Quilt Discovery Day is an event held to find and document the history of quilts that are currently located in Florida. The Sunshine State Quilters Association (www.ssqa.org) is sponsoring the Florida Quilt Project to permanently document quilts with as much of their history as possible. All quilt lovers and historians will be able to access and enjoy the information online in the national Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org). The All Star Quilters Guild is participating in the Florida Quilt Project by holding a Quilt Discovery Day on Saturday, March 19th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the First Christian Church, 11924 San Jose Blvd.

Why is there such a need for quilt documentation? Quilts, in most cases, are handed down within families. They are part of a family's history. Since quilt making has historically been done primarily by females, documentation is an act of recording women's history as well. Documentation records the quilt's history: when it was made, by whom, where and why it was made, how it was used and the previous and current owner. This adds meaning and richness to a quilt for future generations and quilt historians.

The Quilt Discovery Day will give those in our area access to the documentation process. Quilts will be measured carefully, described completely, photographed and the history of each quilt maker will be recorded. Even if the story of your quilt and its maker are no longer known, a picture and description of the quilt are still valuable for this endeavor. Quilts do not need to be "Florida made" to be part of the Florida Quilt Project. Any quilt currently in the state may be documented. Quilts may be of any age, though we are especially interested in documenting older quilts before their history is lost. You may bring up to three quilts for the Quilt Discovery Day. Please bring any available information on the actual quilt maker.

If you have any questions about this, contact Sunnie at sunsky@comcast.net or 262-0268.