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Copper Country Quilters share wonders of quilting during “Pieces of Friendship” reception
Quilters, like any artist, will pick up their work and put it away again. Sometimes the color scheme doesn’t come easily, and sometimes fabric is a limitation, explain several Copper Country Quilters to GMT in between conversations.
The Copper Country Quilters, a local chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild, gathered in the Center for the Arts yesterday afternoon for the opening reception of their 24th Quilt Show, “Pieces of Friendship.”
The show began a week ago at the center, where a total of 64 quilts now hang, featuring the creative works of more than 20 local quilters, plus several vintage quilts.
GMT had a chance to ask a few quilters about their love of quilting and what inspires their work. Here is what they had to say:
Marge Imperatrice:
Imperatrice picked up quilting when she retired; it was something she always wanted to do. She leans toward traditional quilting, namely old time patterns, over art quilts.
Depending on how many times she works on a quilt, and then puts it away, it can take a week to nine years to make.
For her piece “Who Can’t Draw A Straight Line,” she purchased a kit, which included the fabric. As far as arranging the pieces of fabric, the creativity was left in her hands.
“Lay it out in a pleasing manner,” the kit instructed.
Stella Kennedy:
Kennedy has been sewing for the last 60 years, since her mother first taught her how. She has spent the last four years quilting. For her, quilting is a way to relax.
This piece was inspired by the state guild’s green challenge, challenging quilters to make quilts entirely from recycled pieces.
“We couldn’t spend more than $25 at a thrift store on our pieces,” she says. “I spent $16.40.”
The result was “Fancy Pants,” which she made out of infant’s clothing, including circular skirts, and a bed sheet. Rather than use a pattern, she simply laid the pieces out and started sewing, deciding the pattern as she went along.
Nancy Smitch:
Smitch has been quilting a good 50 years, starting with when she would make a block while her kids slept.
“I just enjoy it,” she says. “I like to sit and do things at night while I watch T.V.”
She often uses colors from a print for a quilt to determine the colors of the other fabrics she uses to fill in the blocks.
Smitch points out “Block of the Month,” a piece she hand-quilted (as opposed to machined). Every month, she made a new block of the quilt.
Like many of her quilts, it took her two years to make.
“I’m on the two-year plan,” she chuckles.
For “Sunrise, Sunset,” Smitch used a jelly roll − 42 random strips of fabric − which she sewed together.
La Verna Andress
“They didn’t have batting like they do today,” says La Verna Andress, holding up a vintage quilt to show its split edge. The open edge reveals where her mother-in-law used another quilt, instead of batting, to fill the space in between.
Her mother-in-law made it in the early ‘50s. Back then, quilts weren’t made for display, they were made for use, she explains, meaning they used whatever material they had.
Jenn Walker began writing for Globe Miami Times in 2012 and has been a contributor ever since. Her work has also appeared in Submerge Magazine, Sacramento Press, Sacramento News & Review and California Health Report. She currently teaches Honors English at High Desert Middle School and mentors Globe School District’s robotics team.
