The LaGrange Memorial Library is currently accepting quilts for an upcoming quilt showcase that will feature guest speaker and noted antique quilt appraiser Linda Camp. The showcase will be sponsored by both the Friends of LaGrange Memorial Library and the Crafty Lunch Crew, which is made up of a diverse group of women who gather at the library on Thursday’s to work on group or solo projects.

Leslie Collier and Delane Knight, along with Heather Bostick, are spearheading the upcoming showcase, which will take place from Feb. 19-23. Camp, who was a guest of the Chambers County, Alabama Bradshaw Library in October, will speak to interested observers on Feb. 22 at 11:30 a.m., where tea and scones will be served.

Collier is a part-time employee of the library who spearheads the Crafty Lunch Crew, which has been meeting regularly for approximately a year and a half. The group meets weekly and works to create items that can be used for those in need.

“Everything we do we want to do for a purpose,” Collier said. “We want what we do to help someone. Whether it be in the community or elsewhere. We’ve done things for places like Puerto Rico. We try to do something to help when there has been a crisis.”

The group recently worked to create quilts which will be given to a local dialysis center, and as that project was being completed, the idea to host a local showcase of quilts was born.

“We found a lot of people enjoyed doing the quilts, and this [showcase] spun off from that,” Collier said.

Those wishing to participate in the showcase are asked to register and bring quilts to the library by Saturday in anticipation of the event taking place later in the month. The quilts that will be a part of the showcase will not be donated, but will be returned once the showcase is complete.

“We want to assure everybody that the quilts will be safe,” Knight said. “The older, more fragile quilts we will keep in the big meeting room and someone will be in there at all times watching them. We will display some others in the library, but they will be in sight of the front desk.”

Anyone interested in submitting a quilt to be included in the showcase should contact the LaGrange Memorial Library or email Dknight@thrl.org and Erisartisans@icloud.com.