SHELBURNE — When 68-year-old Jody Stetson decided to have a drive-by quilt show with a donation bin in May 2020, she raised $450 for the international disaster relief organization Samaritan’s Purse.
Now, during each Saturday in June, Stetson hopes her quilts can help raise money for not only Samaritan’s Purse, but also the Salvation Army in Greenfield and Colrain’s River Valley Christian Church, which is seeking to repair its steeple.
“Their steeple is in rough shape, and the money they set aside for it isn’t going to be enough,” Stetson said, noting that she doesn’t have a particular fundraising goal in mind.
Between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., about 35 or 40 quilts will be displayed outside Stetson’s 218 Shelburne Center Road home. About 15 of the quilts are for sale, while the rest are Stetson’s gifts to her friends that are being lent back to her for the occasion.
Stetson said she welcomes attendees to come up in her yard to view the quilts up close. Written descriptions paired with the quilts will provide viewers with more information. In many cases, the quilts feature scripture, and the descriptions will discuss what the passages are about. Stetson also said she’ll be on hand to answer questions and talk about quilting.
“It’s not a hands-off quilt show,” she said. “You can look at it closely, look at the backs and read the stories, instead of just at a distance.”
Still, Stetson added, “There will also be plenty to see if people just want to drive by and don’t want to come up in the yard.”
Stetson, a retired nurse who worked at Baystate Franklin Medical Center for 41 years, started making quilts by hand when she was in college. By her calculations, she has now made over 140.
“I am a scrap quilter,” she explained. “I don’t go out and buy material and then make a quilt. Usually I put together material I have or that I’ve been given. … I just love seeing them go together and all the different colors.”
Stetson said she usually finds inspiration for quilts in magazines, and is particularly attracted to the more traditional styles. Still, no two quilts of hers are the same.
“I have so many in my head that there’s no reason to repeat anything,” she said. “That would take the fun out of it if I made the same thing over and over. So they’re all very individual.”
When Stetson pulled together 58 quilts — about half of which she made herself — for her first-ever drive-by quilt show in time for Mother’s Day last year, her motivation was a bit different than it has been for her upcoming June quilt shows. With the pandemic having started just two months earlier, she hoped to give families a fun, safe way to celebrate Mother’s Day, given that some of the more traditional avenues, like going out to brunch at a restaurant, would be out of the question.
“Everybody’s shut in and I figured that if they do parades, cars could go by and see quilts,” Stetson said at the time.
Although COVID-19 health safety restrictions have since been lifted, Stetson said she “had a lot of fun last year” and decided to offer more quilt shows, this time more specifically as fundraisers rather than as holiday events.
At least two aspects will have changed, she noted.
“Last year, people were asking me, ‘Did you make all of these?’ and the answer was ‘No.’ Now the answer is ‘Yes,’” she recounted. “They also asked me if any of them were for sale, and the answer was ‘No.’ This time the answer is ‘Yes.’”
Reach Shelby Ashline at 413-772-0261, ext. 270 or sashline@recorder.com.