In the style of an old-time quilting bee, several times a year, a group of women gather in the Lyndeborough Center Hall with their baskets of fabric and sewing machines, ready to buckle down for a weekend of concentrating on their craft and exchanging technique.
This past Saturday was the latest retreat for the quilters, who hail mostly from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It’s a tradition the same core group has been holding for eight years now.
“When you’re starting out, you don’t have a lot of money to decorate and fill your home with colorful things. For me, quilting was a way to fill my home with decoration,” said Pam Griffin of Wilton, who attended Saturday’s retreat.
Like many on the retreat, Griffin said she began sewing as a child. But, she said, she only discovered quilting when she was in her 20s. But she’s been hooked ever since.
“It’s like shoes,” Griffin said. “Every time you go out, you have to look, and every time, you see something you have to add to your collection. You see a piece of fabric you have to have. You don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but you have to have it.”
Often, they said, inspiration only strikes when all the material is gathered. A pattern in a book suddenly seems the perfect use for that fabric bought a year ago.
Many of the quilters at the retreat have made dozens of quilts over the years. What becomes of them?
They’re given away, mostly.
“I only started quilting after I retired,” said Anne Whitney of Merrimack. “I decided I would make quilts for my great-grandchildren, should I have any. That was in 2006, and now great-grandchild number 17 is due in October.”
Whitney joked this has caused pouting among her adult grandchildren, because she originally told them she wouldn’t make them quilts because there were too many of them – numbering a dozen.
Diane Flood, of Strafford, though a long-time sewer, only took up quilting in 2008. Since, she’s become deeply involved in the hobby, and on Saturday she was working on her 50th quilt.
“I give them all away,” Flood said. “My granddaughter is graduating college, and she walked by a quilt I was working on, and asked, ‘College present?’”
Sally Curran of Lyndeborough said she likes that quilts make a practical gift that she can put a lot of love and creativity into.
“It’s nice to make something useful that people appreciate,” Curran said. “There’s so many creative things I can’t do. This is something I can do.”
Curran said she once made a quilt for a relative that took into account the fact that he was color blind, and wanted “a quilt that he could see.” She made him a quilt in green and navy blue.
“He’s 25 and still sleeps under it,” Curran said.
Currently, she said, she was working on a quilt for her grandson-in-law – as her granddaughter refused to share her own Curran-made quilt.
The members of the group said the retreats – which are usually a full weekend, though this Saturday they gathered for a one-day, all-day retreat – are the best ways to learn new patterns and techniques, as well as share their love for the art.
“If you’re having a problem, someone here is going to be able to help you,” Curran said.
Jean Lafontaine of Wilton, who only got into quilting because of Ann Harkenroad of Lyndeborough, another member of the group, said no one is afraid to jump in and offer advice or feedback on a pattern or color design – “We’re outspoken that way,” she joked – and that feedback only makes the final product better. Because as much as it’s a hobby, the final product is also a piece of artistry.
“I would not sew a piece of clothing,” Lafontaine said. “It’s the creativity for me.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.