Friday, May 11, 2012

Coming up for air...

from an fantastic week of exciting FUN!
One of the Community Quilts

What a week! We had 140 5th graders, five paraprofessionals, and six teachers, from Roosevelt Elementary School visiting for their Community Quilts' big open with cake and juice. The Going to Pieces Quilters Guild put together five quilts with squares made by the students. These will hang around the town of Virginia, so you'll be seeing it in your neighborhood. One of our major goals this year is to connect with our communities. But we didn't just want to connect with them, we wanted them to connect with each other, too.

That was Kathy Annette's (President/CEO of the Blandin Foundation) major point, that leaders cannot work alone, today at Empowher. That also applies to communities. Kathy pointed out that there are so many elements that must be balanced in order to make create a healthy community. Just looking at the quilts, you can see all the different pieces that puts together a community for these 5th graders. Olcott Park, Thunderbird Mall, Virginia High School, the Minnesota Loon, homes, hockey, the police, Blue Devils are a handful of Virginia's community represented on these quilts. Come and see them at the Minnesota Discovery Center. They'll also be 'hanging' out at the Virginia Public Library this summer and other places in the community in the upcoming year.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 12 will be a celebration of quilts for the Going to Pieces Quilters who have contributed so much to our communities. They make quilts for shelters, babies, homes, they keep fiber arts traditions alive, and they volunteer so many hours for our communities. Join our community tomorrow to enjoy the quilt arts with your families!

Phew.



-Empowher was an event held at the Minnesota Discovery Center on May 11, to promote and encourage women (and men) leaders in our community.
-Going to Pieces 30 year celebration starts at 9 am. Darlene Zimmerman, accomplished quilt expert, will speak at 10 am. Demonstrators galore. Admission applies for our events.  Members always free.