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2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Thursday, August 06, 2009 11:32 AM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Diane Johns, left, and Katie Jones, both members of the Osa-Lane Stitchers Quilt Guild, hang a quilt Wednesday afternoon in preparation for this weekend’s Osa-Lane Quilt Show at Lane United Methodist Church, Fifth and Oak streets, Lane. The quilt show will be part of the Lane Agricultural Fair.

Quilt show; ‘It’s a blessing we’re all there together’

By BRIAN WILLIAMS, Herald Staff Writer

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Pauline Pool, left, Mary Ellis, center, and Donna Koontz, all members of the Osa-Lane Stitchers Quilt Guild, register quilts Wednesday afternoon at Lane United Methodist Church, Fifth and Oak streets, Lane.

LANE — They come together every Tuesday.

They come from Greeley, Princeton, Paola, Osawatomie and other small towns around Lane. They come to the Lane United Methodist Church to talk about the things going on in their lives over pieces of fabric and patterns.

“I like it all, putting quilt blocks together, going down with the ladies and quilting, and the fellowship,” Pat Snow, of Lane, said.

“It’s a blessing that we’re all there together,” Snow, who at 80 is the Osa-Lane Stitchers Quilt Guild’s oldest member, said.

“I always call it our therapy session,” Nina Gerkin, of rural LaCygne, said.

“You get a lot of ideas from each other, and you find out how everybody’s doing and how their families are,” she said.

Family was present in many ways Wednesday afternoon as the guild members met at the church to prepare for the annual quilt show, which runs in tandem with the Lane Agricultural Fair.

Husbands and daughters helped put chairs on top of tables to display the creations that were hung over them.

Amid the smiles and laughter from the women checking in quilts and hanging them for display, Reita Woodall, Osa-Lane Stitchers president, said the show had about 100 entries last year and she expects the same, if not more, this year.

New to the show this year are aprons and clothes pin bags made by the guild’s members. They can be seen from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the church, Fifth and Oak streets, Lane.

Family went into the quilts, as some displays showed colorful handprints of children and grandchildren pressed into blocks. Others had names stitched into them.

A friendship quilt made in 1954 hangs with the names of all of the women who helped make it.

“My name’s there,” Snow said as she pointed at the quilt. “Mine, my husband’s and my three kids.”

“That’s my mother and father-in-law’s [names],” Snow continued.

Another quilt made three years ago has the names of the women who meet each Tuesday night.

When they meet, it is for others as much as it is for each other.

The guild has sent about 40 quilts and packages of cookies and treats to area service personnel in Iraq. In 2007 when flood waters hit the area, the guild made 16 quilts for Tri-Co special services for those who lost their homes and possessions.

“We just wanted to do it,” Woodall said. “We had so much ourselves, we wanted to give to those who didn’t.”

The guild has made quilts for families who have had a fire and sent quilts to the veterans living in an Osawatomie nursing home. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department received some quilts and toys for children who needed them, Woodall said.

Like a service agency, the Osa-Lane Stitchers are prepared.

“We always keep a quilt or two on hand for people who may need it,” Woodall said.

Donna Koontz, Osawatomie, unfolded the group’s latest charity quilt. It is one of three quilts, where each member made a block to be used for the quilt.

When asked what charity the quilt was made for, Koontz answered for the group.

“We don’t know yet,” she said. “We haven’t gotten that far.”

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Quilt show; ‘It’s a blessing we’re all there together’

By BRIAN WILLIAMS, Herald Staff Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.