Lometa quilter to headline annual needle art show

Lometa Quilting Club member Beth Hightower will display her Texas-themed quilt when she is a featured exhibitor at the March Needle Art and Quilt Show in Lampasas.

One Wednesday each month, a group of about 15 women gathers at the Lometa Baptist Church to help with a project that's been ongoing for several years.

It's the Lometa Quilting Club, and they get together in the church fellowship hall to cut, sew, tie and quilt, creating finished quilts for Lometa schoolchildren in need, for the Williams House in Lometa, Child Protective Services in Lampasas County and for any family in crisis.

Originally, the women started out as an informal group, with camaraderie and fellowship in mind, and with no goal for the finished quilts other than personal use.

The idea for charitable work began when three houses in Lometa burned down, one member said. When that happened, the group saw that they could help those who lost so much in fires by providing them with quilts.

Thus began the Lometa Quilting Club.

Beth Hightower, a longtime member of the Lometa club, has quilted since age 12 when she learned from her mother. She grew up at Camp Hood where her grandmother had a farm, but later moved to Lometa where she met her future husband.

Beth Hightower uses this Singer treadle sewing machine for her quilt-making. It will be on display during the annual needle art show.

Until 15 years ago, Mrs. Hightower made many of her traditional quilts by machine-piecing and hand-quilting. Then she began making blue-jean quilts decorated with machine-appliqued animals. Some of the quilts are referred to as "attitude quilts," since they relay a message, Mrs. Hightower said.

In addition to working with the Lometa club, Mrs. Hightower has made quilts and donated them to other organizations for their use as fund-raisers, including a quilt raffled by the Lometa Rodeo Association in memory of Mrs. Hightower's husband's brother.

In creating her quilt, Mrs. Hightower researched the brands that were used in Lampasas County, and her sister, Jo Taylor, machineembroidered a brand on each block on the quilt.

Mrs. Taylor does all of Mrs. Hightower's machine-embroidery. Mrs. Hightower makes all of her quilts on a Singer treadle sewing machine. She also crochets afghans and doilies.

Mrs. Hightower's Singer treadle sewing machine and her quilts, along with images of the Lometa Quilting Club, will be featured at the Lampasas Needle Art and Quilt Show March 7-8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at several locations: the Lampasas County Courthouse, Lampasas County Office Building and Keystone Square Museum.

Admission is $5 for adults, and $3 for children under 12, good for both days.

The Lometa Quilting Club is accepting donations of batting for its quilts. Please drop off batting at the museum, 303 S. Western, on March 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or at the Needle Art Quilt Show.

For more information, phone 556-2224 or e-mail naq07@pgrb.com.

The Lometa Quilting Club meets the second Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m. Bring a sack lunch. Quilting experience is not necessary.

For club information, contact Gail Eltgroth at 752-8322 or e-mail gail.eltgroth@starband.net.