The Camp Verde Community Library hosts the Camp Verde Quilt Club each month to bring quilt and craft lovers together to work on projects and share ideas.
The club’s quilters range in experience from beginners to those who have sewn their whole lives. Some stick strictly to quilting, while others also do crocheting, knitting and other forms of crafting.
“We have lots of expertise and so if you have a problem, or you don’t know what to do, you bring it and somebody there will help you figure it out,” said club member Allyn Watson. “We do show-and-tell every time to see what everybody is working on.”
Every other year, the club holds a quilt show in the Camp Verde gymnasium during Fort Verde Days. Watson said that as the event approaches, club members put lots of energy into acquiring quilt entries, hanging the quilts and judging the entries. There is a fee to enter a quilt, and any profit made is donated to charity.
The club recently created a bookcase-themed quilt to donate to the library. Watson commented that the Camp Verde Community Library is one of the most productive libraries she has been to, as it even makes it possible for residents to check out sewing machines.
One member of the club also belongs to Quilts of Valor in Prescott, an organization that makes quilts for veterans.
Watson has quilted for the past 40 years, primarily doing tied quilting before she learned pieced quilting. She began when she asked a friend to make her a quilt, and her friend replied that she would rather teach her how to make one. Watson said that it doesn’t take much to get you hooked.
One of Watson’s favorite quilts was her very first one, a fall quilt based on a log cabin pattern with applique pumpkins and other autumn touches.
“When you make a quilt, it’s there forever,” Watson said. She recalled that her parents were too busy to leave her many heirlooms.
“I was determined that when I passed, my kids will have something tangible that I left them. It creates memories, too, and our group will have memories of getting together.”
She finds quilting to be very rewarding and going to the club is a great way to meet people. “It’s an art form,” Watson said. “There’s a lot of versatility that allows you the freedom to express yourself however you choose to.” Quilting possibilities have often led her into other projects, such as making applique dish towels.
Watson also holds a monthly video sewing course at the library called “Sew-Along with Allyn.” It takes place on the third Friday of every month and shows viewers how to do a fairly easy project.
“I would like to invite anybody to come,” Watson said. “You don’t have to know how to sew to come, you just have to have an interest.”
