JULIETTE, Ga. — For the first time in FOUR years, the Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild is going to have a show. It used to happen every two years until the coronavirus pandemic came along.
Helen Anderson has seen some changes in her hobby over the last few decades.
"I can do one in one week, whereas the other way it might take months sometimes years to do one by hand," she said.
Anderson started quilting 35 years ago.
"This is a long arm quilting machine," she said standing in front of a machine that is about 12 feet in length. "Quilting today is not sitting around a quilt frame and working by hand necessarily."
The widow uses a roller with a blade to cut the panels, separates them, and then hits up a traditional sewing machine to put the pieces together. She figures she's made at least 65 pieces of art.
"This is my Granny Green and myself, this is my Granny Elliott and she taught me how to do my first hand stitching," she said while pointing to patches in a special family quilt that she did.
Her husband Edwin died awhile back. He was a fly fisherman and she made a sea blue quilt that honors him.
"[I] wish he was still here, but I'm happy because I've been able to capture some of those memories," she said.
Many quilts are squares of memories -- they're literally the fabric of our lives.
"Quilts are a big hug, whether they are an art quilt and you remember that person... or a quilt you're going to snuggle up with, it's a big hug. People don't realize how special it is that someone feels strongly enough about you to give you a quilt," she said.
The show happens April 1 and 2 and the Methodist Children's Home in Macon. They will have demonstrations on-hand if you'd like to get into the hobby.
There will also be a raffle quilt that someone will go home with. It will cost you $7 to get in the door and it runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.