Annual Friends and Needles Quilt Show to display color of our seasons through the magic of fabric
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
HOULTON – Pieces of fabric fashioned together, stitch by stitch, creates a colorful legacy. And, Aileen Smith and Arline Dickison are skilled at their craftsmanship.TO BE RAFFLED – The Kaleidoscope Blues Quilt will be raffled, with the winner announced at 4 p.m. on Nov. 29 at the Houlton Winter Craft Fair. These two original guild members of the Friends and Needles Quilt Guild will showcase their handiwork during Potato Feast Days August 22-24 at the Houlton Lodge of Elks.
“I’m very pleased to be honored by the quilt guild,” said Smith, who has been with the guild over 30 years. “I enjoy the group very much,” she said. “Quilting is so relaxing.”
Dickison along with Geneva McGary are the oldest members, with Smith joining shortly after.
“I began quilting in 1984,” said Dickison. “I went to England and Scotland with my sister and when we came back, Priscilla Bubar was telling Lois about starting a quilting guild. We had a few meetings at the Church of England Hall.”Arline Dickison Dickison still has her first quilt that she made … a jack-in-the-box.
“It is a tedious thing,” Dickison explained. “When I made the jack-n-box quilt, I cut all those triangles with the scissors. Now, I’ve learned to stack them and cut five or six at once.”
Smith finished her very first quilt in 1975 in preparation for America’s Bicentennial.
“It was red and white,” she recalled. “I don’t know if I’m going to show it or not [to the annual quilt show], but it’s fun looking at it now. There are some things I’d like to change on it.”
Many of Smith and Dickison’s quilts have found their way to family members or friends’ homes.
“I’ve given a number away or sent them to people,” said Dickison, “I have kept quite a few for my younger great-grandchildren, and they will get them when they are old enough to appreciate them.” But what makes them special for her, “is remembering whom I made them with.”
Over the years, Smith has tried many designs, but discovered one pattern that caught her fancy.Aileen Smith “I’ve got one that I like pretty well,” she said. “It’s a bargello quilt. It’s an up and down design done in strips of 12 different material colors sewed together. I’m really not going to part with it.”
During the annual Quilt Show, Smith will be displaying small wall hangings, purses to large- and small-sized quilts, which she learned to make in the guild.
“I think they are all special,” she said. “I did hand quilting on some.”
Smith said some quilts don’t take long to finish, some a day or even a month.
“I don’t do it in a day,” she clarified.
Smith and others meet once a month to work on their quilts, along with attending special workshops.
“I like the mystery quilt,” she said. “We are told what materials to bring and then given step-by-step instructions, but we don’t know what the quilt will look like until it is done. It’s usually six or seven steps. It’s fun.”
Being part of such a talented group has helped Smith perfect her quilting skills, and she sees it becoming more popular, as the Friends and Needles Quilt Guild’s membership has grown from 12 founding members to more than 80 members.
“The sociability and seeing the others work, and the combination of colors really is something,” said Dickison.
“I think I’ve learned a lot of things in the quilt group that I didn’t know,” Smith said. “A lot of people are doing quilts. I know I keep making them even though I have enough quilts now.”
Dickison said she hopes when people look at her quilting work they see the different patterns and color combinations.
Working with all cotton, sometimes with a cotton/polyester blend for a color shade, Dickison will wash and dry her fabric before working with it.
“I’m from the old school,” she said. “I had two yards of material, but after washing and drying it, I found I didn’t have two yards. Some material shrinks more than others. That’s why you buy more material; you don’t dare just buy the two yards. I’ve been there and done that. You run a little short, you can’t go back, you can’t find it any place. It’s like they never made it.”
Dickison prefers hand quilting, but has had to switch to machine quilting. Sieglinde Schoen-Smith “Mother Earth and Her Children” award-wining quilt to be on display.
“I don’t hand quilt anymore because of rheumatoid arthritis,” she said. “Machine quilting isn’t as pretty but it’s practicable and durable. But, the hand quilting work is beautiful.”
Also at this year’s show will be award winning quilter and illustrator/author Sieglinde Schoen-Smith of Carlisle, Penn.
Schoen-Smith will retell one her favorite childhood stories by Sibylle von Olfers through her quilt “Mother Earth and Her Children,” which won Best in Show awards at two prestigious quilt shows and will be on display at the Elks Lodge.
“I loved the pictures and would look at them for hours,” said Schoen-Smith. “At bedtime, I would tell my children the story from my favorite book.”
The quilt is stitched and embroidered by hand and took a year and one day from start to finish.
The “Mother Earth and Her Children” quilt holds significance for Schoen-Smith beyond just being a favorite story.
“On July 14, 2002, our son Steven died,” she explained. “I was unhappy and even as time passed, my sadness stayed with me. To help keep my mind and my hands busy, a friend suggested I try quilting … Quilting a few small pieces helped me and brought me some peace during those long nights when I as unable to sleep.”
While looking for ideas for a new quilting project, as Schoen-Smith was rummaging through items, she came acrossed the little book that had meant so much to her as a child.
“As I turned the pages, I wondered if those simple paintings might be translated into fabric. I pulled out a pencil and paper and quickly sketched out the drawing in the center pages of the book. It was a lovely image of children coming out of the earth to great the spring. I turned to my fabrics and got to work. Soon, those curious little characters came alive in my hands. As I sewed, I remembered my own childhood and I thought of my children.”
Since then, the quilt has traveled the country and Schoen-Smith has been surprised and very fortunate to win praise and even two top honors in two major quilt shows.
“During one show, I stood back and watched as people stopped to look at my quilt,” said Schoen-Smith. “I realized that the very best part of the quilt is that it seems able to make people smile. When I look at it now. I see my son’s sweet smile in the fabric.”
The Friends and Needles Quilt Guild has been featuring talent from their Aroostook County members — from Caribou to Benedicta — for the last 30 years. The group meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church from September to June.
“At each monthly meeting, we gather to share our ideas, creativity and quilts and also learn a new technique, as well,” said Kim Hazlett, publicity chairman. “Each month our Guild holds a separate workshop day teaching a new pattern or technique to our members.”
The Guild members are also the proud sponsors of Southern Aroostook County/Houlton Project Linus Chapter. Jennifer Metzger and Jean Kervin presented the idea to the Guild four years ago and they have kept Project Linus shelves stocked with blankets to give to children in need in the chapter area.
“To date, we have given away over 500 quilts to the communities in our chapter,” Hazlett said. “Our Project Linus Chapter was also able to give 50 quilts to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Each year our Guild holds a ‘Make A Blanket Day,’ which has more than 90 women and children getting together for a huge sewing bee, as we make quilts to stock our cupboard. Our Guild is a community with woman who love to quilt but also love to give back to others and the community.”
The annual Quilt Show is Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 12-4 p.m. at the Houlton Lodge of Elks, Main Street, Houlton. Admission is $4 at the door.
This year’s show will show the color of our seasons through the magic of fabric.