WLM | people
The Someday Quilt
Someday I will make a quilt. Those are the words that started every quilter down the quilting path. For some this
dream was inspired by watching a mother or grandmother make quilts. For others it was looking at beautiful quilts
at a quilt show or made by a friend. For many, it was the opportunity to take a class through a quilt guild or at a
local community college. The 80 members of Goshen County Quilters can each tell a personal story of the journey
that led to quilt making. The path that led each member to quilting and the skills each one has do not matter. A love
of colorful fabric, the creative process, and a willingness to invest considerable time and money in the art and craft of
quilting bring them together to share and learn.
Goshen County Quilters started in 1994 with 20 charter members. Soon after they organized the club in August, the
members held a quilt show, free and open to the public. Every year since then the club has sponsored a quilt show,
still free to the public. The show has grown until it now regularly has over 150 entries and fills the Rendezvous
Center at the Goshen County Fairgrounds. It now takes the members a full day to hang all the quilts and set up the
show, which includes a large boutique of quilted items for sale, special exhibits, and quilt shop vendors and many
short demonstrations and classes. In 2015, the 21st annual show had 650 registered visitors, over half from outside
Goshen County. A large group regularly drives from Cheyenne; many also come from western Nebraska. Most
towns in the eastern half of Wyoming are represented, and visitors who are just traveling through the area often stop
when they see the signs on the highway.
Even in the 22 years since the guild was organized, quilting has evolved from a simple art form requiring only
scissors, fabric and a sewing machine to one using computers, many custom tools and thousands of fabric choices.
Once, all quilt pieces were cut individually with a pair of scissors following a pencil line traced onto fabric. Now,
rotary cutters, mats and special rulers greatly speed up the fabric cutting process. Once all quilts tops were pieced
by hand sewing the small pieces together, then placing the top, batting and backing together and hand stitching
the three layers together with thousands of tiny stitches. Today almost all quilt tops are pieced by sewing machine.
Of course, computers are now part of quilting. Many sewing machines have built-in computers to regulate sewing
speed, stitches and patterns. There are special computer quilt-design programs which allow on-screen design of
quilts, and then translate the desig