COVER STORY; QUILTING MAKES A COMEBACK WITH TODAY'S VALLEY WOMEN.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Except for the modern clothing, the hair styles and the setting - a custom-built home nestled in the green hills of Calabasas - it could have been a scene from the 1700s.

Six women sat bent over their needles, debating the merits of fabric weaves and patterns, planning their next sewing projects, exchanging tidbits about their lives.

It was an updated version of a quilting bee, and the six were passing the time as their female ancestors did centuries ago, sharing a sense of kinship, of community. And when the stitching was done, each would have a warm, colorful coverlet.

``Quilting is like getting back to the basics,'' said Diane Johnson. ``Back to what women used to do.''

The quilting group gathered in her home recently for a sewing session - and to make final plans for the Quilting in the Valley show taking place today and Sunday in Northridge.

Quilting was nearly a lost art until the past decade or so, when cotton fabrics in new colors and patterns came back into vogue after 20 years of polyester. Suddenly, there was a resurgence in the uniquely American craft.

And for these women, the rhythm of needle piercing cloth over and over again provides a place to rest both mind and body.

And to get in touch with what's important in life.

``Women have been so busy `making it' in business, getting ahead, that they've lost that contact with the feminine part of themselves,'' said Lira Vickers of Canoga Park, a veterinary student. ``There's been advances in women's rights, but we've lost ...''

``... the human touch,'' Robin Tetef of Castaic finishes the sentence. ``And this is a great way to get some of that back.''

Group dynamic

This handful of quilters has lots of company. Each belongs to either the 300-member San Fernando Valley Quilt Association or the 175-member Valley Quiltmakers Guild, the groups sponsoring the upcoming show. Some of the women belong to both groups, and each is a member of one or more informal quilting groups that meet weekly or more often to stitch and talk.

``In the past, this was the only acceptable way of women sitting and discussing politics, current events, their problems,'' said Vickers. ``Younger women could sort out problems with the older ones.''

``And in a quilting group, you're all equal,'' said Barbara Thornton of Northridge. ``There's no differences. We have members from their teens to their 90s.''

Quilting - the layering of fluffy batting between a pieced or appliqued top panel and a plain or patterned backing - dates back to the early days of colonial America, when housewives used every little scrap of fabric to make warm coverlets to keep their families cozy on long winter nights.

Pioneer women often gathered to work on a single project together or on their own quilts, benefiting as much from the social contact as the needlework. But the popularity of the needle art gradually waned, almost dying out entirely after World War II, when everybody wanted a new house, a new car, new everything.

``It was an embarrassment to have something handmade, homemade,'' said Vickers. ``It was better to have a fancy bedspread, a comforter.''

``Homemade was `poor,' '' said Tetef.

``But now, people are trying to go back to their roots,'' said Thornton.

Blanket inspiration

When Vickers travels to Seattle on the train to visit friends and family, she spends much of the 33-hour journey stitching away.

``I find that little girls start collecting around me,'' she said. ``They're intrigued with what I'm doing and want to know how to do it.''

That kind of curiosity seems sure to yield a new generation of quilters. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of tutoring, a little bit of inspiration.

Margarete Heinisch of West Hills, a retired hairdresser born and raised in Austria, said she had never seen a quilt until she went to a crafts show in 1985.

``They were beautiful,'' she said. ``I didn't know what it was, but I thought, `I can do this, too.' ''

Heinisch now makes intricately pieced coverlets and wall hangings to commemorate holidays, family events and more. One of her quilts - which soon will be on its way to an international quilt show in Austria - is a virtual tapestry of Austrian history, featuring dancing figures from the nine Austrian provinces, drawings of castles and villages, and appliques suggesting the four seasons.

Ginny Johnson of Northridge, a retired financial administrator, said she resisted attempts by both her mother and grandmother to teach her to quilt when she was younger.

``I didn't want to be an old-fashioned church lady like my mom,'' she said.

