Stitching together competition

Eva Studley points to a particular stitching, above, explaining that to make the mini-quilts, the patterns on the material needs to be proportional to the size of the quilt being made. Studley tries to get people of any age involved in quilting by showing them how personalized a quilt can be, like the one she made of her cat on a stack of quilts.
Eva Studley points to a particular stitching, above, explaining that to make the mini-quilts, the patterns on the material needs to be proportional to the size of the quilt being made. Studley tries to get people of any age involved in quilting by showing them how personalized a quilt can be, like the one she made of her cat on a stack of quilts.

Small quilts, ranging in colors and designs, were judged Tuesday as part of the Missouri River Quilt Guild's miniature quilt challenge.

The only requirement was the quilts be no more than 24 inches long. From there, guild members showcased their creativity and skills on quilts including things like brooches, beads, silk ties and more.

Guild President Eva Studley said a speaker visited the organization earlier this year to discuss miniature quilts, which originally were used as a way to teach children how to quilt. After hearing about their popularity, the guild decided to do its own miniature quilt challenge.

The members had about five months to work on their quilts.

"Generally what we do with a miniature quilt is take a well-known quilt pattern and reduce it in size by some ratio and use appropriate fabrics," Studley said. "If you are reducing something in size, as far as pieces are concerned, then you also have to be aware of the pattern printed on the fabric because it also has to be reduced in size. So there are several things to be aware of."

Instead of replicating a quilt pattern, she added, some guild members created their own quilt designs. Darlene Grillos said one of her miniature quilts is a memory quilt honoring her mother. She used three of her mom's brooches, handkerchiefs, along with beads and buttons from her mom's dresses.

"These quilts are thinking outside the box - they're not in the realm of what you would normally think of as a regular quilt," she said. "It's an art form. So we have a lot of ladies who will be interpreting their ideas of what the miniature quilts are."

While some members participated for the challenge, others created the miniature quilts for home decorations or gifts.

The challenge was split into three different skill categories: beginner, intermediate and advanced. The three winners from each category received cash prizes and were to be announced Tuesday night.