Dressed in patchwork sweaters, carrying hand-stitched shoulder bags and wearing name tags made from scrap fabric, the Alamance Piecemakers Quilt Guild meets every month at the Burlington Elmira Community Center. The group, made up of about 50 women, shares their latest crafts, plans upcoming workshops and discusses new techniques they’ve learned. The guild, for many of these women, is about more than quilts; it’s about kinship and collaboration.
The president of APQG, Kathy Lyday, has been quilting since she was in her 20s, but only recently joined the organization in 2023 after retiring from Elon University as an English professor. Lyday said many other women were also looking for a community after retiring.
“If you’re retired and you miss your job and you miss your work and you miss your colleagues, this is a great place to come because we’re all in the same boat in that sense,” Lyday said…