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Quilting for Fun and Funds
By Kathryn Fletcher
September/October 2022
 This quilt made by volunteers Shari Dowdell and Nan Rebik will be raffled in November 2022 at Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum. |
 This detail of the cotton quilt shows off its block style design of half squares and triangles with pinwheels. Photos by Kathryn Fletcher |
Long popular among American women and girls, quilting became easier when commercial textiles started to be manufactured in the 1840s. Instead of spending hours spinning and weaving, women could devote more time to quilting. With a variety of fabrics available, block style quilts became popular, and not just from sewing scraps. The quilting bee was a productive and welcome way for women to meet and socialize.
In November 2022, the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum will raffle off a block style quilt of half squares and triangles with pinwheels. Sized to fit a double bed, it is made of cotton fabrics from the 1940s and ’50's. Volunteer Shari Dowdell found the unfinished top at an estate sale and she and fellow quilter Nan Rebik spent 20 hours hand mending the top and three months hand tying it.
Raffle ticket sales have begun on weekends at the ranch house, where the quilt is on display. Tickets cost $2 each or three for $5, and will be available through the day of the raffle. The winner need not be present at the drawing to win. Proceeds will go toward renovating the ranch’s historic barn and wagon.
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