Over the course of the 4th of July weekend, The Southwest New Mexico Quilters Guild turned the historic Silver City Woman's Club into a rainbow of color. A quilt show entitled GǣSilver City SamplerGǥ gave visitors a true sampling of what quilting in Grant County is all about.
Besides the array of quilts being judged on their color, composition and technique, the guild offered a wide variety of handmade items for sale at their Unique Boutique. Monies raised by the quilt show will go towards funding guild outreach projects such as: scholarships for Silver City and Cobre school teachers to purchase supplies for fiber art projects; materials for donation quilts including GǣCop Car QuiltsGǥ which are given to city, county and state police officers to carry in their units when encountering children involved in domestic or other disturbances; quilts for the cancer center at Gila Regional Hospital; the newborn program; new Habitat for Humanity homeowners; and Quilts of Valor, an international project which presents comfort quilts to veterans as a thank you for their service to our country and community.
Show co-chairwomen, Jude Casco and Terri Summers, announced the winning quilts in each judged category:
Best of Show Claudia Toenies
Hand Pieced and Quilted
Lap Size Claudia Toenies
Twin Size Claudia Toenies
Machine Pieced and Quilted
Twin Size Maria Garcia
Machine Pieced and Long Arm Quilted
Lap Size Carol Pickering
Twin Size Roxana Marsh
Full/Queen/King Lawana Beem
Wall Hangings
Hand Quilted Lucille Bell
Machine Quilted Kathy Cole
Group Quilt Mini Quilt Group
Novelty Quilt Jude Casco
Honorable Mention for new quilters,
new techniques, or unusual design
Sue Brack
Carol Pickering
Sandy Raines
Nancy Tittman
4-H Girls Quilt of Valor:
Brooklynn Allred, Sarah Gardner, Lizzy McDonald, Sahara Smith and Bella Tovar
People often question the sanity of quilters who can take a perfectly good piece of material, cut it up into little pieces, and then spend days, even months, sewing it back together again. This year's People's Choice Award winner, Nancy Tittman, epitomizes that thought with her 4,000+ piece quilt GǣStarry, Starry Nights.Gǥ
And finally, the correct guess for number of spools in the bin was Margana Bottoms, also of Silver City. Marganna will receive a variety of hand quilted items for her efforts.
The Southwest New Mexico Quilters Guild meets on the 1st Tuesday of every month at the Grant County Extension office. Anyone interested in quilting, new or expert, is invited to join the group and help prepare for the next quilt show coming up in 2018. For guild information contact President, Carol Pickering at nmhoosierhoney@gmail.com or Membership Chair, Terri Summers at tsummers@gilanet.com .