The Durham-Orange Quilters Guild present a quilt to American Tobacco in thanks for hosting their semi-annual quilt show. |
Paul Pope, General Manager for the American Tobacco Campus, was on hand Friday, October 20, 2006 to accept a commemorative quilt made by the Durham-Orange Quilters Guild (DOQ) as a gift for being able to hold their semi-annual event in Bay 7. Various landmarks are included in the one-of-a-kind quilt including the ATC tower, smoke stack and references to tobacco, railcar tracks and baseball.
The official opening of the DOQ show was celebrated with a “fabric cutting” by Councilman Mike Woodard who works in the Duke Information Technology office located on the American Tobacco Campus.
Students from Camelot Academy were also in attendance to witness the opening of the show and the unveiling of the ATHD Quilt. The students also spent time listening to an expert on Antique quilts and viewing quilts done by junior members of the DOQ.
The Durham-Orange County Quilters Guilds mission is “…to promote and perpetuate quilt making by bringing together persons who are interested in quilt making; by encouraging a high standard of design and technique in all forms of quilting; and by sponsoring workshops, programs, exhibits, group quilt making and other related activities as chosen by the membership”.
Students from Camelot Academy attend the show opening and learn more about the time-staking sewing craft. |
In addition to supporting the art of quilt making, the DOQ makes and donates many quilts each year to both Duke and UNC hospital whose patients are often seriously ill children with cancer or other terminal diseases.
This year, there was a “donation quilt” challenge competition to let viewers choose which donation quilt they liked the best. The people entering the challenge all used some of the same fabric in their quilt. All of the quilts made as “donation quilts” will be donated to organizations in Durham and Orange counties and generally go to groups that work on behalf of women and children.
Quilts line every visible wall and space in Bay 7. |
All kinds of quilts were on display for the show. To see more of the creative & intricate pieces, see the
 View the Quilting slideshow
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There was also a silent auction of small quilts that helped raise over $500 for Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center located in Chapel Hill.
The African American Quilt Circle in Durham (AAQC) sold raffle tickets for their queen size bed quilt with proceeds providing seed money for their 2007 wall quilts calendar. The AAQC also provides donation quilts to high school students in Durham public housing and to families moving into Habitat for Humanity homes.
The show’s attendance exceeded 1,500 people throughout the course of the weekend.
Thanks to ATC’s Valerie Ward for this capcom story & these capcom photos.
