Richly blessed are we in Carolina Shores with them for neighbors. Piecemakers and peacemakers. These women are both, seemingly akin to Amish women renowned for their quilt making and to the quilters of Gees Bend, Alabama, whose quilts have been displayed throughout the United States. Quilters are calm, serene, and stand ready to help people in need. Their sewing rooms are filled with thousands of pieces of fabrics, shelves full of quilts in pillow cases, and boxes of thread. Their homes are decorated throughout with astonishing masterpieces of quilting.

Basically, quilting is the sewing together of three layers with decorative stitching. Usually the outer two layers are cotton, although velvet, satin, silk and other fabrics are used. The middle layer is cotton batting, down, or wool. During one period, when quilters in England could not afford batting, they used newspapers for filler. While the overall visual impact is the primary measure of a quilt, the number, size and straightness and sometimes variety of the stitches contribute to its value. A quilt should lie flat as if it were printed.

There are numerous types of quilts. They are either pieced or appliqued. A postage stamp quilt can be made with 8,000 or more small squares. Countless other styles of quilts include log cabin, album, strip, whole-fabric, applique, block, mosaic, stained glass, sampler, grandmother's fan, crazy, wedding ring, baby's, Celtic, drunkard's path, 3-dimensional, and stack-n-whack (quilt blocks with kaleidoscope designs), fandangle, medallion such as the Texas Star pattern, and churn dash (a pattern made of right triangles, rectangles and a single square). Examples of these quilts can be seen at Quilters Guild.

One type is known as a Baltimore Album quilt. Over 300 of the originals, applique quilts of the mid-nineteenth century made mostly in Baltimore, survive. "Album" refers to scrapbooks kept by young girls that included signatures of friends, inked drawings, and pressed and dried flowers. Although most surviving original quilts are now in museums, occasionally one sells for more than $200,000. Now Baltimore Album quilts are made either as group projects in which a different woman makes each square or by individuals.

Not long before the Baltimore Album became popular, a permanent brown ink was invented. Quiltmakers signed their names on their squares or on their quilts for posterity.

Immediately after successfully bidding on a farm table at an antique auction, this writer purchased for $6 an old, faded-looking quilt that she could barely see from her seat in the audience. She purchased it to protect the table on the way home. The next morning she realized that it was around a hundred years old, made from wool suits, perhaps both men's and women's. It is very heavy and the warmest covering in my home. Lucy Demski Timmerman purchased a very old "yo-yo" quilt at a yard sale for one dollar. It consists of thousands of small fabric circles.

Old quilt made from wool suits	Top turned over bottom showing quilter's initial, stitching and that the bottom fabric was brought up and around to border the top	Part of large yo-yo quilt	Close-up photo of one of the thousands of circles in the yo-yo quilt

Quilts are becoming more cherished. In an age of technology with nuclear families now mere history and grown children spread throughout the United States and sometimes overseas, Americans crave roots, grounding, family ties. Quilts also appeal to conservationists because using them saves valuable energy by reducing the use of heat.

Even a brief introduction to the art of quilting would be incomplete without mentioning reproduction quilting done primarily overseas. Word is that the Smithsonian Institution sold American quilting patterns to the Chinese. Indeed, I encountered a quilter in Kentucky crying as she removed her quilts from a Berea craft store. She had lost her source of income because people were no longer willing to pay $900 to $1,500 when they could purchase imported quilts for well under a hundred dollars. While imported quilts suffice for families with children and pets, those quilts are not authentic, hand- and quality-made quilts, certainly not of interest to collectors. Unfortunately some sellers state that they are in fact vintage, heirloom quilts. There are major differences in color, size of stitching and use of the fabrics between quilts made overseas during the last 20 years and quilts made during the last century. For example, because the wedding ring pattern was not introduced until the 1920s when pastel fabrics were new and in vogue, a wedding ring quilt such as the one below on the left purchased for $20 clearly was made recently. The stitches are large. the fabric is dark, and the same fabrics are used in the same places in each ring. In authentic old quilts, piecing in each arc is random as shown in the square on the right.

