The Heart and Hands Quilting Guild has once again outdone themselves for the raffle item at this year’s United Way Estevan Telethon, according to Wendy Gustafson, who is the chairperson for the telethon’s raffle committee.
The guild has been creating a new quilt for the raffle each year for over a decade, and Gustafson always wonders how guild members will be able to top themselves.
“Every year they just continue to amaze me at the beauty and the quality of the work that they do,” said Gustafson.
This year’s quilt is named is Ohio Stars. It has beautiful fall colours, with a little bit of everything, resulting in a finished product that can be placed in any room.
“I had different ladies look at it when they (the guild) brought it to work, and the ladies at work said ‘That is comforting, and it’s just a quilt you feel like you can wrap up in.’”
They designed some of their own patterns into it.
Quilting is an art form that goes back a long ways, but Gustafson has noticed there aren’t a lot of people who have taken up the art form. She recalls her mother used to quilt through her church.
“The Heart and Hands quilt and their artwork is absolutely beautiful. When I see it I recognize true, good quality, and they not only do amazing work, they do it with love, and they do it out of hearts of compassion.”
The guild has already started the quilt for next year’s telethon.
“They barely get one done, and they start working on another,” Gustafson said.
Guild members create quilts for other chartitable organizations in the community, too.
Tickets for the raffle are $2 each or three for $5 and can be purchased before the telethon, which will be Oct. 18 and 19 at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch. Tickets can also be purchased at the telethon, and Gustafson encouraged people to come down to the legion during the broadcast to look at it, because the quilt is even more beautiful than it appears in the picture.
The quilt accounts for a large portion of what they collect during the telethon, and helps the United Way reach its goal each year.
“It just seems to be picking up,” said Gustafson. “More and more people know about it, they’re looking for the tickets, and every year people are anxiously waiting to buy the tickets.”
The guild members love to see the quilt on Access Channel 7, and it serves as good promotion for the group, Gustafson said.
The United Way is also accepting bid items for the telethon. The number of items has grown considerably in recent years, and reached 85 in 2018.
Currently the bid item table should have at least 60 items, according to Melanie Graham, who chairs the committee. The United Way will accept items until Oct. 16.
The bid item table has a nice variety of beautiful homemade items, including canvas paintings, quilts, a display case made from red elm, decorative bird houses, gift certificates for dainty trays, baking, repurposed window frame with beveled glass and more unique pieces. They will be sold during a silent auction that starts when the telethon begins at 8 a.m. on Oct. 18.
Bidding on those items will gradually close Oct. 19.
Graham said the bid items play a big role in boosting the overall total for the telethon each year.
