LEBANON — As a bride, Margaret Heery sat around a quilt frame for hours upon hours with her mother, great-grandmother and mother-in-law, pushing a needle in and out of layered fabric and batting.

Miniature quilts by Bella Fansler will be on display this month at the Great Midwest Quilt Show and Sale in downtown Lebanon. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        “We had a lot of pleasure out of it,” recalls Mrs. Heery, 92, of Lebanon.

        This month, hundreds of people will take pleasure from their and other quilters' handiwork as more than three dozen quilts are displayed at the Warren County Historical Society Museum.

        The museum show is part of the 20th annual Great Midwest Quilt Show and Sale. The sale takes place this weekend only at the Warren County Fairgrounds. Normally held at the Ohio National Guard Armory on Main Street, the sale had to move this year because of security concerns.

        The sale typically raises at least $16,000 for the museum, organizer Joan Townsend says. About 32 vendors from as far away as Texas will sell new and vintage quilts, fabric and supplies, and food.

        The quilts in the museum show are mainly older quilts made locally — tying into Lebanon's bicentennial this year and Warren County's bicentennial in 2003.

IF YOU GO

• What: Great Midwest Quilt Show and Sale.     • When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today and Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.     • Where: Warren County Fairgrounds, 665 N. Broadway, Lebanon. Take Interstate 75 to Ohio 63 east or Interstate 71 to Ohio 48 north.     • Admission: $5, which includes entry to the Warren County Historical Society Museum, 105 S. Broadway. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and noon-4 p.m. Sunday.

        Mrs. Heery loaned the museum the oldest item on display, a printed fabric called palampore made in India in the 1700s, when fabric was first printed, according to Patricia Van Harlingen, textile curator at the museum. While not quilted or even original to the county, it was brought here by Mrs. Heery's forebears.

        The museum also is displaying a friendship quilt of Mrs. Heery's. The squares were made by her great-grandmother's friends, and Mrs. Heery and her mom later completed the quilt.

        The oldest quilt, called Candle Wick, was probably made in Cincinnati in 1826, Ms. Van Harlingen said.

        Another notable quilt, made in Warren, won first prize at the Ohio State Fair in 1850.

        Mrs. Heery, who can no longer quilt, hopes new generations will keep the art form alive.

        “It's something that be comes very personal, because people use the materials they have, like from old dresses, and they have memories,” she says.

        “It's a nice memory box.”

Hateful words flew before bullets struck
Jazz great Marsalis bails out of concert
Duke enters race for upscale retail
New Ruby eatery to recall city's 'vivid past'
11 students charged in fake ID case
Neighborhoods hear promises
New tobacco fight begins
Ringer sentenced to 21 years
Tristate A.M. Report
Holy cow
Some Good News
No ending here
Ohio's fish
Class action disputed
Commission pressed on hospital
Fabric artifacts trigger memories
Six more file to run for Butler judge
1800s house up for listing
Show choirs take stage in Fairfield
Court candidate to shun outside help
Sales tax hiatus won't happen soon, Finan says
Traficant's idiosyncrasies raise eyebrows in court
A hard look at rave drugs
Exemptions proposed for slots
Kentucky News Briefs
Lynn, Clooney honored for careers
No evidence of accelerant found in horse barn fire
Planning commissions would get say on cell towers, under new bill
Refresh your severe-weather IQ this month
School funding coalition may grow
Subdivision gates close on outsiders
Young official joins McConnell campaign