There’s a saying, “quilt until you wilt!” and after 40 years, the Colonial Quilters Guild of Bethlehem shows no signs of wilting, as members are going strong continuing the tradition begun by six women in 1983.

A passion for quilting and a camaraderie rooted in genuine friendship connects the members, whose talent and personalities blend to form a patchwork of a group that loves what they do and has fun doing it.

“I was looking for kindred spirits,” Lynda Forti, a self-described “newbie” to the guild, said on a May afternoon at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, where the guild has met for the past 20 to 23 years.

“You make the best friends of your life when you join,” Susan Truby, community service chairperson, said. “The best friends ever.”

The guild will celebrate 40 years of Colonial Quilters’ service to organizations, hospitals and people of the Lehigh Valley, as well as its commitment to continuing quilting education, at the guild’s meeting June 13.

The guild will award a donation at this meeting to Tails of Valor, which is dedicated to providing rehabilitation through non-medicinal therapies with service canines to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and physical disabilities. Heather Lloyd, executive director and founder of Tails of Valor, will be present to receive the donation.

The top

Forti and Truby were two of the six members who recently discussed the guild at Holy Cross, joined by Beverly Repsher, a founding member, Vicki Pede, president; S. Jane Merkel, program chairperson, and Brenda Hoagland.

Rewinding to 1983, Repsher recalled going to The Quiltery in Nazareth because she had the idea to teach sewing to the Girl Scout troop she led. Mary Ann Dutkin, the owner, offered the idea to start a quilt guild. Repsher was game, and subsequently six local women gathered to plan the formation of the guild: founding member Dutkin, Repsher, E. Lorraine Miller, Mary Beth Gower, Pam Probasco and Sheri Purdy (Seip).

In addition, Judy Thompson, Barbara Snyder and Margo Billetz, who are still members today, were among the original group that gathered at the National Bank and Trust Company at 25th and Northampton streets, Easton to form the guild.

“A lot of people showed up at that first meeting in Easton,” Repsher said. “We realized, ‘yes, let’s go do it.’”

The guild began meeting at Leader II Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, now ManorCare, for several years before finding a more permanent location in Bethlehem at Holy Cross on Jacksonville Road.

The batting

The group currently has 66 members, including six charter members, and had about 80 members the first year. They had to close membership for a time because of the number of people allowed to be in the room at Holy Cross due to fire regulations.

“Membership leveled off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we’re happy to be maintaining the membership number we have,” Merkel said.

The group never stopped meeting during the pandemic, but learned how to meet through Zoom. Guild meetings are at 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month, with the January and February meetings conducted on Zoom. Hybrid meetings – in person and on Zoom – allow members who live in such locales as Georgia and New York to participate.

Each meeting includes “show and tell,” when members show and discuss something they’ve made. The monthly meetings feature speakers, often on Zoom, from all over the country.

In addition, the Quilting Queens, which includes a member in Maine, is a sewing social that meets via Zoom each month.

The purpose of a quilt guild is to foster education, fellowship, skill building and through interaction and programming gain knowledge in the art of quilting. The guild also has a library of books on quilting.

The backing

The guild has a deep appreciation for community service, which is exemplified through its 40 years of donating many beautiful quilts and projects to worthy organizations in the Lehigh Valley, including The Children’s Home of Easton, St. Luke’s Hospice Center, Miracle League, Turning Point, Meals on Wheels and many others. Truby has spearheaded the guild’s donation work for several years.

The guild has held 14 quilt shows over the years to share its work with the public and bring awareness of quilting to the community. Some of the proceeds are used to benefit charities. The guild has donated thousands of dollars to local organizations over the years.

Repsher said her grandparents were quilters, and she sewed her own clothing even before the guild was founded. “I like being with other quilters, learning new techniques and being social with others.”

Ironically, Repsher later purchased The Quiltery from Dutkin, and was the proprietor for 12 years.

Truby has been sewing since she was eight or nine years old, and took lessons at the Singer Sewing Store in Pittsburgh.

“I like learning stuff and being with others,” Truby said.

Truby said members meet a few Saturdays a year at Holy Cross to quilt for community service projects, but the quilting for the projects goes on throughout the year. “We make pillowcases and kids’ quilts for Turning Point, and preemie quilts and stuffed animals for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus,” Truby said, naming a few of the recipients. They also make “tummy-time” quilts to be used when babies lay on their stomachs for the Visiting Nurses of St. Luke’s.

The community service work didn’t stop during the COVID-19 pandemic, when members would drop off their quilts to Truby in the Holy Cross parking lot.

“My husband says I’m making up for lost time,” Pede said, explaining her years as a school superintendent left no time to join the guild; now retired, she has the time. “What makes the guild are the friendships, education and the programs. My favorite time is show and tell time because I love seeing what the others are doing,” she said.

Pede said she’s sewn for years and used to go to quilt shows of the guild, but there was a waiting list at first when she wanted to join.

Long before joining the guild, Pede needed lycra fabric to make her daughter’s figure skating costume, and purchased it at Fabric Mart of Bethlehem, at the time owned by Merkel, who has been a member of the guild for at least 20 years.

“I like to touch the fabric, get new ideas and seeing members share what they have made,” Merkel said.

Merkel’s quilting has even “gone Hollywood” in a way, as her quilts were recently featured in a scene in the Bible study room in “Lucky Louie,” which was written, directed and produced by Bethlehem native Daniel Roebuck and his daughter, Grace Roebuck. Merkel saw it when it was playing at the Roxy Theatre, Northampton.

Hoagland said she values the friendships, camaraderie and learning from everyone in the guild. “If I’m stuck on something I can ask someone for help.”

Hoagland began sewing in her junior year in high school. Having worked in health care, she knew a nurse who quilted and marveled at her work. She then took classes at At Piece Quiltery in Easton.

Forti began quilting eight to 10 years ago and moved to this area from New Jersey last year. She is largely self-taught, and learned from her grandmother and by taking a class.

Forti may be relatively new to the guild, but she feels right at home among kindred spirits. “We think alike,” Forti said. “I’m making new friends in a new area. I really enjoy it.”

Continuing threads

Though the guild is not planning another quilt show in the immediate future, Pede had the idea to hold a Quilt Bingo as a fundraiser. The inaugural bingo May 7 at the American Legion was a great success, and plans are to hold it every other year on the Sunday before Mother’s Day. There were 200 players for 25 games, plenty of baked goods, beautiful tricky tray baskets, 35 quilts donated by members, and lots of fun. Members agreed a lot of behind the scenes work went into the event.

Proceeds from bingo will fund a donation to Tails of Valor. Members vote on what organization will receive a donation each year.

Not all members live in the immediate area. Many learned quilting from their grandparents and involvement in 4-H. They craft quilts of all different styles; some prefer hand quilting and some machine quilting, which is done on a domestic sewing machine. Others favor longarm quilting, a process by which a longarm sewing machine is used to sew together a quilt top, quilt batting and quilt backing into a finished quilt. Some members belong to two, three or four other guilds.

There are differences and similarities in how they came to love quilting and membership in the guild, but it all stitches together well. As Forti said of the guild, “It’s your happy place.”

For more information about becoming a member visit colonialquilters.org/