By: Ryan Duey
The Clay Center Piotique Quilters Guild will celebrate 20 years of service during their meeting on Monday, October 21st at the Evangelical Covenant Church at 5:30 p.m.
Verna Lee Musselman has been with the Guild since its beginning and was the first paid member 20 years ago when the Guild was established. Musselman said the Guild first met at a small quilt shop in Clay Center.
“Our Guild began in 2003 with six ladies. We were actually established then as a Quilt Guild in October of 2004, and we’ve been going ever since. Going way back when we began our Quilt Guild, Bobby Smith had her fabric store at that time and that’s where we met right away. We had a lady Barb Cole, and she started this Quilt Guild at Bobby’s fabric store.”
Musselman said their first quilt show was in 2003 at Bobby’s Quilt Shop. The show featured a quilt made by a lady when she was only eight years old. She said that currently, the Guild is 32-strong. While the members do make quilts for friends and family, they get the most joy in making quilts for those in need.
“Many of our Members make these Linus quilts and then one of our Members takes them to Topeka and gives them to the hospital. And these go to like little children maybe that come to the hospital that have been abused, but they certainly go to good homes. Another big thing we’ve done is when the Chapman tornado happened, we gave many quilts to the Chapman tornado victims as well as the Greensburg tornado victims as well. Many of us have several quilts, but our joy is in giving them away.”
Throughout the years many of the members’ quilts have been displayed during Presbyterian Manor’s “Art is Ageless” Exhibit, with multiple quilts being displayed in the yearly calendar.
Over the span of 20 years, the Guild has lost some members. Musselman wanted to highlight a couple of members that are no longer with us.
“You know, since we are 20 years old, we have lost a lot of our really strong Members, and I want to give you some of these names. Audrey Pfizenmaier taught a class that we took, and then she also did a program on painting on fabrics. You know with quilting; the sky is the limit. You can do almost anything when you are a quilter. And then Marcella Bechard, was another one, of course, she is no longer here, and she made many, many, many quilts. We are just a well-knit group that cares for each other. And we feel we hold a big spot here in our Clay Center community.”
The Clay Center Quilters Guild has given to many people in the community and beyond. Musselman said they hold their meetings on the third Monday of every month at the Evangelical Covenant Church and the public is welcome to attend and learn about the organization.