But after her mother died six years ago at age 86, Johnson - who inherited her mom's quilts - decided to deal with her grief by learning the craft she once shunned.

``I was hooked with the first class,'' she said. ``I am one of those old-fashioned quilting ladies like I never wanted to be, and I love it.''

Now, when she visits cousins in Kentucky, she takes her projects with her and joins in their church quilting circle. ``Some of the women knew my mom. It's my connection to her.''

Warming up to it

Vickers, a horse owner, was introduced to quilting by a friend who suggested that she pay her way through veterinary school by making coverlets and wall hangings of horse-printed fabrics to sell at local feed stores.

``I never made a penny off it,'' she laughed. ``After I really got into quilting, the monthly fabric bills were almost as high as the bills for the horse.''

Feeling constrained by traditional quilt patterns, Vickers began designing her own quilts. She researches fabrics and past works before designing reproductions of antique quilts for others to make. Vickers designed a Depression-era quilt that will be offered as a prize at the upcoming quilt show, and she is working on the design for a Civil War reproduction quilt for next year's show.

But the artistically challenged need not be intimidated. This craft accommodates all comers.

``I'm not an artist; I can't draw. But with quilts, you can still be creative,'' said Tetef, who started at age 5 by ``sewing buttons onto a piece of scrap fabric'' and eventually graduated to quilting.

One of the attractions of modern-day quilting is that, no matter how traditional the patterns, there are virtually no boundaries and no rules, the stitchers say. While many quilters use heritage patterns or make up their own versions of old standards, others love ``art quilting,'' using pieced fabric, special stitches, buttons and more to create pictures.

Assembly line

Round robin quilts might be the ultimate in group quilting experiences.

One woman makes the center block and lays down the rules for what comes next - applique, triangles, squares or whatever - and what colors must be used. The quilt is passed from quilter to quilter, with each adding a row of blocks. Once it's done, it's returned to the originator.

``You never know what you're going to end up with,'' said Tetef.

``You can be just amazed when you get it back,'' said Linda Johnson.

``And you can be disappointed, too,'' Tetef added.

That's when it helps, as many longtime quilters already know, to have more than one project going at a time.

After weeks or months of work, a few quilts are kept to adorn quilters' homes, but others become gifts for family members and friends. And many quilts go to charities like the Ronald McDonald House, hospitals and orphanages, or they go to comfort AIDS babies or families whose homes have burned down. Some of this group's quilts have warmed survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and an earthquake in China.

And although the women love to work on a project for charity or to give away, there's a tiny sense of loss when it's done and gone.

``When I finish a project,'' Thornton said with a grin, ``it's almost like my baby left home. But it's OK, because I know I've got another one already going.''

THE FACTS

What: Quilting in the Valley show, sponsored by the Valley Quiltmakers Guild and the San Fernando Valley Quilt Association.

Where: University Student Union's Northridge Center, California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St. Enter Parking Lot C on Zelzah Avenue between Nordhoff and Lassen streets.

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Live quilt auction at 1 p.m. Sunday. Other events, including quilting demonstrations and workshops, both days.

Tickets: $5 per day; parking $3 per day. Cost of classes and workshops range from $25 to $40. Information and workshop registration: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) THE PIECE CORPS

Women rediscover the creativity and camaraderie of quilt making

(2--Color) Diane Johnson, left, Lira Vickers, Robin Tetef and Barbara Thornton gather for a quilting session at the Calabasas home of Johnson, who says, ``Quilting is like getting back to the basics.''

(3--Color) ``I'm not an artist; I can't draw. But with quilts, you can still be creative,'' says Tetef of Castaic.

(4--Color) Margarete Heinisch of West Hills is sending this quilt to an international show in Austria.

(5) Quilters Margarete Heinisch, left, Lira Vickers, Robin Tetef, Barbara Thornton, Ginny Johnson and Diane Johnson praise their hobby for the creativity and togetherness it promotes.

Evan Yee/Daily News