By Lenna DeMarco

2015 is shaping up to be a very busy year for the AZQDP.  Groups in Tucson, Sierra Vista, Wickenburg and Payson are all holding quilt documentation days throughout the year.  Please be sure to refer to the schedule of events column in this newsletter for each group's dates.  Don't forget to visit our Facebook page for updates, pictures, comments, answers to your questions and to find out how to volunteer!

To date the AZQDP has entered nearly 700 quilts onto the Quilt Index.  These are housed under the Arizona Collection.  More quilts are in line for entry and data entry volunteers are working as fast as they can so if your quilt has been documented but not yet posted on the QI, be patient.  It will be soon.

The Executive Board of the AZQDP has taken on the task of documenting quilts in AZ historical museums.  Our goal for 2015 is to focus on locating and recording as many of these collections as possible.  Since February we have documented quilts at the Rosson House at Heritage Square in Phoenix and the Gilbert History Museum.  Cave Creek History Museum and Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg are scheduled for later this year.  If you know of a local museum that has quilts (even two is a collection) let us know.  We want to include as many AZ quilts as we can.

Retiring from the U.S. Geological Survey in 2005, Colleen turned her vast energies to charitable works for the Tucson Botanical Gardens as a docent and to the Tucson Quilters Guild, serving on the Board in one capacity or another for almost 10 years. Colleen became a Friend of the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame in 2008 and a couple of years later joined the Board of the Hall of Fame. For many years, we relied on her strong organizational skills to do various things; specifically she did the monthly Featured Quilt Maker series for our website and annually she took the reservations for our annual Induction Event and worked out the seating chart. No doubt if you attended a September Event you saw Colleen working the front desk or behind the scenes.

In 2014 we sadly said good bye to Colleen as she rotated off the Board for the Hall of Fame but had already became a board member for another quilting charity, Quilt for a Cause. No doubt they are finding her as invaluable as we did. However, Colleen remains a loyal Friend of the Hall of Fame, and recently during the Tucson Quilt Guild Quilt Show, she was ready on a moment's notice to sit at the Hall of Fame booth, filling in when volunteers were scarce. It's this willingness to help and knowing just what to do in an emergency that makes her our Friend for March. Her infectious cheerfulness, extraordinary management skills, her constant charity are some traits that we value so much in our Friend of the Month for March- Colleen Babcock.

I am a third generation Arizonan and am honored to be a featured quilter. Recently, I was delighted to be selected as a member of the 2015 Quiltmaker Scrap Squad. It will be an exciting challenge.

Quilts have always been a part of my life. Family gatherings often found grandkids sleeping around the living room even under tables on pallets made of folded quilts. These quilts were made with love using the fabric on hand: scraps leftover from garment making or pieces cut from old clothing. Both of my grandmothers were appalled the first time that I bought fabric specifically for a quilt. They thought I was being extravagant and wasteful.

My quilts follow their same tradition. While I do buy fabric, I like to use up every scrap if I can. I make my quilts with love to be snuggled, tumbled, and washed as needed. It follows that they are machine pieced and quilted. I have yet to enter a quilt in competition. My favorite is "Bits and Pieces" based on a pattern from All People Quilt.com. I made it to practice machine quilting and liked it so well that it is still on my bed.

My best advice to other quilters: Follow your heart and create what speaks to you in the way that works best for you. Really! No "quilt police" will show up at your door to tell you it's wrong. Unless you are entering it into competition, you can make your own rules.

Good Catch - Purchased applique wall hanging, machine pieced and quilted
This picture also shows a pillow I embroidered and two others that I pieced.