Cel Cler, Kathryn Walker, Kay Glavan (partially hidden), and Sharon Wilhelm  stitch one of the quilts which will be on display at their Altar Society’s 30th annual quilt show and salad luncheon on Saturday, June 7, at Sacred Heart Parish in Villa Grove.

VILLA GROVE - Some members of the Altar Society at Sacred Heart Parish keep their parish in stitches. While laughter can very often be heard emanating from the group of women who gather in the church annex each Tuesday morning, the stitches here are quilting stitches - hundreds and hundreds of stitches. Since 1977 members of the Altar Society who like to quilt, and have the time, have been getting together weekly to hand-stitch their own creations as well as quilt tops for others. Proceeds from the quilting work helps the Altar Society purchase items needed at the church, parish hall and rectory.

On Saturday, June 7, the Altar Society will hold its 30th annual quilt show and salad luncheon. There could be as many as 100 quilts in the show, which is not a competition where prizes are awarded, but rather an opportunity to see what quilters are making. Some of the quilts in the show were quilted by the group. Some are quilts made at home by individual members of their group. Still others are made by people in the community, or by other church quilting groups.

There is no charge to attend the quilt show, which opens at 10:30 a.m. and runs through 1:30 p.m. There is a charge for the salad luncheon, which begins at 11 a.m. and also ends at 1:30 p.m. Salad luncheon tickets are $6 for ages 11 and over, $2 for children ages 6 to 10, and children 5 and under are free.

The salad luncheon includes either a homemade chicken salad sandwich or cheese spread sandwich, plus a choice of salads and dessert items brought in by Altar Society members.

Floral fabric is used as sashing to surround embroidery blocks in a hand-quilted queen size quilt which will be raffled off at the Sacred Heart Parish quilt show and salad luncheon.

"Some people like our homemade chicken salad so much, they ask if they could buy it to take home," says Sharon Wilhelm, who is a relative newcomer in the quilting group. She has just been quilting with them since 2004, when she retired from work in nearby Champaign. Over the years the number of quilters has gone up and down.

"With our proceeds, we've purchased new tables and chairs for the parish hall, replaced the metal curtain that separates the kitchen from the dining hall, and replaced one of the appliances in the rectory," says Wilhelm.

Together with the Sacred Heart Men's Club, they've given scholarships to graduating high school seniors.  

The quilters generally have two quilts going at the same time, in the church annex, which parishioners call "the quilting room." One of the men in the parish built the quilting frame they use, and also rigged a lighing device which enables all the quilters gathering around the frame to have good lighting.

An embroidery and pieced quilt top the Altar Society group hand quilted will be raffled off.  Tickets are $1 each, or 6 for $5, and the winner need not be present to win.

The group has a waiting list of people who want to have a quilt quilted. "Some quilts come in to us with the quilting pattern already marked. Others ask us what type quilting pattern we think would work best.  We've quilted using colored thread, quilted baby quilts, and done a variety of binding styles," says Wilhelm.