When Evelyn Mecham teaches people to quilt, she has little tolerance for quitters.

"I always say I'll leave no quilter behind," Mecham says. "I'll drag them kicking and screaming to the end."

Although her mother and grandmother were avid quilters, Mecham was a little hesitant to continue the tradition herself. Mecham, now the quilt program director at Crafts & Frames in Pocatello, enjoyed arts such as photography more than quilting.

In fact, her mother told her once that she was the daughter least likely to take up the hobby.

Mecham began working at Crafts & Frames seven years ago in the floral department. The job was something she decided to do after her children left home.

"I was just looking for a way to take up time, and to help get extra money for (the children's) college," Mecham says.

At Crafts & Frames, however, she found herself doing displays and other work. She discovered she liked quilting. She also found fiber art, a form of applique-quilting where fabric is cut and pasted into pictures.

"I found that I could find an expression for that artistic voice that needs to be heard," Mecham says. "I can't paint. I can't draw. It touches my soul."

In addition to teaching quilting classes, Mecham studies books and magazines to find the latest tools and styles.

"I consider myself still a beginner," she says.

Mecham also attends Quilter's Market every year, an international meeting. At the market, she gets to see quilts from all over the world.

"Those things are works of art," she says. "It's just mind-blowing what people can do with a piece of fabric."

Mecham's daughters haven't carried on the family quilting tradition, but she doesn't mind.

"It's perfectly fine with me. I think everybody needs to have their own talents," Mecham says.

Her mother is proud that Mecham finally decided to take up the hobby, however. Last Christmas, Mecham gave her mother a small lap quilt that had been a store display for Christmas.

The gift wasn't much, Mecham says, but her mother was moved. Mecham thought the quilt would be something her mother, who has dozens of quilts already, could use as a lap quilt for her car, but instead she put it on display.

"I was so touched," Mecham says. "It was just scraps, but she was so touched."

Evelyn Mecham - Family: Husband Kurt, four children, fivegrandchildren.

Hobbies: quilting, camping, rock collecting, reading.

Copyright © 2004 Pocatello Idaho State Journal, Emily Jones
Reprinted with permission of the Idaho State Journal and Emily Jones
Idaho State Journal - journalnet.com

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