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Messenger photo by Linda Dillman
Members of Quilters on the Canal admire a block-of-the-month quilt top recently completed by member Georgia DeFrain. Pictured from left to right are Linda Elliott, Wilma Faught, Emma Wagner, Georgia DeFrain, and group leader Joyce Barrett.
Quilters create colorful art
By Linda Dillman
Staff Writer
On Monday mornings, the inside of the Steube Community Center in Canal Winchester looks like a rainbow as members of Quilters on the Canal tend to their quilting projects in colors from brilliant red to ocean blue.
Amid yards of calico coaxed into stars, blocks, cabins, and flowers, gentle conversation and laughter rises above the clickety clack of needles and scissors. Reminiscent of sewing circles and quilting bees popular decades ago when the pace of life was slower, Quilters on the Canal continues to foster a love and appreciation for handmade coverlets and quilts.
"I started the group seven years ago with the intent of teaching at the community center," said organizer Joyce Barrett. "I asked if anyone would be interested and had five people show up on the first day and they started working on whatever they wanted to do."
On any given Monday, up to 15 people fill the center with projects ranging from basic shape piecing to the final touches on a nearly complete quilt.
"It's such a unique group," said Barrett, "who range in age from 55 to 85. We also have a couple of younger people. When I started the group, I saw all these older women with these beautiful quilts that nobody had seen, so we held a one day show last year on the day of the Labor Day Festival parade."
This year the Quilters on the Canal quilt show runs from noon to 6 p.m. during the Canal Winchester Labor Day festival from Sept. 4-6.
"We're featuring a quilt by our oldest member, Emma Wagner, who will also be working on a crazy quilt on Sunday and Monday at noon during the show, and three quilts by another member who passed away, Jody Smith," said Barrett. "We will have on display a quilt designed by Judy Belshe, which will be raffled off in support of the American Diabetes Association."
Belshe designed a block-of-the-month design in January that fellow quilters use to construct their own projects. Barrett said everyone uses their own color combinations and, although the quilts appear similar, they are different.
"I've sewn all my life," said Belshe as she arranged the blocks for a quilt filled with an Asian ginger jar pattern during an Aug. 30 session. "One day I met a lady from the group who was shopping at Joann's. She asked my help in picking out some colors and told me about the group. All of us share so much in common, yet there are also so many differences, but we have this one thing in common that hooks us together. It's a wonderful group. We take field trips and have our quilt show. It's a craft that has not been allowed to die."
Everyone is free to work on their own, the sisterhood of handwork is a common thread linking the ladies to each other.
"The whole key for me is women getting together like the old days when there were sewing circles enjoying the fellowship," Barrett said. "I started quilting about 20 years ago and never stopped. I love seeing the colors come together. I love the traditional patterns and putting them together. I think women will, hopefully, always sew and make quilts."
Quilters on the Canal is open to anyone and people who knit or crochet are also invited to join the group. Members start arriving at the community center at 22 S. Trine St. in Canal Winchester on Mondays around 9 a.m. and work at their own pace. For information call 837-8276.
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