The Quilt Auction

The Quilt Auction -- a sale favorite -- features over 250 beautiful hand made quilts, wall quilts, afghans, comforters and other quilt-related items. The quilt auction tradition is one very special way that Mennonite women of Kansas use their abilities to provide resources for those in need throughout our world.

Viewing of displayed quilts begins at 4pm Friday, when reserved seats for the auction also go on sale. Individuals purchasing reserved seating for the auction will be limited to eight tickets this year. The quilt auction begins Saturday at 8:45am, continuing into mid-afternoon in the Meadowlark Building.

There will be a special mini-auction featuring items not classified as quilts, but which are traditionally interspersed throughout the quilt auction. Included are dolls, afghans, quilt racks and other similar items. This takes place around noon. Refer to the Quilt Buyers' Guide, available for purchase at the sale, for the exact time.

A picture gallery of the quilts is available for viewing here.

Quilter's Corner

Quilters' Corner located in the Meadowlark Building generated over $9,600 in donations previous years selling quilt supplies and unfinished quilt projects to recycle.

Sale shoppers will find finished and unfinished tops, quilt blocks, old or damaged quilts, and linens (such as dresser scarves, pillowcases, tablecloths, chenille bedspreads, doilies, potholders, aprons, and cloth sacks). Also available are quilters' equipment, quilt books, magazines, buttons, wooden spools, patterns and fabric (denim cut in blocks, no double knits).

Those who wish to donate these quilt-related items may bring them to a participating Mennonite Church, or to the MCC Central States office, 121 E. 30th St., North Newton before March 15. For more information contact Rose Wiebe Haury at 785-271-7568 (haury@juno.com) or Mary Beth Goering at 620-241-4107 (mjgoering@dtnspeed.net).

A new traveling quilt exhibit from Mennonite Central Committee, featuring quilts made by North American Mennonites and used by refugees in the Netherlands after World War II, begins a three-year tour in April 2005. This exhibit will appear in the Sunflower Building North on the Kansas State Fair Grounds as part of the Kansas MCC Relief Sale in Hutchinson, KS on April 8 and 9, 2005. A reproduction "nine patch" quilt will be auctioned in conjunction with the relief sale. Following the MCC Relief Sale the exhibit can be viewed April 11 through 20 at the MCC Material Resource Center, 121 East 30th Street, North Newton, KS (316-283-2720). On Saturday, April 16 the exhibit will be open 3-6 p.m. with story-telling by Robert and Lois Kreider at 4 p.m.

During the war a young Dutch Mennonite woman, An Keuning-Tichelaar, and her husband, Hermann, were active in the non-violent resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. They sheltered many people in their home, including Jewish refugees, members of the resistance, and injured civilians. After the war they opened their home to Mennonite refugees who had fled Russia.

All those who took refuge in their home were offered food, clothing, shelter, and comfort. The refugees slept on and under warm homemade quilts and comforters made by North American Mennonites sent to Europe by MCC.

This exhibit pieces together the wonderful stories of An and the Dutch Mennonites with the story of Lynn Kaplanian-Buller who rediscovered the quilts years later. It describes the story of Russian Mennonites in search of a new home after the war and the commitment of Mennonite Central Committee to provide relief, comfort and hope.

Good Books has published a book, Passing on the Comfort: The War, the Quilts, and the Women Who Made a Difference written by An Keuning-Tichelaar and Lynn Kaplanian-Buller, which tells this amazing story and pictures the quilts and comforters. This book will be available for purchase at the exhibit sites.

Each year MCC sends nearly 100,000 comforters and blankets to people suffering from natural and man-made disasters. Funds raised through the exhibit, sales of the book and the sale of replica quilts will be used for MCC's continuing relief and development work as well as a heritage center near Witmarsum, Holland that will celebrate the work and witness of Dutch Mennonites. For more information see the website www.passingonthecomfort.com.

Passing on the Comfort is a traveling quilt exhibit from Mennonite Central Committee (www.mcc.org) For further information contact: Arlin & Maretta Buller, local contact, (316) 283-2394 or Lois Flickinger, project manager (717) 625-4058