A quilt on display that was raffled throughout the quilt show which took place at Yadkin Senior Center in Yadkinville on Sept. 7 and 8.
Quilts created by Lucy Welch and Hattie Vestal on display at the quilt show at the Yadkin Senior Center in Yadkinville on Sept. 7 and 8.
The Yadkinville Senior Center held its first quilt show on Sept. 7 and 8.
The show was presented by the Yadkin County Quilter’s Guild.
The guild meets every Tuesday at the center to quilt from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the hold meetings once a month.
Lavania Gilliam, director of the Yadkin Senior Center, said that a donation from a past guild member’s family is what sparked the inspiration for the show.
“Francis Baity’s family donated the last quilt that she was working on but didn’t get to finish and they donated that quilt to the center to raffle,” Gilliam said. “That is what started the idea for the show because we were thinking about how we were going to display it and we just decided we should display with other quilts and just make it a show.”
This posed as the perfect opportunity because the group had been hoping to host a show for the center.
“We’ve been planning a show for some time,” said Hattie Vestal, a guild member. “We have showed some of our quilts at the Yadkin County Arts Council but this is the first show we’ve ever had here at the senior center. We used to have shows at Yadkin Nursing Home a long time ago.”
Vestal joined the guild shortly after retiring from RJ Reynolds. She says that she had no quilting experience but she wanted something to fill her time after retirement.
“I couldn’t sew a straight seam or anything but we had instructors that taught me how to cut my material and how to do a pattern and they just took control of me and they taught me how,” Vestal said.
Each year the guild completes approximately six quilts. They donate two of those quilts to different organizations in the county so that they can auction or raffle them for fundraising.
The quilts are a labor of love for most of the guild members. Many of them have been quilting since they were children and they just enjoy the atmosphere of being with other quilters.
“I love to quilt and I’ve done it for years,” said Linda Ryland, a guild member. “I started teaching quilting and when I was around other quilters I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it. When you’re around other quilters you tend to feed off each other.”
Ryland teaches quilting at Sewingly Yours in Lewisville and she found that her time spend with the Yadkin County Quilter’s Guild has allowed her to build on her teaching skills while still being around people she loves.
“It’s my way to relax,” Ryland said. “I have a degree in art and quilting is my art form. I’ve tried all different kinds of things through the years and I realized that I needed to settle down to one and I chose quilting.”
The show featured 54 handmade and machine made quilts as well as some crocheted pieces as well.
There was a $3 fee for entrance to the event and a raffle quilt on display. Quilt artists also paid a fee to enter their quilt in the show.
“The proceeds will go into the budget,” Gilliam said. “We really need a new roof for the center. The guild is very conscientious about keeping the senior center just like it is and they want to help promote it and help get the roof fixed. They want a new roof so they can continue to quilt here.”
The guild and the center are hoping to make the show a yearly event and already have ideas and plans on how they will improve it next year.
“We would work on trying to get the word out a little better and we would have a deadline on the entries because it’s too hard to try to get all of the paperwork done and get it numbered and signage for it,” Gilliam said. “We would also like to expand on our vendor area because we weren’t really sure what to expect this year. It will definitely improve next year.”
Overall the guild and the center felt that the event was a positive experience and a way to bring the community together to see the art goes on at the senior center.
“It was a great event for people to come out and see all the different designs and the names of the quilts,” Gilliam said. “I was amazed by the names that they had come up with for the quilts. You have to really look at a quilt to see the different designs.”
The Yadkin County Quilter’s Guild currently has 12 members. The membership fee is $24. Contact the Yadkin Senior Center to learn more about the guild.
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.
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