Some people call quilting an art, some a craft. Some see it as a hybrid. Cheryl Adam of Bloomington blurs that line rather than clarifying it.

She made a quilt that was artful enough to be included in the Holiday Treasures sale of fine art and craft at the McLean County Arts Center. The piece is made to hang on a wall.

But when she makes a baby quilt for a friend, she gives it only when the parents promise the child will be allowed to use it. That quilt, Adam will insist, won't go on a wall.

"I want them (children) to drag it around. I want to see it in shreds in three years," said Adam.

At 53, Adam is among quilters who also have moved the art/craft into new directions. Bright colors, modern designs, asymmetrical patterns - her style is anything but traditional. But invariably, she said, the non-traditionalists will admire the traditional pattern-makers.

The quilters of opposite styles also will enjoy each others' company, she said.

Adam was among 13 past presidents who showed up Dec. 6 for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Hands All Around Quilt Guild. A weekend sew-in, on Friday and Saturday, also marked the milestone.

The Thursday night event was atypical: Abounding with door prizes and with music by singers from the church where the group meets, Calvary United Methodist Church in Normal.

Usually, a meeting features an expert speaker, often of national and even international reputation, and the level of teaching helps explain why HAAQG draws members from as far away as Springfield.

The guild defies stereotypes drawn by non-quilters. They are not a bunch of elderly women, although elderly women are valued contributors to the group.

From its outset, the guild has spanned generations, said Diane Skidmore, who helped organize the first meeting, in September 1982.

She and Nancy Saint discovered they had two common interests. Both belonged to the Evergreen Sailing Club, which is how they met. Both were sewers.

It seemed like an entire generation was skipping the quilting bees and guilds at that time, Skidmore said. Books weren't readily available, nor were patterns, she said.

She and Saint looked for a quilting club in the Twin Cities. Finding none, they reserved a meeting room at the Normal Public Library and placed an ad in the Penny Saver.

Thirty-two women came to the first meeting.

Said Skidmore, "A cool thing about this group is, the age range has always been huge - teenagers, occasionally, to women in their 80s and 90s."

She was in her late 20s at the club's founding.

The group had 100 members by 1986, according to a guild scrapbook letter written by Cyndi Martin, president for the 1985-86 club year. The guild has about 250 members currently; all but a few are women.

The current guild president, Marsha Corlley, said the members have widely varying skills and expectations.

Some seek flawless execution and create patterns. Others use existing patterns. Some are what they call "galloping horse quilters" - that is, people who make quilts that would look evenly patterned only when viewed on a galloping horse.

The important thing, she said, is that "all are accepted for the quilters they are."

Service attracted Linda Edwards of Piper City to the guild.

Hands All Around regularly uses its skills for community projects, and Edwards, as a former Army WAC, especially appreciates the making of gifts for soldiers and sailors serving overseas.

This fall alone, the group made 700 stockings for soldiers.

But the members also give companionship to each other, she said.

There are social elements to the club, an atmosphere that generates excitement for quilting and a sharing of knowledge that develops skill and ideas, said Skidmore.

Today, with unlimited supply of patterns and learning through books and Internet, she believes more is gained with the coming together of quilters.

Usually, the guild facilitates learning through presentation and discussion and the actual sewing occurs back home. But the group also gets hands-on assistance via occasional workshops and sew-ins.

Machines are used commonly today. That used to be deemed heresy for quilters, Skidmore said. Something is lost in the lessening of hand work, although much flexibility is gained, she said.

Also common, most work doesn't stay in the home of the maker.

Dorothy Rhodes of Clinton has been a member through this decade and grew up quilting. For her, a quilt is a fabulous gift, and she'll make at least six full-sized quilts a year but has kept just 10 or so of them.

The gift sometimes goes to a stranger - a soldier in Afghanistan, a traumatized child staying with her mother at a shelter for domestic abuse victims.

"You put a lot of love into it," Rhodes said. With a store-bought item, she added, "there is no 'you' in it. It's not personal."

---

Hands All Around Quilt Guild

Service donations since June:

• 700 stockings for Operation Santa stocking-making for soldiers

• 75 pillow cases for soldiers in Afghanistan

• 35 Chemo caps for cancer patients

• 25 Quilts for Neville & Clare Houses

• 20+ donated items to the Sterile Feral Foundation for its craft fair

• 15 chair packs for Irving Elementary School

• 12 balaclava hats for the homeless

• 2 breast cancer pillows.

On the Web

http://haaqg.tripod.com

SOURCE: HAAQG December newsletter