Quilter creates memories in fabric

SANDPOINT — She refuses to call herself an artist, though her home is virtually filled with the artwork she has created. She is humble, too, about the fact that she was selected to be the featured quilter for the upcoming Panhandle Piecemakers Quilt Guild Show, calling herself a “pinch-hitter” who was called in when the original candidate had to have wrist surgery.

Despite her protestations to the contrary, everything about the work JoAnn Sims does using colorful bits of cloth cries out to be called artistic.

“There has been a huge insurgence of using fabric as art,” she allowed, “though I don’t classify myself as an artist.”

Having made that statement, she unwraps a neatly folded quilt and spreads it out. At 107 inches square — more than eight feet for those who are keeping score at home — it seems to fill the room in a pattern that dances around the borders in shades of violet and blue, always paying deference and pointing the eye back to the design in pink and red that holds things together in the center.

Even the “negative space” of white fabric that makes up the background is highly detailed in delicate, quilted filigree that plays like a subtext beneath the piece.

“I call it ‘Eureka — An Odyssey’ because it took me five years to complete,” the quilter said.

“On the other hand,” she went on, draping a “crazy quilt” in bold colors and big patterns on top of the larger work, “this one took me three days to complete.

“Sometimes fabric is just so fun that you have to finish.”

According to Sims, there is an element of comfort in a quilt that connects it the people who made it — often for generations to follow — with those who snuggle beneath it or share the account of where it came from and how it was made.

“People are incredibly pleased when you give them something where they know how much work you’ve put into it,” said Sims. “Very often, when you give them something you’ve quilted as a gift, they cry.

“Every quilt has a story,” she added. “Every one.”

To illustrate her point, she took the folded bundle of fabric she had been hugging close and opened it like a book. The pattern, the quilter explained, is known as “medallion.”  The story behind the piece is as richly hued and closely woven as the jewel tones and pastels that join together to form the decorative pattern on its face.

Her husband, Bill, made the quilt before he passed away. He had seen the design in some of her quilting magazines and always remarked that he thought it was exquisite. His wife finally ordered the pattern, but hadn’t begun work on it when Bill told her he’d like to give it a try.

“He said, ‘If you’re not going to start it, will you teach me how to do it?’” the quilter said. “It’s based on an Italian mosaic, so we named it, ‘Romancing the Stone.’”

Bill’s first attempt at quilting turned out to be wildly successful, not only from the benchmark of technical prowess and aesthetic quality, but also in the recognition it has received from viewers and judges.

“His last trip out of the house was to see this when I entered it in the county fair, where it won Best of Show,” Sims said. “And it has won major awards in every other show it’s been in since.”

Like an art gallery, the walls of Sims’ home are hung with works she has completed since she first picked up the quilting habit after retiring in 1994. There are several UFOs — unfinished objects — waiting to be completed, as well, she admitted, but they just add to the number of projects she looks forward to taking on.

“Quilting is an art, it’s a hobby and it’s a social outlet,” she said. “But it’s also very much an addiction.”

Sims shares that addiction in a kind of reverse 12-step program, where members throw themselves into the thing that they crave, rather than working at avoiding it. As one of about 50 members of the Panhandle Piecemakers Quilt Guild, she joins a regional group that has been active for the past 22 years.

The quilters continually raise the bar on themselves and each other, Sims said, by taking part in “challenges” that involve creating works using only certain techniques or defined color pallets. At other times, they complete quilts in round robin fashion, with each member working on a section before sending it on to the next individual for their personal touch.

Always on the lookout for new members, the guild annually hosts a free “Quilting 101” workshop to attract new blood. Guild members are also active in philanthropic work, donating quilts for fundraisers, as well as to Kinderhaven and families who have lost a home in a fire.

“Any time we can give comfort, we’ll give a quilt,” Sims said.

On May 1 and 2, the guild will host a judged quilt show that includes a “Red Hat Creation” challenge, where one section of the overall exhibit will honor the local Red Hatters organization with works that key off of that particular color.

The rest of the quilts will fall under the scrutiny of judges who will be looking as closely at the handiwork involved as they are at the finished designs. Those judges, Sims pointed out, will be adding or taking away points for things like the piping around borders, how well pieces of fabric are joined together, the precision of mitered corners and the exactness of points on the tips on triangle sections.

“They are really fussy,” the quilter said. “That’s why winning one of these awards is so well-respected.”

The Panhandle Piecemakers Quilt Guild “Red Hot Quilters” show will be held at Sandpoint Community Hall on Saturday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, May 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3, with children under 12 and husbands admitted free. The guild meets at Sandpoint’s First Lutheran Church on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. and interested individuals are invited to attend.

Information: (208) 263-6795