By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com
NEW ALBANY —
Lorraine Gallentine has been quilting for more than 35 years, but that doesn’t mean she knows it all.
“You can live to be 109 and never learn everything. And most of us would have to live to be 200 to get all our projects done,” she said, noting she usually has multiple quilting projects going on simultaneously.
Gallentine was one of the hundreds of local quilters packed into the basement of First Church of God on Saturday afternoon.
Sultans of sewing from around the region were there in celebration of Quilter’s Day Out, a nationwide celebration of the craft of quilting.
“Sometimes they get together in homes, sometimes they have big events like what we have here,” said Patsy Shields, of Sew and Tell, the local quilters’ guild that sponsored Saturday’s event.
It was not only a chance for quilters to get together and connect, it was also an opportunity to learn a trick or two, Shields said.
All day long, there were workshops planned on different techniques, everything from quick-cutting, working with vintage fabrics and quilting with unique materials.
Shields herself was getting ready for a presentation on quilting with Tyvek, a brand of high-density polyethylene fibers typically used as insulation. One would usually see this stuff wrapped around under-construction buildings, but Shields said it changes shape and bubbles once heated, providing a unique texture and material to sew onto a quilt.
Throughout the show, different events were occurring simultaneously. In one corner, organizers were announcing door prizes every 30 minutes — quilt battings, scissors, hangers and gift certificates were among the free giveaways.
In the back of the room, guild member Elise Klink was cutting out fabric squares of several different patterns for show-goers to choose from.
“The hard part is finding colors that don’t clash,” she said as she cut the fabrics.
Throughout the day, Shield say expected more than 300 people to come and go. It was the guild’s third year for putting on the event.
According to shields, Quilter’s Day Out has local roots. It started in Louisville about 20 years ago. The National Quilters Association caught on to the success that the event was having and it grew nationwide. It’s always held on the third Saturday in March.
