By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Cassopolis Vigilant
EDWARDSBURG - A stitch in time - has this year's quilt ready to go.
The ladies who gather each week to stitch together the quilt for the annual raffle for the Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church are already busy cutting out the pieces of the 2006 quilt.
They don't want to be having to play catch up before the raffle at the 34th annual Salad Smorgasbord and Style Show, this year on Thursday, March 17.
The blue and white quilt some lucky person will win has Michigan lighthouses embroidered by Judy Boepple in some of the squares, in a cross stitch pattern.
The dinner is famous for the women's hot chicken salad, which is really made with turkey, said Marilyn Christner. "It would take too many chickens." They will be making the salad on Wednesday and Thursday, March 16 and 17.
It is always a sell out crowd with all the 400 tickets going last year the very first day of the sale.
Through the years the event grew enough to move from the American Legion Hall to the Edwardsburg High School. In 1971, the first year, about 100 attended. The men in the congregation serve as waiters.
The 34th annual Church Salad Smorgasbord and Style Show will again be held at the Edwardsburg High School at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are again $7.
Ticket sales will begin following the church services, about 11:40 a.m. in the social hall, Sunday, Feb. 27.
Furnishing the dresses this year will be Chico's and the Dress Barn. Models will again be Miss Edwardsburg and her court and ladies from the church.
This year the court includes Miss Edwardsburg 2005, Chelsie Lyne Baucus, a junior at Edwardsburg High School; Mr. Edwardsburg, Josh McNeely, also a junior; Sheila Stoops, third runner up; Amanda Woodill, first runner up; Chelsea Aven, second runner up; and Ashley Turner, fourth runner up.
As always the area merchants have been generous in donating merchandise which is raffled off during the dinner as door prizes.
Tickets on the quilt are $1. You do not need to be present to win.
Working on this year's quilt were: Judy Boepple, quilt chairman, Marilyn Christner, Pat Tavernier, Sally Cox, Jan Slager, Kay Mars, Marie Smith, Arlene Peterson, Marj Braniff, Chris Kucklick and Margaret Martin.
The women's names were added to the quilt to a patch on the back of the quilt this year. Some of the ladies are veterans, who have worked on nearly every quilt in the past 34 years. Others are learning and keep coming back with more experience.
It is a great way to learn the craft and at the same time enjoy the company of a group of women in a way similar to our great-grandmothers.
Quilts have warmed us and decorated our homes through the years and have then been passed on down through the generations, continuing to offer warmth and love.
Christner treasures the quilt won by her mother one year. Last year's quilt was won by Elaine Wright.
Presently the group meets on Monday mornings.
The money received during this fund raiser, the only one the Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church has each year, is donated to local charities and the food pantry.