CREEDE — The Silver Thread Quilt Guild is changing things up throughout the year to bring in new members and to that end is offering quilting classes.

For the past 20 years, the Silver Thread Quilt Guild has welcomed members of all ages and abilities from South Fork, Creede and Lake City to learn and show off their talents as quilters, to help raise funding for community-based projects and to spread education about the beauty of quilting for generations to come.

Current President Anne Strong and fellow members felt like now was the time to bring in new members and in doing so have started quilting classes for beginners and experienced quilters to come and see what the group is all about.

“The guild started about 20 years ago and began as a group of women that wanted to get together and do something creative and fun while helping with community-oriented projects,” Strong said. “It grew from that day forward and every two years, we do the Silver Thread Quilt Show which has turned out to be a wonderful and fun event that people, local and visiting enjoy.”

Strong along with her fellow members come from all walks of life and live all over the country. The group stays connected throughout the year creating projects from a distance and those that are local meet once a month to work on projects and just have a chance to get together.

“It is a really fun group and no matter what your ability is whether you are a beginner or an experienced quilter, you can learn something new. We want to encourage new members, so we decided to have some quilting classes that are open to the public and free,” Strong said.

The guild has had two classes so far this year and is planning for a third in June.

“Our first class was a basic sewing class, and we created a log cabin quilt,” Strong said. “We had six attendees, and everyone had a really great time. The quilts turned out beautiful and we decided to do a second class just recently.”

The second class was again based on the fundamentals of sewing and those who participated worked over the course of three classes to create table runners.

“Even I learned something new during these classes and I was a self-taught quilter,” Strong said. “All of our members are so friendly and willing to help new quilters learn some tips and tricks to create new projects. Everyone is just so willing to learn and share their knowledge. It is a wonderful group of women.”

The guild also creates projects for Quilts of Valor that are donated to the Veterans Community Living Center at Homelake in Monte Vista as well as projects that are donated to the Denver Children’s Hospital.

“We always have a project going and there is always something new coming up. We stay very busy and everyone who joins has a wonderful time,” Strong said.

With the coming summer season, more members of the guild will be coming back to the area and the guild changes meeting locations to accommodate members.

“We are planning on another class in June when more of our summer members are able to attend. All of our members are generous with their knowledge and skills, and we have a great time with the show and tell part of the class,” Strong said.

For more information, visit their Facebook page under Silver Thread Quilt Guild.