Skip-A-Week Quilt Club – Quilt History & Documentation

Wini Morgan wrote the following story in 2001. We hope you enjoy the history of how we began and have continued to this day.
It all began not far down the road from the present-day Garfield Grange located a short distance off Divers on Porter Road. The year was 1921. New families were moving in all the time. The land was good for growing fruit. A farmer in 1914 could expect to make $100.00 per acre from prunes.

Dues were collected 50 cents a year to join. As the years passed by the ladies began making quilts for themselves and later Friendship Quilts for one another, a real treasure. In the fifties the dues were raised to $ 1.00 a year, which remains to this day.

In 1921 the Model T Ford could still be seen on the road and the Model A was soon to follow in 1927. Garfield became a community with its own post office and school. Prune orchards dotted the landscape so prune dryers were built. As many as 19 prune dryers were in the area. Sawmills were set up to supply the local people with needed lumber.

Leona Campanella is credited for starting our annual quilt show, this year marking our 20th. Skip-A-Week’s members not only do quilting, but also donate their time to many community projects.

The Men folk have been there for us, too, especially at quilt show time. We thank all the men wholeheartedly! They are wonderful to help, and we appreciate their manpower without them we could not put on such a good show.

A few of the early quilt members still have descendants living in the area, so their names live on at Skip-A-Week. Like their mothers and grandmothers, they too, are quilters. The fellowship and love of quilts goes on every week and how we and the men folk enjoy those potlucks days.

The charter members of this group are long since passed, but not forgotten.

Written by: Wini Morgan in 2001 (Current year and member numbers updated)