Wednesday, Feb. 08, 2012

Quilters see artistry in generosity

Can you help me teach geometry with quilting? This plea was made to Apex's Kathy Pierce, then a mother of middle-school students and a self-taught quilter. A teacher's math class was having difficulty understanding triangle and polygon construction, so a hands-on project was urgently needed.

Pierce had begun quilting after her children's school asked for a quilt to be auctioned to provide money for classroom equipment. Pierce scoured books to learn the fundamentals of quilt-making, collected fabric and constructed her quilt.

Pierce's colorful creation quickly sold to a local bank. And she was hooked for life, quilting for others.

For the "geometry" quilt, 25 math students would take part in the project. Twenty-five 12-inch squares, enough to make the top of a bed quilt, would give the class a practical application of plane geometry. After receiving a unique paper geometric pattern, each youngster carefully used protractor and compass to reproduce the triangles and polygons in cardboard.

The cardboard shapes were used as patterns to cut the puzzle-like components out of coordinating fabric. The cloth pieces were pinned to the original paper patterns, and Pierce assembled the finished quilt. It became a showpiece for the entire school.

Since the "geometry special," Pierce has produced many quilts, "maybe a hundred" she said, and has given away almost all of them.

Pierce now heads a quilting "bee" at Woodhaven Baptist Church in Apex, where a dozen quilters gather each week.

The quilters supply baby quilts to neonatal hospital units. They send quilts to hospital patients, nursing home residents and dispossessed families.

"It is not just the joy of the quilting that binds the bees together," Pierce said, "we care for one another as much as we do for all those for whom we make thousands of stitches in patterned cotton and batting that become our quilted gifts."