Joan Benjamin, organizer of the Stikine Stitchers' 18th annual Fourth of July Quilt Show, displays one of her own creations, a quilt that features depictions of Alaska Natives by Anchorage-based artist Barbara Lavallee. The group's quilts will be exhibited in the windows of participating downtown businesses through July 10.
The quilting guild Stikine Stitchers is putting on its annual Fourth of July Quilt Show. For two weeks, members will display their work at various businesses around town.
Setup is Wednesday, June 26, and the show will come down July 10.
About 12 to 15 residents will participate in the show, said organizer Joan Benjamin, displaying their quilts at Midnight Oil, Angerman's, Stikine Drug, Ottesen's Ace Hardware and more.
"This is our 18th time putting on the show," she said. "It would've been 19 if not for COVID."
Benjamin said it all began in 2005, when several storefronts had closed, due in part to the sawmill closing in the mid-1990s. "Fourth of July was coming up and so somebody in the guild said, 'Well, why not put our quilts down there?'" she said. "I've been doing it ever since."
She thinks the popularity of quilting, both in making and viewing them, lies in their detailed patterns. "A lot of them are pretty intricate and they're hard to put together, but I don't think people realize how much work it is, until they start working on them," she said.
Benjamin's own quilt entry is a colorful blue, yellow and red spread approximately 70-by-90 inches, featuring a grid of squares that depict Alaska Natives by Anchorage-based artist Barbara Lavallee. Benjamin said she had help from her sister-in-law Joyce Delestry in Wisconsin who machine quilted her sections while Benjamin hand quilted the rest which took longer.
"It looks like this is all pieced together but actually it's just all printed," she said. "This is the first time I've ever made a quilt this size like that. I kind of like it."
She plans to display her creation in either Angerman's or Stikine Drug.
Benjamin added that the methods of craft vary from person to person, from machine stitching to quilting by hand, as well as the size of the finished product, explaining they can sometimes be as small as postcards. "We have some people that do really small ones for wall hangings," she said. "We have people that make king-sized ones too."
Another variation is the amount of time participants spend on their creations. "Some people can just sit down and put a quilt together rather quickly, but it usually takes (others) a couple of months," she said.
While some shows have had an overall theme, she said this year they are welcoming whatever quilts people want to put in the show. Also, for those who want to sell their quilts during the show, they can put a price in the description with the display, along with contact information.
For more information on the event, call Benjamin at (907) 874-3252.
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