The wonderful crafters of the Delaware Piecemakers Quilt Guild and the SourcePoint Life’s A Stitch Quilters have brought their beautiful creations back to the Delaware Main Library again this year to celebrate National Quilt Month.
As in year’s past, this year you’ll see 41 original quilts made by local individuals who delight in their craft. The quilters of the Piecemakers Quilt Guild share workshops, field trips, sew and tell, quilting bees, demonstrations, challenge quilts, fabric exchanges, charity quilts, and other quilt-related topics each month when they get together.
This year, my favorite piece faces the rear of the library, so I have to make a special trip around the upstairs mezzanine to walk by it. It was created by Carolyn Quick, and it is called “Gravity Large Star.” It is a king-size quilt, pieced and quilted by Carolyn in 2018, and it features a bright and rainbow-colored center star shape that bursts into shades of black and gray, making the color in the center even more striking. It is one of the more modern quilts in the entire showcase.
Observers will also enjoy the piece titled “Butterfly” submitted by Laurie Ladd, created by Edna Ladd in the year 2001. It repurposes her mother’s handkerchiefs as butterflies and showcases them in one elegant piece. Another piece with personal meaning comes from Shirley Masters and depicts the different colors of belts her grandson earned in taekwondo.
Cheryl Almgren Taylor’s “Easter Morning” is an artistic jigsaw applique quilt featuring her granddaughter pondering a spring flower on Easter morning. A different yellow-haired woman rides a unicycle in a framed quilt titled “Getting Ready to Sew” by Donna England.
No matter your quilting style preference, you’re sure to be stunned by the work of these local quilters. If you’d like to know more about the Piecemakers, give them a call at 740-815-9341 or email [email protected]. They meet the first Monday of the month at 6 p.m. in the basement of the First Baptist Church on Franklin Street. The show will be up through the end of March, and I hope you are able to stop in and let it bring some sunshine to your day.
Spring is arriving shortly and spring break will be soon hereafter. Allow some recent releases in armchair travel to whisk you away.
• “This is Cuba: An American Journalist Under Castro’s Shadow” by David Ariosto. In 2009, photojournalist David Ariosto headed to Cuba, where he worked for nearly two years, confronted by the harsh realities of daily life in Fidel Castro’s country. He also returned many times afterwards to cover Castro’s death, sonic attacks, political transitions, and more.
• “The Last Whalers: Three Years in the Far Pacific With a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life” by Doug Bock Clark. An eye-opening, lyrical account of Doug Bock Clark’s immersive visits over many years to a remote Indonesian island. There, many indigenous Lamaleran live as they have for centuries, but their traditional way of life is threatened as the modern world encroaches.
• “Sicilian Splendors: Discovering the Secret Places That Speak to the Heart” by John Keahey. A charming, evocative look at Sicily by astute travel writer John Keahey, who immersed himself in the food, history, and culture of the island, enjoying quaint villages and friendly people.
• “Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious” by Seth Kugel. Travel writer Seth Kugel encourages travelers to stop relying too heavily on technology and the travel industry and embrace discovery; he also shares amusing stories of memorable moments and misadventures of his own as well as offering budgeting tips, calculating travel risks, and exploring why we travel.