For a small fee, Stettler residents could see a large amount of craftsmanship at the Heartland Quilters’ Guild Quilt Show at the Legion on June 14 and 15.
About 25 people displayed quilts on the weekend, and the designs ranged from snowflakes to Dr. Seuss.
In addition, the guild made 17 quilts to be donated to Little Warriors, an organization that helps victims of sexual abuse, based out of Edmonton.
Not all the quilts displayed were made by quilters in the guild.
“If you like quilting, we want you to come,” said Jean North, who is a member of the guild. “You don’t have to belong to the guild. As long as you’re a resident of the town or the county of Stettler, we’d love to have all the quilts.”
The guild began 25 years ago, and North and fellow member May Pollock agree that the best part of being in the guild is socializing and seeing friends.
“It’s kind of my social life,” North laughed. “As my kids say, it keeps me off the streets at night.”
Pollock hoped that visitors to the show gained an appreciation for the effort that goes into making a quilt.
“I don’t think most people realize the cost that goes into making it,” North said. “For an example, for a rag quilt...the material alone is worth over $100. Then you have the batting that goes in it, and the thread, and your work.”
Both North and Pollock have been in the guild since the beginning, but were both quilting before that. By their own admission, they weren’t working seriously at it, and not to as high a quality that their quilts have now.
Though North loves quilting, she wouldn’t recommend it as a hobby unless the individual was really interested and committed.
“I think you have to really want to do something like that,” she said. “I think you have to be interested in it, and then as you get into it, you’re dragged in kicking and screaming if need be.”