NQA Chapter Showcase

West Alabama Quilters Guild, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

A group of interested quilters distributed information for an organizational meeting and met for the first time on January 12, 1991.  In April 1991, the 21 members paid $12 in dues and met monthly at 9:30 on the second Saturday of every month.   Twenty-one years later (now an adult guild) we still meet the second Saturday of every month at 9:30 am and with the exception of the first year, in the same location at Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation.    Today our membership exceeds 70 members and includes four officers, an executive board, and twenty committees.    Our membership includes men and women, those new to quilting, those who have been at it awhile and nationally recognized quilt artists.    Approximately four original founding members are still very active in the guild. 

Activities include monthly meetings, annual opportunity quilt, school programs, a booth at our annual arts festival, quilt retreats, mini-and major-workshops, an annual quilt challenge, charity quilting and a biennial quilt show. 

Our monthly meetings begin with the Beginner’s Class, a general business meeting, bring-and- brag followed by an educational program.    We conduct educational programs in local schools, at our annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts, and in the community.  A few years ago, one of our members wrote a grant to bring “Quilt Stories” into the schools and to teach teachers how to make quick quilts.  We still donate to schools a children’s book with a quilt theme, bring our stash of snuggle quilts for the children to cuddle with while we read a story about quilting.  Another educational activity includes our log cabin block-play; approximately 100- 4” log cabin quilt blocks were made to allow adults and children alike to create one of the many log cabin patterns. 

A big hit is our quilted tent cover.  At the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts we have a large sales booth, demonstrate hand quilting, and host children’s activities.   These include having children hand sew a small shape on a 4-6” quilt sandwich, glue fabric strips to make a log cabin block on paper, or fuse shapes onto an already finished block.  All this occurs under our 10’ x 10’ tent with a quilted cover, which attracts lots of attention and photo requests.  On the back side of our tent hangs a colorful quilt with numerous quilt blocks.  This is absolutely beautiful when the October sun shines through it.

Our community outreach has included making quilts for the Ronald McDonald House, quilts of valor, the homeless, our local domestic abuse shelter, and moms-to-be at our local VA.   Several years ago our charity quilting efforts became the Itch-to-Stitch Program, and we began a friendly competition to make quilts to benefit a different local organization each year.  Some of our recipients have included:  Tuscaloosa Children’s Center, a counseling service for children testifying against an abuser, the Druid City Hospital Cancer Center, the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s Department (when removing a child from a home), and most recently for our neighbors affected by the F4 tornado that struck Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011.  In the months following the devastating tornado, we were immensely touched by the outpouring of care and concern from fellow quilters from Washington, Florida, California, Arizona, Delaware, South Carolina, and Alabama who either sent cash, quilt tops, notions, pillow cases, or completed quilts for us to distribute to those in need. This supplemented the 161 quilts (measuring over 466 thousand square inches) and a few miscellaneous items that WAQG members made to comfort our neighbors.   Two WAQG members lost their homes and we were able to pass on cash for needed items and gave them each a large quilt. 

During an outing, a WAQG member found a series of large Dresden plate blocks in an estate sale thinking of a fellow quilter who lost her home in the tornado, Dresden plate blocks are her favorite.  Those blocks were purchased and made into a jacket by another quilter.  The member whose house was destroyed loved her new jacket!    This was especially nice because her coat was lost in the storm.  (see attached photo) Another member underwent a liver transplant this year, a quilt was assembled for him to hand quilt during recovery. 

For more information about the West Alabama Quilters Guild, please visit our website at www.waqg.com.