Karen Junge Luce’s “Challenge Accepted” quilt exhibit will be on display in the Monroeville Public Library Gallery Space from March 28 to April 22.
The public is invited to a free opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. March 29. Many of Luce’s quilts will be available for purchase.
The exhibit, hosted by the Friends of the Library, will feature different styles, such as travel quilts made with fabric Luce purchased while vacationing in Seattle, Ohio, New York, Australia and Austria. In addition to purchasing her materials at stores, much of Luce’s fabric is gifted from friends and family.
Luce was introduced to quilting soon after moving to Pittsburgh in 1973. She was invited to attend weekly quilting bees at a friend’s house, where she enjoyed socializing and quickly became intrigued with the art form. Since that time, she has made more than 200 quilts and names each one of them.
When she retired in 2013, the Wilkins Township resident joined Quilt Company East and began quilting in earnest, brushing up on the basics and exploring new techniques. Later, Luce joined the Creative Quilters, a sub-group of Quilt Company East. Those monthly meetings gave her the opportunity to learn new skills, hone her craft and participate in quilting challenges.
“I love challenges,” Luce said. “The Creative Quilters have up to six challenges yearly and had about 14 a year during covid. I love taking the challenge and going to my stash of fabric.”
“They can be anything from ‘make a fish’ to ‘create a picture using dyed cheesecloth’ to ‘make a quilt with flowers and a non-quilting item’. In another challenge, we were given a different prompt every month for six months, such as to use stripes or something from nature,” Luce explained.
Most of the Creative Quilter challenges are small, usually 12 square inches. These only take a few hours to complete. Larger quilts, Luce added, can take her a very long time, sometimes years.
“The first quilt that I made was full-bed size, and it took me 28 years to piece and hand-quilt,” she said.
Quilting runs in Luce’s family.
“My great-grandmother was a quilter. And I have some quilt squares from my grandmother,” Luce said. “Both of my daughters have made several quilts, and three of my grandchildren are quilters.”
“In fact, I believe that it was the idea of one of my grandchildren that was the inspiration for the ‘Exquisite Corpse - Covid-19 Edition’,” Luce said. “This consists of nine quilts that were made in part by eight members of my family.”