A quilt will forever be displayed at the Thomas Center, but it won’t hang off a bed.
The City of Gainesville formally announced the quilt Tuesday. Members of the Fiber Art Bee, a part of the Quilters of Alachua County Day Guild, donated the Thomas Center Quilt to the City of Gainesville’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department in October. The quilt took one year and 14 people to make, said Gretchen Brooks, one of the people who worked on it.
The members of the Fiber Art Bee wanted to model the quilt after a piece of architecture, she said.
“We decided we wanted to do an iconic representation of Gainesville or Alachua County,” Brooks said.
The Thomas Center beat out contenders such as the Hippodrome State Theatre, Century Tower and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, she said.
Twelve Fiber Art Bee members randomly selected sections of the photo of the Thomas Center to transform into a sliced quilt, in which distinct patches are sewn together to make a complete quilt.
“We were just wowed that it had all came together,” she said.
The quilt is displayed in the center’s conference room.
“It’s both a beautiful piece of art, but for those of us who love the Thomas Center dearly, it is very sentimental and heartwarming to see,” said Russell Etling, the department’s cultural affairs manager.
