Quilt guild helping to personalize homes

Members of the Old West Quilt Guild are providing house themed quilts for families that are aided by Furnishing Hope and Habitat for Humanity

Member Susan Turnbull said they received information about the project, giving the dimensions and other specifications for the quilts. Each is a 14” by 14” square depicting a colorful, imaginative, happy house. Squares are quilted and prepared to hang with either rings or pop tops in the upper corners.

Labels are also attached with the quilters name, city, state and year completed, as well as instructions to not wash the squares.

Turnbull further explained in 2010 a quilter named Jamie Fingal met with Beth Phillips, the founder and executive director of Furnishing Hope. The mission of Furnishing Hope, Turnbull said, “is to facilitate healing, reduce stress and increase feelings of security for families transitioning into independent living.” This is done through partnering with Habitat for Humanity and other government agencies.

The purpose, Turnbull said, is to allow families who are finally getting their homes the opportunity to personalize them with the house squares.

The next step in the program was adding veterans, and designing patriotic themed squares to homeless veterans and wounded warriors for them to hang when they transition into new homes.

The third step is where the project is now, Turnbull said, and where they Old West Quilt Guild is getting involved. It began in 2017 and is known as Heart of the Home. It’s aimed at displaced women and children who are transitioning into their own homes.

“These little house quilts we’re doing,” Turnbull said, “are intended to give them more a sense of security in their home, a sense of ownership, and to show the recipients there are people out there who care about them.”

From Thermopolis, the house quilts will be sent on to Heart of the Home in Maynard, Mass., and the organization will decide who will receive them.