November 4, 2015
A labor of love
They're an industrious group of ladies who love to give more than receive. They've gathered regularly since 1996 to learn from each other, to share techniques and to occasionally enjoy a pot luck meal. They are the Heartland Quilters Guild. The Guild is about 40 strong, although a meeting with half that number present might be typical. Most are retired from their life's work outside the home. Most are grey or greying. Some are in their forties, some in their 80s. All love to quilt...
Local quilters are "Making a Difference"
They're an industrious group of ladies who love to give more than receive. They've gathered regularly since 1996 to learn from each other, to share techniques and to occasionally enjoy a pot luck meal. They are the Heartland Quilters Guild.
The Guild is about 40 strong, although a meeting with half that number present might be typical. Most are retired from their life's work outside the home. Most are grey or greying. Some are in their forties, some in their 80s. All love to quilt.
Each fall at the downtown Fall Fest, the quilters fill the Nutrition Center's building with their handiwork. Patterns vary from the traditional wedding band pattern to the woven garden, poinsettias, patriotic and puzzle patterns. The options, it seems, are endless -- as is the generosity of the quilters themselves.
At their Fall Fest exhibit, members sell raffle tickets for a handmade quilt giveaway. With the proceeds collected on that one-day event, the women select several area charities to support, especially during the holiday season.
On Monday, Nov. 2, the Guild met in the basement of Dexter's First Presbyterian Church, where they often do when a little extra space is needed for a special project. Monday's project involved stuffing 57 Christmas stockings -- each of them handmade by the quilters -- full of age specific items for children.
"We do this for the Mother-to-Mother program," explains longtime Guild member, Delores Gayle. "They send us the children's ages and the sex of the child, and we shop specifically for that child."
Taking great care, the ladies formed an assembly line on Monday, filling each stocking with stuffed animals, T-shirts, socks, and several other items that had been purchased and tagged by age appropriateness.
The handiwork of the Guild members benefits a number of entities in Stoddard County.
"We give to the Stoddard County Mission and Wreaths Across America and the Children's Home," Gayle notes. The ladies always provide for the Stars and Stripes Museum in Bloomfield and the B.R.A.V.E. women's shelter in Malden.
The quilters meet at 10 a.m. on the third Saturday of each month at Dexter's Nutrition Center.
"We have members from all over," Gayle says, noting that quilters come from Charleston, Sikeston, Oran, Poplar Bluff, Ellington and beyond to join in on the efforts of the Guild.
The Mother-to-Mother Christmas stocking project has been ongoing for the past eight years -- just one of several ongoing efforts of the local guild.
"It's just wonderful to be able to do things like this," Gayle says. "We just like to help those in need."
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