{"id":3584,"date":"2023-05-10T14:06:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3584"},"modified":"2023-05-10T14:06:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T18:06:15","slug":"for-a-good-cause-towpath-quilt-guild-quilting-for-a-cause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3584","title":{"rendered":"For a Good Cause – Towpath Quilt Guild: Quilting for a Cause"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Dearborn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every month, the Towpath Quilt Guild meets at the Fayetteville Methodist Church to sew, socialize, and to keep the art of quilting alive in Central New York. Founded in the spring of 1981, the guild has consistently advocated for its mission to \u201cpromote awareness and provide educational opportunities in the art of quilting.\u201d But another important aspect of the guild is how passionate its group members are for helping others in the community.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that quilters are very generous people first of all,\u201d said guild President Donita Whelan when asked about the charity quilts created by members. \u201cEven though it is not in our mission statement, it\u2019s always been something important to the members of Towpath to reach out into the community and to help those who can be comforted by a quilt.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Together, the guild has used their sewing skills to help create quilts, placemats, and even wheelchair bags for a variety of local organizations including Meals on Wheels, McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center, the YMCA, the Syracuse Veterans Hospital, and many more.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, our service project is for ALS.\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s the ALS Challenge and it\u2019s my understanding that they do sell some of the quilts and that money is used for research. Many of the quilts are directly given to people who suffer from this horrible disease.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about the work that goes into making each of the quilts, Donita emphasized that it is a team effort.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the energy in the air when you do something like this. It\u2019s incredible. It\u2019s done like an assembly line fashion where someone is cutting the fabric, someone is ironing the fabric, and someone is actually sewing the quilt together,\u201d she said. \u201cBut there are several people who choose to work either in small groups at their homes \u2013 I have done this several times \u2013 or on their own they can create quilts that are for the same cause. It\u2019s very rewarding. Like I said, it\u2019s not part of our mission statement, but it\u2019s extremely rewarding to know that we\u2019re helping somebody with our God given talents.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another guild activity that Donita and the rest of the guild looks forward to is the annual quilt show. The annual show displays some of the quilts created by members, but attendees can also enjoy vendors, a boutique, and several raffles.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur quilt shows are amazing. I humbly say that,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cWe have usually somewhere between 150 to 200 quilts to display. There are demonstrations. There\u2019s a boutique. This year, all of our boutique items are handcrafted by members for the public to buy\u2026It\u2019s a very exciting time. We have a quilt that is raffled, so we\u2019ve been selling tickets for that now. So that\u2019s raffled off at the show. We also have a basket raffle, where this year we have 20 baskets lined up for raffling. These baskets are just amazing, all put together by members of the guild.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The quilt show also celebrates and recognizes the work put into quilt making and also helps the guild network with potential members.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a public voting where the public can vote on best-in-show. There\u2019s a lot of ribbons that are given out according to categories. It\u2019s just an exciting time, not just for the quilt guild members, but for the public. Of course, a lot of quilters will come, quilters from all over. But people will come with a friend that kind of tagged along and they are just so taken aback. We will often recruit new quilters from this event. We love it when people join the guild having seen our show, and that is a plus. We\u2019re always very welcoming to quilters of any skill level from novice to expert.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If someone is interested in joining the guild, the best way is to visit the Towpath Quilt Guild website and fill out the application form. If someone does not know if the guild is right for them, Donita says that the guild is always welcoming to visitors.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can meet with us.\u201d she explained. \u201cGuests are more than welcome to come. The first time they visit us, it\u2019s free. They don\u2019t have to pay anything. Maybe they\u2019re just a little interested, but they\u2019re not quite sure if it\u2019s for them. So they can come and pay $5 to attend another meeting. And then after that, we encourage them to become a member and the money they have put in is subtracted from the membership fee\u2026I always say that it\u2019s the best $30 that I spend all year.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The guild is passionate about how it helps bring the art of quilting to the community, but it also wants to ensure that the tradition of quilting has a place in the future. The membership of the guild is aging, so Donita is pinning her hopes on new members to create a stability for the guild in the future.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur hopes are that we can continue to grow. As with many of the guilds, COVID set us back a bit. We were not able to meet that year and so we met via Zoom. So between losing some members who didn\u2019t come back and because a lot of our members have been with the guild since it started in 1981 \u2013 we have members who are moving into assisted living; a lot of our members have died,\u201d she said. \u201cWe would like new blood. We would like to increase our membership. We would like to welcome new quilters and keep this beautiful tradition of quilting \u2013 quilting in a group, all that the guild is an example of \u2013 we want to keep that going.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you are interested in learning more about the Towpath Quilt Guild, visit <\/span><\/span>www.towpathquiltguild.org<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alyssa Dearborn Every month, the Towpath Quilt Guild meets at the Fayetteville Methodist Church to sew, socialize, and to keep the art of quilting alive in Central New York. Founded in the spring of 1981, the guild has consistently advocated for its mission to \u201cpromote awareness and provide educational opportunities in the art of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[1403,1402,1401],"class_list":["post-3584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-causes","tag-quilt-show","tag-quilting","tag-towpath"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Quilt-donated-to-Loretto.jpg?fit=1925%2C1373&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2665,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2665","url_meta":{"origin":3584,"position":0},"title":"SPECIAL FEATURE: Four Female Artists Bring Creativity into their Workplace","author":"Staff","date":"November 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By Staci Soslowitz \u00a0 Art comes in many forms. 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