The Birth of the CAL-CO Quilters’ Guild
In 1980, a small group of quilting ladies gathered to form a group.
They named themselves "The Four Seasons". In October 1982, they
put up a quilt show at Willard Library. When signing in the guest
register, people were asked to indicate if they were interested in
forming a guild. Fran Rago was trying to restore an old quilt of
her step mother-in-law's and talked to Millie Payne at the show.
Later the sign-up sheet of names was given to Fran. With the help
of Jane Sperry and Siri Thar, they made phone calls. Nine were
present at the first meeting. It was held at Jane's apartment on
November 18, 1982. Those attending were Jane Sperry, Siri Thar,
Fran Rago, Cheryl Roland, Barbara Cline, Suzette Bradley, Marcia
Moan, Beth Payne and Lynne Evans. Plans were made to take a
survey of quilters, have a public meeting and find a place to meet.
We each put $5 in the kitty to cover expenses.
CherylRoland and Lynne Evans wrote the first newsletter. In looking
for a name, Lynne recalled that her Dad called her Mother's shorthand
notes "chicken tracks" so they looked thru quilt books but couldn't
find a block named "chicken". They did find turkey tracks, so the
name stuck and is still called "Turkey Tracks".
A second get-together was held on January 4, 1983 with 8 in attendance.
Last minute problems were solved and final plans were made for the
public meeting. Another $5 was assessed for refreshments, room rent
and other expenses.
The first guild meeting was held on January 10, 1983 at the Urbandale
First Federal Savings and Loan building in their basement meeting room.
No one told us we needed to set up the tables and chairs ourselves.
It was a cold rainy night and we had no idea how many to expect. We
had one sheet of paper and one pen for signing in. The ladies kept
coming and coming. As a long line formed up the stairs, we quickly
found another pen and tore off a sheet of tablet paper to make two
sign-in lines. Eighty-nine people showed up that first night.
We gave away several door prizes. When we asked for the maker of the
most quilts, Helen Barton came up with a number so large that with time
we can't remember it exactly. Some say it was over 200, other say only
over 100. We were all astonished.
Siri Thar and Jane did the program on Seminole Indian Piecing using
construction paper and Scotch® tape. Not knowing how much paper
we would need, we had lots. We used those paper strips for a later
program and still had some left.
Yearly dues were set at $5 and later raised to $10.
The second meeting changed to the third Monday of the month and
moved to the Vo-Ed Center which was our "home" for the next 7 years.
There were 100 at this meeting. Beth Payne lectured on the then new
Georgia Bonesteel Lap Quilting method.
In March, we met on the second Monday, which has remained
our meeting date.
In April, we elected our first slate of officers:
President - Jane Sperry
Vice President - Siri Thar
Secretary - Suzette Bradley
Treasurer - Marcia Moan
Special Activities - Fran Rago
Newsletter & Publicity - Cheryl Roland
Arrangements - Beth Moody
Membership - Barbara Cline
For several years we had a big map of the city and all the members
were located on it. The map was kept by Beth Payne. When we printed
a directory, the map was discontinued.
The name CAL-CO comes from Calhoun County and was first found in the May
issue of Turkey Tracks.
I hereby submit this history of the Cal-Co Quilters' Guild and hope
that with time the facts are somewhat accurate.
Sumitted by: Beth Payne Howard
CATCH 22
The Guild has been creating a raffle quilt for a number of years. Proceeds have always
been presented to local charities. At some point early in the life of the guild it was discovered
that to have a legal raffle we needed a license. If all tickets are sold at one event and the
drawing is also at that event a license is not needed but we sell tickets for months
ahead and therefore needed a license. No one seemed to know how to go about getting
a license. I contacted a friend who belonged to an organization that held frequent raffles
and found that we needed to contact the State lottery commission. The commission was contacted and the paperwork arrived.
We put our heads together and filled out most of the required information. We still needed to be recognized by a local government as a non-profit organization so the state would recognize us as one. Papers in hand I went to the
Battle Creek city clerk’s office. There I was informed that the city would be glad to recognize
us a non-profit as soon as the state did! Enter the Catch 22!
(Those of you too young to understand this reference-it’s a good book to read)
By producing various documents from our guild, I was able to convince the city to recognize
us and present the correct papers to the state. Since then we have held a successful, legal
raffle every year.
Submitted by Juanita Kohlfeldt