Truckee Meadows Quilters' Club Records

The Truckee Meadows Quilters quilt club (hereafter referred to as TMQ or the Club) was organized in 1978 by local quilters and quilt lovers to promote quilting and to learn more about the art through study and sharing. TMQ incorporated in 1995 as Truckee Meadows Quilters, Inc. The group initially met during the day then in 1980 an Evening Group meeting was initiated. Currently the Morning Group meets on the second and fourth Fridays and the evening group meets on the first and third Mondays. Each elects officers to handle administrative matters related to that entity.

TMQ held its first quilt show in 1980 at the Centennial Coliseum (now called the Convention Center), supported by a grant from the Nevada State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Other quilt show sites have included the Hall of Fame room at the Lawlor Event Center, Bally's Hotel Convention Center, and the Exhibit Hall at the Fairgrounds. For the first show the Club jointly made a quilt which was raffled off as a fund raiser, a tradition which has been followed for subsequent quilt shows. Shows beginning in 1989 have honored a featured quilter, a club member who has a significant body of quilt work or who has worked hard for the benefit of the organization.

Beginning in 1988 a portion of the proceeds of each show have been donated to charitable and cultural organizations of interest to the Club: Meals on Wheels, Crisis Call Center, Child Abuse Prevention Project, Casa D'Vita, Committee to Aid Abused Women, Care & Share, KNPB Channel 5, Children's Cabinet McGee Center, Committee to End Domestic Violence, Nevada Heritage Quilt Project, Nevada Women's Archives Project, Habitat for Humanity, Churchill County Museum, Marjorie Russell Textile Research Center, Hospice of Northern Nevada, Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center, Meals on Wheels, Sparks Heritage Museum, and VA Hospital Spouse House. By the end of the 1998 show, the Club had donated $26,850 to such community groups.

The membership of the club feels a keen sense of social responsibility to their community. Over the years, TMQ has given quilts to such organizations as the Ronald McDonald House, McGee Center, Kid's Kottage, and VA Hospital. Since 1989 TMQ members have made over 2,000 small (24"x24") quilts for the neonatal units at St. Mary's Hospital and the Washoe Medical Center. These quilts are placed over the isolates of infants whose stay extend beyond five days, and goes home with the infant. The quilts help shield tiny eyes from the constant glare of bright lights and provide warmth and color in an otherwise sterile environment.

Truckee Meadows Quilters and its members frequently participate in community education opportunities. Classroom lectures, quilting demonstrations at parks and cultural events, and quilt exhibits at the downtown branch of the public library let the public know that the art of quilting is alive and well in Reno and Sparks.

TMQ is governed by an executive board consisting of a president, first vice president, vice president-elect, second vice president, secretary, and treasurer, elected at the Club's annual meeting; the chairs of the Morning and Evening Groups; and the chairs of standing committees. The second vice president serves as the chair of the annual quilt show. Four meetings of the entire membership are held during the year; the December meeting is designated as the annual meeting.

TMQ feels that education is an important function of the club and provides many opportunities through both the morning and evening groups and through special workshops featuring the talents of local quilters or nationally-known authors and teachers. The Club also owns a library of several hundred books on the subject of quilting and related topics, which is available for use by members. A monthly newsletter, The Newspatch, keeps members informed of events and activities of members.

One Club association of special note is the Nevada Heritage Quilt Project. Growing out of the membership of Truckee Meadows Quilters, the off-shoot organization Nevada Heritage Quilt Project joined a national movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s to document quilts in the state of Nevada, whether made here or elsewhere. The public was invited to quilt appraisal days where professional quilt appraisers evaluated each quilt and compiled a worksheet to permanently record the information. Photographs were also taken of each quilt. Records and photographs of the Nevada Heritage Quilt Project are now at the Nevada Historical Society.