Unique quilt up for bids in Leesville Fair

When the Leesville Country Fair kicks off Oct. 13, a very unique quilt will be among the items to be auctioned in the annual fund-raiser for the Leesville Cemetery Association and student scholarships.

One of the items up for bids will be the "Two Friends" quilt — a covering more than a half-century in the making.

The "Two Friends" quilt was pieced together by Mrs. Robert Haynes and Mrs. Lem Kidd in 1960, and finished by Leesville’s "Happy Quilters" group just this year.

The quilt is made primarily of pieces of feed sacks from the 1940s and 50s, and is unique in that it’s made into 16 patches per block, a seldom-used pattern.

The story among the Happy Quilters goes that Mrs. Haynes would drive into Leesville to pick up the mail, taking her pieces of the quilt and sewing items with her. She would meet Mrs. Kidd at the Cafe, where they would sit, talk and sew for hours patching the blocks together.

In later years, the quilt was passed on to the Haynes family, who donated it to the Happy Quilters for finishing to be auctioned at the fair.

The Happy Quilters are themselves a rather unique band, started locally in 1998 with Charlene Anderson, Helen Taylor, Juanita DuBose, Bess Jones and Doris Hewell as members. Hewell was instrumental in showing the group how to jointly work on projects by framing the quilts, and at first the group bought kits before graduating to creating their own works of art.

The group now meets every Monday at the Leesville Methodist Church. Over the years, members have included Myrtle Colwell, Jean Lott, Margie Rice, Janyce Littlefield, Lanell Haynes, Frances Altwein, Missy Dirks, Esther Moore, Ruth Newberry, Charlene Anderson, Helen Taylor and Juanita DuBose.

The first quilt created by the group to be won in a drawing at the annual fair was called "Log Cabin" and was won by Linda Patteson.

The Happy Quilters’ crafts have become sought-after items, too: one quilt made by the club was auctioned for $2,400.

This year’s Leesville Country Fair begins starting at 10 a.m. Oct. 13 on the Methodist Church grounds, under the two covered pavilions.

There will be a drawing, auction, silent auction, country store, flag presentation, activities for the kids including Bouncer Moon Walk, animal exhibits, face painting, ring throw, football throw, bean-bag toss, fire truck and police car. A horse-drawn cart will also provide rides.

The Kerr Creek Band will be providing live entertainment and there will be plenty of food and drinks.

The fair is the annual fund raiser for the Leesville Cemetery and the area high school scholarship program.