• A Meet the Artist/Great Lakes Quilters Save Our Stories area where, on a small stage and in front of an audience, quilters can share and have recorded the stories of their experiences. Quilters Save Our Stories is part of a national effort, in collaboration with The Alliance for American Quilts, to document the wonderful stories that have accompanied the tens of thousands of quilts made in this country.
• A Children's Story Book Quilt area where members of The Quilt Guild of Metro Detroit who have made quilts illustrating children's books will read the stories and show their quilts.
• A Quilt Care and First Aid area where festival visitors can view simple archival materials and conservation techniques for caring for and displaying their textiles at home. Members of the Piecemakers Guild of Saginaw will demonstrate quilt restoration techniques and give advice on home quilt care.
• A Michigan Quilt Project Inventory area where quilters and quilt owners can register their quilts in the state quilt inventory and thereby join thousands of others across the country in helping to create and maintain a record of this wonderful artistic heritage.
• In addition to all of the above, the Folk Arts Marketplace will feature for sale the work of Lula Williams of Detroit as well as the members of the Flint African American Quilt Guild. The nearby Children's Folk Arts Activity Center will also feature other hands-on activities for young children and their adult festival companions.

In addition to the host guilds mentioned above, the Capital City Quilt Guild, the Lansing Area Patchers (Lansing, Michigan) and other from all over the state will be helping out.

Genesee Star Quilters
Genesee County, Michigan
Genesee Star Quilters is a non-profit organization whose goal is to unite quilters through furthering the art of quilting. Formed by just twelve individuals in 1985; the group now numbers over 160 quilters. They meet on the third Friday of each month in the Family Center of South Flint Church of the Nazarene and a special "Quilter's Night Out" is scheduled the first Tuesday of each month to learn a new technique or just "sit 'n stitch." The quilt group sponsors educational activities for their members such as lectures, discussions, workshops, seminars, and quilt shows. In 1995 the guild made it a priority to donate quilts to charities and have subsequently provided over 1600 quilts to the Genesee County community. In 2000 alone, they provided 378 quilted items to Hurley Hospital, Eastside Mission, YWCA Women's Shelter, Flint Crisis Pregnancy Center and other agencies. In 2000 they also became involved in a new program with three teachers at Dowdall School. Guild members helped teachers and students make blocks into 24 quilts that were donated to the YWCA Women's Shelter. This year the project was repeated and a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint helped purchase supplies. The students and quilters presented their quilts to the Safe House Shelter. On National Quilt Day, March 17, the quilt guild provided a pizza lunch to the students as a thank you for all their hard work.

Piecemakers Guild of Saginaw
Saginaw, Michigan
The Piecemakers Guild of Saginaw began with 12 members in the spring of 1981. Now, in their 20th year, they are 225 members strong and meet the third Wednesday of the month at the Second Presbyterian Church in Saginaw. The guild brings in professional quilters several times a year to serve as guest speakers and workshop instructors. Piecemakers sponsor many charities including: Underground Railroad, Hospice, Hidden Harvest, the Castle Museum (where they regularly hold quilt shows) and the Hartley Outdoor Nature Center. Guild activities also include many small quilting bees, mini round robins, secret pals, charm square swaps, friendship blocks, clothing round robins, show and tells, Underground Railroad bee, spring and fall retreats, and summer picnics. Piecemakers has a quilt education and preservation committee and maintains a large lending library of quilt books.

Quilt Guild of Metro Detroit
The Quilt Guild of Metro Detroit has approximately 125 members and was established in 1980. The purpose of the Guild is to promote cooperation and interchange of ideas among those who are engaged or interested in quilting; to stimulate an interest in quilting; to promote and advance the art of quilt making; and to present educational programs and services in the design and techniques of quilt making.

They sponsor a quilt show every other year and have established a collection of children's books with stories about quilts. Guild members have made quilts to accompany the books. This collection contains over 70 books and quilts for ages 5-14, separated into two age group categories. The books and quilts are loaned to schools and libraries where they are shared with children. A portion of this collection will be shared with children who attend this year's festival.

Each year a charity is chosen and members of the guild donate small quilts to be used as fundraisers for that charity. There is also an on-going project to benefit the Children's Home of Detroit. To date over 100 twin bed quilts have been donated to the home.

Flint Afro-American Quilt Guild
Flint, Michigan
Although there are few known extant examples of historical quilts and little published information on quilt making among early African-American settlers in Michigan, oral tradition firmly establishes that quilt making has been a widespread activity for many years. While many stories have been recorded of similar experiences with quilts and quilting activities, no one type of quilt or quilting activity emerges in the Great Lakes region that can be called typically African-American. All quilt makers, regardless of race or ethnicity, share the basic traditions of quilt designs, construction techniques, materials, and uses. However, by learning about individual quilters, their stories, and their activities, connections can often be made with distinct African-American experiences.

The Flint Afro-American Quilt Guild was started by Derenda Collins and Jeffalone Rumph in 1989. Members of the group quilt, put on exhibits of their own work, attend quilt classes, shows, and conferences together, and demonstrate quilting at museums, libraries, and festivals, including the National Folk Festival and the Festival of Michigan Folklife.

Lula Williams
Detroit, Michigan
As a young child, Lula Williams occasionally helped her mother, who quilted until she was 85 years of age, and aunts with their quilting by putting pieces and colors together. However, she only returned to quilting in the late 1970s when her then 13 year old son encouraged her to take a course at his high school. She remembered her mother's techniques almost immediately and has been quilting ever since.

Lula has made more than 120 quilts and won numerous awards, including the Michigan Heritage Award in 1997. Her excellent craftsmanship has won her invitations to participate in shows and festivals such as the Festival of Michigan Folklife and the National Folk Festival. In addition, she has taught quilting for a number of years at the Evans Recreation Center on Detroit's northeast side, at the Michigan State Fair Senior Center, and the Tinsdale Recreation Center. She has also been recognized for her teaching and craftsmanship with awards of Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants to teach her skills to other aspiring quilters in her community.

MORE ABOUT QUILTING…
There are more than 15 million quilters in the United States; each quilter engages in some traditional aspect of its production or use. Quilts are made and used most extensively for bed coverings, but they are also used for any everyday purpose for which a blanket or rectangular fabric is used, such as shade awnings, infants’ swing cradles, weather insulation, and a soft place to sit on the ground.
Quilts are also made to commemorate important personal, family, community, and national occasions. Within families, quilts are often made to celebrate a significant birthday, wedding anniversary, graduation, retirement, and as going-away gifts. In many Native American communities, quilts are made to honor the academic, civic, or athletic achievements or service of an individual. They are also made simply to decorate walls.
Every community in which quilting occurs not only recognizes when a textile is a quilt but also sets standards for evaluating quilts. Depending on the characteristics of the community—family, ethnic, occupation, region, etc.—these standards will vary. The designation of a quilt as "art"—like any object—is inextricably tied to its cultural context.