Moses Lake woman crafts winning quilt

Countless hours and hundreds of pieces involved

MOSES LAKE — After two years of building a quilt, a Moses Lake woman won first place for her talent at the Basin Piecemakers Quilt Guild festival Saturday.

The biennial show sponsored by the quilt guild ran Friday and Saturday at Moses Lake High School featuring hundreds of quilts. Workshops and lectures were available at the show, some focusing on the history of quilting and quilting techniques.

Clara Reimer spent hours crafting her winning quilt.

She said it was a challenge. She had never made one like it before.

She enjoyed putting the border together and her favorite quilt block was comprised of deep red flowers near the center. A block is a square-shaped portion of the quilt featuring a pattern repeated throughout the quilt.

Her least favorite part was cutting the pieces out, Reimer said, but following the instructions certainly paid off. The floral quilt is made of hundreds of small pieces.

In the past she made several smaller, simpler quilts to donate to the Mennonite church auction. She makes quilts for her grandchildren too.

The focus of the smaller quilts has always been comfort over artistic appeal.

When creating the winning quilt, she focused on aesthetic pleasure, she said.

She is a member of the Basin Piecemakers quilt club. The club helped challenge her to create the quilt, Reimer said.

She recalls admiring a block put on display at the quilt guild. The block inspired her to create the quilt, she said.