The next faze of my jam packed days was preparing the guest room, buying groceries and cleaning because our cousin Margaret was coming up from Cincinnati and we were going to attend the Celebration at the Quilters Hall of Fame in Marion Indiana. Margaret is a quilter and I also quilt but have not picked it back up for a while. Like all quilters I have many in process, cut out, need to be quilted , need to be finished and many that just have a pile of fabric with the possibility of a quilt.
The Quilters Hall of Fame Celebration consists of three days of various classes by many quilting experts. There are one or two or three people chosen to be inducted into the QHOF who have made large contributions to the world of quilting. This year it was Liz Porter and Marianne Fons, who met at a class in Iowa in 1975 when there were not many new items out in the world of quilting. They developed quilting items that improved the speed for making a quilt using rotary cutting, acrylic templates and sewing machines. They also developed a PBS show and a magazine. They sold their business in 2006. Marianne’s daughter Mary was also there and she has taken up quilting also.
Also being inducted as a Heritage Inductee was Mary A. McElwain. She opened a shop in 1912 in the corner of her husbands jewelry and watch shop. Here is what was written about her, ” She sold knitted, crocheted, embroidered and quilted items made by herself and others, at one time employing sixty women to create the items. She also sold quality fabrics, supplies, and patterns. In her shop she offered lessons in needle arts, bed turnings, and an inviting atmosphere. In 1933, when Mr. McElwain retired, Mary’s quilt shop took over the jewelry shop. Mary had a talent for marketing. Thorough her mail order catalog business, she reached national and international clientele. In the Midwest, she addressed women’s groups, spoke to radio audiences via WLS-Chicago, and was one of the judges of the Sears and Roebuck quilt contest for the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. She was also a wife, mother and grandmother, still finding time to make quilts for family members.”
The first class that we took was by Cynthia Regone, she is from Texas and teaches classes that the International Quilt Festival in Houston. She also has published a book, had her quilts in calendars and has been featured in other quilting books . Her class was Applique-Keeping it Real in the 21st Century. Here are some of the quilts that she has made and brought to show.
