Sewing has become more than just a hobby for Whitefish’s Mona Benson, it has become a passion.

Benson, a retired nurse who has been sewing her entire life and quilting since 1987, will be the featured quilter next month as the Teakettle Quilt Guild hosts its annual quilt show at Glacier Gateway Elementary April 21.

Benson learned to sew from her mother, a seamstress, but did not get into quilting until she decided to take a class on the subject in the late 1980s.

“I have been sewing since I was very little. My mom was a seamstress and she made all of our clothes. I was the only one of her four girls that learned how to sew and liked sewing. I kept the tradition going by making clothes for my kids and shirts for my husband,” Benson said. “I’m not really sure why I decided to take that first quilting course. It’s very unlike me to take a class all by myself, but I did. It was a different way of sewing and I wanted to learn.”

Over the years, Benson has honed her skills and now has examples of her work hanging in the office of her former employer, Glacier Medical Associates. Benson has also created a number of baby quilts for friends and family and even has a pair of albums with photos of each quilt, the child it was given to and any thank you notes receieved.

When Benson’s husband added a second garage to their home a few years ago, she made the decision to move her sewing workshop to a small room on the second floor. With a bathroom, coffee maker, couch and television, Benson says the space is the perfect place to relax and enjoy her sewing.

Benson joined the Teakettle Quilt Guild more than a decade ago and says she enjoys swapping patterns, techniques and ideas with the group. She plans to display at least six sizeable quilts at next month’s show (including her favorite quilt, which took years to finish), along with several smaller pieces.

Thirty-one years after enrolling in that first quilting course, Benson says she is not sure why she made that decision, but she is glad she did.

“It is my favorite kind of sewing. I love to make quilts and give them as gifts. It’s fun and relaxing. I can come up here to my room and sew for hours,” she said. “I’m probably not the typical Montana girl that likes to be outside hiking, I’d rather be up here sewing.”

The 2018 Teakettle Quilt Guild show will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Glacier Gateway Elementary April 21.

The free show will feature numerous vendors, a botique, and will have a drop-off area for donations to the Columbia Falls Food Bank.

The guild will also once again be raffling off a quilt, with the proceeds going to local charities and operating expenses.