Belknap Mill Quilters Guild 'Journey' a huge success

LACONIA — On a beautiful fall day – Oct. 3 – the Belknap Mill Quilters Guild held a "Mysterious Quilt Journey" in which participants were given a map and the opportunity to view dozens of beautiful handmade quilts on display in 30+ local businesses in downtown Laconia.

According to Katie Haddock and Ila Mattila, the co-chairs of the “Mysterious Quilt Journey,” the event was a great success: quilters got to display their amazing quilts — many of which “matched” the businesses where they were displayed – local merchants got additional foot traffic, and the community got to safely enjoy a free, family-friendly outing.

The Guild expressed their gratitude toward several people and organizations, including:

• The Belknap Mill, for sponsoring the event, and especially Tara Shore for all her positive encouragement, great ideas, and hard work.

• The dozens of businesses that supported them in many ways – by hosting a quilt, providing a gift for the raffle, and helping to feed the Guild's many volunteers.

The Guild also thanked the talented quilters who shared the beauty and comfort of their quilts — works of art, really — with the community.

An event of this kind simply isn’t possible without many, many volunteers “behind the scenes” — Guild members, and nonmembers alike, whose efforts made the Journey look effortless.

Concerns about COVID-19 may have caused the cancellation of the in-person quilt show, but it did not stop the Belknap Mill Quilters Guild. With the help of all of you, they created a new path that brought quilters and the community together.

Their virtual quilt show is now online and accessible via their website: www.bmqg.org.

For interest in joining the Guild, send an e-mail to infor@bmqg.org.