Ice Cream Social & Quilt Show

WHEN:  Friday, July 20

WHERE:  First Presbyterian Church [Adams Ave & S. Third St]

TIME:

Quilt Show Hours:  Noon – 8:00 p.m.

Ice Cream Social:  4:00 – 8:00 p.m.

According to church records, the first community ice cream social hosted by Cottage Grove’s First Presbyterian Church was in 1892. The Presbyterian Ladies’ Aid Society meeting minutes recorded they would service ice-cream, strawberries, and lemonade (No small feat in the days before refrigeration!)

Throughout the early 20th Century the local Presbyterians hosted a much anticipated summer ice cream social. Beginning with the 1959 local observance of Oregon’s Statehood Centennial, the summer ice cream social was moved to coincide with the annual celebration and has been held alongside the BMD Festival from the beginning.

Cost: Free

Any donations will be divided between the FPC Bell Choir, which is hosting the event, and with Cottage Grove’s Community Sharing Program.

Quilts kept the rain and wind out of covered wagons and later they covered windows and doors of log cabins and dugouts. Sometimes they were used to partition off a room in an otherwise one room structure.  Putting a favorite quilt on the bed gave a pioneer woman a sense of connection with her former way of life. Something of beauty was very much needed in her barren home.

During last years of the 1800s and into the 1900s the Arts and Craft Movement in America inspired people to go back to the old ways of bygone days. Although traditional quilts were made all through the Victorian era as the Arts and Crafts movement gained prominence there was a resurgence of quilters making traditional patterns all by hand. The depression era was enlivened by women designing and constructing quilts.

After the 1930s quilt making became less visible as World War 2 sent women into the workplace. and quilting went out of vogue. Women who did quilt often got their start later in life perhaps as a part of a church sewing group that made quilts to raise money or to give to the needy. They quilted more for the companionship it provided through church or other sewing groups.

The 1960s showed a gradual increase in women wanting to learn to quilt and by the 1970s a few quilt guilds had formed. Popular women’s magazines began to include more articles about quilt projects. Interest in quilting was on the rise. America’s 200th birthday in 1976 also renewed enthusiasm for making quilts for the bicentennial.

The wonderful quilter’s tools enjoyed today like cutting mats and rotary cutters weren’t generally available until the 1980s. Some quilters pieced by machine but others preferred hand piecing. Applique and quilting were usually done by hand. Quilt-making methods were still much like those of the past. New tools and methods as well as plentiful quilter’s fabric today have made a huge difference. Quilter’s during the 60s and 70s would have been amazed to see the changes in quilting today.

A quilt show is also part of this annual event. The quilts made by local quilters are on display from Noon – 8 p.m.

For more information call [541] 942-4479.