by Cori Hilsgen
St. Stephen residents will celebrate the annual Catholic church’s parish festival from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 4 (Labor Day).
Included with all the fun and festivities of the day is the annual quilt auction. The St. Stephen Quilting Group members have been busy stitching quilts for the festival and have callused fingertips to prove it.
Twenty-seven quilts will be sold at the auction that will start at 2 p.m.
Liz Legatt, one of the quilters, said some of the quilting group’s favorites include a queen/king-sized quilt of appliquéd bears and pine trees; and a digital-deer panel quilt (both made by Legatt and Barb Nathe); a horse quilt (made by Legatt); and a king-sized hunter with pheasants and dogs quilt (made by Legatt and Nathe).
Legatt and Nathe are the co-chairs of the festival’s quilt stand.
The group has been displaying some of the quilts in the church annex since the beginning of July.
“Hand quilting is an art,” Legatt said. “Thanks to everyone who helped me work on the quilts this year, including Jeanette Trobec, Ruth Vouk, Carole Mehr, Jay Seaton, Barb Nathe, Ester Ertl, La Vonne Legatt, and Ruth Supan. Also, thanks to our auction quilt holders – Alex Legatt, Matthew Hellmann, Candice Koopmeiners and Peter Schumer.”
Nathe, Mehr, Trobec and both Legatts recently gathered in the annex to discuss their quilts. Nathe and Mehr have been quilting with the group for at least 20 years, Trobec for about 15 years, Liz for eight years and La Vonne for three years.
“What a wonderful group of people we have for quilters,” Nathe said.
“We get along so well,” Mehr said. “We share quilting tips and learn new tricks.”
“We tell some fun jokes and laugh a lot,” Trobec said.
Liz Legatt is the youngest quilter and Vouk is the oldest at 86. They all agreed Vouk is the best quilter because she makes “perfect” tiny little stitches with a very tiny needle.
Trobec is a more detailed person and sometimes encourages the rest of them to do a little extra sewing.
Before Legatt joined the group, she made quilts and grew flowers she entered in the Benton County Fair open-class exhibits, receiving several award ribbons.
In 2012, Liz’s nieces and nephews asked her to machine-piece a horse quilt which the St. Stephen quilters helped sew. The group then decided to enter it at the Benton County Fair as a group hand-quilting project. The St. Stephen Quilting Group received a red-ribbon award for second place.
A total of 61 quilts will either be auctioned, sold or raffled at the festival. Other quilts include John Deere and Farmall tractor quilts, a queen-sized maple leaf (top made by Mehr and fabric donated by Helen Frie), green-star cheater quilt (made by Nathe), double-size deer panel with half squares quilt (quilt top made by Mehr), a twin-sized Yorkie quilt (made by Nathe) and a black/white quilt (made by Liz Legatt).
Many baby quilts, including “Ana and Elsa,” “Hello Kitty,” “Minnie and Mickey Mouse,” “Spiderman,” butterfly, flying dogs, turtle and frogs and more will also be for sale at the quilt stand and auction.
This will be the first year the group will have a tent to display quilts.
All of the quilts are hand-stitched by members of the St. Stephen Quilting Group. Together, the group decides what type of quilts to make by discussing what they would like to create for the next festival, along with input from Legatt and Nathe.
Legatt and Nathe work on making some of the quilt tops during the summer on rainy or very hot days, as time allows. So far, they have created eight new ones for next year’s festival.
The group quilts from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. every Monday in the church basement, from the first Monday in October to the first Monday in May or whenever the last quilt on the frame is finished.
They take coffee/tea breaks at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and share snacks with one another. In September, Nathe hosts a fish fry at her house to celebrate the group’s hard work.
The annual quilt auction helps raise funds for the parish. Large quilts usually sell for $200-$400 each. One of the highest-priced quilts sold was a cardinal quilt which brought $650.
A homemade chicken-and-ham dinner, which includes pie, will be available, along with bouja, hamburgers, hotdogs, taco-in-a-bag and more.
The event also includes a Grandma’s Attic sale, country auction, cake walk, farmers’ market, dice game, country store, beer garden, bake sale, silent auction, face painting, children’s games, inflatables and more.
JJ’s Band will perform from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and Laverne and the Starlights will perform from 2-7 p.m. A grand raffle will take place at 5:30 p.m.
For additional information about joining the St. Stephen Quilting Group, call Legatt at 320-251-5062 or Nathe at 320-251-0462. Quilts can be viewed online at greatrivercatholic.org.