Quilt Guild to Hold Biannual Show, Sale

More than 300 quilts--both traditional and “fiber art”--will be on display Saturday at the Simi Valley Quilt Guild’s biannual show at the Santa Susana Recreational Center.

The quilts on display or for sale will include a number of traditional examples, the kind quilters make “to wrap around somebody” or to commemorate a milestone, co-chairwoman Sam Hunter said.

There also will be a few examples of fiber art. With the development of improved sewing machines, cutting tools and templates, quilts today are not necessarily what your grandmother made.

“I think . . . there’s definitely an exercise of the technical, mathematical construction that’s explored in an artistic way,” Hunter said as she put the finishing touches on a quilt for the show. “I find it very comforting to make. Challenging, of course, or we wouldn’t keep doing it.”

These art quilts often feature a kaleidoscope of color and freehand patterns. It even is possible to trace photographs and sew the image onto a quilt.

No matter what the design, though, quilts remain a comfort, Hunter and co-chairwoman Vicki Tymczyszyn said.

The 12-year-old guild’s 230 members, who live in Simi Valley, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks, provide that comfort year-round to women and children in trouble, both through the Simi Valley’s battered women’s shelter and the Simi Valley Police Department. Police officers carry the guild’s quilts in their cars to wrap around people caught in crisis situations.

Guild members have sent quilts to be used during a number of disasters, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

The show Saturday will include an auction featuring 80 quilts, said Hunter.

The show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, with the auction from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Santa Susana Recreational Center at the corner of Los Angeles Avenue and Tapo Street. The entry fee is $5, “with husbands free.” Call 522-2883 for more information.