02-25-2024 Harford Mag - Flipbook - Page 65
Currently, she’s crafting four quilts, all in different phases
of production.
“It’s hard for me to watch TV and not do something with
my hands,” she said. “I’ve always liked to sew. If I’m sewing
when someone phones, they think I’m half asleep. There’s a
tranquility [about quilting]; it puts you in a zone.”
A creative outlet
Men quilt, too. For eight years, Dick Travis has practiced
the pastime, leaving his mark on a craft dominated by women.
His wife, Cheryl, may have nudged him into quilting, but
now Dick Travis is hooked.
“Everyone needs to express themselves creatively, whether
in music, sports or this,” said the 76-year-old Bel Air resident.
“I get to make things that I feel good about.”
For years, Cheryl Travis, 68, a longtime artisan, coaxed
her husband to attend quilt shows around the country with
her. Then it dawned on him: he could do this, too.
“After watching her quilt for 35 years, I needed to put that
knowledge to use,” he said.
A retired Army major, Travis has crafted dozens of bright
and colorful quilts, many with geometric designs. The couple
go to quilting bees together, where crafters sit and talk and
bind fabrics. Often, he is the only man there.
“During lectures at our meetings [of the Flying Geese
Quilt Guild in Bel Air], Dick will hold up the quilts for
the speakers,” his wife said. “The women have been very
accepting [of him]. “
And vice-versa.
“If you enjoy doing stuff with people, you stick with it,”
he said.
Travis’ hobby has passed muster with military friends.
Veterans are the recipients of a number of the guild’s offerings,
and one that he helped make went to a vet battling cancer.
Jeanne Kehl with
one of her quilts,
A Secret Garden,
made in 2021
with material from
Singapore given
to her by an aunt.
Kehl is a member
and past president
of Quilting On The
Line Quilt Guild. She
learned to quilt as a
way to use fabric left
over from sewing
clothing. PHOTOS
KIM HAIRSTON
harfordmagazine.com | Spring 2024 |
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