Vickie Koch, Sierra Koch and Linda Shelly pause in front of a family heritage made by Glenda Bozarth during the Boardman Fall Quilt Show Saturday at the Greenfield Grange.<br><i>Staff photo by Tammy Malgesini</i>

Vickie Koch, her granddaughter, Sierra Koch, and Linda Shelly paused in front of a family heritage quilt made by Boardman resident Glenda Bozarth.

“It’s like a memory quilt – you have your family history stitched in the quilt,” Shelly said.

“It’s a real heirloom,” Vickie Koch added.

Bozarth’s quilt was only one of many quilts that filled the Greenfield Grange Friday and Saturday during the Boardman Fall Quilt Show.

Bozarth crafted the quilt as a 50th anniversary gift for her parents. Gracing the center at the top of the quilt is the July 4, 1948 wedding photo of Melvin and Pauline Thomas – on either side are individual pictures of the couple.

Other blocks include images of family members. Pointing to a photo with two women, Bozarth identifies her grandmother, Lula Edsall.

“My grandmother taught me how to quilt,” Bozarth said with a smile.

Sierra Koch, too, learned the craft from her grandmother.

“I’ve also made a quilt,” the 9-year-old said proudly.

She used fabric with soccer balls and money, saying she loves both.

Bozarth said she was surprised by the response her quilt has garnered. Both at the quilt show and from relatives during a family reunion.

“They just thought it was awesome,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to be as big a bit as it was. They thought it was great.”

Although she’s quilted for years, Bozarth has only recently began participating in the activity with others in Boardman.

Marge Shankle and Millie Baker started the Boardman Quilt Group last November.

Baker didn’t want the group to get bogged down with a bunch of formalities.

“There’s no meetings, no minutes and no dues,” she said. “We’ve just got one rule – to sew and laugh.”

Recognizing the tough economic times, Baker offered to teach a quilting class. She was thrilled with the response.

“Everyone is very supportive of each other,” she said.

They often receive donations of material.

“There isn’t a piece of fabric that goes to waste in this town,” Shankle said.

Shankle said the class offers her the opportunity to try new patterns. She pointed to a nearby quilt and said it’s a “stack ‘n whack.” The technique resulted in 18 different designs.

Completing quilts, Shankle said, depends on how often she works on it. With the stack ‘n whack, the project went fairly quickly.

“It didn’t take as long as I thought. I kept working on it because I wanted to see what it would look like,” she said.

The show ended with the announcement of the challenge fabric winner and two viewer choice awards.

“All they had to do was have a recognizable piece of the challenge fabric,” Shankle said.

Baker’s wall hanging won, which used the colorful fabric as the costume of a clown.