With that background, let us now share with you brief interviews with four members of the Carolina Shores Quilt Guild, three of whom are charter members. Their work is remarkable. They women are incredible artists, their palette fabric rather than canvas. Their quilts have homes throughout the United States and Canada. Lucy's step-grandson, a career Army soldier stationed in Iraq, has his with him. When asked with which quilt it was most difficult to part, each woman adamantly stated "None" because they were all given with love to very special persons that they love -- their own children and grandchildren, old school mates, friends, and friends' babies and grandchildren. Their children and grandchildren have multiple quilts given to them at mile markers in their lives such as birth, moving into college dorms and marriage. None of these women have sold their quilts, each has won awards, and each has donated quilts to charitable organizations such as the Ronald MdDonald House in Durham. Several women, now faced with issues of aging, have slowed down and quilt less than before. Regardless, their work continues to be astonishing, equaling the beauty of our rolling golf courses and breathtaking beaches.

Ana, originally from Central America, always liked all types of embroidery and handwork and always wanted to make quilts. She began quilting 23 years ago, a couple of years before moving with her husband Dick from San Francisco to Carolina Shores. Ana soon became a charter member of the Carolina Shores Quilt Guild, which is now 20 years old. She has made 30 to 40 quilts. Her favorite was a Baltimore Album quilt that she gave to her granddaughter. For that quilt she won both first place Viewers' Choice and best hand-quilted quilt. Although she quilts less now, Ana continues to quilt for about two hours each day. She has made many baby quilts and prefers applique by hand with piecing by machine. Being in her presence felt like taking a sedative which is interesting because Ana stated that quilting is both soothing and nurturing. Ana epitomizes those qualities.

Since 2001 Ana has been making quilts for what she calls "a great-grandmother's hope chest" to leave for future great-grandchildren. (The oldest of their four grandchildren is only 17 years old.) She has few quilts left in her home because, like the other quilters, she has given most to loved ones. Below are photos of some of Ana's quilts.

Eloise saw both her grandmother and mother quilt when she was too young to participate. She liked a picture of a quilt in Woman's Day Magazine 22 years ago so much that she launched her quilting career by making the quilt in different colors. After Eloise and her husband Lloyd retired from Pittsburgh to Carolina Shores, she also became a charter member of the Carolina Shores Quilt Guild. Eloise prefers applique quilts. They take two years to complete. She has made eight large quilts, 12 wall hangings, 20 small items such as table runners and pillows, and 17 crazy quilts. Those are made of decorative fabric such as satin and velvet and embellished with embroidery, lace and ribbon. The pieces are irregularly shaped.

Eloise stated that her favorite quilt is one with many points. It was a block-of-the-month quilt and is now in a guest bedroom. The patterns were drawn on freezer paper and then on fabric using a light box or window. The quilt is the result of a Carolina Shores Quild Guild challenge, of which there are many. Members might be told to use one particularly fabric in a quilt, or to use a certain number of different fabrics, or to make a black and white quilt. The quilt on Eloises's bed should be compared to Ana's quilt show on the above right -- both results of the same challenge. Currently Eloise is making a Baltimore Album quilt and a drunkard's path quilt. Some of Eloises's quilts are shown below.

Rose is another charter member of the Carolina Shores Quilt Guild. She and her husband Stanley moved here from Virginia for golf and retirement. Her love of sewing, beginning with making doll clothes as a little girl, led to her love of quilting. In the 20 years that she has been quilting, she has made 19 full-size bed quilts and numerous other items such as wall hangings, miniatures and crib-size or lap quilts. Rose has two favorite quilts. The first is the Hawaiian sampler quilt that she is now making. Rose explained that a Hawaiian quilt has a design made by paper folded in eight and then cut like a snowflake. The same fabric is used in every square and for the border. Her current one, 88 x 110 inches, will fit a king-size bed. Her other favorite, now in Canada, is a full-bed quilt called "Flowers in Bloom," made of textured flowers.

Rose has been an instructor and, indeed, instructs, calmly and patiently explaining the nuances of the art. She has albums full of photos of her quilted products. Many revealed her fascination with gradations of an individual color as well as with the full spectrum of color. At present Rose is incorporating cubes into her quilting. She exudes calmness and serenity, creating an aura I seldom experience. I am thankful to her for her patience and pleased to share photographs of some of her quilting masterpieces.