Members of FCQ are responsive to the needs of people both in our community and throughout the country. Guild creativity is a positive means to address many needs. We are very pleased to be an active partner of a wide variety charitable organizations.
Love Quilts. As an organization, we set aside the first meeting of every month to create colorful quilts for children and adults. We donate to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Cool Kids Campaign, Howard County General Hospital, Howard County Loan Closet, Hopeworks, Bridges to Housing, Charlotte Hall Veterans Home and many other Maryland based organizations. In 2020-21, 525 quilts were distributed.
Project Linus. Members make and regularly donate quilts to brighten the day of critically children and teens. FCQ also supports the Project Linus TAPs program. The guild traditionally features Project Linus quilts at the biennial quilt show.
First Presbyterian Church of Howard County. The annual FCQ October Silent Auction contributes its proceeds to the church Thanksgiving basket program. Each holiday season, FCQ members also make colorful Christmas stockings which are donated to the church. Church members fill and donate the stockings to needy families in Howard County.
Other Projects. In 2020, individual members stitched personal protective gear for hospitals in three counties, the District of Columbia, and a number of other charitable organizations. FCQ members support local neonatal units, and pillowcase programs for children. Members also have made dresses for girls in Africa. FCQ members have created quilts for the Wounded Warrior and Quilts of Valor programs, and natural disaster victims. In 2010, several guild members supported the Advocacy Projects associated with George Washington University, bringing attention to the human rights needs of women globally. Prior to 2018, several FCQ members formed a quilt guild, Circle of Friends Quilters, at the Patuxent Institution for Women in Jessup, MD which met weekly under their direction. The program began in September 1999. A group of 12 residents were taught quilting skills and they worked on their projects during the week. All quilts are given to local charities.
Quilting Resources. The Block of the Month Archive contains quilt block patterns from the FCQ program that encourages members to try new blocks and donate them to be used in making charity quilts. The various web links on our Resources page provide valuable and educational information about area quilt shops, other local quilt guilds, member businesses, and a wide variety of educational online information of interest. It also identifies links to instructional and problem-solving videos for quilters of any skill level.