Farm Safety quilt on silent auction

CRESCO - Three ladies on the 4-H Alumni Committee have supported 4-H since they were little, and they are still supporting the youth today.

Marge Johnson, Sharla Fencl and Gladie Church recently completed a quilting project that will be on display in the 4-H building, during the Mighty Howard County Fair on June 22-26.

The quilt (53x80-inches) is made from t-shirts used during the annual fall 4-H Farm Safety Day, which is just one of the projects the Alumni Committee undertakes during the year. 

Johnson explains, “The mission of the committee is to provide assistance to the Howard County 4-H program, help children with registration fees, give scholarships to 4-H seniors and sponsor the Celebrity Beef Showmanship event at the fair.”

Farm Safety Day used to be held at the Christensen farm for children of all ages. Now it is held at the fairgrounds for Howard County fourth graders, including youth from Crestwood, Holy Trinity, Notre Dame and Riceville. The event has different speakers and hands-on activities.

For the showmanship competition, which started in 2010, volunteers get sponsors to donate toward his or her beef showing, with the money raised going to pay for the various projects members support. The Alumni Committee has been going strong since 2009. Fencl and Church are both charter members, while Johnson has been involved for about eight years.

All three ladies feel 4-H is a great organization. They were all members as youth. Johnson belonged to Diligent Daughters 4-Hers for eight years. When she was older, she was a leader for 5-6 years.

Fencl  belonged to Diligent 4-H Club for about 10 years. 

She then was a leader for 8-10 years. “I credit 4-H for my career in Home Ec./Family & Consumer Science at Turkey Valley.” She was also a county fair judge for 4-H.

Church  belonged to a 4-H club near Chester since early childhood. She remembers attending meetings at her house with her siblings when she was 5-6-years-old. She was a club leader for 15 years with Cresco Merrymakers and led sewing workshops. She also was a past county 4-H and state fair judge.

The quilt was a team effort. Word has it that it was Johnson who volunteered Fencl and Church. The trio are all sewers. 

Church said, “I put the directions together with the Electric Quilt program. The fabric was purchased from Katie (Mast of Quilters Garden). The center square has four sleeve patches that were used in different years.”

Johnson and Fencl did the batting and assembled the quilt, while Church did the quilting.

They ladies started their project in February. Sue Barnes of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach was pleased the quilt was done nearly a month before the start of the fair. She quipped, “Some of the kids are starting their project the day before the start of the fair!”

The quilt will be one of the items on the silent auction, held inside the 4-H building during the Mighty Howard County Fair. Stop by and check it out, along with all the projects the youth of Howard County have been working on for the past year (or the previous 24 hours).