Throwing a block party

Eric Leake

Friday, April 15, 2005 | 4:12 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 16 - 17, 2005

Even before Martha Gagnon finished the binding on it, her quilt was an heirloom.

The queen-sized bedcover incorporated Gagnon's own work with cloth panels her mother made more than 50 years ago.

"I'm very glad to get it done, I'll tell you," Gagnon said during a recent quilting class. "I'm just very proud of it."

She said she found the blocks after her mother died and kept them for years before she decided to continue the quilt.

But Gagnon did not know how to quilt and had to join a class at the Las Vegas Senior Center, where class is more than cloth and stitches.

"I really enjoy them. Everybody's friendly," Gagnon said of the group of women who appear to be in their 60s but wouldn't provide their ages.

Age, after all, is irrelevant when "we get to talking, eating, drinking, just having a good time," Gagnon said.

The classes are held every Thursday at the Las Vegas Senior Center and every Wednesday at the Derfelt Senior Center. There is a $3 fee per class.

Many of the class' quilts will be shown April 20 to celebrate "Make a Quilt Day" at the senior center.

Girtia Lukes has taught the quilting classes for more than a decade.

"Long ago they called them quilting bees, but most people now just are women who love quilting and want to come," Lukes said. "They like to come because they like the camaraderie and they can do a little work."

Lukes learned to quilt from her mother but didn't start quilting in earnest herself until 20 years ago.

"It's a hobby that's passed on from generation to generation," Lukes said.

She said much of the popular appeal in quilting is that it spans generations.

"There's quite an interest in it. I think we're now going through a phase where more people are interested in quilting," Lukes said.

She unfurled across the table an unfinished star pattern quilt that she has been working on for about a month.

"There are the traditional quilts and there are so many new ideas and forms," Lukes said. "I'm always learning new techniques but I prefer the old ones."

She said her most prized quilt is a 100-year-old one that her aunt gave her.

Lukes walked around the recent class and talked about the quilters' various projects. Some were making quilts as bedspreads and others as wall hangings.

Quilter Berit Kialt said she enjoyed the artistic element of quilting. She wore a Desert Quilters of Nevada club shirt with a patchwork pattern on the front.

"I like it so much because you can make something. It's creative," Kialt said.

She was working on a wall hanging depicting water lilies that she'll give to her brother soon when she visits him in Sweden. She is giving a bedspread to her husband.

"A lot of work is in these quilts. It's a lot of fun making one. We wouldn't sell it because money couldn't pay for it."

The length of time needed to complete a quilt depends upon a quilter's schedule and can take weeks to months, quilters in the class said. They agreed it takes patience and attention to detail.

Enid Sturgis said she has been quilting for about five years. It fills her free time.

"When you're sitting at home and watching TV you can sew and stitch. You make things for people. It's a good fill-in time and keeps your hands nimble," Sturgis said.

"And we can socialize instead of going to the casino," she said, though, she added, casinos have their purposes, too.

Sturgis worked on what she called a crazy quilt -- with odd patches and mismatched types of stitches -- among quilting friends who have even accompanied one another on vacations.

She said it wasn't a need for quilts that keeps her making them.

"I keep wondering what I'm going to do with all my quilts. I've a stack of them at home and 10 more that I still have to finish."

The class regularly donates quilts for charity raffles and makes hundreds of handmade stockings for disadvantaged children each year.

For more information, call the Las Vegas Senior Center at 229-6454 or visit Desert Quilters at www.desertquiltersofnevada.org.