by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
The women who stitch quilts for the annual Church of St. Joseph Catholic Church July 4 celebration have created 38 quilts for this year’s July 4 quilt auction.
They have created a queen-sized Minnesota Wild hockey quilt, men’s neck-tie quilt, 19 other queen-sized quilts and 17 baby quilts.
Delrose Fischer, who has been the chairperson of the group for 21 years, came up with the Minnesota Wild quilt idea because the team was doing well when she started the quilt.
“I thought it would be a good quilt to do,” Fischer said.
Since it was Fischer’s idea, she got to choose the fabric, design and gather the needed materials.
Fischer said she had Minnesota Wild collector’s cards printed on fabric pieces by Dave Thole from Shirts Illustrated. The fabric was then pieced and sewn together before the other women put the batting between and began stitching the two sides of the quilt together. The outer binding edge of the quilt was completed after the rest of the quilt was finished.
The neck-tie quilt was pieced together by Lois Warnert.
The group said they not only gather to make the quilts, but also because they enjoy the fellowship they share with each other while stitching.
Ione Jacobs drives from St. Cloud to stitch with the St. Joseph quilters.
“This is the best group to work with,” Jacobs said. “We don’t need a therapy group; we just come here to discuss our problems.”
The camaraderie of the group is evident as they stitch on large queen-sized quilts and baby quilts. After spending so many hours of time together, the women have developed mutual trust and friendship among themselves.
“We have a lot of fun,” said Marilyn Brinkman of St. Joseph. “We have gotten to know each other over the years, and I miss the group in the summer.”
Cathy Buchheit from Rockville recently rejoined the St. Joseph parish. She said she immediately joined the quilting group.
It takes a lot of time and a lot of work to make all the quilts for the church auction. The quilters meet on Mondays from 7 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the church Heritage Hall Parish Center from August through November and then from January through March.
Usually, Fischer and two other people come in at 7 a.m. to set up the quilts, and others join as soon as they are able to. If they are unable to finish a quilt on Monday, they will sometimes stay a little later, otherwise they come back on Tuesdays to finish the quilt.
It takes many additional helping hands to do the other tasks involved with the quilting. Several parishioners/quilters do the piecing of the quilts.
Parishioners also work at St. John’s University for various dining events. They donate hours to the parish and Fischer receives payment for their volunteer hours. The money earned is used to purchase fabric and other supplies for the quilts.
Fischer said the quilters get a hot meal every Monday when they quilt. Judy Meemken, who used to piece all the quilts, now helps out by setting up and cleaning up after the Monday meals. Meemken stopped piecing the quilts because it was getting harder for her to do as she was growing older.
Pat Osbourn is a new cook for the quilters. She said she recently came back to the church last fall after taking a sabbatical for a few years. When she heard the group was looking for someone to cook meals for them, she decided she would be a good fit for the group.
Fischer said they are always looking for new quilters to join their group, as well as people to help cook meals for the quilting group on Mondays, piece quilts together and work at St. John’s University.
Since the group is aging, they are especially looking for younger volunteers who might enjoy spending time with the group. Until Christmas 2016, the oldest quilter was 94 years old. Now Josie Meyer is the oldest at 88.
The parish has been auctioning quilts off since 1987. Last year the quilt auction made $13,015. Last year’s featured theme quilts were made from photos of locally-owned tractors – one of Farmall tractors and one of John Deere tractors.
Other quilts the group has done in the past include a Minnesota Twins quilt autographed by players, Minnesota Vikings quilt, an autographed Kirby Puckett quilt, dog quilt, golf quilt, old barns quilt, peace quilt and more.
Fischer said the quilt that raised the most money at the parish auction was the Minnesota Twins quilt which brought in $4,700. That year the church made $13,600 from the quilt auction. The Kirby Puckett quilt was auctioned for $2,200.
Some of the quilts have been on display since the end of April in the church Heritage Hall Parish Center for parishioners and others to view. Fischer changes the quilts displayed every two weeks through the end of June.
Col. Frank Imholte from Black Diamond Auctions has been auctioning off the parish’s quilts for more than 20 years and will do the auctioning of this year’s quilts at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 4.
For more information, visit the parish website churchstjoseph.org.
Church of St. Joseph Catholic Church quilters (left to right) Delrose Fischer, Betty Schloemer, Ellie Studer, Josie Meyer, Cathy Buchheit, Marilyn Brinkman, Ilene Schmitt, Ione Jacobs, Barb Heltemes and Geri Schwab work on a Minnesota Wild queen-sized quilt which will be auctioned off at the July 4 church festival.
Ilene Schmitt (left) and Delrose Fischer hold up a recently finished Minnesota Wild quilt of which the binding edges were later finished. This and other quilts will be auctioned off at the July 4 church festival.
Church of St. Joseph Catholic Church quilters (left to right) Marilyn Brinkman, Barb Heltemes, Josie Meyer, Ellie Studer and Cathy Buchheit stitch on a baby quilt which will be auctioned off at this year’s July 4 church festival. The group is celebrating three decades of providing quilts for the church auction.
