Wanted:

Quilt Piecers. No Experience Required.

By Nancy K. Crevier

With the aid of local quilter Peg Jacques, C.H. Booth Library children’s librarian Alana Bennison has come up with a creative idea to link literature and the celebration of the library’s 75th anniversary this year. The children’s department, working with local quilting groups Sew Together Gals and the Scrapbaggers, will be designing hand-sewn wall quilts, approximately 50 by 50 inches each, featuring the signatures of children’s authors. Each author’s signature will be surrounded by a hand-pieced star pattern made of fabrics relating to the author’s works. The quilts will be auctioned off at the Anniversary Gala in September, and money raised will benefit the children’s department of the library.

“These quilts are also known as Friendship or Signature quilts,” said Ms Jacques, and were particularly popular during the 1930s. The autographed quilts were made for neighbors in need or for friends or relatives moving away. Celebrity quilts, in which quilters gathered signatures on cloth from famous people, were also the rage during this time period, and it is this idea on which the anniversary quilts for the library are modeled, Ms Jacques said.

Ms Bennison and Ms Jacques have already received signature squares, many embellished with artwork by the authors, from 18 of the 23 authors that they queried. Readers will recognize the names of Steven Kellogg, Billy Steers, Eric Carle, Hans Wilhelm, Patricia Polacco, and Mary Pope Osborne, who are among those authors and illustrators that have enthusiastically responded.

But a quilt does not sew itself. Ms Bennison and Ms Jacques are looking for 20 people, ages 11 and up, to take part in four quilting workshops March 3, 10, 24, and 31, from 10 am to noon, at the library. Participants will learn the basics of hand piecing, so all that is needed is a desire to work and the willingness to commit to the four Saturdays in March. Sewers will need to bring home their pieces in order to finish them in time for all of the support and autographed squares to be pieced together at the final meeting. Experienced quilters from the local quilting groups will do the final quilting when the cover pieces are finished. At least four quilts will be made for the auction, said Ms Jacques.

“At the first meeting, we will learn about design and put people together on teams. At the March 10 workshop we will teach how to ‘piece’ and the sections will be taken home to be worked on there,” Ms Jacques explained. “If you can learn a running stitch, or already know it, that is all you need. It’s a great opportunity for parents and children to work together,” she said. Nor should men and boys be afraid to take part in the workshops. “Some of the top quilters in the country right now are men,” said Ms Jacques.

The literature part of the project, said Ms Bennison, comes into play more than once. “We are going to ask the piecers to read the books by the authors whose squares are on their quilt. After the quilts are finished this summer, we want to have a gathering for all who worked on them, as well as children, maybe one or two of the authors, and we will read some more books then,” she said.

“These are going to be real heirloom quilts,” she said. “Some of the authors and illustrators wrote little notes when they returned the signed fabric square and those notes will go with the quilt when it is auctioned off.”

The organizers hope to raise at least $500 for each of the one-of-a-kind quilts.

Sign up for the quilting workshops at the main circulation desk on the second floor of the C.H. Booth Library. Questions about the project can be directed to Ms Bennison at 426-3851.