Local quilters guild community project to benefit Safenet Services
Oct. 21—Hanging in the back of the Claremore Community Center is a blue and lavender quilt with the destiny to make an impact.
The 2022 Challenge Quilt watches as raffle tickets are sold during the annual Country Fare Quilters' Guild 2022 Quilt Show.
Proceeds form the raffle ticket sales will go to purchasing supplies for the Guild's community project.
"This year, we are making quilts for Safenet Services," Quilt Show Chair Vivian Basler said. "Safenet has 17 twin beds in their facility, and we are in the process of making quilts for those 17 beds. They will be kept there for them to use on those beds."
Basler said they are also making additional quilts to be given to families who finish their program and leave the facility.
"That was one of our goals is to be able to provide something that was theirs when they leave that facility," she said.
The 2022 Quilters Show will be open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.
This year, there are 158 assorted items at the show, she said.
"We have different categories that people make the quilts and enter them in the quilt show," she said.
Those categories include professionally quilted bed quilts, non-professionally quilted bed quilts, hand-appliqued quilts, machine-appliqued quilts, mixed-technique quilts, specialty quilts and more.
Also at the show are vendors, demonstrations and raffle tickets for aprons, baskets and the Challenge Quilt.
Although interest varies yearly, Basler said about 600 people attend the show every year.
Basler said they had to cancel the show in 2020 due to COVID.
"The attendance was a little slow the next year because people were still still a little leery," she said.
Within the first couple hours of the show Friday morning, more than 250 people had visited.
County Fare Quilters Guild was created in 1982. The organization's mission is to share the love and art of quilts.
"Quilting is an art that is kind of a lost art that we like to try to preserve, we like to try to teach others, you know, the skill," Basler said. "The beautiful thing about quilters is we like to share our knowledge and we like to encourage other people to be part of our group, share their quilts or their projects that they're working on."
Basler said anyone interested in joining the Guild can attend a meeting. The Guild has two meetings a month: Bee meeting and the Guild meeting.
"They can just show up at a meeting, and they're welcome to join our guild and become an active part," she said.
The Bee meeting is form 9:45 a.m.-2 p.m. on the second Thursday of every month. The Guild meeting is from 9:45 a.m.-12 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month from January to October. Both meetings are held at the St. Andrews Methodist Church, west Campus, 9472 Ok Hwy 20. There are $10 annual membership dues.
