by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
In-person preview sessions of quilts up for auction in St. Joseph will take place four times at the St. Joseph Catholic Parish’s Heritage Hall.
The two quilted wall hangings, two pillows and 41 bed quilts (including 17 baby quilts) were made throughout the year by the 14 women of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group. Proceeds from the auction are used for programs and activities of the St. Joseph Catholic Parish.
Like last year, the quilt-bidding process will be online only.
The quilts may be viewed in person from 9:30-11 a.m. and again from 4-6 p.m. on the same day – Friday, June 25; from 1-6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 26; and from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sunday, June 27. All of the viewings will take place at Heritage Hall, which is located next to (and connected to) the St. Joseph Catholic Church in the downtown area.
Members of the St. Joseph Parish Quilt Group will be at the viewings to answer any questions about the quilts and how to bid on them.
To see photos of each quilt and to submit a bid or bids, go to the following auctioneer website: bid.blackdiamondauctions.com, then choose among the options “Church of St. Joseph Quilt Auction.” The photos and auction process are expected to begin on that website starting June 14. The bidding will continue with final bids to be wrapped up starting at 7 p.m. Monday, July 5.
For more than 30 years, the quilts would be auctioned off on the church grounds during the annual JoeTown Rocks festival. The 2020 and 2021 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Videos of the quilts can also be seen in two other ways. On YouTube. Open YouTube, then do a search for “Church of St. Joseph.” Or go to the parish website at www.churchstjoseph.org
The St. Joseph Parish Quilting Group works year-round on their highly creative quilting projects. Each year, the quilters choose various “themes” for their creative, hand-stitched quilts – themes such as “Minnesota Twins” and “Minnesota Vikings. One dazzling, colorful quilt years ago was made up of a man’s collection of old-fashioned neckties. One of their large quilts up for auction this time is a large quilt comprised of four-by-four-inch squares, each showing the logo of the Bad Habit Brewing Company in St. Joseph. There are also two Bad Habit Brewing pillows, sold separately from the quilt.
Delrose Gillitzer Fischer (left) and Cathy Buchheit (right) along with other women at the Church of St. Joseph stitch the Bad Habit quilt that will be auctioned this summer.
The 90 by 101-inch quilt was fashioned with alternating squares around a large Bad Habit logo.
