Bits and pieces of colorful, patterned fabric can be found throughout Felicia Gardner’s neighborhood home.
This seamstress eventually plans to turn the snippets of material, some of which were purchased decades ago, into something – maybe a baby’s blanket or home decoration.
Nearing 80 years old, Gardner has been sewing almost as long as she’s been walking. Under the instruction of her grandmother, Gardner says she made her own clothes as a child and completed her first quilt at age 10.
“I just absorbed it (sewing) through my skin,” Gardner says.
Gardner is a member of Goin’ to Pieces, a quilting circle that meets monthly at the Ridgewood Recreation Center, located at Trammel and Fisher.
The circle is one of 14 “friendship groups” of the Quilters’ Guild of Dallas Inc. Member groups meet throughout the Dallas area, but Goin’ to Pieces is the only group that meets in our neighborhood.
Gardner and about a dozen other women gather to tell stories and share their lifelong passion for needles and thread and of course, show off their latest quilting projects.
As a community service, the group makes small quilts for the Ronald McDonald House and other children’s organizations. Although the group is always excited to welcome newcomers, members warn that meetings are not designed to be instructional, but rather to be social and fun, Gardner says.
You’ll definitely learn through osmosis simply by attending, says Chairwoman Chris Geyer, a 40-something nurse at Baylor University Medical Center.
Just being around other people bitten by the sewing bug is encouraging, says the group’s youngest member.
“Most of my friends don’t understand why I quilt, but everyone in Goin’ to Pieces shares my interest,” Geyer says. “It’s challenging to me.”
For Gardner, quilting is also about heirlooms and legacies.
“You always feel like your leaving something that’s going to live a lot longer than you do,” she says.
Emerline Thaxton, a group member in her early 70s and a former art teacher, still proudly displays the blue ribbon-winning quilt her mother displayed at the State Fair in the 1930s.
She runs her hands over the detailed stitching with admiration.
“When you look at a quilt, you can tell if it was made by someone who loved what she was doing or if it was just thrown together,” Thaxton says.
Thaxton appreciates handmade quilts for their creativity and uniqueness, she says.
She especially likes charm quilts, in which every patch is made from different material to create a cacophony of color and pattern.
“It’s something you just can’t buy,” she says.
Thaxton believes quilting is bouncing back into fashion, especially as a method of home decoration. People are framing quilts as artwork, she says.
“My daughter wants to learn to quilt, but her attitude is she wants to make a home-warming present for the next week,” she says.
“It’s the process, not the product, that’s important. It’s not the picture a kid creates in school that’s important, it’s the creating.”
Goin’ to Pieces meets the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. for business and often meets the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. for a “sit and sew.” Call Geyer at 214-827-6063 for information.
