Poetry in patchwork

For the past two years, Anna Mary Hughes stitched and sewed her quilt in medical waiting rooms and club meetings, on airplanes and at home. Most days, she spent about two or three hours after dinner sewing pieces of fabric together.

The result was an 80-inch by 80-inch reproduction of a Civil War-themed quilt created in the 1800s. It is taller than its creator and is made up of 169 squares stitched with 5,129 different pieces. Hughes said she quilts to relax.

“I grew up with sewing. I’ve been sewing all the time since I started at 12,” she said. “It’s part of my life.”

On Saturday, Hughes displayed her quilt at the Holiday Inn Expo Center in Columbia as part of the Boonslick Trail Quilters Guild Quilt Show, “A Trail of Stars.” The show, which features 230 pieces submitted by members, runs through today.

On display are quilts, wall hangings, fabric art and garments.

“We don’t judge, and we don’t compete,” said Mindy Smith, quilt show chairwoman. “We like to display our favorite quilts,”

Each quilt has a title and has a brief note of how it was made and what it means to the quilter.

“It’s documentation of one’s life,” Smith said. “Now you can see how the quilt was made. It’s like shaking hands with it.”

This year, a collaborative quilt, containing feathers, beads and even sunglasses, drew many spectators in the children’s gallery. Students at Harrisburg Elementary made quilt blocks related to books they read by author Jerry Pinkney. His books are about slavery and civil rights, inspiring some students to stitch messages such as, “Don’t give up what’s real for what isn’t,” or “Carry yo’self proud.”

“This is a whole language experience to students because they learn more when they can touch things and express their feeling through poems,” said Tami Strodtman, a fourth-grade teacher. “They were really attached to it. Even the boys were very excited to sew them. Some of their siblings teased them, but they did not care. Those boys felt like what they were doing was neat.”

The quilt show also included vendors selling fabrics, quilted items and souvenirs.

Mike Morton, a fabric vendor from Kentucky, joined the show in Columbia for the first time. He paid $300 for the booth for two days.

“The quilts are some of the nicest I’ve seen in 16 quilt shows in the country,” he said.

The show starts today at 10 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. Tickets are $5.