Quilts

The quilts are as varied as the members of the guild, but one element in the "challenge quilts" is the same in each. Take the 2006 challenge quilts created by the Crazy Quilters Guild. There are fish in all of them. And in the 2007 challenge quilts, a certain patterned green fabric can be seen in all the quilts. No two are ever alike, and the quilters' takes on the themes range from traditional to quirky. Examples of both challenge quilt themes can be seen in Community Arts Center exhibits this month.

The Wades Mill Homemakers made lap quilts for several residents of the Winchester Center for Health and Rehabilitation. The quilts were presented to Rita Rogers, activity director. They were given out with the help of Tammy Fogleman, Judy Anderson, Evelyn Witmer and Delores Hess. Other members in the club are Valerie Acker, Ann Brooks Barker, Nancy Burchett, Ann Carroll, Jane Caolter, Maryett Gyula, Marie Juett, Clara Kendig, Bette McKenzie, Greta Nalle and Nancy Strosnider.

In the background of the Youth Services library hangs three of the 10 handmade quilts being raffled by the Clark County Public Library. The money from the raffle will fund free books for children attending the Summer Reading Program. Manning the desk is Youth Services librarian Maggie Melson while Christopher Bankes, 9, looks up a book on a computer. The quilts were created by members of the Clark County Quilters, Phyllis Frost, Joan Wise, Jim and Jessie Byrd, Betty Downey, Carol Ann Burns, Connie Musgrove, Geneva Mayberry, Donna Anservitz, Joyce Thompson, J.A. Dulaney with Dianne Madara and Joyce Thompson doing the quilting on nine of the quilts.

Leslie Featherly, owner of the Wilderness Road Quilt Co., understands that supporting a cause doesn't necessarily require a deep pocketbook. Instead, Featherly draws from her strengths in quilting to support area Relay for Life organizations in the fight against cancer. Featherly organized her most recent quilt-making projects after noticing a trend among her patrons. "It seems as if every day during the month of May we've had a customer lose a spouse or have a spouse or child who becomes ill," Featherly said.

If someone slams you for poor baseball pitching or basketball shooting skills with the old putdown, "You couldn't hit the side of a barn," you could respond with the following comeback: "Yeah, but I can quilt the side of a barn. " While some people might look funny at you for that retort, Donna Forgacs, Boyle County extension agent for family and consumer science, wouldn't. In fact, Forgacs might enlist you for a project that could become a tourist magnet for visitors to the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games in Lexington.

If you drop by Edith Lee's home on Stone Hill Court off Goggin Lane, it won't take long to figure out that she's a dog lover. In a front window is perched a little blond puffball. He hops and barks. He paces and barks. He sits still and barks. Who is that doggie in the window? According to Lee, it's Filo. According to her husband, Bob, it's Phileaux. In either case, his name rhymes with "silo. " Whether you prefer the phonetic or the exotic spelling, the husband and wife agree that he is a poodle-Shih Tzu mix. "He really isn't vicious," said Lee. "He barks a lot at people he doesn't know, and, well, he has gotten a hold of a few pants legs over the years, but he's really a sweetheart once he gets to know you. " Lee adopted Filo from the Boyle County Animal Shelter six years ago when he was 5 years old. But she not only brought home a new pet but also several chronic ailments and a tendency to be injury-prone.

LANCASTER - Last week was a busy time for Garrard County Agriculture Extension Agent Mary Hixson. From Thursday morning to early Friday, she and a dedicated group of volunteers in Garrard County - along with a lot of assistance from Inter-County Energy - worked very hard to hang six barn quilts throughout Garrard County in an effort to draw attention to more rural areas and highlight the heritage of the county. The barn quilts measure 8 feet by 8 feet and are made of 3/4-inch medium density overlay boards.

Quilting is a time-honored tradition that has been passed down through Kentucky families for centuries and is an integral part of Jessamine County's storied history. Quilts have been prominently displayed in homes across Jessamine County for years, and now thanks to The Art Depository's Jessamine County Quilt Trail, they are being displayed on barn walls across the county as well. The gallery hung 14, 8-by-8-foot painted replicas of quilt squares on barns around the community in the last two weeks, each one representing a family's tradition and history.

Marlene Martin loves fabric. And sewing machines. She likes working done by machines with textiles. Texture, the feel of it - that's her art. "You have to really get into it," says Martin. "It's a very tactile medium. ... And I think, too, I like that it's moldable. " She started sewing as young girl, and spent some time with acrylics and oils but found those mediums less interesting. "All you're doing is holding a brush. " Painting on fabric isn't bad, though. But just working with the visuals and textures of fabric, touching it, shaping it - that's her style.

Shows to present 'The Joy of Quilts' Geneva Rankin Shows will be at the Boyle County Public Library noon Wednesday to present "The Joy of Quilts. " A member of the noted quilting family of Boyle County, she will discuss quilting and display some of her family's quilts. Diabetes support group to meet Diabetes Support and Information Group will meet 2-3 p.m. Thursday at Lincoln County Extension Office. The meeting, sponsored by Lincoln County Health Department and Lincoln County Extension Office, is open to anyone interested in learning about diabetes.

