Posted: 7/21/04
By MaryHelen Swanson
The hand-crafting of quilts is not a lost art in the Rush City area. The Rush City Piecemakers Quilt Guild held its 3rd annual mini quilt show Monday night in the park and hanging all around the picnic shelter were quilts of every color and size, plus quilted bags, jackets, table runners and other hand-quilted items.
Among the quilts were several made by 76-year-old Mary White of Pine City.
Last week White entered five quilts in the Chisago County Fair, garnered five blue ribbons and took grand champion for one of them. The grand champion quilt was designed as the Block of the Month with each of 12 panels depicting the same little house during a different month, i.e. April had flowers, July had fireworks, and there was a turkey for November. Before 1990, White made simple quilts by tying, she said, then she learned to do the hand-stitching quilting.
Being in the RC quilt guild has helped hone her skill, as has help from her sister and some of her sisterís friends. Right now, White has 10 items that need to be quilted and 10 quilts that need to be put together.
White has been a member of the RC guild since 1991. The group has about 35 members this year. They meet on the third Monday of each month at the community center behind the library.
Members come from as far away as Willow River, Forest Lake and even Wisconsin. More members are always welcome, the group says.
Also on display Monday night was the guildís 2004 donation quilt. Twenty percent of the proceeds from this fund-raiser will go to the Susan B. Coleman Cancer Research and some of the proceeds will go to an Indonesian project for women who are also quilting.
Donations will be taken until December when the beautiful queen-sized quilt will be awarded to one lucky person. This year there will also be a lap quilt and table runner for second and third prize.
Tickets can be purchased at local banks, at the Rush City Music Festival in August and at the Rock Creek Threshing Show in September.
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