What I dreamed up: Jackson woman's quilt in international contest

Karla Kiefner has never actually seen Tuscany. But that didn't stop her from dreaming up and creating the picturesque scene that landed her a semifinalist spot in an international quilting competition to be held next month.

Kiefner, of Jackson, is among 170 quilters who will display their skills in the American Quilter's Society Quiltweek show from Sept. 10 through Sept. 13 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The society each year hosts several shows throughout the country featuring different types of quilts ranging from traditional to artistic styles.

The rolling hills and blue skies of Tuscany are seen beyond sunflowers peeking through a stone archway in Kiefner's quilt, titled "Bella Vista," Italian for beautiful view.

The show, according to a news release from the society, had entries from 36 states and six countries outside the United States. For Kiefner, who runs a quilt-finishing service from her home, The Quilting Bee, a place in the competition is a great honor, she said.

"I always wanted to try to get a quilt in a show like this, but I never felt like I had done one worthy to enter," Kiefner said. "But I thought maybe 'Bella Vista' was different enough."

She drew inspiration for the quilt's theme from her oldest daughter's study of opera in college, and the related Italian language, culture and geography, and added her favorite flowers, sunflowers.

"It's just something I've become interested in, and this is what I dreamed up," she said of the landscape featured on the quilt.

Kiefner has family ties to quilting. Her grandmother made many quilts for family members, and Kiefner said as a child she once crafted her own small quilt. Her interest in quilting grew after a 2001 visit to a local sewing shop, where she was inspired by the craftsmanship featured on a wall hanging of a flag and was encouraged by the shop's owner to take up the hobby.

"She told me, 'If you can sew a straight line, you can do that,'" Kiefner said.

Kiefner also had her start in quilting when, about a year later, she inherited her mother-in-law's long-arm quilting machine. From there she began taking classes and worked her way up to providing freehand and tool-guided long-arm quilting services -- her clients bring her the pieces they create and she puts them together to make a completed quilt.

Karla Kiefner, owner and creative force behind The Quilting Bee, sits among a selection of her quilts outside her Cape Girardeau County home. (Laura Simon)

At the Chattanooga show, more than 500 quilts, including those of semifinalists like Kiefner, will be on display, and workshops and lectures are offered to attendees. Kiefner and her husband plan to travel to the show for the weekend, and will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary during the trip.

"Because I understand the caliber of the quilts I'm up against, I'm just so excited to be going there," Kiefner said.

Locally, Kiefner's quilt will be available for public viewing during the River Heritage Quilters' Guild Quilt Show to be held Oct. 4 and 5 at the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau. That show will feature a competition that includes 100 quilts, a vendor mall and many exhibits.