A passion for quilting

Janice Almquist, Nevada, holds up the quilt that won her the judge's choice award at the Little Balkans quilt show in Pittsburg, Kan., on Labor Day weekend.(Lynn A. Wade/Herald-Tribune)

Janice Almquist didn't expect to win anything when she entered her quilt in the Little Balkans quilt show in Pittsburg, Kan. Although she's been quilting since 2005, it was the first judged event she'd entered, and she was "really excited" to learn she'd won the judge's choice award for her colorful entry.

"This is my passion," she said, gesturing around the room at the half-dozen quilts in her Nevada living room. "I enjoy being creative. I'm retired, and able to do lots of things like this," the former deputy Vernon County collector said.

She's made quilts for several family members, sometimes using them to mark special occasions like weddings, sometimes using them just as a gift.

It's a common practice to put personalized labels on quilts, especially those displayed at events. Here's the one for Janice Almquist's judges' choice award-winning "Parrot Jungle" quilt.(Lynn A. Wade/Herald-Tribune)

"I've had such fun," with quilting, she said. "Everyone in my family has one."

Her husband Gary says if the power goes out in the wintertime, they'll be warm because they've got plenty of quilts.

In 2005, she joined the Bushwhacker Quilt Guild and its members became friends and mentors to Almquist -- especially Linda Emery. "She was a big influence. She's very, very good," at creating both quilts and quilt patterns.

Emery also leads a group of school-age quilters in a class that's become known as the Wednesday Afternoon Sewing Club.

In fact, Almquist said, she, Emery and some of the members of the Wednesday Afternoon Sewing Club are attending the state quilters' guild retreat in Jefferson City, Mo.; and over the summer, Almquist, Emery and other friends traveled to Paducah, Ky., where they met Eleanor Burns, a well-known quilting expert and a celebrity in the quilting world.

Almquist also participates in the United Methodist Women's prayer shawl ministry, and enjoys being a part of that, too. "That's another one of my loves," she said.