Members, l to r: Ellen Harmon, Adrienne Daniels, Myra Nevius, Ann Martin, Faye Minus.
HISTORY OF A STITCH IN TIME QUILT GUILD
by Ann Martin
Quilting was once a necessary art form. Now it has become a recreational and specialty art. Our quilt guild began with two African American grandmothers (Dorothy Dixon and Ann Martin) meeting during an awards program at a local middle school. After introducing themselves, they found they had lots of things in common. Quilting was one of the subjects they shared. One wanted to learn how to quilt and the other knew how to quilt. This was the beginning. One lady told a friend, and that friend told her friend and the numbers grew. They became “A Stitch in Time, Dover, Delaware,” an African American Quilting Guild. Currently there are seven active members.
All members share the desire to create beautiful quilted items with the use of their minds, their hands and their sewing machines. In their pursuits to grow they have traveled to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Somerset and Southbury, Connecticut, where they took advantage of quilt classes, demonstrations, new techniques, new products, and out of this world fabrics.
The guild uses their combined talents to design, create and produce wonderful works of art as well as to donate their creations to senior homes, youth, veterans, and charity and community organizations. The Delaware Agriculture Museum is an annual recipient of their endeavors.
Their quilts have been exhibited at the Delaware Agriculture Museum and Village, Dover, Delaware; The Siegel Jewish Community Center, Wilmington, Delaware; and the Blue Ball Barn in Alapocas Run State Park, Wilmington, Delaware.
In 2013 the guild worked with the Delaware Historical Society to coordinate the production of a traveling exhibition of six quilts for their 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Project. Each quilter of the A Stitch in Time Quilt Guild has a named quilt collection. Members of the guild are Ellen Harmon, president, “Points Don’t Point Collection”; Myra Nevius, “Full Spectrum Collection”; Barbara O’Neal, “In the Beginning Collection”; Adrienne Daniels, “A Paris Designs”; Ann Martin, “Perfect Imperfection Collection”; Fay Minus, “No Rhyme or Reason”; and Linda Morman, “Never Perfect Miss Lucy.”
