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From its beginnings in March 1985, Gateway Quilters'
Guild has been a magnet of creative quilters in Merced, Mariposa, and
Stanislaus Counties. We meet monthly to share our quilts and their
stories, to hear regionally and nationally known quilters tell their
sagas, and to learn new techniques in Guild sponsored workshops. We are
committed to celebrating and preserving the quilting arts in our
community.
We strive to instruct the community in the quilting
arts by hosting a biennial quilt show. Our members laugh and work together
to "hang" the show. Then on show days, we take turns as docents,
ticket takers, and soup servers. All the while, we share our love of
quilts with strangers, friends and family. When the show is over, we
exhausted-but-happy quilters gather over a potluck supper to recount the
show and celebrate our accomplishments. We also applaud the quilts and
quilters who were voted "Best" in several categories.
We give to the community by sewing lots and lots of
quilts for distribution to needy children through Child Protective
Services and other agencies where there is need for a comforting hug. We
have also distributed quilts to women trying to make a fresh start through
A Woman's Place. To date, well over 500 quilts have been given throughout
our community by our own Quilter's Embrace Project. And, of course, these
quilts have also been a big hug to the many members who have worked on
them.
The Opportunity Quilt has become an annual showcase
of our pooled talents and skills. The revenue collected from each
Opportunity Quilt allows us to expand our knowledge of quilting and the
quilt world, and to pass that knowledge on to others. It also provides the
funding for a scholarship given to a Merced College student each year. A
retrospective of our collective Opportunity Quilts would reveal an amazing
depth of skill and vision.
We are a diverse group...young, old, married,
single, widowed, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, cat lovers,
dog lovers, gardeners, knitters, readers, Civil War enthusiasts, football
fans, global travelers, teachers, homemakers, veterans, volunteers,
collectors, Democrats, Republicans, able-bodied, and not-so-able-bodied.
We like traditional quilts and contemporary quilts. We make pieced quilts
and appliquéd quilts. We like innovative techniques and the comfort of
tried-and-true. We like our quilts bright and bold, and deep and rich, and
soft and breezy. We love our sewing machines, our gadgets, our fabric, and
each other. We are rich, indeed!
We are grateful for the vision of Marie Strait and
the original 22 quilters who formed Gateway Quilter's guild. We have a
treasured heritage in our 20 plus years together, and enough fabric to
leave a legacy of quilting and laughing for decades.
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