Quilt event being staged in three Perry County towns

More than 75 quilts across five venues will be on display Saturday in the East Perry County Quilt Show.

Featured lecturer and Perryville native Ann Hazelwood, president of the board of directors of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Ky., will present a "bed-turning" of vintage quilts contributed by the Frohna Friendship Circle.

A bed-turning typically involves placing quilts on a bed in order of when they were made and turning or removing the quilts as they are discussed, Hazelwood said Thursday. She said she can provide details about the quilt's era, trends in design and construction and how it was likely to have been used, which sometimes come as a surprise to owners who have lived with the quilt in their homes for many years.

Hazelwood said she is pleased the region is bringing attention to local artisans, whose work she thinks is comparable in quality to award-winning quilters from around the world.

"The quilts and the quilters from that area are amazing," Hazelwood said.

The event is a cooperative effort involving sites in Altenburg, Mo., Frohna, Mo., and Farrar, Mo.

The East Perry County Cultural Alliance is holding a quilt show and competition at Trinity Lutheran School in Altenburg. Hazelwood will also be on-site to provide expert quilt appraisals.

Altenburg's Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum will exhibit the works of master quilter Lynne Taylor of Cape Girardeau.

Saxon Lutheran Memorial in Frohna will host a quilting bee with local hand quilters.

Also in Frohna, Wine Country Inn Bed & Breakfast will display local vintage quilts.

Eggers & Co. General Store Bed & Breakfast in Farrar will show heritage quilts of the Eggers and Kaempfe families and sell works by champion quilter Anna Lexow as well as local wool batting.

Additional lectures will include such topics as specialty quilts, historic quilt blocks, caring for vintage fabrics and beginner's quilting.

The East Perry County Cultural Alliance will also provide face-painting for children, an antique tractor display and prizes for attendees. Refreshments will be sold as part of a fundraiser by the Perry County FFA.

Admission to all five sites is $5. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.eastperrycomo.org or call 573-953-1688 or 573-824-5404.

salderman@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

17 Church St., Altenburg, MO

75 Church St., Altenburg, MO

296 Saxon Memorial Dr., Frohna, MO

6229 Main St., Frohna, MO

19 County Road 328, Farrar, MO