Flatiron Quilting Guild celebrating 30 years at show
FLATHEAD QUILTING Guild Secretary Brenda Shively curates 30 years of club scrapbooks. This photo is from the guild’s second year, 1990. Pictured, front row from left, are Ginger Ward, Barbara Farrington, Carla Olson, Judy Rockwell, Brenda Shively; and back row, Sarah Naegeli, Karen Glass, Jean Cyr, Emmy Storholm, Elaine Boswell, Sylvia Brotherton, Elsie Weigand, unknown and Claudia Paul. Not pictured: Don Brey, Cindy LaFriniere, Betty Nicholson and Lynn Bierwagon. (Courtesy photo)
GUILD MEMBERS gathered for their March meeting to get everything set for the April 13 Annual Quilt Show. Pictured, from left, are Jo Carder (treasurer), Donna Abrams, Doris Stowe, Judy Faro, Ann Lundmark, Jennifer McCrea (president), Carlene Bachmann, Lorraine Renard, Dorothy Rawie, Valerie Hoynacki (2019 Featured Quilter), Ella Larson (vice president) and Brenda Shively (secretary). Not pictured: Claudia Paul, Joyce Reeser, Diane Lorango, Melissa Compton, Sally Havens and Jan Pitts. Quilts by Doris Stowe and Dorothy Rawie. (Carolyn Hidy/Clark Fork Valley Press)
For three decades, the gifted hands of the Flatiron Quilting Guild have pieced and stitched love for their fellow community members into quilts that have greeted babies, warmed families, and comforted cancer patients. The upcoming Flatiron Quilting Guild Quilt Show, Saturday, April 13, is a real credit to the persistent community contributions and artistic skill of the Guild members.
This organization of dedicated quilters began in late 1988 and has continued to create and donate beautiful textiles ever since.
Brenda Shively, a founding member who currently serves as Guild secretary, has seen membership grow and swell — at one time reaching 60 — and currently at about 19. Members come from all across Sanders County, and new members still join when quilters move into the area. They gather together to sew and share friendship. Brenda remembers when those with the talent did the quilt stitching by hand. She says she didn’t have the knack but contributed finishing and binding help. Now, Jennifer McCrea does most of the quilt stitching with her machine, which speeds up the process considerably.
The names change, but the dedication to their art and the community carries on. The March meeting found most of them hard at work registering quilts and preparing all the details for the annual quilt show.
GUILD MEMBERS have created lap quilts for the last 15 years for any and all cancer patients in the county. Once they hooked up with Cancer Network of Sanders County (CNSC), they were better able to find ways to distribute them. Cancer patients or their families can now pick out a quilt for free at First Security Banks in Plains and Thompson Falls, Whitefish Credit Union in Thompson Falls, and Johnson Hardware in Noxon.
The annual quilt show will feature quilts from throughout the past 30 years, plus a section of quilts featuring the theme, “Reflections,” as the group fondly reflects on its past and looks to the future of keeping this beautiful art form alive in Sanders County. The show opens its doors at 9 a.m. on April 13 in the Thompson Falls High School gym. All proceeds go toward the warm hugs of donated quilts for the community.