By KELLY LAMBESIS
Story printed with permission of the Hillsboro Sentry-Enterprise
It is not unusual for members of the Millards Prairie Home and Community Education Club (HCE), which meets monthly in Elroy, to receive numerous first- and second-place awards for their entries in the Cultural Arts Contest at the Wisconsin Association Home and Community Education’s (WAHCE) Annual Conference.
However, this year it is especially remarkable that in addition to the many ribbons received by the club, three members also received state medallions for their quilts.
Veronica Sustar, Betty Manson and Gail Hitchcock, all of the Elroy area, received state medallions as well as blue ribbons in the Cultural Arts Contest. A state medallion in Cultural Arts is an additional recognition for entries that exhibit excellence and are considered the best in their designated categories.
Hitchcock received the state medallion for her “Pieced Professionally Quilted Bed Quilt”; Sustar, for her “Chicken Scratch on Point”; and Manson, for her “Machine Quilted Wall Hanging”. The annual state conference was from Sept. 16–18 in Manitowoc.
Gail Hitchcock has been a member of the Millards Prairie HCE for about 12 years and started quilting about 20 years ago. “Our oldest got married, and I decided to make a quilt,” she said. She has made between 15 and 20 quilts.
The idea for the bed quilt, which was awarded the state medallion this year, came from a quilting retreat she attended in Reedsburg.
“A group of us went to a class at the retreat, and we all learned how to make Bargello quilts,” she explained. A Bargello quilt is made by sewing strips of fabric together to create the appearance of movement. Winning the state medallion was exciting and, “this was the first year that I won a medallion,” Hitchcock said.
Veronica Sustar, who is Juneau County HCE Vice President of Family and Community Life and has been a member of HCE for 17 years, was delighted to receive a state medallion for her chicken scratch quilt. Sustar has been making quilts since she joined Millards Prairie HCE when she moved to the Elroy area in 2002. “I’d been sewing since seventh grade, mostly clothing for my children and others. I also helped sew quilt blocks together for church women’s community projects.” Sustar said.
When she began attending and helping with projects at HCE meetings, Sustar learned that quilt blocks had names, and that there were many ways to sew blocks together, including “on point.” She became interested in chicken scratch, a traditional embroidery style that is usually done on gingham fabric, when a fellow club member brought a quilt block she was embroidering to a meeting. “I was enthralled at how beautiful it was.” Sustar decided to make a quilt incorporating the embroidery style.
Sustar learned how to embroider 12 different block patterns and was able to find over 12 different colors of gingham. The embroidery took almost a year. Her layout for the quilt placed the bocks “on point” instead of in horizontal rows. The layout was inspired after Sustar attended QuiltWeek 2018 in Paducah, where she viewed many beautiful quilts.
Finally, Sustar sewed the blocks together forming the top of the quilt. She then brought this along with a backing for the quilt to another local quilter, Jane Weiss. Weiss, who has a longarm machine, provided machine quilting, which brought the two parts of Sustar’s chicken scratch quilt together.
“When it came back to me as an actual quilt, I was speechless!” said Sustar.
Betty Manson was also thrilled to win a state medallion for her “Machine-Quilted Wall Hanging” and explained it was only the second time she entered the Cultural Arts Contest at the convention. “I felt humbled and honored,” she said.
Manson, who has been a member of Millards Prairie HCE for about five years, is also the club’s secretary. She started quilting about 25 years ago, but discontinued as her schedule became very busy. Eventually, Manson returned to making quilts and was encouraged by her membership in both HCE and Nifty Needlers (Nifty Needlers is a separate group that meets three Wednesdays each month at the Elroy Public Library at 1 p.m.).
Manson wanted a quilt to display on a large wall in her home and became inspired to make her “Machine-Quilted Wall Hanging,” which measures 47 inches by 49 inches. She decided to use pink fabric for her quilt and explained, “my oldest daughter just came through five years cancer free after battling breast cancer,” Manson said. Pink is a strong symbol of breast cancer awareness and the fight to find a cure against the disease.
Other Millards Prairie HCE members who received red and blue ribbons for their entries in the Cultural Arts Contest are the following: Jean Morton for Pillow Sewn from Repurposed Handkerchiefs, Jessica Bashirian for a Small Quilt, Eileen Gottbeheat for a Large Quilt, Veronica Sustar for Crocheted Afghan, and Betty Manson for Sewn Shower Curtain and Embellished Wall Hanging.
Anyone interested in learning more about Millards Prairie HCE should contactcarlav8@centurytel.net. Monthly meetings are held at the Elroy Public Library, usually on the third Wednesday of the month, and newcomers are welcome.