Rollins woman passionate about quilts

Sharon Betts, featured quilter of the Flathead Quilters Guild's 2011 show, admits to occasionally disappearing to her downstairs studio at 7:30 a.m. and making only brief appearances for lunch and dinner.

"It's my passion," she said. "It keeps me sane. I'm not one of those people who can sit around and watch daytime TV."

Years of honing her skill resulted in dozens of wall hangings and bed quilts beautiful enough to compete with the view of Flathead Lake from the home near Rollins she shares with husband, Bob. Her meticulous, artful work also earned walls of ribbons from quilting competitions including a judge's recognition ribbon from a national show in Ohio.

Betts' selection as the featured quilter for the guild's show put the final satisfying stitch in a year to remember.

"I was thrilled to death," she said. "But I couldn't tell anyone. It's always a big secret."

When the doors open at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday Sept. 24, show visitors may "ooh" and "ahhh" over Betts' quilts in the grandstand building along with many others spread out between there and the expo building at Flathead County Fairgrounds.

"They'll have 181 quilts not including the ones I'm bringing," Betts said. "They'll have 17 vendors and the raffle quilt. It's a 114-square inch star quilt. Brian Dykhuizen made it and pictures don't do it justice. It's beautiful."

She points to local celebrity and the show's guest speaker Judy Niemeyer as one of her sources of inspiration along with Judy Martin, Caryl Bryer Fallert, Mary Ellen Hopkins and most recently Ricky Tims. Betts takes satisfaction in seeing her evolution reflected in her more than two decades of work.

"I've come a long way from the Eleanor Burns "quilt in a day" log cabin quilt I made in 1985 to my Ricky Tims' rhapsody quilt I made last year," she said.

Betts discovered quilting in 1985 but she first picked up a needle at her mother's knee. She recalls she was about 10 when she began learning to make clothing.

"I took to it like a duck to water," she said.

Even the world's worst home economics teacher in the seventh grade could not cool her love affair with working with fabric. Betts made some of her own clothing in high school then sewed for her own three children.

As the years went by, she honed her skill with adult education classes, then eventually returned to college and qualified as a home economics teacher. Betts worked as a substitute teacher for a year, but decided that was not the career for her.

"I opened a fabric store and did that for a couple of years," she said. "I taught clothing construction and did some custom dressmaking."

After a divorce, she went to work for a paint and decorating store where she learned the ropes of interior decorating. Betts followed that career for 10 years including three as her own business.

She said she burned out on interior decorating and was wondering which way to turn next. It was about the same time that she met her husband Bob.

"My sister said ‘Why don't you open a fabric store. That's what you really love,'" Betts recalled.

She began exploring the industry's latest trends with a distributor from her earlier business.

"That's when I found out about quilting," she said. "It was having a big resurgence."

She decided to open a store with half fashion fabrics and half quilting fabrics. Since she knew little about quilting, she brought in teachers and took the courses herself.

Whenever a teacher came with a new technique, Betts took the class to hone her skills. She was particularly proud of finally mastering hand quilting.

"In high school, I couldn't even baste straight," she said.

Quilting soon became an addiction, pushing clothing into the back seat. When she retired in 1988, she pursued her new passion with a vengeance just as fabric choice was expanding. Betts said quilting fabrics in 1985 were limited to solid colors and tiny calico prints. But as the quilting caught fire, designers took notice.

"In just three years, selection of fabrics was becoming exciting," she said. It's done nothing but just mushroom ever since."

With two or three quilts in the works at any given time, Betts has produced all manner of quilted products which she has given to her children and grandchildren.

"I lost count but I think I have made at least 150 quilts over the years, including many charity baby quilts for St. Joseph's hospital in Polson," she said.

Betts has developed a signature look through her preoccupation with Japanese fabrics and stitching as well as southwestern colors and designs.

"One of my favorite quilt designs is stars," she said.As the star crafter, Betts has an opportunity to shine at the Flathead Quilters Guild's annual two-day show. She looks forward to learning and sharing with other quilters and enthusiasts as well as competing with three of her pieces.

In keeping with the show theme "Montana Past and Present: Celebrating 30 Years of Quilting," the event includes a special exhibit of all former featured quilters. A portion of revenues raised this year go to Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry.

Organizers encourage people attending to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the pantry. For more information, visit the guild's blog at www.flatheadquiltersguild.blogspot.com.