Tis the season for giving

DAYTON—A former long-time Master Gardener for the Boldman House Museum has won the museum committee’s raffle quilt. Instead of keeping the quilt for herself, and without hesitation, Susie Rogers made a gift of it to Susan Richter.

Rogers said Susan Richter spent countless hours working on the quilt, along with Diane McKinley, Katie Wamble, Mary Luce, Sylvia Beuhler, and Eulalie Schrek.

“Her heart was sewn into that quilt.,” Rogers said. “She loved that quilt so much.”

When raffle tickets went on sale at “Quilts in the Garden” in July, Rogers and Mary Luce agreed that they would give the quilt to Richter if either won the raffle.

“It was wonderful to do that. It just made her so happy,” Rogers said.

“It was good for me, too,” she added.

The quilt was very hard to put together. It was a very busy quilt, Rogers said.

The “Flower Garden” quilt is a king-size, hand-embroidered quilt based on a pattern from the museum’s collection. Donna Molesh embroidered squares, built the picket fence border, and did the piecing. Vonda Anderson did the machine quilting, at her long-arm quilting business, in Dayton.

The pattern was created by Ruby Short McKim and published in the late 20s or early 30s. One of the Boldman sisters, Marie, embroidered squares from the pattern but never finished a quilt. Those squares are part of the Boldman House Museum collection.

Richter said she was very surprised, when she received the call about the quilt.

“I’m so thrilled, and it looks really good in that bedroom,” she said.

She said her great-grandmother embroidered squares on a quilt her family finished using the same pattern. That quilt remains with the family in Wenatchee.

Richter said to stay tuned for “Quilts in the Garden 2022” to see the older quilt displayed alongside the newer quilt, which is now in Richter’s happy hands.

The quilt raffle raised $2025 to help support the Boldman House operations.