From quaint log cabin patterns to bold modern designs, the talent of Callaway County's quilters was on full display at the Rooster Creek Quilt Show in Holts Summit last weekend.
More than 650 people attended Thursday-Saturday, raising $1,208 to help train a local girl's epilepsy service dog, organizer Brenda Harvey said.
"These quilts are beautiful," said Niki Carney, who manned a booth for vendor Brenda's Quilt Shop of Osceola. "(My favorite is) a variation on a mariner's compass, which is the first pattern I did on my own."
Niki Carney said running the quilt shop is a family affair (Brenda is her mother). She's often tasked with attending quilt shows and helping Brenda piece together quilts, while her father machine sews.
Brenda's Quilt Shop was one of 14 vendors at the event offering quilt- and craft-related items.
"I saw a woman sewing (a mariner's compass quilt) on TV, and I said, 'I can do that,'" Carney remembered. "My mom said, 'No you can't.'"
So, naturally, Carney had to try. She called quilting a great stress reliever for her.
"It's cheaper than therapy," Lynn Bergman said.
Bergman and her friend Maggie Ogden, of Licking, both teach at Rolla Technical Center and came to the quilt show together.
Bergman said she likely learned to quilt from her grandmother. "I started sewing at age 5 or 6," she said. "I got my first sewing machine at 13 and my second at 50."
Ogden picked up the hobby from Bergman.
"Maggie has gone ape with quilting," Bergman said.
Both agreed today's young folks could benefit from learning sewing and quilting.
"It makes you think in 3-D," Ogden said, adding she's taught her granddaughter how to make pillow cases.
"Math is involved, color is involved and creativity," Bergman said.
Rather than learning from their mothers and grandmothers, some of the younger generations are picking up quilting online.
"I saw an online tutorial," said Julia Corman, of New Bloomfield.
Corman said she caught the bug and has completed several quilts, though she's still working on the second one she started.
"Grandma gave me a quick quilt book - you know, quilts you're supposed to do in a weekend," Corman said. "I decided to hand-quilt one."
She's still making progress, slowly and steadily.
"My advice would be, you're going to make ugly quilts early on and you've just got to (keep practicing)," Corman said. "My first quilt was hideous."
Her friend, Elyssa Luebbering, of St. Thomas, advised taking classes. Neither of the two entered quilts into this year's show, only hearing of it at the last minute, but they're considering next year.
Aside from the 150-plus quilts entered in the show and the vendors, instructor Linda Bratten did live sewing and quilting demonstrations for the crowd.
Winners of the Rooster Creek Quilt Show
Best in Show
May Gunter
Adult
1st Place: Barbara Nichols
2nd Place: Schelly Smith
3rd Place: May Gunter
Vintage
1st Place: Linda Strange
2nd Place: Rosie Thomas
3rd Place: Rosemary Rost
Art
1st Place: Amanda Williams
2nd Place: Diane Ponsting
3rd Place: Martha McIntyre
Miscellaneous
1st Place: Schelly Smith
2nd Place: Kathy Parris
3rd Place: Dianna Price
Youth
1st Place: Sophia Phelps
2nd Place: Lauren Rieche
3rd Place: Emma Brix