While visiting the home of a former Kentucky Children's Hospital patient, Loralyn Cecil spotted a quilt hanging on the wall. It looked so pretty that she mentioned it. “They said it was given to their little girl when she was in the unit here,” said Cecil, who works as the manager of community relations and publications for the hospital. “In their house, they had very little. It was the maybe the prettiest thing they had, and they had it up on their wall.” There are similar stories about quilts at the hospital, from patients holding on to them as keepsakes to sleep-deprived parents carrying them while pacing the halls.

PAINT LICK - The Paint Lick Community Arts Center will host an installation of quilts done by local residents in January. The exhibit runs through Jan. 26. The opening reception for the “Paint Lick Quilt Show” will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the center. Everyone is invited to view and enjoy the quilts and meet the quilters or owners of quilts done by others in the past. Refreshments will be served in the tearoom and porch while The Pilot Knob Boys perform. This will be the first quilt exhibit at the Paint Lick Community Arts Center and will represent quilt-making by people who live primarily in the Paint Lick and Garrard County area.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday and there are several reasons for this. One is I like the idea that no gifts are expected and that takes care of the commercial dichotomy that Christmas presents for me. The second reason is that, for many years, we always drove to Fredricktown, Mo., to be with our great aunt Auntie. She lived alone in an old, old log house in the Ozark Mountains. Everything about the magic of Thanksgiving has always brought up every aroma, every board that squeaked on the floor, right down to the blaze in her back yard when we burned all her trash accumulated since our last visit to Auntie's house.

An interesting pairing of traditional, full-size quilts and exquisitely detailed wood carvings by a married couple goes up at the Community Arts Center and stays through July. Bob Gibson and Brenda Plaster join forces to offer “Carvings and Quilts.”  Not folk art Gibson began carving decoys in the 1990s, to use while hunting. He began doing decoratives and “… I just fell in love with it.”  His pieces are intricately detailed. He works an average of 200 hours on one carving, wood burning every feather and groove down to a realistic, perfected tee. Many of his pieces will require a double-take, tricking the mind to think they are about to take off in flight.  However, he has a hard time getting some to see it as a serious art form, mostly the judges at art shows.  “Sometimes I'm not accepted into the community because they see the photos - photos don't do them justice - and the birds are not considered fine art to the judges,” he says.

Heritage Hospice started out in 1979 with one patient. The quilts and wallhangings showcased in this year's May 11 Memorial Auction started out with one stitch. Both have taken on beautiful meanings. Carrie Farmer is one of the many women in the four-county area served by Heritage Hospice, Inc. donating their skillful needlework to the second annual auction. The auction aids the nonprofit agency that serves Boyle, Garrard, Lincoln and Mercer counties in its mission of providing compassionate end-of-life care to patients and their families regardless of an individual's insurance coverage or ability to pay for services.

Even if you've never been into quilts, odds are you'll be crazy about Pat Isaman, who will quilt her way into your heart during a special presentation Wednesday.  Isaman is a petite woman, but don't let that fool you. She has a huge appetite for color and design - and her hangings show it. With clear green eyes that always seem to be sparkling with new pattern ideas, we have deemed this artist The Crazy Quilter, and you have to hear about her...

Quilting was a women's domestic activity to provide comfort and warmth, says Pat Isaman. She emphasizes was. As April's featured exhibiting artist in the Community Arts Center's Farmers National Bank Gallery, Isaman wants to make sure the public knows how much that has changed.  “Women made ornate quilts in a time where it was their only way of expressing their creativity,” she says. They had special quilts only put out when the pastor came for Sunday dinner. Whether or not those women looked at them as an actual art form, we don't know, she says.  Isaman points to 1971, when the Whitney Museum of Art in New York held an Amish quilt exhibit, changing the world of quilting from that point on.  “Amish quilts are traditionally kept within their community, not usually seen outside of it, so that was a very big deal.

Nov. 28, 1986 The Sun congratulates Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Rogers on the birth of their daughter Tuesday at the Clark County Hospital. She has been named Felicia Helen Joyce. The Winchester-based East Kentucky Power Cooperative utility will become the first cooperative in the state to undergo a management audit, a company official said this morning. Donald Norris, East Kentucky president-general manager, said the cooperative was informed of the pending examination Wednesday through a phone call from the state Public Service Commission.

FORKLAND - A large handmade quilt will be part of the silent auction at the 40th annual Forkland Festival and Revue Oct.  14-15 at the community center on Ky. 37 in Western Boyle County. The 112- by 97-inch quilt is made of 40 different stars, each with names, and designed by Forkland folks and Mary Yoder to commemorate the 40th festival. The piecing and quilting was done by Mrs. Yoder and her family, former residents of Forkland. They currently live in Metcalfe County. The material in the quilt is a variety of colors and bordered by cream and green fabric.