Connie Anderson is sharing her talents and love of quilting with another generation
By Per Peterson
It’s normal seeing quilters working hard in church basements, creating beautiful quilts. But in a high school?
Thanks in large part to the crafty hands of Connie Anderson, students in Elizabeth Krzmarzick’s FACS class at Tracy Area High School are learning the art of quilting at a young age.
Anderson, who attends and quilts at Tracy Lutheran Church, has been going to the school nearly every day to teach the art of quilting to the students in Krzmarzick’s interior design and sewing class.
To help defray costs, Anderson secured $250 through Thrivent for new supplies for the classroom at the beginning of the quarter and also presented Krzmarzick with $700 from the quilters at the church for more supplies. She also received a $50 donation from Walmart.
“Our church secretary Linda Rykhus asked if I would be willing to teach the kids to make quilts,” said Anderson, who works with the students each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, as well as most Wednesdays. “From there, we got together, and I found that Mrs. K doesn’t know how to do quilting, either. So she came to my house several times and she made her quilt.”
Krzmarzick, who is new to TAHS this year, said she is a pretty quick learner and backed it up by making her own quilt. She said after being hired at TAHS she brainstormed what kind of sewing projects the students could do and concluded that quilting would be a good way for students to not only learn how to sew, but analyze elements and principles of design as well.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.