Cresco quilter crosses gender lines

CRESCO - “There’s a lot of things you can do in life. This is just a diversion I happen to enjoy,” Jim Hughes comments on the art of quilting he picked up last year. “It’s a little bit of art, a little bit of science and a lot of work.” 

It was his sister-in-law who convinced him to try quilting as something to do inside to help replace the loss of cross-country skiing from his life because of a problem that developed with his balance.

Hughes worked 47 years as a physical therapist and being temporarily retired and needing something more to do at the time - he took up quilting.

His first piece, a ‘log cabin table-topper’ was completed in November 2018.

“What   ended up doing to begin with was to use simple instructions and then went to the internet for more how to.”

Jim uses his wife Penny’s sewing machine she used in high school back in the sixties, which he mentioned, wasn’t new even back then.

“The sewing machine is that main tool but cutting accurately is very important since each square needs to be the same...and of course you need lots of pins.”

Hughes continued, “The inside border has to be hand-stitched all the way around. Other basic quilt tools are a tape measure, good scissors and a seam ripper for when you make mistakes.” 

As for the seam ripper Jim adds, “Things don’t always go together as you hope…it doesn’t always fall in place and sometimes you make mistakes and have to redo.”

Jim moved on from the table-topper to a chair lap-throw that ended up being big enough for a single bed cover.

His third piece, that was finished in April of 2019, is a wall-hanging quilt piece that he is donating to be auctioned off at the 42nd annual Hospital Auxiliary Quilt Auction on Saturday, Sept. 21 starting at 12 noon at the Harvest Tent near Beadle Park. It is located at North Elm Street and Highway 9 in Cresco Iowa, as part of the Norman Borlaug Harvest Fest. Proceeds raised from the quilt auction will help buy additional equipment needed to provide chemotherapy services at Regional Health Services of Howard County. 

Quilts auctioned off at the annual event in the last 42 years have so far raised over $600,000 for various life-saving items such as trauma equipment and fetal operators for babies, just to name a few.

The quilt Jim is donating to be auctioned off at the Harvest Fest is in the theme of ‘A Farmer’s Life’ was actually a joint effort with Connie Zahasky, who used her long-arm quilting machine to do the over-all stitching pattern. The pattern includes continuous shapes of a cow, a pig and a lamb through-out.

Jim also credits Gladys Sovereign with helping him throughout his quilt-making learning progression as a very knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic consultant.

Jim’s most recent quilt with pillow shams is a king-size, variegated blue and light grey motif that was finished in May 2019. He is also going to donate it to be raffled off at Immanuel Lutheran’s annual Fall Church Pork Dinner on the first weekend in November. The cost of a raffle ticket will be one dollar.

When asked how many hours he spent on the church quilt his response was simply - “Good Lord!” Then he added, “There’s almost 400 inches of hand-stitching just around the border alone.”

Jim likes to get materials locally. “Quilter’s Garden is a good place…I like to support what’s here in Cresco.”

Of the four pieces that Jim has quilted so far, two are being donated, but the first two he made he is keeping.

“When I get time the next time I retire (Jim has returned to work temporarily as a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.), I’m going to make lap robes for my three children using my dress shirts and ties that I saved throughout the years…as memory pieces, because they always saw me in a shirt and tie since that’s what I wore working.”

Jim was the first physical therapist the Cresco hospital ever had, back when the hospital was run by the Sisters of Mercy.

To honor Jim’s contribution as a physical therapist, he was given a crucifix from the original hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy and also was given the Communion Bell used by the Monsignor to call the Sisters of Mercy to communion, back in the day.

As a side note, Jim collects elephants…not live ones mind you, but small carved ones, ceramic ones, glass ones, pictures of elephants…etc. It all started with an exchange student from Thailand, who stayed with the family for a year and wanted to give some pay-back. A carved teak elephant from Thailand was sent, which kick-started many years of collecting elephants displayed in various cases throughout the house and now numbering way up into the hundreds.

One of the pieces is elephants paddling a canoe that the Hughes acquired while visiting Thailand.

“I have too many elephants,” Jim humbly replies, “The herd has grown…”

If his dedication of other hobbies is any indication, Jim will be quilting for years and donating many of his projects to worthy endeavors.