.”

“Oh Mr. WRIGHT,” said Mrs. WRIGHT. “I don’t have enough flour LEFT to bake Santa’s cookies. I tried to catch you at the grocers but you had already LEFT.”

“Oh no,” said Mr. WRIGHT. “I’ll go RIGHT back.” And he LEFT immediately.

Mrs. WRIGHT turned RIGHT around and went back into her kitchen. Suddenly she realized she had not bought any butter for the cookies either. “Oh my,” she exclaimed, “How can I bake the RIGHT cookie for Santa without butter!”

She called the grocer again and asked him to tell Mr. WRIGHT to bring butter too.

Fortunately, Mr WRIGHT had not LEFT the store yet. When he returned home, Mrs. WRIGHT said, “Bring in the flour and butter RIGHT now so I can bake Santa’s cookies.”

Mr WRIGHT began carrying lots of bags into the kitchen. “All RIGHT, what’s all this?” said Mrs. WRIGHT.

“Well,” said Mr WRIGHT, “I didn’t want to have to go back to the store again so besides your flour and butter I bought all the cookies the grocer had LEFT. That way Santa is sure to have the RIGHT cookie.”

Cross Quilting

Each team will have 5-10 minutes to locate all the quilt words in a  word search puzzle. To make this more challenging, do not use a key on the page!

Don’t Say That!
Each person will be given a safety pin on entering the room. The object is to end up with the most pins.  You get pins by catching another person saying the forbidden word  – pick something it’s hard to avoid like quilt or rotary. When someone catches you saying the word, you have to give up your pin.  Points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd highest number of pins.

Fat Quarter Toss
Roll up the fat quarters and secure them with a rubber band.  Put a bucket on the floor and make everyone stand a few feet back.  Each quilter picks a FQ and gets a chance to toss it in the bucket.  If it goes in, they win it.  If they miss, they lose.

A Friendship Bag
Here is a little Friendship bag to make for a group of quilters.

A Bandaid……..To help a friend who needs mending.
A Button………..To close your mouth before saying an unkind word.
A Tissue………….To dry the tears of a friend who is hurting.
A Candy Kiss….. Because everyone needs a little love.
A Toothpick……..To be easy going and not too “picky”
A Eraser………….Because it’s okay to make mistakes.
A Lifesaver……….Because we’re always willing to lelp each other.
A Rubberband…..To bind us together in friendship.
A Mint……………..Because you are worth a mint.
A Sandpaper…….To sand off the rough edges of people around you.
A Star……………..Because everyone is good at something.


Frog Stitch Wizard
A race to be the first quilter to “reverse” stitch a “bad” block. a great way to get your rippppit done by someone else.

Hidden picture
Each team gets a picture of a quilt – tons of blocks – they must find the named blocks in the least amount of time.

How many blocks?
Each team will be assigned THREE letters. They will have 5 minutes to write down as many block names as they can that begin with that letter. Barbara Brackman’s book will be used as the “dictionary.”

Name It
A tray full of quilty items the winner is the one who can name the most after looking for 1 or 2 minutes. No note-taking allowed!  a variation put several “not sharp” items in a bag tell what they are just by touch.

Name that Quilt Block!

Pack a sewing basket
All groups play – group lasting longest wins. Name an item in a sewing basket, next person says that item, plus a new one. When a person can’t remember, they drop out. Winner 4 points, next to last 3 points.

Putting it Together
Each team gets an envelope with construction paper block pieces. Every team tries to put together as many blocks in 10 minutes as they can. Most blocks wins – 4 points, 3 point, 2 points. Two point bonus for using all the blocks.

Quilt in a Can – our local library acted as an ongoing depot for this project. The guild supplied a “can” (usually a large cookie or chocolate tin) per each member with a large piece of fabric inside. About 2 yards. Then, over the course of the year, each member had to take a turn at each “can” and make any block they wished – but it had to be 12″ finished size and it had to contain the “can” fabric. The rest of the fabric is supplied by the member. When they finished with each “can”, they place their completed block inside and returned it to the library, where they could sign out another one. All available tins were also picked up from the library and brought to each meeting for sign-out. Members also exchanged tins at the meeting. So by the end of the year, each member should have completed a block for each tin, and each tin should contain the same number of blocks as members (in our case, it was 30 participating). At the final meeting, each member’s name was drawn for the contents of one tin, which also still contained any leftover fabric to make more blocks if needed.

I loved this!!! It was a great chance to try out block patterns and not be stuck making a bunch if you didn’t like them. On the other hand, if you have a favourite block, you could easily complete a bunch of tins using your favorite pattern. The resulting quilts were really nice. It seemed there were always a block or two to be eliminated from the final project due to poor color choice or sewing, but that’s to be expected and no big deal for the winner to make a couple of spare blocks.

If your guild is larger than 30 people, you could easily do the same thing with 6″ block or 9″ blocks. You could also specify the block patterns if you preferred, and the fabric choices would still be a surprise at the end for the winner. Also, we had some members switch cans after winning, if they really didn’t prefer that colour or something. Very fun!

