By popular demand, the quilt show makes a return

Loose Threads president: ‘We’re ready to come back with even more enthusiasm than before’

Big Horn County Fair will have a quilt show again this year, after a few years without one. 

Under the direction of the Loose Threads Quilt Guild, the show was a fixture for years; then some years back, the space they had been using was needed for other things and the quilt show was left with nowhere to go. 

“We were kind of upset about the whole thing,” said Jan Barnett, current president of the Guild. “But actually the break was really good for us. We are ready to come back with even more enthusiasm than before.”

The Guild lost its former president and leader when Sherry Fink passed away, and many of the members have been finishing projects that Sherry had started. Sherry’s husband made sure that Guild members had access to her quilt stash and projects. 

“It has been an act of love and a way to put our grief over her passing to work,” Barnett said. “We are setting up a display during the show in honor of Sherry. I think we will call it ‘Sherry’s Corner.’ We will have some of her work, some of her projects that we finished and memories of her there.” 

Sherry was a force in the quilting world in the area for a long time. She taught classes, mentored many starting quilters and for years was the driving force behind the quilt show at the fair.

“I took my first quilting class from Sherry in 2000,” Barnett said. “I never intended to become a quilter, but here I am!”

There has been a lot of positive feed back from quilters. Marylou Doyle had even stashed the sign that sat out at the highway during the fair to point people to the quilt show.  “It had been stored in Hyattville,” according to Barnett. “It is out, cleaned up and ready to shine again.”

Just as are all the quilters of the Loose Threads Quilt Guild during this year’s county fair.