History of the CT Quilters Group

It was back in late 2010 that Barb Linares applied for her shop to be listed as an official “Under Our Wings – Quilt Shop – Local QOV Group Location”.   Barb is the owner of Crafty Threads, a full-service quilt shop offering fabrics, notions, classes, custom embroidery and longarm quilting.  They are conveniently located at:

12230 Race Track Rd

in Tampa, FL, drawing customers from the entire Tampa Bay area, including Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, Land ‘o Lakes, Tampa and St Petersburg.

Barb generously donated a meeting room at her shop for a group of volunteers to meet monthly and a call went out for volunteers.  The volunteers began the process of collecting red, white and blue fabrics.  Most of 2011 was spent getting the group up and running and getting the quilting pipeline established.  Some early meetings were spent cataloging donated fabrics and sorting them into usable subsets, such as for block pieces, borders, bindings and quilt backings.  Other meetings were spent cutting fabrics and preparing block kits.  These kits contain appropriately sized fabric pieces and instructions that supporters and visitors to Crafty Threads can take home, assemble at their convenience and return for the next step in the quilt making process.

Kit shown is Block "B"

Kit shown is Block "B"

As early as May, 2012, the group had grown such that over 80 supporters signed out packets to complete (some multiple times).   And, since its inception, the volunteers of this local QOV group has grown from 7 to over 50 members.   See the sidebar for scheduled meeting dates and help this group continue to grow.