Quilt show a success

The multipurpose room and the hallways of Superior High School were draped with beautiful pieces of arts. Quilts of all colors, patterns, shapes and designs were hung throughout the school for the Cabin Fever Quilter's Show entitled "A Century of Growth," to commemorate the Fire of 1910.

"These quilts are just beautiful," commented Dorothy Hunton as she took her time to look over each one.

Katherine Raether who's been quilting for fifteen years said that for a guild as small as the one in Superior, the show is wonderful and features over 100 different quilts, uniquely made. The show is also free to get into.

"I get inspired by seeing others people work at the show," Raether said. "It's art. It's inspiring."

Raether first became involved with quilting when she saw a quilt she adored and asked her sister to make it for her. Raether ended up buying the supplies and then had to turn around and quilt it herself as well.

"I've been quilting ever since. It becomes a passion," Raether said.

Raether said that she enjoys choosing projects that are challenging to her. She said she enjoys quilting with circles.

"Quilts with circles seem to be what I like," she said. "They just appeal to me."

Raether joined the guild five years ago and said she absolutely loves it.

"I've learned so much from the other quilters there," Raether said.

The guild was formed in 2001 by the two featured quilters of this year's show, Kathleen Brown and DeLoyce Tyler, who formed a business together, Mountain Patchwork in 2003, which revolves around creating patterned squares.

"We do the little double stitch and they are all done by hand," Brown said of their framed squares. "We design quilt patterns."

The two ladies met each other a few times at picnic events and soon began to discover that their tastes were similar in the things they liked to do. Later, they attended a class that talked about the double stitch and they fell in love with it.

"It's just a simple running stitch that anyone could master," Brown said.

Brown started quilting back around 1978 and Tyler has been quilting since the late 70s as well. Both of them said that they enjoy quilting for many different reasons.

"I think it's just the creative process," Tyler said. "It's just what you can do with different fabrics and different mediums."

Brown added that it's also fun to work with different colors and materials. She said that they were both very excited and very proud to be the featured quilters at this year's event.

"We get to put all of our stuff out and not everybody gets to see all of our stuff from year to year," Brown said. "It will be fun."

As they quilt together, the two agreed that they definitely feed off of each other's ideas. They stick with a very traditional pattern and spend the extra time it takes to do everything by hand.

"First we come up with an idea, then DeLoyce sews it to get her visual and I can actually draw mine to get my visual. Then we sort of feed off one another and bounce ideas back and forth," Brown said.

Brown and Tyler said that quilters are very visual people to begin with and when you go to a fabric store, you want to be able to not only see the fabric, but to touch it.

"And nobody cares if you touch it," Brown said.

Tyler said that they are always getting ideas from everything that's around them and that anything, any pattern can inspire them.

"Ideas are always forming and you're always looking at thing. A floor pattern could trigger an idea," Tyler said. "You're always on the watch."

Both quilters said they love seeing everyone's quilts and the creativity of those in the community who may not necessarily be a member of the guild. And according to Brown, having the show in conjunction with the fair draws a lot of people to the show, some that might not even necessarily go to a quilt show.

"It's very relaxing place you can go," Tyler said.