New Era has about 450 population. Mears is a small village close to Silver Lake, one of the Michigan sand dune/beach/boating tourist attractions. Just down the road from Mears is Hart, MI, which offers the closest grocery stores and pharmacy to me.
This area of Oceana County has an abundance of farm land, with many small family organic farms. The Farmer's Market in Pentwater is filled with their produce twice a week. Believe me, we eat real good in the summer around here!
The guild displays the quilts cloth pinned to clothes lines.
For a remote area, we are lucky to have several quilt shops and several other places for fabric, and there are two guilds in Oceana County and another in Muskegon County. So the local quilters keep busy.
My quilting friend, who just started quilting while we were in Montague MI seven years ago, had a half dozen quilts in the show. Sandy made a quilt for the guild's 20th anniversary.
Sandy made this quilt for a challenge with a Michigan theme. Oceana County is the" fruit basket" of Michigan, producer of most of the asparagus grown in the country, and also has some fine wineries. Like Western New York State where I was born, the Great Lakes create a perfect climate for these farms. I love how she added a net curtain to make the black background less stark on the bowl of cherries.
I loved the two black and white quilts, Diane Kelley's Shadow Play with a touch of red, and one by Penny Carlson with a brilliant pink.
This vibrant and fun quilt Friends are Friends Forever was made by Penny Carlson for a granddaughter.
The local Christian school made this wonderful hand print quilt.
A striking Hawaiian quilt was made by Lois Huth who was 95 at the time! It was one of the few that was hand quilted in the show.
There were several raffle quilts. The leaves had a 3-D edge and was for the Oceana Historical Society. The purple sampler behind was for the Friendship Ring Quilt Guild.
It was a beautiful day for their show.
