In honor of Doris Kirk:
Happy times and hard times on display in Altamont quilts


ALTAMONT — "A quilter will always tell you a quilt has a life of its own," said village quilter Ruth Dickinson.

And now, Dickinson and her Altamont quilting circle are hosting a quilt show to honor the life of their friend and craft mentor, Doris Kirk.

Things that happen in your own life are mirrored in the stitching, especially if the quilt was made by hand, Dickinson said. She said that, when she looks at a friend’s quilt, she can tell when people died, when a child was born.
"It’s like a memory book," Dickinson said. "You can see joy and happiness in a quilt and....going through hard times as well."
"Quilts speak volumes of the people who make them," said Judith Rothstein, who recently stepped down as co-president of the Community Caregivers. There’s a story that goes along with every quilt she said.

This Saturday, Sept. 10, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., quilts will be hanging in Orsini Park, in the center of the village off of Main Street. The exhibit is a fund-raiser for the Community Caregivers, with a $5 visitor fee for adults.

The artists will be standing by their quilts, to share the stories mirrored in their work and talk about their quilting style—such as appliqué or tying.
"What I love about this whole venture...is the lives of the people in the community...It’s a chance to learn about people. It’s sharing things...It’s fascinating to look into someone’s life," through their art, Rothstein said.
"No quilt I’ve ever had followed the pattern exactly," Dickinson said.
Also, when people make quilts for others, such as a child, Dickinson said, "You do what you see in them."

Someone may tell a quilter what she wants, such as the pattern or colors, but the quilts turn out differently when the quilter is thinking about the person as she makes it, Dickinson said.

Patchwork is really an American art, Dickinson said. One of the earliest designs is called log cabin, she said, although it looks nothing like a log cabin; also, stars form popular patterns.

Appliqué involves stitching over the top of the fabric rather than patching pieces together, connecting their sides. Tying binds three layers—fabric on the top and bottom, with batting in the middle—useing individual little knots of thread, pushed through each layer.

The village is home to a number of quilting circles as well as to individual people who quilt on their own. Saturday’s show is a village-wide event where all the artists will come together to show off their work.

The show is not juried because, Dickinson said, she knows it makes people apprehensive about entering their work. Dickinson likes to get her work judged professionally, but others don’t because their work is too personal.

Every attendee will be given a white glove upon entering the exhibit to touch the quilts on display on the lawn.

Antique quilts that are light sensitive and delicate will be on display in the old train station, now owned by the library. Displaying is not just reserved for quilt-makers, but also quilt-owners.

In honor of a friend and master quilter
Kirk was "a leader but not a designated leader; it was just the way it was," Dickinson said.

Now, with her failing health, Kirk has moved into an assisted-living facility, but many of her quilts will be on display at the show. She has made at least a hundred in her lifetime, Dickinson said.

Dickinson has made more than 50 quilts herself, and she is a newcomer compared to the other members of her quilting circle.
"Kirk was a mentor to me," Dickinson said, "a calm gentle leader of how to do it." She would purposely compliment people.

If a person made a mistake on the border of a quilt, Kirk would gently take the stitches out and never diminish her friend’s work Dickinson said.
Bobbie Scrafford is one of the original members of Kirk’s quilting circle."She was gracious in her teaching manner," Scrafford said. Kirk saw quilting as an artwork and a means of self-expression, so the little quirks, a person’s imperfections, was part of the art for her, Scrafford said. She was both an artist and master quilter.

Kirk was an artist, a beautiful painter, before becoming a quilter, Scrafford said, so she was the one that taught everyone else.

She organized a women’s group at church and offered to show others how to quilt, Scrafford recalled.
"It started with just three of us,’ she said, and together they made everything by hand.
"So many of us attached ourselves to her," Scrafford said.
Dickinson said the slogan of the event is in honor of Kirk "who taught so many."

Fellowship and healing

There is a real sense of community in a quilting circle, Dickinson said.
Quilting is "an outlet for all the stuff you have to deal with in your life," Dickinson said. She said, her daughter attended one of her quilting-circle sessions, and said, "This is the way women are supposed to be together."
The women talk for hours about their lives and children or being widows, and, as they quilt and their minds are occupied with the task at hand, "You trust and feel free to say things you might never say," said Dickinson.

These women quilt two to three hours a week together, so, over time, they bond, Rothstein said.

Some sessions become very intimate, as the women talk about how or when they felt like they failed as mothers, to other times of great laughter and jokes, said Dickinson.
"We are usually laughing and talking about men," Dickinson said with a smile. It’s therapy, she said.

Scrafford said if her mind is busy with something, and she is feeling stressed, quilting calms her.

A family’s story
"I remember helping my grandmother tying a quilt," Scrafford said. Her grandmother would spread a quilt over a frame and, as a young child, Scrafford had a job—to sit underneath the frame and, as her grandmother pushed the needle through the fabric, to push it back up and through again.

Now, for many years, Scrafford has been working on a quilt for each of her grandchildren, a progressive quilt, which she plans to give them when they graduate from college or turn 21. The quilt catalogues each grandchild’s life, from birth until graduation.

Each square represents a moment or accomplishment of childhood—losing a first tooth, learning to play the clarinet, riding horseback.
Scrafford has also made quilts for wedding gifts. She keeps a few for herself, including a quilt named, "My Quilt," because she designed it herself, and didn’t use a pattern.

Scrafford said, when she made a quilt for her daughter, she thought about her more frequently, prayed for her more, and it’s the same for a wedding quilt; She thinks about the couple as she makes the quilt.

Other attractions

One unique quilt on display Saturday will be the Fair Quilt made in 1999 in a collective effort by another Altamont circle. The group-owned quilt, has on it the names of all the women who made it, Dickinson said. The quilt represents the Altamont fairgrounds, with patches including Scottish men, and the old church, Dickinson said.

Other attractions at the exhibit will include classes for childern, where they will color fabric with crayon and pound flowers onto fabric. An adult class is titled Penny Rugs Revisted. All the classes require pre-registration.

The show will also offer demonstrations, and vendors selling quilting supplies such as yarn and patterns.

Music will be provided by the Traditional Strings of Knox and quilt appraisals by Kathleen Greenwold are available by appointment.

The appraisals cost $25 each. Greenwold can tell the owners the condition of their quilts, every material that was used in the quilts and how to properly store and protect them.

At noon, there will be a reading from the book Grandmother’s Quilt, which talks about how people use quilts, Dickinson said.

Quilts that have been a part of a family for many years may have become worn and torn into pieces over time, and sometimes a quilter will use the many pieces of that quilt to make stuffed animals to pass on to their children, Dickinson said.

There is a lot of emotion and love in a quilt and there are many different ways they can be used, she said.