Quilts can warm bodies, warm hearts, and quilts can educate too! For the past 10 years, members of the Custer’s Last Stitch Quilt Guild, under the leadership of local member Deb Bryner, have been presenting the Discover Nebraska program, teaching Nebraska History through quilts, to the 4th graders across Custer County.
“We go to all the Custer County fourth grade students every year,” said Bryner. “They’ve been learning Nebraska history during the school year in the fourth grade. And so we come in with the Discover Nebraska quilt, which is Nebraska history through quilts. So when we ask questions and we have a picture to relate it to, the way that they answer it is always so fun.”
Each of the 20-plus blocks on the Guild’s wall hanging-size sampler quilt represents an opportunity to review with the classes what they have learned about Nebraska’s history and what makes our state unique. Quilt blocks cover everything from the native tribes who made this their home, to the miles of rivers, streams and underground aquifer, the birds, flowers, crops and animals raised, and the real struggles of the early pioneers who traveled to Nebraska and worked hard to make this their home.
Students are also shown how early quilts were hand-pieced and quilted using scraps from old clothing and bleached feed sacks to keep the family warm in the cold winters, and how the women were able to create something beautiful at the same time by manipulating fabric pieces of different shapes and colors.
“We usually bring several different ones to show them the diversity – that there’s a lot of different things you could do with quilting,” said Bryner. “I also take one that my grandma made probably 90 to 100 years ago so that I can show them that’s the way that they used to make quilts and it was made with feed sacks and flower sacks. And on the back of that quilt, you can actually see the chicken food sack, that she tried to get it to Clorox off, but all the color didn’t come out. The kids are kind of enthralled by that too. You couldn’t buy fabric like you can today.”
Hands raised in excitement as they answer questions about Nebraska, students are then given paper blocks to color and construct their own Discover Nebraska class quilt. Their project always ends with a label, showing who made the quilt, which is an important feature in maintaining the history of a quilt – a true labor of love! To see the student’s quilts, as well as the work of the Custer’s Last Stitch Quilt Guild in person, look for the displays each year at the Custer County Fair.
