Creating homemade works of art with Capital Quilters

"Capital Quilters is made up of a group of women who are 'hooked' on the art of quilting," said Rochelle Summers, president of the group.

"We meet the first and third Monday from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Carson City Senior Citizens Center for support, encouragement and training.

There is a small part of our group that meets on the third Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

"Our meetings are interesting. We have a short business session, have a guest speaker to present a technique and then use some time for a show-and-tell with members."

Capital Quilters does one or two yearly projects as a group to make money for Meals on Wheels or the Alzheimer's fund by raffling off the special quilt they have made.

When the quilters decide to do a special group project they appoint a chairperson and get volunteers for a project committee. Those members decide on a pattern and fabric color scheme to present to the membership. Sometimes the fabric is donated by a member, sometimes it is a "scrappy" quilt with each member donating fabric and other times it must be purchased.

"We quilters get fliers from fabric stores and use the 40 percent coupons or other discounts to help defray expenses. The way we proceed is for each member to take the fabric home to cut and sew into a block, then the group sews them together to make the quilt. We then add the filling and backing and take the whole thing to a professional quilter to quilt it by machine.

"It takes about two months to finish the quilt top, and another several months to wait in line to have it quilted.

"A quilt should have a sleeve sewn on the top back so that a rod can be slipped through and the quilt displayed flat on the wall. Quilters sometimes get together with other clubs, or enter individual quilts in the big area shows. I always think I am going to enter a show, but somehow delay too long.

"I have been quilting my whole life. At school we used to make embroidered quilts to sell at the church bazaar. Those were tied quilts. I have sewn some large quilts for gifts, but mostly do wall hangings and other decorations."

Summers has lived here 32 years. She and her husband, Steve, have two grown children who live in town and three grandchildren. When not quilting, she works full time as a contractor for computer projects.

"By the way, in the early '80s the Capital Quilters appliquéd and embroidered a fantastic quilt using paintings by Thelma Calhoun depicting historic Carson City buildings. It can be seen prominently hanging in the State Capitol on the second floor," Summers said.

Capital Quilters welcomes new members, however, they should get help from individual members since there is no meeting time to assist them. About 30 people attend regularly. There is a waiting list for membership and the dues are $20 a year.

For information, call Pat Blackburn, membership chair at 246-8655.