Northeast Iowa Quilt Guild hosting ‘Airing out the Quilts’ event during Hay Days
Betty Ball
Diane Philpott
Sheryl Mielke
Sonja Sersland
The Northeast Iowa Quilt Guild, in collaboration with Hay Days, is hosting an “Airing out the Quilts” event on Saturday, June 12, from 1 to 6 p.m. Quilts will be on display in the Monona Living Faith United Methodist Church. Quilts will be shared by guild members, the hosting church members and former guild members from this area. A rummage sale of sewing items will also be on site. Church ladies will provide refreshments.
Featuring some of the former members will make this a special event. The following is just a bit of information shared by four of these amazing quilters.
Sheryl Mielke shared her love of quilting that started when she was laid off from her job. At the time, she used fabric from skirts and found a pattern book at the local dime store. The Guild was important in teaching skills. Some ladies who helped her were Linda Cook, Glenda Henkes and Betty Ball. She started out with nine patch blocks and moved on to Ohio Stars, Texas Stars and Bargellos. She said the best parts of the Guild were friendships and the teaching programs.
Sonja Sersland learned to sew from her mother and home economics classes in school. Then, sewing included making clothes for herself and, later, her children. Glenda Henkes and Betty Ball were influential in getting Sonja quilting. Her hand quilting is beautiful. The Guild, at that time, did special block exchanges and gave blocks for birthdays. Teaching how to put blocks together, seeing what others were making and the fellowship with fellow quilters were some of the best parts of belonging to the Guild for her.
Diane Philpott learned how to sew at age 9 when she joined 4-H, sewing clothes. Quilting came later when she took classes with Betty Ball. Diane also hand quilts her projects. She likes to make quilts with big stars or big pieces which show off the hand stitching. Diane really enjoyed when others in the Guild showed what they had made.
Betty Ball, now almost 90, has shared her love of quilting with many people over the years. She started sewing rags on her mom’s treadle sewing machine. She was so little that she had to stand to move the peddle as she taught herself to sew. She, to this day, loves scrappy quilts with small pieces and many colors, and is not one to throw away bits and pieces of fabric. When Betty was quilting, it would take about three months to piece and hand quilt her projects. Her aunt, who she called “the cat’s meow” of quilters, got her started with quilting. Betty started sewing on feed sacks and, over the years, has gotten a big stash of fabric. In earlier years on the farm, Betty would work all day on the tractor, make supper and then quilt until 3 a.m. According to Betty, quilting is addictive. She likes to think she has a deep passion for it. She really liked getting new ideas from others at the Guild, and she said working in groups always seemed to make her better at her talent of quilting.
The Northeast Iowa Quilt Guild is a group that loves to sew quilts. Members come from the northeast Iowa area, including Prairie du Chien, north to Waukon and New Albin, west to Elgin and Fayette and south to Guttenberg and Elkader.
In addition to the June 12 quilt event, the Guild is hosting one in Decorah on July 8. Look for information about these upcoming events on the Guild Facebook page.
