It’s hard not to appreciate a good, handmade quilt. There are endless possibilities in regards to design, and a heavy blanket is a welcome addition to anyone’s home during a harsh South Dakota winter. Sadly, quilting isn’t as prevalent of a hobby as it once was. These are just a few of the groups that dedicate their time to the labor of love that is known as quilting.
Candlelight Quilt Guild
Candlelight Quilt Guild was formed in 1996 as an offshoot of the Aberdeen Area Quilt Guild as a way to accommodate individuals that were not able to meet during the day.
“Many of us used to work on our own, but we decided to meet one time a month for camaraderie and so that newer quilters could ask questions,” Betty Dobberpuhl said. “We share ideas, donate things, and keep up with groups that need quilts. We see who needs what and get caught up.”
Candlelight Quilt Guild started to meet one day a month, but now there are three meetings that members can attend. The first and third Tuesday of each month are Open Sew meetings, and the fourth Thursday serves as a guild meeting. They’re always open to accepting new members.
They meet at the Aberdeen Recreation and Cultural Center, and in the summer months they hold meetings at members’ churches.
“The ARCC has been great for letting us meet and store things here,” Eileen Anderson said.
All of their quilts are donated to various agencies in Aberdeen. They make quilts for patients at the Avera Cancer Institute and baby quilts for Sanford. Some quilts are distributed through the Department of Social Services, and they also make quilts for the Veteran’s Hospice. In the future, they’d like to branch out and give quilts to nursing homes.
The time to make each quilt varies. Anderson said that most quilts end up having multiple members work on it.
The members of Candlelight Quilt Guild display quilts in the Women’s Arts building at the Brown County Fair each year. These quilts are not judged, and they usually have at least one quilt ready to raffle off.
“There aren’t a lot of us, but we keep busy,” Anderson said.
Members of the group make personal quilts as well. One of Peggy Hallstrom’s quilts was featured in the American Quilters Society’s yearly calendar. She had seen a call for entries online and decided to enter one of her own projects.
“One quilt is featured each week,” Hallstrom said.
Hallstrom is a member of AQS and has had quilts featured in some of their shows. She said that her winning quilt took two years to make.
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Quilt Group
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s quilting guild has been around for about 35 years. Linda Simon, who joined the group in 2009, said that there were about seven members when she started. Today, four members meet regularly.
“We’ve been here for a long time,” she said. “We get busy, but we usually can meet more in the summer.”
All of their quilts are donated or given away as gifts. Many of their quilts are made for new babies and are delivered to different agencies across South Dakota.
“We send them to the reservations, and we’ve sent some to places as far away as New Jersy and Texas by request,” Simon said.
The remaining quilts are gifted to nursing homes, patients receiving end-of-life-care, and to children when they are confirmed into the church. Simon said that members of the church take their quilts to the Niobrara Convocation each year, and priests from other parishes take some as well.
Simon said that their group primarily makes patchwork quilts in different sizes.
“One year we made 65 quilts,” she said. “Just a small group of women that meet once a week.”
Not all of the members are sewers. One member cuts out squares of fabric that are used for each quilt. Members donate their own supplies, and they also get donations of fabric.
“A lot of people go to rummage sales and get material and donate it to us,” Simon said. One Episcopal church in Sioux Falls had donated about 10 bins of fabric once their own guild stopped meeting. “We couldn’t use it all, so we sent some to the agencies and reservations. There are a lot of quilters out there. Some of it went to the Salvation Army, and even ladies in the colonies make things with the fabric.”
Other quilting guilds have donated quilts to St. Mark’s. Many of them are displayed in the church’s gathering area.
St. Mark’s Quilt Group meets every Thursday morning. They’re always open to new members, even those that do not belong to the church.
New Life Fellowship Quilting Guild
New Life Fellowship started their quilting guild last September.
“It started because we love sewing and wanted to use the talents God gave us,” DeAnna Hauge said.
Peggy Pavlish said that there is a big need for quilts in Aberdeen. The group donates quilts to Safe Harbor, The Journey Home, the veteran’s hospice, and local nursing homes. Some of the quilts are used for baby dedications at New Life Fellowship as well. So far, the guild’s 12 members have made 45 quilts.
“It’s more fun together,” Pavlish said. “And you can only sew so much for yourself.”
The group meets at New Life Fellowship’s main campus once a month, usually on the third Saturday. Pavlish said that this time is flexible, especially during the summer months. Each meeting runs from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and they begin each meeting with a prayer and dedication.
“It helps us remember what we do this for and puts us in a good state of mind,” Hauge said.
Pavlish said that many of the members donate their own materials to make the quilts, and that they are always accepting donations. New quilters are always welcome as well, even if they don’t belong to the church.
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