by Dennis Dalman
Delrose Fischer and Betty Schloemer worked hard May 18 hanging up dazzling hand-made quilts in the vast lobby of Heritage Hall by the St. Joseph Catholic Church.
Schloemer and Fischer are two of the current 14 members of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group. Since 1986, when it started, the group’s members past and present have made more than 1,000 quilts. The stunning works are auctioned off every summer at the St. Joseph Parish Fourth of July Festival, and the proceeds are used to help the parish.
During the last two years, due to the pandemic, the quilts were auctioned online. This time, however, they will be up for auction right at the church, with bidders showing up in person just before 1:30 p.m., the time the auction will start on Monday, July 4.
There will be 24 queen-sized quilts at the auction, as well as some lap quilts, 13 baby quilts and one wall hanging.
Up until auction day arrives, every week some of the new quilts will be put up for display in Heritage Hall. On May 18, Fischer and Schloemer hung up on special frames the first two of them – an “International Harvester McCormick Farmall Tractor Quilt” and one dubbed “Glory Days.”
To some long-time farmers, Farmall and John Deere are fightin’ words, with some insisting Farmall is best and others vouching fiercely for John Deere. But not to worry. There is a “John Deere Quilt” too in this year’s auction.
The quilt named “Glory Days” is a visual patchwork symphony of subdued and subtle shades of blues, whites and tans, arranged meticulously in star shapes on a background of smallish squares and triangles. Amoeba-shaped paisley patterns seem to squirm and squiggle on many of the quilt pieces.
“Glory Days” was pieced together with loving patience by Patty Loehrlein in a traveling camper when she and her husband, Ray, took a trip to Texas last winter.
The “Farmall Tractor Quilt” boasts a design of bright bold colors (lots of reds, whites, blacks), eight IH (International Harvester) logos, and a centerpiece farm scene depicting two Farmalls, a barn and its landscape showing flying geese, sheep, horses, chickens and a pig. On the outer margins of the quilt are clever stylized marks mimicking tractor-tire tracks.
As Schloemer and Fischer hung up the quilts, they talked with the St. Joseph Newsleader reporter about their work. Fischer has been a member of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group for 35 years, since the day of its founding. She has been chair of the group since 1998. Schloemer joined right after her retirement 10 years ago.
A staggering amount of work goes into the making of the many mostly hand-stitched quilts. The women stitch the quilts at Heritage Hall, starting in early August, then take the month of December off, resuming the process in January and finishing all of the quilts by mid-April.
One quilt they made this year took them, working collectively, 156 hours to complete, Fischer noted.
Both Schloemer and Fischer praised Josie Meyer, who had been a member of the group since its inception. She had to quit in 2018 due to health concerns and is now age 93.
“Josie was my mentor in the quilt group,” said Schloemer as Fischer nodded. “She was so kind and so inspirational for this quilt group.”
Fischer showed photos of some of the other quilts and took some out of their storage bags to give the Newsleader reporter a sneak preview.
One was a quilt called “Proud to be an American,” a children’s quilt showing Mickey Mouse holding up an American flag with each star stitched separately onto the flag. Pieced together by Fischer, she has made that same quilt many times in the past years because it is so popular.
Another quilt was made of T-shirts from the annual Joe-Town Rocks concert, which takes place in downtown St. Joseph on the evening prior to the Fourth of July Festival. The quilt contains most of annual “JoeTown Rocks” T-shirts from the past 15 years.
The current members of the quilt group besides Fischer, Loehrlein, Schloemer are Kathy Buchheit, Marilyn Brinkman, Sharon Froehle, Pat Henning, Ione Jacobs, Linda Loso, Suzy Mesner, Ilene Schmitt, DD Schulte, Geri Schwab and Lois Warner.
Photos of the quilts will soon be shown on the St. Joseph Catholic Church website at www.churchstjoseph.org.
Delores Fischer (left) and Betty Schloemer hang up a “Farmall Tractor Quilt” May 18 in the lobby of Heritage Hall in St. Joseph. The colorful quilt is just one of nearly 50 that will be up for auction July 4 at St. Joseph Catholic Church during the city’s Fourth of July celebration. Schloemer and Fischer are two of the 14 members of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group who created all the quilts.
This central panel of the “Farmall Tractor Quilt” shows in colorful details life on a busy farm, complete with tractors, barn and animals. The quilt was created by the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group of St. Joseph and will be auctioned off July 4.
This quilt, pieced together by Patty Loeherlein, is a dazzling combination of blues, whites and beiges. It is one of nearly 50 quilts to be up for auction during the St. Joseph Fourth of July Parish Festival.
