
The Quilted Conscience “How To” Handbook is a step-by-step guide, outlining personnel, material, & location requirements. Includes a calendar of events, deadlines, the workshop and exhibition event processes, cultural liaison hints, preparation necessities (including parking & refreshments), and a proposed budget.
In TQC workshops, refugee / immigrant students create Dreams & Memories quilt blocks that are then joined together to form a single mural-size fabric artwork, made to last for many generations.
The Memories blocks are of cultural memories, answering the question, “What is unique in who I am and in where I come from?” and honoring the traditions and heritage of the students’ families and communities, showing what is best and most special to them in their pasts.
The Dreams blocks answer the question, “Who and what do I want to be in my new American life?” These images show the wonderful things that the students will do in their American futures, with careers as nurses, doctors, lawyers, judges, poets, and even football players!

Courtesy Ruth Kupfer, Lincoln Quilt Coordinator
Our great goal in this work is to acknowledge and explore both the contrasts and the connections between diverse cultures. The experience is cross-curricular, involving social-practice art, math, English, social studies, writing, geography, etc. To do this, the local TQC Project Coordinator (who may also fulfill one of the following positions) works in association with:
- An ELL (English Language Learner) Coordinator from the local public school’s ELL.
- A Quilt Coordinator from a local quilt guild (comprised of quilters from the traditional-American community).
- A Site Coordinator from a local host-site institution (such as an art museum/gallery).
This team offers a 5-day Learning Workshop (free-of-charge) to immigrant / refugee children who are newly arrived in the U.S.
You must have prior authorization to use the The Quilted Conscience name and logo in your workshop.
Contact
John Sorensen, Project Director
johnsorensen10012@yahoo.com
for permission to create your own TQC workshop, to share your success stories,
and to be given online recognition for your completed project.