Valley Quilt Guild Quilters stitch together lifelong friendships

Rich burgundy, deep cobalt blue, purple, sunny yellow and striking red – the abundance of color combined with craftsmanship at the Valley Quilt Guild’s fall quilt show created a truly stunning effect. At least 150 handmade quilts were displayed on three floors, including a maze of quilts displayed on the first floor of the First United Church of Christ in New Philadelphia on Oct. 10.
The quilt show exhibited a fascinating array of quilt types, made by dozens of quilters. Some were very traditional, with uniform figures stitched across an expanse of cloth. Others were extremely contemporary, startling the eye with unusual shapes and color placement.
“We set up the guild for community outreach and quilting education,” stated Amy Jones, one of the founding members, who made her first quilt in 1978. “The guild started as an offshoot of a casual quilting group, the Piecemakers, who meet every month for a get-together at New Dawn Retirement Center in Dover.”
“The Piecemakers meet for about one and one-half to two hours, on the first Sunday of the month,” explained Karen Maddox, a guild member since 2004. “That group has a meeting where perhaps each makes a (quilt) block, then one person’s name is drawn, and the winner gets to take all the blocks home. It’s very casual, but the guild itself is a very organized group,” said Maddox.
The Valley Quilt Guild is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of quilt making. The group enjoys fun and fellowship, while encouraging others to get involved. To that end, the guild also sponsors a mentoring program. Newcomers to quilting can be mentored by Jones and other experienced craft people. The mentors walk through the quilt making process step by step with the novices, assisting them in choosing a project pattern, colors, and fabric, then closely helping them until they have a completed project, including the steps for piecing, layering, quilting, and finally, attaching the binding.
At the quilt show, Paula Connerton, of Dover, was inspired by what she saw. Although she has never quilted before, she found herself drawn to the craft. As a result, she agreed to attend the guild’s next meeting and be mentored by Jones. Before leaving the show, she selected the fabrics for her very first quilting project. “I just love the idea of this,” she commented enthusiastically. “This is something I really want to learn to do.” The guild welcomes newcomers like Connerton, who can enjoy all the benefits of the guild for a $25 a year membership fee.
In addition to their monthly instructional meetings, the guild provides a newsletter, As The Needle Turns, hosts a quilt show every 18 months, offers workshops, hosts road trips, and provides community service and charity projects, including making beautiful quilts for Harbor House and Hospice participants. “Each of us bring in a block to each meeting, then as a group at one of our workshops, we put the blocks together to make those quilts,” said Sharon Price, current quilt show chairperson. The guild can also make special order custom quilts, with proceeds going to the organization.
Some guild members specialize in traditional hand quilting, while others focus on machine quilting. Others only do their own quilt top piecing, and hire professionals with long arm sewing machines to do the intricately designed final quilting. Some quilters are new to the art, others learned at their grandmothers’ knee. Many are women, but there are a growing number of men quilters as well.
“What’s so interesting about quilting is the variety,” exclaimed Maddox, a 25-year quilting veteran, as she motioned to the riotous walls of color around her. “You can make one quilt pattern six times, and it will be different every time, depending on the colors used.”
With thousands of quilt patterns available, with interesting names like attic window, braid, drunkard’s path, flying geese, log cabin, nine patch, snowball, pin wheel, rail fence, four patch hearts, and windmill, there are always new frontiers for quilters to explore in the pursuit of their craft. But for many, their love of quilting is also closely tied to the lifelong friends they make through the guild. There is yet another pattern, a colorful juxtaposition of tiny hearts and blocks dancing across a quilt top, which seems to sum it up well. It is the called the Friendship Swap.
The Valley Quilt Guild meets the third Wednesday of each month at the First United Church of Christ, 201 Fair Avenue NW, New Philadelphia, at 7 p.m. For more information, contact the guild at 330-364-3709 or 330-343-1896.