PAINSTAKING WORK BLOSSOMS INTO SUCCESSFUL QUILTERS' GUILD SHOW

With their scraps of fabric and elaborate seams, the quilts displayed at the River Heritage Quilt Show tell a story.

Sewn with painstaking detail, the nearly 100 quilts tell a story about a family pet, "Duchess," or a husband's job, "Twenty Years of Banking," or just represent a quilting tradition with the "Double Wedding Ring" designs.

Others, like those designed by Lynn Taylor, create lifelike scenes with their dimension and color at the "Shawneetown Church."

About 400 people visited the quilt show Saturday. It continues this afternoon at the Centenary United Methodist Church Family Life Center.

Quilting keeps a legacy alive, said Jane Stodghill, show chairman. "The legacy of quilting is women getting together for a quilting bee, and we're keeping that atmosphere alive."

As visitors enter the show, they will see a cluster of women gathered around a quilting frame. The frame holds the guild's latest project and behind it stands a finished quilt that members created. It is being raffled as a fund-raising project for their next show.

The weekend show is the first ever for members of the River Heritage Quilters Guild. The group formed about eight years ago but had to grow and develop its talents before organizing a show.

"We're always learning about ways to do better on our quilts," Stodghill said. To help other quilters improve their work, the guild members offered demonstrations.

Janette Martin, a district manager for Bernina sewing and quilting machines, offered lessons on how to program quilting stitches. About 15 women attended her class Saturday afternoon.

Martin, who isn't a quilter, showed the group how to use the machine stitches to get a look similar to hand-stitching.

Entire quilts can be made on a machine, she said.

But hand-stitched quilts are a favorite of Elsie Beaudean and Carrie Suedekum. The two women spent part of the afternoon admiring the quilts on display.

Beaudean does some quilting, but "mine are not good enough to show," she said.

The show was designed to include quilt entries from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. However, no entries were received from Kentucky or Tennessee.

A quilt show in Paducah, Ky., usually displays 400 quilts, so receiving 100 entries was wonderful for the first show, Stodghill said.

Prizes were awarded for first, second and third places in six categories and an overall best of show. The categories included pieced, applique, group, miniature, wall hangings and theme quilts. The show theme was "Roses" in honor of Cape Girardeau, the City of Roses, Stodghill said.

Members of the River Heritage guild also displayed their Round-Robin summer challenge.

Each person who participated in the challenge quilted a separate block and never saw it again until the project was complete. Members worked in groups of three on the wall hangings.