MEMORIAL DAY QUILT SHOW AT LAWS RAILROAD MUSEUM

Peggy Higgins (left), manager of the Calico Quilters Quilt show, and Charis Anderson (right) show off one of the quilts that will be hanging in Laws Railroad Museum Library during the Memorial Dayweekend.

This Memorial Day weekend, join the Calico Quilters of Bishop at Laws
Railroad Museum for their 3rd annual Quilt Show.

The exhibit can be seen in the museum’s library, housed in Bishop’s original Catholic Church, an historical building constructed in 1923 under the direction of Father John Crowley. The church was moved to Laws in 1972, following the completion of the new church on Home Street.

The quilt show includes more than thirty items created by local quilters, including traditional bed quilts, wall hangings, and art quilts. Especially noteworthy is a magnificent quilt made by Margaret DePalma, which she calls Steampunk Fairytale. Members of the guild will be present to answer questions and explain techniques of modern quilt design and production.
The Calico Quilters participate in many community activities, and the show includes samples of items the members contribute to various causes. These include Christmas stockings for Northern Inyo Hospital, where every baby born between Thanksgiving and the New Year goes home in its own hand
made stocking.

The guild participates in the Quilts of Valor a national group distributing quilts to wounded and ill veterans in hospitals across the country. Visitors to the show will have an opportunity to see some of these quilts before they are sent away.

The show includes quilts made for CASA, a child advocacy agency that provides aid to children in the family court system. The Calico Quilters make sure than any child entering the system has the opportunity to select a comforting quilt as their personal possession.

Only a limited number of quilts are for sale, so the guild members have made potholders featuring images appropriate to the Eastern Sierra and Mule Days.
Visitors can take home a handmade souvenir for only $5.

Besides the quilts in the library building, the show features outside activities for both children and adults. Children have the opportunity to design their own quilt blocks, with fabric, paper, and glue, rather than sewing machines, pins, and needles. The age of “childhood” will be flexible, for any adults who would like to challenge their own artistic abilities.

For those who would like to experiment with actual quilt making, there will be an old-fashioned quilting bee, with a real quilt stretched on a frame, just like our grandmothers used. Come sit down, take up needle and thread, and try your hand at an old skill.

Also outside, he guild is showing their 2025 opportunity quilt, and this is the final chance to purchase tickets for the drawing, to be held on Sunday, May 25, at 1:00 p.m. All proceeds from ticket sales go toward the guild’s annual scholarship to a graduate of Bishop Union High School.

The quilt show will be open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, May 23, Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25. There is no admission charge, but donations are greatly appreciated, to aid the guild in their many community
activities.