House of Quilts is a two-day event sponsored by the Valley Quilt Guild of Tuscarawas County on Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 1725 N. Wooster Ave., Dover.
The show will feature a large display of quilts, quilters’ technique classes, vendors, raffle baskets, challenge blocks and winners, bed turning featuring stories about donated quilts, a Quilters’ Boutique and a Quilters’ Cafe.
Also featured will be the raffle quilt, “Bel Canto.” It is a king-size quilt and will be on display at the quilt show.
Tickets will be available for $1 each or six for $5. The drawing will be held at the conclusion of the quilt show on Saturday. The winner need not be present to win.
Admission is $5 for adults, and children 12 and under are free. Free parking is available, and all displays, classes and vendors are on the ground floor. The facility is handicap-accessible.
Marianne Wright is the chairperson for the quilt show and is being assisted by Jane Gingrich.
This year the Valley Quilt Guild is honoring Betty Lou Honaker as the featured quilter for 2019. Honaker has been a part of the guild since its founding and has served as vice president and treasurer.
Honaker is an avid quilter and has made many quilts over the years. She gets her inspiration from retreats and the Piecemakers and Valley Quilt Guild. She has compiled six scrapbooks containing pictures of the quilts she has made, as well as fabric and samples she used in the quilts. Also included in the scrapbooks are additional pictures of projects she has worked on such as knitted baby hats, pillowcases, shoe-box quilts, hospital gowns, children’s books and snuggle-up quilts for an orphanage in Ukraine.
Honaker donates much of her work to organizations such as Harbor House, the Valentine Project, Union Hospital and more.
Honaker said her mother sparked her interest in quilting as a young child. She watched her mom make quilt tops and transport them to her grandmother in Minnesota to be quilted. The next summer the quilted tops would be picked up with new ones quilted to be delivered.
Over the years her mother made three quilts for each of her seven grandchildren, which included a pieced quilt, an embroidered quilt and an applique quilt.
Barb Exley, Honaker’s friend, also influenced her in quilting. Exley encouraged her to join a quilting group that she was organizing at her church. Exley encouraged her to develop new skills and try new techniques.
The arrival of fine quilting fabrics and notions in stores only peaked Honaker’s interest in her hobby. Amy Jones, Karen Maddox, Joyce Levengood, the Underground Quilters and various quilting workshops helped her to improve her techniques and quilt-making skills.
Honaker said most of her quilts are queen-size, easy-beginner tops with vibrant colors. She enjoys making disappearing nine patch, string quilts and snuggle-up quilts, and her favorite technique is string quilting.
As of late Honaker has discovered “precuts” and enjoys working with “layer cakes.”
Honaker has expanded her repertoire of quilting techniques to include applique. She has made two quilts for her grandsons. One is a Noah’s ark quilt with matching bumper pads, and the other is one inspired by the wallpaper in one of her grandson’s bedrooms. She was able to duplicate the wallpaper pattern and turn it into an applique quilt.
Honaker’s favorite quilt is her Bargello. She learned this technique at one of the first retreats she attended, and the quilt has earned a special spot in the entry way to her home. She has made other quilts that have a special meaning to her, but one in particular is an attic window “I Spy” quilt for her grandson that contained all his favorite things.
Quilts she has made from fabric with a special meaning include throws made from a mother’s dresses to give as a remembrance to her two sons and a Dresden Plate quilt that her mother left her in a suitcase that was already cut out and pieced. This was one of the last quilts that was quilted by the Sharon Moravian Church.
Honaker has passed her love of quilting on to several family members including her daughter, daughter-in-law (who passed it on to her sister) and 10-year-old grandson.
Honaker said over the years the techniques, fabric, materials and tools for quilting have changed. She still has the cardboard templates she used to make one of her early quilts.
The material that is used for quilting today is much finer than that used years ago to make aprons and dresses. Hand quilting has given way to machine quilting, and Honaker said “machine quilting” takes just as much skill and knowledge as hand quilting.
Honaker has only hand quilted one quilt. She machine quilts a little on her regular sewing machine. Her best advice to someone interested in quilting is to get started and seek out guilds for support and instruction.
Honaker is a member of the Piecemakers and the Valley Quilt Guild. She has devoted much of her time and talent to making quilts for various community organizations including Harbor House, Union Hospital, overseas orphanages, Tuscarawas County Library, the County Home and the Valentine Project. Her donations have included “I Spy” quilts, veterans’ quilts, pillowcases, baby hats and others.
Honaker said she has shared her talents with others. She spent five months in Hennis rehab recuperating from a spiral fracture suffered on Dec. 31, 2018. At an afternoon program she gave a demonstration with the help of Dee Cottrell, a resident, on how to construct an “I Spy” quilt. While at Hennis, Cottrell and Honaker put together three “I Spy” quilts.
Honaker said she will talk to anyone who has an interest in quilting, hoping to pass on her knowledge and spike their interest. She works on quilting projects and prepares kits for community-service projects about three hours a day. She enjoys doing this at a table in her living room, where all her supplies are close by.
Honaker said the most rewarding thing about quilting for her is helping others who are incapacitated or hurting because of disaster.
Honaker is a graduate of Mount Union University, where she received her undergraduate degree, and Kent State University, where she received her master’s degree.
For many years she served as a library supervisor for the Indian Valley School District. She has two daughters, two sons, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Her husband, who served as county superintendent for many years, is deceased. She is 94 years old.
The Valley Quilt Guild is a nonprofit organization. It meets the third Wednesday of every month, except December, at 7 p.m. in the fellowship hall of the First United Christian Church of Christ, 201 Fair Ave. NW, New Philadelphia. The building is handicap-accessible. New members are welcome.
The meetings include a short business meeting, guest speakers, instructional technique demonstrations, and participation in community service and charitable organizations. The guild has participated in service organizations that include Harbor House, Hospice, Union Hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital, Meals on Wheels, Mercy Medical Hospital, American Red Cross, Tuscarawas County Library, the foster/adoption care unit of the Tuscarawas County Job & Family Services, Women’s Shelter, and the Valentine Project.
For more information about the Valley Quilt Guild, call Chris Brauning at 330-365-9707.
