Photo by Karen Fluegge A member of the New Ulm Prairie Piecemakers Quilt guild checks out a quilt display at the Minnesota Quilt Show in St. Cloud. B

ST. CLOUD — The day started early on Thursday, as the New Ulm Prairie Piecemakers Quilt Guild members and friends boarded a bus in the Running’s Parking lot. They traveled to St. Cloud for the annual Minnesota Quilt Show.

This annual quilt show is open to the public, and includes both judged and non-judged quilt exhibits, classes, lectures by local and national teachers, a raffle quilt, a quilt auction, and other events. Next year the Minnesota Quilt Show will be held in Duluth, but it plans to return to St. Cloud in 2025 and 2026.

Kathy Covington, a volunteer from the Guild, has organized the annual quilt show trip for the last four years. The Guild has gone many other times too.

She said, “Some members from our Guild have brought quilts to this state quilt show and several have won.”

Carol Guse, a member of the Guild, added, “I have won twice. I won 2nd place one time and the Judge’s Choice award another time. These quilts were long-armed quilted by Char Lemcke.”

When discussing what people enjoyed the most about the quilt show, Covington said, “I enjoy looking at the quilts, but my favorite is the vendors. I think it’s fun to see if they have something new.”

Myrt Gieseke, a member of the Guild for about 20 years, said, “I like the variety and the amazing quilts. The quality of the work is so good.”

This is Gieseke’s third time to the state quilt show and has also attended a state quilt show in Denver, Colorado.

Christine Fluegge joined the Guild at the same time as Gieseke. She has been a long-arm machine quilter for over 28 years with her business Stitch ‘n Niche.

“I think I’ve been sewing since I was only 10 years old and have attended at least five Minnesota Quilt Shows,” Fluegge said.

Peggy Linn, a member of the Guild and first time attendee at the quilt show, said, “I wonder if I am going to see everything, it is a much bigger show than I thought it would be.”

When asked how long she’s been a quilter, she replied, “I probably made my first quilt in high school, but it feels like I’m a real quilter now because I can spend more time at it now that I’m retired.”

The Prairie Piecemakers Quilt Guild is a busy group with about 80 members and have been a Guild for about 30 years. They meet the second Thursday of each month, from September to May. They meet at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church’s Fellowship Hall.

Meetings consist of a business gathering, Show and Tell where people can display their quilts or projects they have made, have guest speakers who sometimes provide classes and usually have a trunk show to display what they have created.

Occasionally the Guild has sew days, they participate in Quilts of Valor for our veterans, create quilts for New Ulm cancer patients, and make Tummy Time Quilts that are given to babies when nurses visit their homes in Brown County. The Guild also makes and donates Compassion Quilts to people who have experienced some sort of tragedy in their life.

The Guild does a Mystery Quilt which means each month they get a clue for making a quilt, and by the end of the year, they will have a finished quilt. They also do a President’s Challenge. This year the challenge was to use your left-over fabric and make something from it.

Every other year, the Guild has their own quilt show in New Ulm. The show in 2022 had over 400 quilts displayed. Their next quilt show is scheduled for April 5-6, 2024.

Covington welcomes new members.

“We have people that come to our meetings that appreciate quilting, but don’t sew, they just like to come to the meetings for the social aspect, the programs, and the classes. It’s just a fun time to get together.”

More information on the Guild can be found on Facebook by searching for Prairie Piecemakers.