Welcome! Cumberland Valley Quilters Association (CVQA) of Franklin, TN is a tax-exempt group whose purpose is to carry out the promotion and perpetuation of the art of quilting. Our mission is to educate, encourage, and maintain high standards of design and techniques in the arts of quilting and fiber arts. We strive to achieve this by sponsoring lectures, workshops, and exhibits, as well as performing a variety of community services as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
We’re excited to have you as a member. Our annual dues are $40 and include monthly meetings, access to all speakers (local and national), and our monthly newsletter. Membership also allows you to participate in the quilt show, retreats, and scheduled trips.
CVQA also offers opportunities for fellowship, philanthropy, learning, and of course, more quilts, outside of monthly meetings through small groups and committees. Our small groups cater to specific interests of the membership, while committees help to plan and carry out CVQA business and events.
For questions regarding membership, please email cvqaweb@gmail.com.
CVQA Philanthropy & Community Service
CVQA’s community outreach has a long history of charitable donations. In 2023, we donated more than 200 quilts, plus pillowcases, stuffed animals, and wheelchair bags to our local charities. Through our Quilts of Valor program, CVQA presents more than 100 quilts each year to veterans and active-duty service men and women to honor their service for our country. Each year CVQA donates a spectacular quilt to the Ronald McDonald House annual fund-raising auction. We also have donated handmade quilts to individuals who have suffered fires, flooding, tornadoes, illness, and personal tragedy. It is our commitment to help those who are in need.
Community Care Committee
The Community Care Committee provides quilts, pillowcases, and other sewn items to various community organizations. We donate items to nursing homes, child advocacy organizations, local hospitals, domestic violence centers, foster care children, a group home for boys, and a medical facility that provides healthcare and counseling to persons on a sliding scale payment basis.
We have also participated in quilt donations during tragic events such as tornadoes, floods, and fires throughout middle Tennessee.
The committee meets twice a month on Thursdays to make quilt kits, prepare finished quilt tops to be quilted, and make kits for guild members to sew.
Ronald McDonald House
The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Nashville is to keep families close by providing essential resources (rooms, meals, laundry, support services) and a “home-away-from-home” for families of critically ill children receiving inpatient or outpatient medical care at Nashville area hospitals. The house is full every night and rooms are allocated based on a family’s financial need. On average, only 13% of guests are able to pay10% ($!%) of the cost of the room. Therefore, the House relies mostly on fundraising and volunteers to support the daily operation.
The Ronald McDonald House Quilt Committee completes and donates a quilt each year to the Nashville Ronald McDonald House to support its annual fundraising efforts as an auction item or incentive gift. The committee may provide input to the chairperson on a pattern and fabric selection and may help prepare the fabric and instructions for distribution to guild members. Committee members may also participate in construction of the quilt top, quilting and binding.
Quilts of Valor
The Quilts of Valor (QOV) Committee is sponsored by The Quilting Squares of Franklin and follows the guidelines set by the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Membership in the Quilts of Valor Foundation is optional, but many CVQA members enjoy the opportunity to present the quilts and have access to the QOV patterns.
Membership in the QOV Committee is open to any CVQA member; you must have a love of veterans and be willing to piece, quilt or bind a quilt for a veteran. The guild provides the QOV Committee a budget for materials, besides receiving donations from groups and individuals. There is no fee for a member to participate in this program.
The committee averages 100 completed quilts per year and has presented quilts to veterans of virtually every military organization at the request of family and friends. Some members present their quilts to family members; the committee provides a certificate, care instructions, and a pillowcase to transport the quilt home.
Any service member or living veteran who served in one of the military branches is eligible for a QOV quilt. A QOV quilt says, “Thank you for your service and sacrifice from a grateful nation.”
Thistle Farms Committee
Thistle Farms is a Nashville-based program that provides women survivors with free housing, healthcare, counseling, and job readiness training for two years. The program has a high success rate of enabling the women to re-enter society as productive citizens. This group makes quilts for the women who graduate from the Thistle Farms Program.
CVQA Small Groups
Evening Stars
The Evening Stars work on easy-to-complete small quilting projects, techniques, and charity items. The group meets in Franklin on the third Tuesday of each month from 5:30 to 8 p.m. (except December).
Nimble Thimbles
Nimble Thimbles is a needlework group that meets monthly to work on individual projects. The group meets on the third Thursday of the month from 9 to 1 at the Williamson County Enrichment Center in Studio 3. Meetings are open to the public, both CVQA members and non-members with a $2 fee to the Enrichment Center.
Spring Hill Sit and Sew
This group meets at a home in Spring Hill on the second Tuesday of the month to work on quilts for the Community Care Committee. We complete three or four quilts a year as a group. Members bring their own sewing machines and lunch and spend the day creating and having fun.
