Sisters resident wins FOSL quilt

"What? I won it with only one ticket!" exclaimed Helen Schmidling, of Sisters Gallery & Frame Shop, when Friends of the Sisters Library (FOSL) Board Members Zeta Seiple and Leanne Smith handed her the "Friendship Village Quilt."

The idea to create and sell a special quilt, with ticket sales going back into the FOSL treasury, took root last spring when the quilt project was organized by Zeta Seiple and Vicky Hughes, both members of FOSL and Casual Quilters. One day they said to their quilter friends, "Hey, how about let's do this quilt for FOSL...?" And they did.

Schmidling entered the picture during the Sisters Quilt Show weekend in July, when the FOSL Book Corner was selling used books.

Seiple had set up a table outside the Book Corner and was selling tickets for the quilt drawing. Helen came walking by, and Zeta, hawking quilt tickets, said, "Hey, Helen, how about buying a few tickets to the drawing for this beautiful quilt?"

"Darn," Helen said, looking at her almost-empty pockets. "All I have is a dollar."

"OK, then," Zeta replied with a laugh, "how about buying one ticket?" Which Helen did, and then promptly forgot it, until the beautiful quilt was dropped in her lap.

The "Friendship Village" quilt was on display in the entrance area of the library during the summer. It also moved around Sisters, displayed at various venues. Wherever it was on display, many people purchased raffle tickets - so many that the total income for the quilt reached over $1,000.