Members of the Hearts and Hands Quilting Guild have been busy preparing a quilt for the raffle at the upcoming United Way Estevan telethon.
United Way board member Wendy Gustafson said this year’s quilt looks fantastic. The guild members have been working on it for some time, she said, continuing a tradition that has lasted for more than a decade.
“They have done a beautiful job, as always,” said Gustafson.
This year’s quilt has a strong rural theme with an old country house, the sun, trees and other objects, to go along with a lot of rustic colours.
The quilt is finished and it is ready to be showcased through the raffle. The raffle is an important part of the telethon each year, Gustafson said, since the United Way makes a lot of money off of the sale of raffle tickets.
Tickets for the raffle are now available from members of the guild. They will also be available during the telethon on Oct. 27 and 28. The winner of the raffle is typically announced towards the end of the broadcast.
“It’s such a beautiful quilt, and so much work and so much time goes into it that we just felt that after they asked if they could sell tickets in advance, we let them do that, and it’s been a huge money-maker for us,” said Gustafson.
The quilt is a big priority for the guild each year, Gustafson said, and once the telethon is finished, they typically start to discuss what they can do for the United Way the following year.
“I think they work on it almost the entire year,” said Gustafson.
It’s a hand-stitched quilt, she said, so it requires a lot of extra work. It’s rare to have a hand-stitched quilt these days, she said, and anyone who has won a quilt through the telethon should consider themselves fortunate.
The quilters meet every week on Thursdays at the Estevan Alliance Church. They also have a monthly meeting on a Tuesday, and an annual retreat at Kenosee Lake.
