Article by Marcia Darnell
Arts – March 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
THE MONTHLY MEETING of the San Luis Valley Quilt Guild was under way in Monte Vista. The agenda was packed with new business and old business, plans and updates, as with any professional meeting — but at most meetings, the members don’t stitch while they discuss business.
The guild was started in April 1991 by five dedicated quilters. “Some of us wanted to start it, so we did,” one said.
The club now has more than 50 members, coincidentally all women. It also has regular meetings, work sessions, fundraisers, an annual retreat, and a strong tradition of community service.
Meetings are the third Saturday of every month, with instruction or a work session in the morning, then a potluck lunch followed by the business meeting. The group has door prizes at its meetings, as well as “Show and Tell,” in which members exhibit what they’re working on, pointing out new techniques or innovations on old patterns. At this meeting, one member showed the club a traditional quilt pattern, then showed (and told) them her unique twist on the design. Members share ideas and patterns all the time.
The guild provides important preservation work too, documenting and preserving historic quilts for future generations. Last year the club also reproduced quilt patterns from the Civil War era. That meant lots of research and meticulous piecing, because it’s important to re-create patterns precisely.
Many members of the guild are also members of the Colorado Quilt Council, which thinks so highly of the SLV guild that its members travel to the Valley every other year for a meeting.
And the SLV guild is worth the trip. Members donate to the community every year, giving tangible comfort to its neediest people. The members make lap quilts and ABC (children’s) quilts for young crime victims. The local youth detention center has twice received a new quilt for each of its 18 beds. Valley-Wide Health Services, the low-cost health services provider in the Valley, gets a quilt to raffle every Christmas as a fundraiser, and other charities get quilts for auctions, raffles, or sales.
The guild also makes quilts to raise money for its own use, for trips, teachers, and supplies.
“We do a couple of large quilts every year and put them together, says member Rhonda Border.
For fun, the group issues a yearly challenge to its members. A committee comes up with an idea for the challenge in January, be it a certain material to use, a special color, or particular shapes. Those who participate, usually a third of the membership, submit their finished quilts in April for judging by the club. For 2003, the challenge was to use squares and eight half-triangles in the design.
The guild also held a Demonstration Day last April, showing the public different stitches, applique methods, and even machine techniques. Then in June they dated antique quilts which were brought to them — based on fabrics, stitching, and patterns.
After all that work, the guild held a three-day retreat for its members in November. It was a chance for them to work together, share ideas, and enjoy one another’s company.
The women agree that the guild makes them more productive and creative, and the meetings help too.
“If you have a problem, you can come here and someone will help you with it,” says member Jean Davis.
MANY MEMBERS exhibit their creations. The Rio Grande County Museum and Cultural Center in Del Norte has shown many of their quilts, and the Southern Peaks Library in Alamosa displayed one last spring. Some quilters exhibit their work in Denver and Colorado Springs, and at the state fair. The group also places quilts in Alamosa store windows during the summer tourist season — thereby giving to the community in another way.
And the San Luis Valley History Museum in Alamosa participates in a show and craft fair every year in which the guild exhibits its work.
The guild offers classes all year, with well-known teachers coming in throughout the summer for workshops.
In the future, guild members plan on doing much of the same. “Doing what we’re doing and enjoying it,” as one woman put it.
“It’s fun,” says one member. “We do it for the love of quilting,” says another.
All agreed with prolific quilter Bea Mansanarez, who says, “It’s a labor of love.”
For more information on the San Luis Valley Quilt Guild, call Beverly Hettinger at 719-589-4794. To contact the Colorado Quilt Council, log on to www.coloradoquiltcouncil.com.
Unrelated to the SLV Quilt Guild, the Monarch Quilters hold an annual show in Salida; this year it runs Aug. 13-15 at the St. Joseph’s Conference Center.
Marcia Darnell lives and writes in Alamosa.
