Quilting is back in vogue
By Dee Dellenbach

The lucky winner Alice Lambert won a Thimbleberries "Toastie Toes" quilt made by the Quality Quilters Extension Homemakers club. The group raffled the quilt to raise money for the EH and Iris McCain scholarships. Pictured, left to right, are Marge Peterson, president of Quality Quilters; Lambert; and Cheryl Shaffer, member of Quality Quilters and president of EH. The club plans to raffle a quilt each year at county fair time. Photo provided

For many years, Marge Peterson happily quilted with the ladies at Flora United Methodist Church until the group dwindled down to just three women.

One evening while she was strolling through the Extension Homemakers building at the 4-H fair, a quilt display caught her eye. The Extension Homemakers were organizing a quilt club - or two. Marge attended the first meeting, given by then-president of EH, Bev Seese. Marge said she was glad to see more than 25 quilters and would-be quilters turn out for the event.

The enthusiastic group split into two clubs that autumn evening in 2003.

Quality Quilters

One of the groups named itself the Quality Quilters and began meeting in the evenings. Virginia Simison was chosen to lead the club.

Stitching for family A member of In Stitches quilting and fiber arts club, Alice Christian has just finished a quilt to celebrate the first wedding anniversary of her son and daughter-in-law. The quilt that she is pictured with is one that she made last year and keeps on her bed. "I love red and I collect lots of it!" she laughed. Comet photo

"We wanted to help those who wanted to learn to quilt," said Marge, who is the current president.

"DeeDee Roth was one who knew little about quilting; she's learned a lot," she said. "In the 4-H fair last year, she won a blue ribbon! Deb Foreman was involved in sewing, and she became a quilter. We taught others how to use the rotary cutters and things like that."

A prolific and veteran quilter with a zest for life, Marge said she likes the club because while she's socializing, she's also learning about the latest trends.

"You always see ladies do things differently than you do, and better! So you learn all the time."

Sew N Sews

The daytime EH club called themselves the Sew N Sews and began meeting on second and fourth Mondays. They bring sack lunches and make a day of it.

Bev Seese, who is the acting president, said "(This club) is more about just people enjoying doing something together than it is about quilting. Like (it was) back several generations, women would get together and quilt. It's about getting together and talking. Our generation doesn't have much of a way to do that. It's a support group!"

In that spirit, some of the members bring other projects to knit or crochet. Each person works on her own project, said member Doris Walton. She, too, enjoys the social aspect of the club.

"We eat lunch together and do a lot of talking!" said Doris.

The club has eight or nine steady members and the group happily welcomes more.

In Stitches

In Stitches was a quilt club begun in February of 2004 at Delphi Public Library by Sara Daly-Brosman. The group found that it had lots of diverse interests and soon blossomed into a "fiber arts" club where members would bring their own projects to work on.

Like Marge, Bev and Doris, Alice Christian enjoys the social aspects of a club.

"I like the people," said Alice. "They're supportive and they want to see what you're doing. The young women are really enjoying the older women. There is a lot of encouragement going both ways."

A retired home economics teacher, Alice started quilting in 1991 after she saw the famous Eleanor Burns on television. She started making baby quilts and has many photos of the babies with their new quilts.

She said her inspiration comes from fabrics that she's fallen in love with or patterns she sees in magazines and books.

The mother of two sons, Alice is the grandmother of four grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren.

"This year, everyone in the family will get a Christmas quilt," she said. She said she has already completed 12.

Cutler Presbyterian Church

The Cutler Presbyterian Church Quilters work as a group, handquilting quilts for other people. The group keeps two quilt frames going all the time and has made as many as eight quilts in a year.

They generally meet during the fall and winter months, and finish up in the spring. This year they hand-quilted a log cabin quilt that Marti Dillman gave them to work on.

"We work until whenever we get done," said Mary Overholser. "It was June this year. We're all older and it depends on how things go. We like to be together. We had six of us all winter."

She said Doris Washington, who now lives in Texas, started the club in 1982 with her daughter, Connie, and Faye Sheagley.

The group recently pieced a quilt for the church's temporary pastor, Jim Long, and his wife, Kathy. "We've made a quilt for every pastor who has been here," said Mary. "This one was a surprise. The church members knew about it and they kept it a secret all winter!"

Mary, who is 89, has been quilting for the past 24 years, since the club began. She said she was married at 16, and had "always sewed at home."

She never had a quilt of her own until a year ago when Doris pieced one for her and sent it to her. It lays over Mary's couch.

Every Monday the Cutler Presbyterian Church Quilters take a sack lunch and share devotions at noon.

Mary said what the group really looks forward to is the homemade rolls that her daughter bakes for the group!

Pleasant Valley Quilters

Pleasant Valley Quilters began meeting 112 years ago at Pleasant Valley Universalist Church.

"My mother used to belong; I bet it's been 75 years," said Ruthina Forgey.

She said there are about eight members who meet at Deer Creek Community Center. They work together to hand-quilt for other people.

Ruthina has been a member of the group for more than 45 years and said the women meet on Tuesdays but are considering "folding up."

"Some members are getting older and some are having health problems," she said. "It gets harder to meet!"

Burlington Quilt Club

She isn't quite sure, but Cora Sherfey believes the Burlington Quilt Club may have started in 1983, about the time Burlington wanted to raise money for a community building. The quilt club raffled a quilt and construction of the building began.

Cora said, "Over the years the membership has died out and the young ones didn't learn to quilt."

She said the group started with 15 or 20 members, but as of last year, they had only four and decided to disband.

"Last winter I wanted something to do and started making a quilt out of the scraps left from the years of quilting," said Cora.

The Burlington leaders asked her if she would donate one more quilt in support of the community center. She couldn't say no.

The newest creation is a flying geese pattern, and was machine quilted by Jackie Young. It is currently being offered for raffle to support the Burlington Community Center.

Those who are interested may call Ken Ritchey for ticket information at (765) 566-3989. T h e quilt hangs at Salin Bank in Burlington.

Americus Quilt Club

Joanne Farrell of West Lafayette said the Americus Quilt Club was established in 1915 and is the oldest active club in America. The group meets twice a month and does hand quilting for others. They are best known in Carroll County for attending Old Settlers and stitching a quilt.