Have you put it on your calendar? Don’t forget that in May Pioneer Quilters is commemorating 50 years of hand quilting together! Will you celebrate with us? Friday, May 2 (1:00 to 6:00) and Saturday May 3 (10:00 to 4:00) at the First Congregational United Church of Christ at 1050 23rd Avenue in Eugene. (The entrance faces 24th Avenue, with parking lots on the west and north sides of church).
It’ll be wonderful to see the display of quilts made by our earliest members. We really appreciate the quilters and their families who are so generously allowing us to display these treasures.
We current members are looking through our creations to each select a few small quilts/wall hangings, etc. that we will also have on display for your viewing pleasure. I can’t wait to see them all!
You won’t want to miss founding member Carol Gassman’s presentation about the early days of the group on Friday at 1:30, followed by a reception at 2:00.
Who were the visionary women who created this long-lived hand quilting group? Thanks to the efforts of our historian Judie Plancheon, we have a bit of information to share about that! The women who attended the organizational meeting at Pioneer Museum on September 24, 1975 and/or the first meeting on October 1, 1975 were Martha Allwander, Donna Andrew, Alice Ariss, Dorothy Bond, Dorothy Bettis, Bernie Clark, Rose Hagerman, Loretta (Conger) Harrison, Althea Fisher, Pam Forster, Dorothy (Fox) Luttrell, Betty Jackson, Carman (Johnson) (Mowery), Evelyn Johnson, Donna Lake, Betty Metzler, Hilda Nielsen, Sheila Rose, Suzette Shoulders, Louise Smith, Carol (Sorenson) Gassman, and Iris Spangler.
So far, we haven’t come across a photo of these 23 women together, but we do have early photos to share. If you scroll back in this blog to our 4-24-15 post, celebrating 40 years, you can see some early group photos. And there will be many at the celebration, as well as some must-read articles in national magazines.
A list of members ten years later (1985) included 4 women who are currently still active members—Jenny Bonynge, Sylvia Bugley, Carol Gassman, and Sheila Steers. Forty years of weekly group quilting gatherings—amazing ladies!! As is their talent!
UPDATE: And here we are (most of us) on April 24, 2025! Our backdrop is a quilt that you can see in person at our May 2nd and 3rd show next week. It was Louise Smith's quilt from a block exchange--each participating member made a block, with a prompt from Louise, such as color, theme, etc. (The next month a different member would give guidelines for her blocks.) I'm currently attempting to decipher all the embroidered signatures from the makers of the blocks--a lovely piece of Pioneer Quilters history. Louise hand quilted it.
I’ve been sporadically blogging here for you about our hand quilting and quilt shows since 2014, most heavily close to quilt show times. Do spend some time scrolling back to see more history and photos of this enduring group!
