It was talk of antiques and quilts, birthday parties and sesquicentennials  and not purse strings or politics  that dominated the conversation at Sunday’s annual meeting of the Friends of Watkins Museum.

A year ago, the Douglas County Historical Society reorganized the staff at Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass., and cut salaries as the museum’s $20,000 deficit threatened to grow even bigger. But Sunday, supporters of the museum seemed positive and forward-looking.

Membership in the organization grew 30 percent in the last year, said president Kathy Heerwald after the meeting, and fund-raisers had resulted in a healthy end-of-year balance.

The few dozen people who attended the meeting chose not to concern themselves with financial woes, but instead talked about the past year’s accomplishments and upcoming events.

Some of those accomplishments included fund-raisers that brought in more than $2,000. The museum’s store was revamped, and a workshop in the basement cleaned out in hopes of eventually building a kitchen.

“We want to do more than cookies and punch,” said organization treasurer Grace Marion, adding that with a kitchen the museum could be rented for receptions.

A program dubbed “Know your Antiques” will continue this year, with a session on celebrations in Lawrence coming up in January, said vice president Irene Reynolds.

The museum’s friends also are working with the Kaw Valley Quilters’ Guild to develop a quilt for Lawrence’s sesquicentennial in 2004, and plans are in the works for a birthday party to commemorate Elizabeth Watkins, for whom the museum is named.

Douglas County Commissioners have threatened to pull some or all of the county’s annual $58,000 contribution to the historical society beginning in 2004, unless the board of directors of the Douglas County Historical Society, which runs the museum, offers a clear direction for the museum and its operations. The county’s contribution accounts for about a third of the society’s annual operating budget.4.