'DECORATING WITH QUILTS' TOUR

Cookie Little has quilts on the beds in her home, but she's also made large quilts to use as wall hangings and small ones for table centerpieces. She drapes her quilts over chairs, stuffs them decoratively into baskets and crock pots and sews them into pillows. She even used one to make a backpack.

"I'm always looking for another reason to make a quilt," said Little, a member of the River Heritage Quilters' Guild. Little's house will have even more quilts than usual Oct. 2 when her home is featured on the guild's home tour.

Open on the tour will be the homes of Little and five other guild members. Using the theme "Decorating with Quilts," the tour not only will show off the work of guild members -- there should be 30 to 50 quilts in each house -- but also will offer decorating ideas for those who want to incorporate quilts in their own home decor.

People think of quilts on beds, but there are many other ways to display them, said Madeline Gieselman, chairman of quilt guild home tour.

A quilt is basically a backing, batting and front all sewn together, said Nancy Pleimann, another quilt guild member whose home will be on the tour. But within that definition, the variety is endless. From solid colored utilitarian spreads to traditional quilts in such patterns as log cabin or Ohio star to elaborate art quilts.

"Quilts can be used on walls with the trend going to quilt art," Gieselman said. "People are using them in place of pictures."

Such walls hangings can range in size from a framed 12-by-12-inch square to a bed-size quilt hanging on a wall, Gieselman said.

Quilts can be used to decorate tables. Large ones can be used for a tablecloth, smaller ones could serve as place mats or accent pieces under a centerpiece, Gieselman said.

On one table in Little's home a basked filled with seashells sits on a small quilt decorated with shells.

Quilts can be tossed over furniture or displayed from stair banisters. Little has a quilt poking out through a lidded straw basket.

Gieselman said an idea shared at a quilt guild meeting was to fold a quilt accordion-style, fold it in half, stick the folded end into a crock pot and fan out the other end, making it look like a quilt bouquet.

"I have a coffee table on which a quilt is set off point, so the corners are hanging off," Gieselman said. She also has quilts draped over a couch and a chair.

Gieselman said she doesn't worry much about matching the colors in a quilt to those in her home.

"A quilt will stand on its own," Gieselman said. "Most of mine don't match my color scheme, but they look good because quilts will fit in with anything."

What you do need to worry about when decorating with quilts, especially heirloom quilts, is sunlight.

"Even a few hours of direct sunlight will fade a quilt," Pleimann said.

Heirloom quilts also must be allowed to rest to ease stress on the fabric, Pleimann said. Experts recommend after hanging for three months, a quilt should be taken down and allowed to rest for two months, Pleimann said.

While heirloom quilts need to be handled with care, Pleimann said people shouldn't be afraid to display them.

She has a 90-year-old quilt hanging in her family room, which she said is one of the darker rooms in her house.

"It's probably not the best place for it to be," Pleimann said. "But I enjoy looking at it."

In fact the red, white and blue of the quilt inspired her Americana decorating theme.

But not all quilts are heirloom pieces. Pleimann said these days many people make and decorate with small quilts made especially for hanging on the wall.

"That way if it fades, it doesn't really matter. You just make another one," Pleimann said. She has such wall hangings with summer, fall and Christmas themes and changes them with the seasons.

Pleimann, who used to own a quilt shop, said interest in quilting has been growing during the last decade. People see a quilt in a store or at a quilt show, decide to try it themselves, then get hooked, she said.

"It's like any other hobby or craft. You make one, then you want to make more," Pleimann said.

Fueling a growing interest in quilting is the development of notions and tools to make quilting easier, Pleimann said. These include rotary cutters, which resemble a pizza cutter and are easier to use for cutting out quilt pieces than scissors, plastic templates, even sewing machines made especially for quilting.

"There are still a lot of people who hand quilt. It just takes longer," Pleimann said. She noted that many of the sewing machines now are so advanced that their stitches resemble those of hand quilting. Plus machines makes quilting so much faster and easier that it lures to quilting many people who might not have time to quilt otherwise.

Little prefers hand quilting. Working full-time as a nurse plus caring for her family doesn't leave her a lot of time, but she squeezes in quilting when she can. She quilts while she's watching television, riding in the car, waiting for appointments. She usually has several projects of varying sizes going at once so she always has something to work on.

When she finishes a quilt, it goes into use as a throw, on a bed or as a decorative piece.

"If you just stuck them in a closet, no one would see them," Little said. And quilts add such warmth and color to a room, she said, that would be a shame.

IF YOU GO

The River Heritage Quilters' Guild home tour, with its theme "Decorating with Quilts," will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 2. Five homes in Cape Girardeau and one in Jackson are on the tour and each will be decorated with a different theme.

The homes and their themes are:

Jim and Caroline Tilghman, 2233 Cambridge, antiques.

Daniel and Cookie Little, 2022 Evergreen, everyday living.

Dennis and Cheryl Hill, 2015 Evergreen, fall colors.

Kent and Jane Stodghill, 2748 Oakshire Circle, Christmas.

Greg and Nancy Pleimann, 2687 Bainbridge Road in Jackson, Americana.

Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door on the day of the tour. Advance tickets can be purchased at The Sewing Basket, Medical Arts Pharmacy and from quilt guild members.