“Country Quilter” At Art In The Sawmill

Julie Druker | Sep 18, 2013

On Sept. 8, local quilter Judy Skeggs opened up her century-old sawmill in Verona to the art buying and viewing public in what was her first official art show. Judy has been producing high quality quilts for over 30 years. She has been sewing all her life and got into quilting in her 30s. She said that it is the creativity and sewing aspects of quilting that kept her coming back to it. “I just love sitting at my machine and getting lost in my own little world. That and the fact that quilting is something that you can pick up and put down whenever you are doing other things around the house.”

Judy had on display at the Art in the Sawmill show eight of her large quilts along with a few examples of her quilted jackets and pillows and her custom machine embroidery. One of her personal favorites is her large “Latte” quilt, which she made using silk and satin materials in mocha/coffee-colored tones. The frames are meticulously decorated with her very artful machine embroidery. “The only thing about the Latte quilt - which is one that I really love - is that I can't use it because I have two cats,” she said.

Because “Latte” is her favorite quilt, she was not advertising it for sale though she did say that if someone offered her the right price, she might consider parting with it. She also had on display her “Professional Cats” quilt, which depicts individual squares of cats dressed in the outfits of different professions. There is a cat doctor, a cat artist, etc. and it is a quilt that she created for one of her quilting classes, which she taught locally for nine years.

Along with her more modern designs are quilts of a more traditional nature. One such quilt is her “Drunkard's Path” quilt, which is from a design made in the 1930s. She saw it in a magazine, and “fell in love with it and just had to make it”. The name comes from the optical pattern created by large balloon-like flowers floating on top of a linear background pattern, which gives it that feeling of a drunkard's unfocused bliss. Her “Basket” quilt is another traditional style quilt, which Judy sewed by hand and which took her over a year to make.

Prior to quilting full time, Judy ran the X-ray department at St. Mary's of the Lake Hospital in Kingston (now Providence Care) for 31 years. She recalled how she used to hang her quilts at the hospital, which was something that the patients really loved. She retired from St. Mary's in 2002 and started quilting full time then.

While she is well known and respected locally as a quilter, Judy said that she has never formally sold or shown her quilts in art shows, or entered them in contests. “I make them for me. It makes me happy and I prefer not to have them judged.”

Art in the Sawmill, which included the work of five other local artists, was Judy's first official showing of her work and judging by the positive feedback and the constant flow of traffic at the show it looks as though it will definitely not be the last time that quilt lovers will have a chance to see the wonderful talent of this local master quilter. For more information, contact Judy at 613-374-3420