Library hosts quilters show, discussion on National Quilting Day

Gertrude “Trudy” Riggens says when she was introduced to quilting 27 years ago, she discovered not just a hobby but an art form — one that links her to people around the world.

Last weekend, Riggens collaborated with two other Perquimans County residents on what they billed as an African American Quilt Trunk Show and Other Treasures event at the Perquimans County Library. The library hosted the event in recognition of National Quilting Day, which was Saturday, March 16.

Riggens said the Trunk Show and Other Treasures event was an opportunity to discuss quilting with others who enjoy the hobby and like talking about their quilt collections. She herself has 125 quilts in her collection.

The library event also was another opportunity for Riggens to take on the challenge she accepted when she learned to quilt at a church gathering nearly three decades ago.

Riggens recalls her quilting teacher explaining that receiving her instruction would come with a cost.

“She said to me there is a cost. After you learn, you have to teach someone else,” Riggens said.

Riggens said she’s still paying that bill.

“Since then, I have taught quilting classes that have lasted for 10 years,” she said.

Riggens said Saturday’s event at the library had a good turnout. Twenty-one people attended, each of whom was encouraged to bring a quilt from home and then talk about it at the event.

“I am always encouraged by people helping people so our communities can grow in heart and strength,” Riggens said. “We are always better together.”

While a number of people still quilt, quilting by hand isn’t as common as it once was. Instead, a number of quilters now use powerful sewing machines.

Riggens says it doesn’t matter how you quilt; she applauds both quilting by hand and by machine.

“This is something you can do while doing other things,” she said. “You can listen to music. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts while quilting.”

She is concerned that the number of people, particularly young African Americans, who participate in active forms of artmaking seems to be declining.

Collaborating with Riggens at last weekend’s Quilt Trunk Show and Other Treasures event were Velvet Sanford and Juanita Bailey.

Sanford is a retiree who has been sewing since she was a youth. In addition to quilting she crafts bears, dolls, bags and cloth angels. Her knack for crafting collectables led Riggens to expand the library program to include other handcrafted artworks besides quilts. It’s also why she added “and Other Treasures” to the event’s title.

Bailey, who has been sewing for decades and quilting for 10 years, said she, too, was happy to participate in last weekend’s Quilt Trunk Show. She also hopes to inspire a new generation of quilters, showing young African Americans how their great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents created bed covers that incorporated their family’s history.

“When you look back, you find that your ancestors did a lot of things you didn’t know about,” she said. “Yes, our ancestors did this; they quilted.”

Bailey said she personally enjoys the creativity involved in quilting. She said quilts also can reveal a lot about the quilter.

“These quilts are expressions that reflect a person’s like for certain colors and designs,” she said. “I like the challenge of changing the pattern itself or creating something. My ‘My Fan Dance’ (quilt) is one I made from a pattern I saw in a quilting magazine. I altered it a little bit.”

Bailey said quilting is also fun because you can create all sorts of unique gifts. Quilt themes can vary from local scenes to favorite athletic teams. Quilts can drape a bedspread or the back of a chair, adding to a room’s decor. Bailey said she had a curtain rod installed on the wall of a hall in her home to display her unique quilts.

Bailey also says quilting is also an art form, one she enjoys when she visits art galleries. The Perquimans County Library in fact displays quilts year-round to pay homage to the region’s generations of quilters.

Besides quilting, Bailey says she also enjoys embroidery and working with multimedia.

“I incorporate fabric in most of my work, including the SilversArts competition,” she said, referring to the annual North Carolina Senior Games.

“There’s so much you can do when you are determined to not go out and buy extra fabric,” Bailey said. “I like the challenge of quilting.”