THQP Branches Out to Palm Beach, Florida

This is so cool!  Candice Phelan and I met on-line working together on the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Member Survey Committee.


I was so inspired and energized from seeing the House Quilt project on your blog, that I wanted to create something similar in Palm Beach County.  After seeing what you were doing in Orange County, I searched for what other communities were doing, and decided to propose this project to my quilt guild, the Palm Beach County Quilters' Guild.  This Guild is over 25 years old and is associated with NQA, AQS, and the Sunshine State Quilters, and has a long history of community support, including quilts for veterans and others in need, and a lot of outreach to children to introduce them to the art of quilting, so this project seemed like a great match with their goals.  The Guild board agreed and so then I contact Habitat for Humanity of Palm Beach County. 

Habitat for Humanity here was very enthusiastic, and, after we agreed on our process and what we would deliver, we now have an official partnership and the project is called the "Welcome Home" project of the Palm Beach County Quilters' Guild and Habitat for Humanity of Palm Beach.  The Welcome Home project will begin just before the new year and will celebrate the achievement of Habitat for Humanity's new homeowners with a colorful, personalized home-themed wall-quilt for 20 - 25 families a year.  The quilt-maker and Guild leaders will present the signed wall-hangings at each home dedication ceremony.  The  wall-hangings will all have different designs - from traditional to contemporary - but all will use "home" as the theme.

 

The Guild will demonstrate making these wall-hangings at our large South Florida Fair activity center in February. I, particularly, want to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate art-quilting because most people who visit the activity center think only of traditional quilt making, so I will have a free-motion quilting set-up, at least six or so fused tops to thread-paint and then quilt, and several finished ones on display.  Our activity center, where we unveil our 27th annual Fair Quilt, also demonstrate hand- and machine-quilting techniques, offer our Children's Corner "quilt-making" activity for hundreds of children, and display this year's beautiful opportunity quilt.

 

This partnership developed because of your generous sharing on your blog.  Thank you for being the catalyst and I hope it is just the beginning of many years of supporting our community. 

 

Thanks again!

Candice Phelan