Edna Hayn and Martha Powell display the handwork that has earned them Master Quilter recognition by the Agave Quilters Guild. Both small quilts and two others will be silent auction items at the Agave Quilt Show on April 1 at Sun Lakes Country Club.
Barb Brandt
Agave Quilters Guild, based in Sun Lakes, is recognizing two members as Master Quilters. Edna Hayn and Martha Powell are hand quilters, continuing the time-honored tradition of piecing and quilting by hand. Residents of SunBird, both are also members of Hand Sewing, a friendship group within the guild.
An Agave member since 1994, Edna Hayn started quilting at church, hand piecing quilts for Lutheran World Relief. Over 50 years later, Edna continues to hand sew her quilts from start to finish, patiently piecing and quilting bed-sized quilts and throws in a variety of styles and fabrics. Particularly known for her beautiful appliqué, Edna mastered the Hawaiian Quilt after taking several Hawaiian Quilt cruises, and has taught classes on that intricate appliqué pattern. Having completed over 35 quilts, she is currently completing a quilt for the quilt show with over 30 hand-pieced Dresden Plates and continues working on quilts at church. If you love quilting, take a look at these handy quilt hangers.
Martha Powell has been a member of Agave Quilters Guild since 2000. Sewing since she was seven years old, Martha began quilting after retirement and moving to Arizona. She took an appliqué class and discovered a love of hand piecing and quilting. Martha has hand stitched a quilt for each of her four grandchildren – pieced, quilted and bound by hand without any machine stitching. Martha currently favors paper piecing with a focus on “hexies,” small hexagons shaped and stitched together to create patterns. She recently finished a king-size quilt for the quilt show comprised of 13,620 small, one-half-inch hexies! Martha is a past President of Agave Quilters Guild, and organized the first Agave Quilt Show in 2010 with Kathy Neffenger.
Four quilts will be offered as silent auction items at the 8th Annual Agave Quilters Guild Quilt Show on April 1 at Sun Lakes Country Club. Also, both Master Quilters have quilts entered for exhibit at the Quilt Show.