Avid quilters know exactly what Susan Gilman means when she says that quilting touches people’s souls. It is, quite simply, therapy.

“No matter how bad your day is, you go home and sit at the sewing machine and it’s as good as a hot bath,” Gilman said. “It gives your mind a recess.”

Gilman is the featured quilter at this year’s Flathead Valley Quilters Guild Show Sept. 27 and 28. Her talent is known far and wide in the local quilting community, and as the owner of Glacier Quilts in Kalispell, she’s a familiar face among quilters. Some would say that working at a fabric store is a quilter’s dream job.

“I work harder at this than any other job I’ve had, but I love it more,” Gilman said.

Sewing has been a big part of her life since she was a young girl, first sewing buttons on garments and then delving into the craft as a 4-H member in her hometown of Billings.

“My mother was a strong influential part of my sewing background,” she said. “She was a continual source of instruction and support.”

Gilman has emulated the inspiration she received from her mother, sharing her enthusiasm with family members.

“All of the girls sew, whether daughter, daughter-in-law or granddaughter,” she said. “The little ones sat on my lap while I was sewing.”

Gilman took her first quilt class at a shop in Helena. When Marty, her husband of 24 years, served in the Montana Army National Guard, she would accompany him to Helena for drill weekends and it became part of her routine to take classes at the Calico Cupboard. After several classes she began working in the shop during her weekend visits.

When she first started quilting, Gilman wasn’t immediately comfortable starting a new project without taking a class.

“Quilting was a whole new world of techniques, vocabulary and possibilities,” she recalled. “I very quickly became obsessed with the new discovery and could not get enough. The more I learned, the more I wanted to explore and experience.”

Yvonne Kleinhans has been Gilman’s favorite teacher. She especially appreciates Kleinhans’ “unique way of stretching your comfort zone in quilting and letting you enjoy the journey.

“It’s a constant learning process,” Gilman said. “Just when you think you’re getting bored with it, some new technique comes along or someone’s come up with something new. You think, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’ and you’re off running in another direction.”

She admits to having a short attention span and often has a half-dozen quilting projects going at the same time, in addition to crocheting and other craft projects.

Gilman just acquired a Statler computerized long-arm quilting machine and now is machine-quilting a variety of quilt tops that have accumulated over time.

Prior to opening Glacier Quilts in 1997, Gilman had a variety of jobs, ranging from managing an in-store bakery in Billings when her children were little, to manufacturing and marketing little girl’s party dresses during a three-year stint in Minnesota, to working at a title company and then at a bank in a variety of positions. All of her work experience prepared her for being a small-business owner, she said.

Though her quilting friends warned her that owning a store would leave no time for quilting, Gilman has managed to fit it into her schedule. She totes her sewing machine along on RV trips. Gilman belongs to the Flathead Quilters Guild and the Piecemakers Quilt Guild in Bigfork.

“Quilting and sewing is my thread of life,” she said. “I sew every chance I get.”

It’s a craft that also has allowed her to stitch together a great network of friends.

“Everyone you meet touches you in some way,” she said. “My whole life is a patchwork quilt. Put it all together and I’ve got a pretty awesome quilt.”

Flathead Valley Quilters Guild Show

Friday, Sept. 27 — 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 28 — 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Flathead County Fairgrounds

About 150 quilts will be on display from local quilters; show features retail and food vendors, and boutique with quilts and handcrafted items for sale. A raffle quilt will be on display; tickets are $1 each or six for $5.