County Seat Newspaper
of Clare County

Crazy Quilters Annual Event a Joyful, Affirming Affair

Quilt Show Highly Educational… and a Real Stitch

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HARRISON – On Oct. 3, the Clare County Crazy Quilters held their annual Quilt Show and Luncheon at 1st Congregational Church in Harrison. The event was exceedingly well attended, with more than 90 women onsite to enjoy the special camaraderie shared by quilters of various ages, be they needle quilters or machine quilters.

A special part of the day was the drawing for this year’s raffle quilt “Connie’s Glory” which was a quilt top pieced by the late Connie MacAlister and finished over the past year by CCC members.

Crazy Quilters President Lisa Waltemeyer said that all the quilt raffle tickets printed had been sold. The fact that winner Kendra Porter was not present did not diminish the group’s positive response to her good fortune. The nearest guess winning the “How Many Spools in the Jar” contest was 1,151; the actual count was 1,127.

The event also included an auction of 26 quilting-related items which sold like quilted hotcakes. There were even a couple bidding wars that could have made the late auctioneer Darell Dunkle proud.

A special presentation was a trunk show by Delphine Miller of Delphine’s Quilt Shop of Gaylord, who brought along some 30 quilts (i.e., a trunk full) to share with attendees. Her talk included a detailed unfolding of her quilting journey across many residences in many states. The opening of her fabrics store in Gaylord 14 years ago created something of a Mecca for quilters who seek all manner of quilt-related items, from fabrics to notions, patterns to books, and classes for those who need guidance or perhaps a challenge. She presented many of her own quilts, each representing its own set of challenges and successes. One was a queen-size which was comprised of 5/8” narrow strips, and all hand-quilted. She also displayed her varying uses of the Double Wedding Ring pattern, exemplifying the totally different looks that result from using different color palettes. Miller also provided an example of how too-near color-matching can cause the loss of detail. Her goal, of course, was to encourage attendees to embrace challenges and enjoy opportunities to create truly beautiful and satisfying works.

The Crazy Quilters also showed attendees their own work on a new challenge project “Fabulous Face” [open to any member who wishes to participate]. Their results were some strikingly innovative quilt-portraiture which included personalizing dimensional items.

The show closed out with the Show ’n’ Tell portion of the day, where quilters were invited to show off what they had been working on. Some were created by newcomers, some by the more experienced – the finely detailed and hand-quilted items all were products of the artists’ love of their art form. The pieces that were machine quilted evidenced their creators’ desire to complete the work and get on to the next creative endeavor, while the hand-quilted ones evidenced the meticulous marriage of patience and skill borne only through a labor of love.

Also shown was the quilt “Garden Flowers” which is being raffled to raise funds for the Gladwin Area Friends of the Theatre’s effort to establish a new theater home. The tickets cost $1 each, with the drawing Nov. 14.

A little quilting research reveals that the majority of quilters are female, age 63 and older, and dedicate many hours per week stitching. Perhaps a little bit of additional information would spur a new generation of quilters to realize that quilting comes with future benefits. The Journal of Public Health reports that making quilts helps people’s cognitive, creative and emotional well-being, particularly among older adults.

So, rather than “a stitch in time” saving nine, perhaps the phrase ought to be “a stitch at the right time saves minds.”

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