By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Behind the fabric, the stitches and the designs of the quilts and needlework on display at the Quilt and Needle Arts Festival at the Wood County Fairgrounds this weekend are so many stories.
Kathy Donald Haver displayed a quilt that was started 35 years ago by her sister Elizabeth “Betty” Donald Ausderan. After Betty’s untimely death in 1996, the unfinished quilt top, along with a few others, was safely stored in her parents’ home.
Quilting had been a passed-down tradition from their mother Anna Rose Hensch Donald. Eventually, Haver wound up with the unfinished quilts and recently vowed to finish them to honor her sister’s memory and pass them on to Betty’s sons and grandchildren.
“Grandma Betty’s Cabin” was the finished quilt that Haver shared at the festival presented by the Black Swamp Quilters Guild and the Needle Arts Guild of Toledo.
The biennial show, which runs through 5 p.m. today at the Wood County Junior Fair Building, displays the colorful, creative and intricate handiwork of area quilters and needleworkers.
Quilters and friends Patty Lilly and Vicky Werley were meandering through the displays happy to see the work of so many other quilters. Lilly, who had several pieces displayed, was proud of a recent quilt she finished.
She learned to quilt as a child, recalling that her parents would cut up whatever fabric they had around the house.
“We had bags of squares that we’d cut up and use yarn to put old blankets inside,” Lilly said.
She renewed her quilting skills during COVID by watching YouTube videos. Two months ago ,she purchased a Bernina sewing machine, which allowed her to finish with precision and consistent stitching her own quilt for the first time.
“I didn’t think I’d ever be able to finish my own quilt,” she said. “Being able to do that was pretty cool.”
She was very proud of the large teal, purple, gray and white quilt, but Werley’s favorite piece by her friend was a shimmery blue wall hanging that was part of a guild project.
The village scene in shades of blue and silver, was a Diana Trost project. “We had to paint our piece to make it shimmer,” she said. “Everybody made villages, and they all looked completely different. That’s what makes quilting so fun. Everyone brings their own ideas and puts them into their pieces.”
Long-time quilter and former quilt judge Sharon Mareska and her husband John came from Toledo to see the show. She had been involved with the Kaleidoscope Show of Quilts in Toledo before it was discontinued after COVID.
The Quilt and Needlework Festival in Bowling Green was a spinoff of the Kaleidoscope show, Mareska said.
She enjoys planning and designing her quilts. “I get started with an idea using fabrics that I think go well together,” she said.
“It’s kind of fun to come and see and then find, where Gretchen Schultz’s little antique quilt fillers are,” she said.
Schultz, a member of the Black Swamp Quilters and former owner of The Quilt Foundry, shared some of her quilt expertise during bed-turning demonstrations.
Bed-turning demonstrations have long been a part of quilt shows. Stacks of quilts are laid out, like on a bed, and turned to show the audience various features of the quilts. Schultz also talked about some of the history of the quilts she turned.
Quilting for her is a lot about fabrics. She loves finding and studying fabrics. She can often determine the date of a quilt based on the fabrics and quilt patterns.
“Some of the most simple quilts have been the most beautiful ones,” said Nancy Thompson of Bloomdale. “When you have a beautiful piece of fabric and you cut it up, you often don’t see the design of the fabric anymore.”
She likes to experiment with colors and borders and often will make two quilts using different colors to see how it looks with the various colors.
Needleworker Su Pellitieri created “Sudoku Serendipity” from the September 2010 Needle Pointers magazine. The piece was a guild project that most everyone in the grup changed the original color scheme, “so it was fun to compare the pieces in the end,” she said. “I also changed the placement of light and dark colors to form a subtle diamond in the center to complement some of my other pieces.”
Pointing to Lois Wetherill’s “For the Love of Tea” needlework art, Nancy Wright of the Needle Arts Guild of Toledo, said, “Who knew you could sew on tea bags?”
Wetherill’s explanation was “First, you drink the tea, dry the bags, empty the leaves and fuse the onto muslin backing. … “Tea and sewing, a perfect combination.”
In addition to the quilts and needlework featured at the show, there are vendors, raffle baskets and demonstrations to view. Cost to attend is $5 per person, cash only. The show ends today (9/20) at 5 p.m.
