Veteran quilter featured at show

Linda Sting of Teakettle Quilt Guild celebrates her 30th year in the craft as the featured quilter at the guild’s free annual show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls.

Sting started sewing as a child as well as doing other crafts such as crocheting, knitting and making clothes. Her mother also made clothing.

“My grandmother was a quilter. My mother was not,” Sting said. “It skipped a generation. It sometimes does.”

In 1982, Sting had a neighbor who wanted to make a quilt for her husband so she asked her to learn and make one for herself. Since that first quilt, Sting estimates she has made around 50.

Her love of fabric and the creativity of the craft still keep her happily engaged in the hobby when not working in the audit division of Denning, Downey & Associates.

“It’s nice to take a pattern or an idea and interpret it in my own way,” she said.

In materials, Sting said she loves the earthy and golden tones of autumn colors best. Her quilts represent the full spectrum of colors.

“I kind of push myself into dealing with some of the other colors that aren’t really my comfort zone — some of the brighter stuff,” she said.

Sting stitches mainly bed quilts but has also made table toppers and runners. Her work often features hand quilting of the stitching design that binds the top to the batting and bottom of the quilt.

“I do some machine quilting because it goes a lot faster, but I like to do the hand quilting,” she said.

Hand-quilting takes her about two months, depending on the intricacy of the pattern.

She also does some hand piecing when a pattern requires sharp corners. A piece made entirely by hand from piecing to quilting takes her upwards of two years to finish.

Sting joined forces with other quilters in 2000 as one of the original members of Teakettle Quilt Guild. Although she has since moved from Columbia Falls to Kalispell, she remains an active member.

Teakettle Quilt Guild has grown to 55 members. Quilting has exploded in popularity in the last few years.

Sting attributes that to the creative possibilities of the hobby and because it doesn’t cost much money except for the fabric. She points out that a person can cut up old cotton pajamas or shirts and make a nice quilt.

“My husband’s mother did that for him. She took a bunch of his old shirts and pajamas and made a quilt for him,” she said. “When I bring it out, he says, ‘That’s a pajama I had when I was 8 and that’s a shirt that I wore to school.’ There are a lot of memories there.”

The guild provides a group quilting opportunity each Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Teakettle Room, formerly the North Valley Community Center. They meet for business on the third Saturday of each month.

As the featured quilter for 2012, Sting has gathered 10 of her favorites to share with the hundreds of enthusiasts who attend each year’s show. She said she has room to hang just one.

She picked out a king-size quilt she made in 1995 based on an Amish quilt that she had admired for sale in the Quilt Gallery. Sting said she tried to sketch it until the store found a book with a pattern that she used.

“It’s called a star spin,” Sting said.

Executed in reds and blues, her quilt ties into the show theme of “Montana Free and Proud.”

For each annual show, guild members make a quilt to raffle off as a fund raiser. Each member made blocks that a committee assembled into a queen-sized show quilt that Sting said would cover the top of a king bed.

“It’s red, white and blue and it’s beautiful,” Sting said. “I hope I win it.”

Tickets sell for $1 or six for $5. People may split their money between the quilt and a raffle basket full of small red, white and blue items made by guild members.

Along with viewing multitudes of quilts, the show features vendors and demonstrations all day long. The schedule is:

10 a.m.: Reusable lunch sack by Jan Weaver.

11 a.m.:  Wool dyeing by Backdoor General Store.

Noon: Thread holders and pot holders by the Quilt Gallery.

1 p.m.: Demo on rulers by Peggy Banka.

2 p.m.: Variations on the nine patch by Janet Masten.

3 p.m.: Tumbling blocks-no Y seams by Nancy Collard.

Although no admission is charged, the guild encourages visitors to bring items for the Columbia Falls Food Bank.

“We’re going to have two shopping carts out front,” Sting said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.