Janet King was a pioneer member of Peninsula Quilt Guild. She says she has lost count, but may have designed and completed up to 400 quilts in her lifetime.

Editor’s note: this event has been cancelled. 

A fiber art form with enthusiasts all over the world will soon be showcased on the Long Beach Peninsula: quilting.

More than 100 quilts will be on display at the annual Peninsula Quilt Guild show. This year, members will celebrate more than the artistry behind the fabrics, as this year’s show marks the 25th consecutive show staged by the group.

The quilt guild was originally formed when individual quilting enthusiasts joined forces to share their talents.

The pioneer members staged their first show a couple of months after dreaming up the idea, which is why this year is the 25th show but the guild won’t celebrate its 25-year anniversary until next year, said club president Magen Michaud.

The show will feature demonstrations, such as paper piecing, hand quilting and appliqué. Tickets for a prize quilt raffle will be available, with the winner drawn Sunday afternoon. Proceeds go to Pacific County charities. Admission is free. Raffle tickets are $1.

Judy Kraft of Svensen is one of the event’s participating quilters.

“Sewing has always been a creative outlet for me,” Kraft said. “Quilting is taking a perfectly good piece of fabric and cutting it into little pieces, then putting it back together again.”

Kraft has been quilting for 40 years. She especially enjoys making quilts for family members. A sign in her home reads, “When I give to you what I made with my hands, I give of you my heart.”

Traditional

Gloria Park’s Long Beach home features a quilting studio. When a dear friend died, she finished the woman’s quilting projects.

“The quilts remind me of her,” Park said. “Every one of the quilts is personal, if you have one that someone has made for you.”

Some quilts feature precise designs carefully created using mathematics for accuracy. Others are intentionally asymmetrical. In frugal eras, some were simply scraps patched together.

“I’m a traditional quilter,” Park said. “I am drawn to the 1800s. I love quilts made from garments or leftover fabrics.”

Park owned a quilt store in West Linn, and has taught quilting classes over the years. Like many enthusiasts, she collects material.

“I’m a stash builder,” she said. “I see fabric and see a future use for the fabric. I go to my stash. It’s like an artist who goes to his paints.”

Happiness

Quilting became a consuming hobby for Surfside resident Janet King. After enjoying painting and mosaic work, she changed gears, drawing on childhood lessons to dive deeply into sewing as her creative passion.

“It’s the ability to make something that’s completely my own that I like,” she said. “I like hand quilting. I think it’s something you start creating from the beginning and then see it through to the end. I must have made 300 to 400 quilts, most bed-size.”

For King, creativity offers a broader meaning.

“I want to live in a world of happiness and color,” she said.

The group

Sylvia Pelizza, also of Surfside, likes developing her skills.

“I have learned a lot from everybody,” she said.

Her interest began in high school home economics classes, and with her mother, who sewed prom dresses. Twenty years ago, then living in South Dakota, she took a class and made her first quilt.

Job and family priorities pushed her hobby to the back burner. She kept buying fabric, knowing it would become her retirement hobby.

“It relaxes me, even though it’s kind of frustrating if you are fixing a problem,” Pelizza said. “But to fix it, it’s very satisfying. And it’s a good group of women, too, to hang out with and just spend time with.”

Kraft agrees.

“I just like the process,” Kraft said. “I find it relaxing, frustrating and satisfying. It’s a way to spend my time with people I care about.”

Peninsula Quilt Guild 25th annual show

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 20-22

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, 115 Lake St. SE, Ilwaco

facebook.com/events/477630503124899/

‘I go to my stash. It’s like an artist who goes to his paints.’

— Gloria Park, longtime quilter