Guild hold's 18th annual quilt show

The Flat Iron Quilting Guild of Sanders County held its 18th annual quilt show — “Quilting, Past, Present and Future” — Friday through Sunday in Thompson Falls.

Brenda Shively, quilt show chairperson for the guild, said the show attracted more than 230 visitors with most people coming Saturday and Sunday.

Shively said the amount of people who came to the show was lower than normal and she said there are a few reasons for the low number, including high gas prices, out-of-town sports events and sunshine.

“Attendance was down a little, but how long has it been since we’ve had nice weather,” Shively said.

She said there were 12 vendors at the show, along with the entered quilts. The vendors were offering everything from sewing machines, fabric, and quilt racks.

The quilt show, which cost $3 for admission, is the biggest yearly event for the guild. Shively said it gives the members a chance to display their work and to raise funds for the guild.

Shively said the money collected through the admission fee and the raffles will be used for various purposes, including next year’s show. She said one thing the guild typically uses the funds for is to bring in outside teachers to hold quilting classes.

Shively said the money will also probably go to the guild’s “sunshine quilts,” quilts they make for people who have lost their home to fire. She said there are also lots of guild members who are involved in making lap quilts for injured war veterans and quilts for premature newborn babies.

There were 12 categories for the Best in Class ribbons and Beth Rice-Groshong from Thompson Falls won three of them. Rice-Groshong tied with Jennifer McCrea of Plains in the lap quilts category and won the table runners and woolen/felted categories.

Vi Somerfeld of Heron won the ribbon in the hand quilted bed quilts category and also took the Judges’ Choice ribbon, which was one of the eight special ribbons.

Cindy LaFriniere of Trout Creek took the Round Robin ribbon, Jan Pitts-Longtree won the Challenge ribbon, Judy Faro won the Children’s Choice ribbon, and Shively won the Mayor’s Choice ribbon.

Two of the special ribbons were awarded through a voting process — the Guild Choice ribbon and the Viewer’s Choice ribbon. The Guild Choice was voted on by the members of the Flat Iron Quilting Guild and was won by Marilyn Miller. The Viewer’s Choice ribbon was selected by a vote from the visitors of the quilt show and Joanne Simms took home the ribbon.

Donna Abrams was the featured quilter at this year’s show and the Plains woman had her own display just inside the front entrance. Abrams had many of her quilts out at the show, including what she calls her own personal masterpiece quilt, “Arrowhead Crossing.” The quilt won Abrams the Critic’s Choice ribbon.

Judging duties were assumed by outside quilters, including Judy Rockwell of Townsend, who was a founding member of the Flat Iron Quilting Guild when she lived in Thompson Falls. The other two judges were from In Good Company, a quilting business in Hamilton. Shively said the guild always has judges come in from outside the area for the show.

Shively said she’s had judges tell her that the people in this area make some of the best work they’ve seen.

“They say our work gets better every year,” Shively said.

The show also gave youths a chance to show their quilts and kids from the different Sanders County 4-H Clubs entered their work to be judged. Shively said the quilt show serves as an appropriate venue for the 4-H’ers, who held a Fashion Revue and Patchwork Parade at the show.

“It works out well for them to have it the same weekend,” Shively said.

Mariah Naegeli, a 15-year-old 4-H’er from Trout Creek, won a Best in Class ribbon in the baby quilts category.

There was also a silent auction of quilted items and two raffles at the show. The small raffle was called a “brown bag raffle” where names were drawn from brown bags for smaller quilted items.

The large raffle prize was a quilt won by Sarah Naegeli. The quilt was done in hand appliqué and was hand-quilted by members of the Flat Iron Quilting Guild.

Shively said the quilt show went well, despite perhaps a lower turnout than she had hoped. She said the guild will meet and discuss any alterations they might consider making for next year’s show.

“There are lots of ideas floating around,” Shively said. “There’s always some tweaking to do.”