The Lafayette County Sew & Sews along with the Darlington Chamber Main Street Program are preparing for the third Lafayette County quilt show. The show is held every other year, and is coming up this year on Saturday, Sept. 19 and Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Darlington Middle School, located at 11630 Center Hill Rd. in Darlington. The show will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Organizers are currently looking for entries for the show. Entered quilts can be made by yourself or someone else. The show will be a viewer’s choice, so you don’t have to worry about it being judged. With viewer’s choice anyone can vote on the quilt they like the best.
Entry forms are available at Pins & Pieces Quilt Shop in Darlington, or online at http://www.pinsandpiecesquiltshop.com/index.php. Entries are due back to Heidi Brenum at the Pins & Pieces Quilt Shop by Friday, Sept. 11.
A queen sized quilt, made by members of the Lafayette County Sew & Sews, will be raffled off during the quilt show. Tickets cost $1 each or $5 for six tickets. Tickets can be purchased at Pins & Pieces Quilt Shop or by contacting other quilt guild members.
The raffle winner will be announced on Sunday, Sept. 20 during the show at 3:30 p.m.
There will also be a food stand available during the show, as well as vendors, demos and a lecture each day at 11:30 a.m. by Sandy Schweitzer. On Saturday, the lecture will be on 19th century floral quilts and on Sunday the lecture will be on 20th century floral quilts. Schweitzer is also an AQS certified quilt appraiser and will be doing appraisals on both days of the show for a fee.
Quilting is not just something that your grandma does in the winter with scraps out of need or just for something to do. This is a 3.5 billion dollar industry in the U. S. now, with over 20 million active quilters.
These days people use quilting as a creative outlet, a hobby, and even as a form of therapy. This hobby however, is not cheap. With fabric selling for $7.00 to $14.00 a yard and with a king size quilt using up to between 25 and 30 yards of fabric, just the material alone can cost up anywhere between $210 and $420, not to mention the quilting fees, and all the time it takes to create such a masterpiece.
So if you are blessed with a graduation or a wedding quilt, keep in mind all of the effort and cost that went into such a gift and please take good care of it, and don’t let the dog eat it.
Do you have some of your grandma’s old quilts in a closet somewhere? Have you ever wondered if or what they were worth? Well, now you’ll be able to find out at the Lafayette County Quilt Show.
Sandy Schweitzer, an AQS certified quilt appraiser will be at the quilt show, and for a fee she will give you an appraisal on your quilt. Appraisals will be available both days.
Recently a local guild member went to an estate sale and spent just $15 on a floral appliquéd twin sized quilt top, with three matching accessories. A few months later she had it appraised for insurance purposes, and to see how old the fabric was. The grouping was appraised at $700 for insurance reasons.
Who knows what treasures are lurking in your closets or attics?