Textile Arts Group “TAG”
The Textile Art Group supports the creative process through sharing techniques, tools, and materials to help participants discover their own artistic expression through a variety of media. “TAG” is not project based, but rather focuses on the artistic journey. The members meet on the third Friday of each month at 10 a.m. at the Williamson County Enrichment Center with a $2 fee for each member at each meeting.
Cumberland Valley Quilters Association
Become a Member
We ask that every member select one committee to volunteer for each year. You can find more information on our committees below. Read through the committee descriptions before filling out the membership form as it will ask for your volunteer selection.
For questions regarding committees and membership, please email cvqaweb@gmail.com.
Join a CVQA Committee
** indicates that no volunteers are needed at this time.
Brentwood Library Quilt Display**
Committee hangs quilts for display at Brentwood Library, then takes them down and returns them to the owners.
Bus Trips**
Arranges the annual bus trip to Paducah. Contracts with the coach company for a bus, provides trip details to members and collects money, and orders show tickets from AQS.
Community Care
Makes quilts for organizations and individuals in need. Meets twice a month to cut, sew, quilt and bind quilts. Chairman submits a quarterly report for the newsletter of quilt status and distribution.
Door Prizes**
Collects and provides door prizes to be given away at guild meetings.
Free Items Table
At the conclusion of the monthly meeting, committee members gather up and dispose of any items remaining on the Free Items Table.
Friendship Quilts
This committee makes quilts for members with life-threatening conditions. Members are encouraged to make 12-1/2 inch blocks to have on hand so a quilt can be put together in a hurry. Money is provided in the budget for fabrics, batting, and backing fabrics.
Holiday Party
Plans all the fun, entertainment, food, and decorations for the Holiday Party.
Hospitality
Committee members may be asked to be a hostess prior to the meeting. The hostess will be available to welcome new members and guests, provide information, answer questions about the guild, and introduce them to some of the members. The chairman contacts members and asks them to provide refreshments, if needed.
Library
Chairman is responsible for maintaining and storing the library books and transporting the books to as many meetings as convenient. An accurate inventory of all library materials owned by the guild should be kept. Chairman purchases new books as necessary. Other committee members help transport the materials, set out books, and check them in and out each month.
Meeting Setup/Takedown
Set up tables, chairs, and anything else that may be needed for the general guild meetings. After the meetings, take everything down and put it away. The chairman will be in touch with the Church contact person regarding opening the Church.
Membership
Maintains the membership desk, which includes new member packets, collecting dues, non-member fees, guild pins, button lanyards, and pre-made name tags. They keep attendance and announce for the minutes how many members and visitors were present. Periodically, the committee may put on a new welcome event to officially welcome new members.
Photographer**
Takes pictures at meetings and events and provides photos for the newsletter.
Programs
Selects and contracts with lecturers and workshop leaders for the next calendar year.
Quilt Show
The Quilt Show Committee is responsible for the production of a revenue-generating quilt show scheduled every other year. The committee is a collaboration of small groups, each focusing on the tasks to host the show, such as securing a quilt show location, developing the venue layout, quilt collection and display, vendor recruitment, raffle quilt, silent auction, and a boutique to sell products made by guild members.
Quilts of Valor
Members piece, quilt, bind, and label quilts to be presented to veterans as determined by the chairman. Chairman submits a quarterly report to the newsletter of quilt status and distribution.
Retreats**
Plans and works with the retreat chairman to hold retreats.
Ronald McDonald Quilt**
Committee decides on the type of quilt, provides members with instructions on making the quilt, and finishes the quilt in time for the annual auction in the beginning of March of the next year.
Sunshine**
Mail cards to guild members when necessary. Flowers are to be sent in case of a member’s or spouse’s death, or a donation made to their favorite charity.
Thistle Farms Quilts
Committee members decide on individual quilts to be completed for the next year. Quilts are made for the graduating women from the Thistle Farms Program. Members make the quilts at their own expense.
Williamson County Fair
Coordinates CVQA participation in the quilt show at the fair. Members collect entries, assist judges, hang the quilts, monitor viewing of the quilts, take the quilts down when the fair is over and assist in quilt pickup.
Workshops
Responsible for the hospitality to visiting lecturers and setting up and taking down classrooms. Committee members cover the registration table for classes at guild meetings and collect class fees. At workshops, members help set up and take down the classroom as well as facilitate the needs of instructors.
CVQA – Cumberland Valley Quilters Association
P.O. Box 680561
Franklin, TN 37068-0561
E-mail Us | cvqaweb@gmail.com
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