Piecework
Hale librarians take storytelling beyond books
Out of sight, behind the miles of shelving at Hale, librarians gather to tell stories that have nothing to do with books.
Since their first meeting in 2003, a group of mostly novice quilters has become the Scholarly Stitchers. The dozen or so members gather over the lunch hour, though participation "always depends on what's going on in their lives," said Mary Bailey, electronic resource and serials acquisitions librarian at Hale.
The colors, compositions and fabrics vary, but a common theme is Kansas and its changeable ways. Several of their finished products have been donated as "opportunity to own" quilts to benefit Friends of the K-State Libraries and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.
Their first quilt, dubbed "Konza Prairie," is an album of prairie creatures and structures: Geese winging overhead, stone fencing, an iconic barn and windmill, an angular chickadee, to list a few. "Prairie Spring," completed in 2005, explored similar territory in a greener key, with the addition of a long, rushing creek and burning pasture.
The reverse always gets a label stating the "where, when, how and who," said Gay Youngman, a library assistant who is the Stitchers' most experienced quilter. Librarians who quilt are always thinking about future researchers.
At each meeting, they piece together what they've completed at home and exchange tips on the craft. "You could spend a lifetime learning techniques," Youngman said.
Bailey and Youngman attribute much of the quilts' beauty to the longarm quilting done by Sherry Osland, an Abilene fabric artist, after the group has assembled the blocks, borders, batting and backing.
Current quilters include Regina Beard, economics librarian; Nelda Elder, assistant to the dean; Renee Gates, information technology coordinator; Cynthia Harris, special collections library assistant; Margaret Kaus, original cataloger; Connie Kissee, documents library assistant III; Barbara Steward, head of the math/physics library; Marcia Stockham, chair of the social sciences/humanities department; Alice Trussell, head of the Fiedler Engineering Library; Michelle Turvey-Welch, original cataloger.
Their latest effort, completed in August, is a crazy quilt, pieced and tied instead of quilted. Its 56 abstract panels don't exactly depict Kansas scenes, but sharp eyes will detect Ozian details: a tiny ruby slipper, an embroidered rainbow.
In other panels, a tiny twister and the number "2008" are links to a darker story, that of the June tornado that swept through Chapman. That's because this quilt was made to benefit that town, part of an effort by Osland, a K-State graduate and former Chapman resident. The quilt was to go to a family whose home was destroyed.
The group may be practicing a craft as old as the loom, but in their jobs and their hobby, they don't avoid technology. The Scholarly Stitchers blog, complete with pictures of earlier quilts, is at http://ksulib.typepad.com/quilt/
The group's next project? "Signature quilts" for two co-workers who plan to retire in 2009.
"But we're up for anything," Youngman said. "We love to quilt. And we love to benefit K-State."
Photo: Gay Youngman and Mary Bailey display a quilt they made to benefit a family impacted by the Chapman tornado this summer.