By Brenda Zimmerman
For The Salisbury Post
There is already a file in the activity office that says 2012 on it! It is the one for the 28th Annual Lutheran Home Quilt Show, scheduled for the third week of February, 2012. Call me an optimist or a glutton for punishment. Either is pretty correct!
The 27th quilt show is down and folded. Many of the treasures have been returned to their makers and owners. Quite a few remain under lock and key to be picked up over the next few days.
Over 350 guests donned gloves and picked up the show guide to walk through the wonderland of calico and domestic; patches and pieces. Every single quilt in the 89-piece exhibit had a story to tell, a secret to keep or a mystery to share. Every person who came to see the show could add memories of quilts from their lives.
Stories were shared about picnics under a walnut tree on a bright quilt, great grand-babies who ALL have a handmade quilt, wedding quilts, quilts to keep warm in the depression and Sunday ěcounter-pinsî. Some talked of playing under frames as children, threading needles for a grandmother, joining in the big meals that were a part of quilting parties and frames that could be pulled up into the ceiling.
Large books considered to be ěbiblesî of pattern identification were set out to assist visitors who carried a treasured quilt in the door to see if anyone could find out the name for the arrangement of squares and triangles put together so long agao. Tips for how to preserve old quilts; how to remove stains from vintage fabric; how to date quilts based on fabric; stitching and other details were shared.
There was the exciting phone call within hours of the publication of the Salisbury Post article. A woman in Texas is researching the pattern Whigís Defeat. She is fairly certain that it originated in Mecklenburg County in the early 1800s. She saw the information about a Whigís Defeat quilt and called to get more information. She may even be able to give the owner some genealogical information based on the provenance of the quilt.
So why, when we have barely had time to catch our breath from folding up this yearís show do we already have next yearís file started? Once in a while the radar would go off while someone spotted poring over a quilt was heard: to exclaim, ěI remember my mother doing a quilt like thisî or ěI have a quilt I found at a yard sale, but I donítí even know the pattern name.î
Before you can lose another straight pin, the name and phone number is on a list so that quilt can be in next yearís show. That is how the chain worksÖ.next yearís show began when the doors opened for this one. The first 2012 quilt was recruited within an hour of the 2011 show opening!
Thank you from Lutheran Home to the community, the Salisbury Post, Aull Copy Plus, Starry Nights Quilterís Guild, the Salisbury-Rowan Quilterís Guild and the many staff members, volunteers and other individuals who made ěCozee Up With A Quiltî such a huge success. Oh, and mark your calendars! The 2012 show is closer thatn you realize!
Brenda Zimmerman is the activity director at the Lutheran Home at Trinity Oaks.