Trigg County Quilters enjoy the camaraderie at the Retreat Center

Deb Rutherford had a friend die suddenly, before the woman could make a quilt for her youngest grandson, who is in college.

“She had made quilts for all her grandchildren,” Rutherford said. “My friend’s daughters asked me to take her fabric and make him a quilt, so that’s what I’m working on.”

Rutherford was one of 19 members of the Trigg County (Ky.) Quilters Guild to make their yearly trip to the Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center the week of Oct. 24-28, 2016. All the women bring projects they are passionate about.

“The best part is the camaraderie, everyone helps someone,” Rutherford said. “We learn something new every day.”

Rutherford was also working on a three-dimensional quilt Oct. 25. “I saw it in a Missouri Star Quilt shop and thought it would be fun,” she said. “It’s hard to work with stripes, but this was so different.”

This was the fifth year for the women from the far western Kentucky county to come to Maple Mount.

“I enjoy the fellowship,” Joan Drake said. “Spending more time with these ladies, learning from each other. And not having to cook and clean.”

The guild meets once a month in Trigg County, but smaller groups get together four to five times a month, Drake said. She was making a snowman table runner, a bowtie quilt and a larger quilt. “I always bring about five projects,” she said.

Bobbie Musick is credited with getting Carol Martin and Dee Eggers started in quilting eight years ago. Their quilting instructors referred to Bobbie, Carol and Dee as “The Alphabet Girls.”

When Martin retired in 2008, she wanted to learn to quilt because she had always appreciated the art and the finished projects. But no one in her family quilted, so she asked Musick, who has been quilting for 15 years.

“It helps to express my artistic side,” Martin said. “But the high point is the great friends. I like the encouragement we give each other.”

She was making a teddy bear for her grandson who was about to turn 1. “I give away a lot, especially with grandchildren,” she said.

Quilting as a group offers the members a different kind of expertise, Musick said.

“If you get stuck, everyone comes together to solve your problems,” she said. “You thrive on each other’s creativity.”

Eggers said it’s easy to make friends in the group when they have so much in common. “Then you get to show off what you make,” she said.

Here are some photos from Oct. 25, in Conference Room A of the Retreat Center.