Quilt Bingo 
This is a fund raising event to which other guilds and the public can be invited.  Tickets are sold to a certain amount of bingo games. The prizes are wall quilts or other relatively high appeal prizes that have been donated by the members and/or local shops. There are usually at least one raffle, too – this is a good place to sell tickets for the raffle quilt!  The sponsoring guild sells refreshments, sandwiches, pizza, snacks, baked goods and any other goodies. If small donations are received, they can be used as door prizes. 

Quilto

Quilters bingo.  Choose numbers under the word q-u-i-l-t.  Sometimes we have Quilty Bingo. Local fabric shops might donate prizes if you promise them you will mention them over and over! Also have everyone bring in a quilty something old or new (but what they would want in return) and then have a Blind Auction…. they bring  it in wrapped (everyone might not go home with something, its a gamble) and you can do it one or two ways, have everyone walk around chinese auction style and put in tickets that they have bought, or just hold up each wrapped item, shake it a bit, tell how heavy and do an actual auction with live bids.. it is also a good way to raise some money for your guild.  Quilto can be purchased commercially at www.Quilto.com  or by E-mailing moc.loaobfsctd@otliuq4ydurT  

Quilt Pictionary
Need tripod and newspaper pad – each person draws the name of a block and then must make her team members guess the block by drawing things that make them say the words. Play with two teams of 5 each. Each member takes one turn. Each team that wins its “heat” gets one point. The team with the best overall time gets a 2 point bonus.

Rotary Race
Each team will choose one person to cut strips – fabric will be provided and strips will be cut at 2″. They will cut for 5 minutes. Inaccurate strips will be disqualified. These strips will be used for rail fence, etc. Points: 5, 4, 3

Scavenger Hunt
Each team will get a list when they come in. They must collect either/both items and signatures of people with items or information. First completed sheet turned in to judge wins 4 points, 2^nd sheet. 3 points, 3^rd sheet, 2 points. You can use items such as a chatelaine, brass thimble, red thread, person wearing contact lenses, person with more than 3 children, person who has lived in more than 2 countries outside of US, etc. If you want to theme the hunt (for example, Christmas), use items like a fat quarter of Christmas fabric or any red or green, a spool of red or green thread, etc.  To make this more fun, each list will have one “ringer” item that we plant somewhere in the room.  

To make this the ice-breaker type, use search terms like   “Someone that has 4 children”, “Has lived in more than 5 states”, Owns 3 sewing machines”, “Has Blonde hair and Blue Eyes”, etc. 

Sew and Slice
Three members of each team will work to sew jelly roll strips in sets of 4, then cut them apart in 6 1/2″ units. When time is up, most units win 5 points, 2^nd 4 points, 3^rd, 3 points. Put the strips together for a quick charity quilt:-))

Sew it!
A race to be the first to get a block hand sewn from already cut pieces.  A challenge that reinforces piecing skills!

Show and Share
We each take a video of our sewing rooms and do a movie night with each person describing their sewing space and ideas.

Steal this gift!
Everybody brings a wrapped gift. Then each person draws a number from 1 to whatever. #1 picks a present and unwraps it, then #2 can either unwrap a new present or steal from #1. If your present gets stolen, you get to make another choice.  The game continues until all the presents are given out. 

Still Crazy
One member from each group will sew foundation crazy squares. One with most blocks made after 1 hour wins 5 points, second place 4 points. Third place 3 points. 

Strip Poker
Played with cards, but the betting money is strips of fabric or fat quarters.  Doesn’t have to be poker, or even a full card game.  Try a high card draw, or slapjack with the winner getting all the strips on the table. 

Thimble relay
Each team will pick 4 members to form a relay team. The object is to walk with a spoon containing a thimble without dropping thimble. 

Thimble Toss
Get a churn or other suitable container and have teams toss thimble from a line 2-4 feet away.  Or drop thimble into open bottle (like clothespins into milk bottle).

Threaders
Each team choose ONE person to thread needles – needles are threaded into same spool – How many needles threaded in TWO minutes? 

Or… thread the entire package of needles onto the one spool of thread. Each team member threads one needle and passes it on to the next person. The team to get all the needles on the quickest wins a prize.

Ugly Fabric Dare
Everyone contributes 1 yard of an ugly fabric.  The yard is passed around while music is played.  When the music stops, everyone must rip the yard they have in half and pass the half yard on when the music starts up again.  The game continues until the last piece is 4″ x 4″.  By this time, everyone has a lot of different fabrics in a lot of different sizes.  The “dare” is to make something of it!

Under the Big Top
Each group will get a batch of blocks. They are already trimmed to the same size . They will be told how to assemble their blocks into a top and the first group to finish wins.  You can make this more of a challenge by giving out blocks of varying sizes.

Who Wrote it?
Each group gets a list of books and authors – they have 5 minutes to match them up. 

Who’s Watching?
A bonus game for the attentive.  A selection of items will be on display at the registration table.  Later, people will be asked to write down as many as they remember OR several large items will be on display in front of the room all morning.  At lunch, remove one item.  After lunch, ask who can identify the missing item.

Do you have any other games you would like to see here?