Quilt show coincides with annual Taste of Morgan Hill event
Kathy Sullivan is quick to note that she is not a quilter, but once she starts talking about quilting and the upcoming quilt show in Morgan Hill, you can tell she is passionate about the hobby.
Quilting has a long history, said Sullivan. Once viewed as work and drudgery practiced by women because they had to make quilts from flour sacks to keep their families warm at night, quilting has now developed into a creative hobby.
“People do it because they want to do it,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan said interest in quilting isn’t confined to just women. She knows of many men, including a retired U.S. marine, who are engaged in quilting.
“It’s a relaxing hobby,” Sullivan said. “It’s a way for people to be creative. It doesn’t need fine sewing skills. You can manipulate fabrics of different materials and different properties, gather it, pucker it, add dimension to it, and embellish it with beads, buttons, charms, trinkets or even pictures. Quilting brings out a person’s creativity.”
The Morgan Hill woman can still remember her grandmother’s quilt frame in the living room of their home. When Sullivan’s mother died, she found pieces and unfinished quilt blocks for three quilts. She wanted to finish them, and that’s when she found the Piece By Piece quilt guild in Morgan Hill.
Quilts by members of Piece By Piece will be on display at the Harvest Quilt and Garden Show held in conjunction with Taste of Morgan Hill in late September. It’s the second show ever for the group and members hope it becomes an annual event.
Because the quilting community is very close-knit and the hobby is extremely popular, Sullivan said she expects as many as 10,000 people to come to Morgan Hill for the event.
This year, the quilt show will have about 250 quilts on exhibit, some of which will be for sale. There will also be a special section devoted to a youth quilt exhibit. The show will feature quilts by artists Diane Weber and Diana Leone.
Just like last year, the main draw of the show will be five door prize quilts made by quilters from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin. Sullivan said the quilts are priceless, not only because of their intricate designs, but also because of the countless hours and efforts put by local residents in making them. The quilts are appraised from $850 to as much as $4,500. The quilts are currently being displayed on a rotation basis at Quilts and Things in Morgan Hill, Eddie’s Quilting Bee in Mountain View, Prairie Queens Quilt Shop and Quilter’s Nest, both in San Jose. These stores are selling tickets for the drawings. For information about tickets as well as the quilt show, e-mail sv**@mo********.org, or call SVQA Quilt Show Chair Mary Ann Bruegmann at (408) 842-8677.
Sullivan said while traditional quilting is still enjoyed, there’s been a major shift from utilitarian to art forms of contemporary quilting. Quilts like those at the quilt show drawings can be regarded as art forms, to be hung on walls, like pictures. The hobby has become so popular that there are shows and competitions across the country. Sullivan noted, a Quilting in America 2000 Survey revealed $1.8 billion dollars is spent on quilting annually and the quilting industry’s value has increased 51.6 percent since 1997.
“Quilts have been a part of our history, from the time women made them to keep their families warm, to their importance with the Underground Railroad, to a work of art today,” said Sullivan.
It’s an art form that can be personal too. “For many quilters, each square is a memory of an event or a person,” said Sullivan.
Through the quilt show, the community’s quilters hope to share their appreciation of the art of quilting.
“We believe that a Morgan Hill show is definitely an idea whose time has come,” said Sullivan.
Harvest Quilt
and Garden Show
The 2005 Harvest Quilt and Garden Show will be part of the Taste of Morgan Hill again this year and will be held at the city’s Community and Cultural Center on Saturday, Sept. 24, 10am to 6pm, and Sunday, Sept. 25, 10am to 5pm.
