Vallejo Piecemakers

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times-Herald, April 30, 2016
By Matthew Adkins

Michelle Savoy would stop short of saying she and her fellow Vallejo

Area quilters showed off their craftsmanship Saturday during Vallejo’s second ever ‘Sew Amazing’ quilt show.

Nearly 200 colorful and unique quilts were hung in rows inside Solano County Fairgrounds’ McCormack Hall.

Noel Kimberlee, show organizer and Grand Chair of Vallejo Piecemakers, explained she was very pleased with the products on display and the level of enthusiasm from all involved.

“We have lots of very creative people in our Piecemakers guild,” Kimberlee said. “It’s so much fun to share these quilts with everybody.” As part of Vallejo’s quilting guild, Kimberlee gets plenty of opportunity to craft. For the weekend event, Kimberlee said she has seven full-sized quilts on display…

Read more:
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2016/04/30/vallejo-quilt-makers-are-sew-amazing/

Excerpt from The Monthly Grapevine, 2015
By Joye Ogrodowski

Ann has been a member of Vallejo Piecemakers for over 20 years, and loves giving to others. The group’s current project involves quilting placemats for each and every homebound senior Meals on Wheels serves in Solano County, nearly 650 people daily. The quilters are inspired, and the goal is to brighten tables and bring good cheer. They have already created about 200, and plan to distribute them toward the beginning of next year. Vallejo Piecemakers also makes quilts for a variety of other charitable organizations, including the Florence Douglas Senior Center, the Christian Help Center, the Veterans’ Home in Yountville, Breast Cancer Auctions, the Vallejo/-Benicia Relay for Life, and the Baby Blanket Relay…

Read more:
https://grapevinebenicia.com/meals-on-wheels/

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times-Herald, October 27, 2014
By Richard Freedman

Helping victims of a tsunami in Japan? Comforting a devastated town of Joplin, Mo., after a tornado? Assisting fire-ravaged Colorado?

Rosie Rockwood and Valerie Gunnell have it covered–literally–like a blanket.

The two Vallejo friends make quilts. Almost endlessly, actually. And then find a cause. Or a cause finds them. This week, two boxes with 34 quilts head to Habitat Humanity, targeting eight low-income Solano County families in transition.

While the dynamic duo is often part of a bigger entity — the 90-member Vallejo Piecemakers — the latest project was all Rockwood and Gunnell. A labor of love for three weeks, to be sure….

Read more: http://www.timesheraldonline.com/Entertainment/Sunday%20Outlook/ci_26807455/Quilters-help-Habitat-for-Humanity-families

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times-Herald, July 30, 2014
By John Gliddenr

Thirty-five minutes after the 65th annual Solano County Fair had opened to the public Wednesday, Barbara Pisching made a discovery that would shake the very foundation of the quilting world.

Well, maybe not.

“We have the only wall-hanging quilt that didn’t win a prize,” Pisching said with a smile, as she pointed to the quilt she had crafted with her quilting colleague, Lynda Conlow…

Read more: http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_26247841/quilters-show-off-their-work-during-first-day

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times-Herald, May 4, 2014
By Lanz Christian Banes/Times-Herald staff writer

Diana McKeever doesn”t remember what first drew her to quilting.

“When I was a kid, I started sewing patches together,” McKeever said.

Today, McKeever is president of the Vallejo Piecemakers Quilt Guild, which on Saturday opened its first quilt show at the Solano County Fairground”s McCormack Hall.

The two-day show, which continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is part fundraiser and part as a way to introduce the larger community to the guild…

Read more: http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_25695454/vallejo-guild-holds-first-quilt-show

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times Herald, November 23, 2013
By Irma Widjojo

Displayed front and center in Diana Roberts’ living room is a large, colorful quilt that carries memories of those who have been touched by the deadly HIV or messages to, hopefully, help educate others.

Roberts, a 72-year-old Vallejoan, recently finished sewing together the first 36 squares into a Solano County HIV AIDS quilt. It will be displayed at the downtown Vallejo World AIDS Day, 3 to 9 p.m., Sunday, in the 300 block of Georgia Street.

The Solano Aids Coalition began the quilt effort in August, and the organization has collected more than 100 squares, with more coming.

“She’s a miracle lady,” coalition president Mario Saucedo said. “I had all these squares but I didn”t know who could put them together.”…

Read more:
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2013/11/25/vallejo-woman-finishes-quilt-for-vallejo-world-aids-day/

Excerpt from The Vallejo Times-Herald, February 26, 2006
By Richard Freeman

Students from Pennycook Elementary School learned Thursday that “Flying Geese” “Wagon Wheel,” “Tumbling Blocks,” “Log Cabin,” and “Bear Claw” werewas more than just patterns on quilts.

For thousands of slaves bound for the North, those designs meantit was a way out.

In a one-hour presentation by the Vallejo Piecemakers Quilt Club at Springstowne Public Library, 25 randomly chosen third-, fourth- and fifth-graders studentskids from the were told how the designs and the quilts served as guideposts along the famed Underground Railroad.

One pattern may have pointed to a specific direction, one may have indicated whether the house the quilt was hanging up near was safe for the escaping slave. A black square meant the house wasn’t safe, a red square meant it was OK…

Read more:
https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2006/02/26/quilted-signs-to-freedom/