There are 32 quilt guilds in Montana with three of them in Western Montana. 

The Flat-Iron Quilting Guild in Thompson Falls, the Tender Lovin’ Quilters in Troy and the Cabin Fever Quilters of Mineral County. 

The guilds are mostly made up of women who have officers, by-laws and policies they follow along with monthly meetings which are usually combined with quilting-time or a guest speaker for product development and socializing. Quilting guilds openly welcome newbies and experienced quilters who may have moved into the area recently as this is a gathering of enjoyment and camaraderie. 

However, not all quilters have flexible time to work cooperatively with others, or they have other roadblocks, so they quilt at their homes. 

This is the case with Debbie Kelsey who is employed at the Mineral County Library in Superior and is involved in several different department activities. 

“I come from generations of fiber artists and I have tried to always be learning a new part of an art so I have been crocheting lots of different things,” she shares. ““I do have products from most things I learn to make from dolls to antler decorations to soap and more, and my husband is making baskets as well,” indicating that crafting items are common in their household. 

Library patrons have seen the knitted quilt on display that Kelsey donated years ago, which is what most people think that a quilt looks like. But she has recently completed a new one that has caught an awful lot of attention as it’s not necessarily a quilt, but a crocheted wall hanging. 

“I have been practicing free form crochet for about a year so it is basically what I saw and put to a hook,” she said. 

Kelsey uses wool, alpaca, cashmere, acrylic and all kinds of yarns for her creations and one will see the variety in "The Reef" that is on now display. 

“It took about 10 weeks,” she explained, with the most difficult part being to get it to hold its own weight. 

"My lovely husband has learned patience with me and helped with the structure. There is a wood support behind the plate coral as it is very heavy so this has given it stability,” she said. 

“I have not really ever been to the ocean, but had fun watching reefs,” she said about researching the information. “It’s on loan for as long as they want to display it and I just want to thank the library for giving me a palette and a place to show it.” 

The MCPL at 301 2nd Avenue East, Superior is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (406) 822-3563.