While the arts center, located at 106 Park Street, typically displays various paintings, ceramics or woodwork, visitors were greeted with a different display as the annual Stitchin’ Bees Quilt Show — which was held July 18-20 — graced the gallery with rows of quilts of all different patterns, sizes and fabrics.

Stitchin’ Bees is Tupper Lake’s quilting group. It formed around 2010 as the predecessor to Raquette River Quilters. It’s a mix of year-round and seasonal residents, with the group meeting in-person during the summer and over Zoom in the winter, a legacy carried on from the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the years, the group has held quilt shows in a variety of locations, including the Holy Ghost Parish Center and the Big Tupper ski area’s lodge. Three years ago, the show found a new home at Tupper Arts, taking advantage of the dedicated art space to showcase the intricate quilts. This was largely due to the efforts of Stitchin’ Bees member Donna Sloan, who also sits on the Tupper Arts board and serves as a liaison between the two groups.

Thirty percent of the show’s proceeds go to Tupper Arts, which in turn allows the Stitchin’ Bees — in addition to the show space — to keep the large racks needed to display the quilts in its basement for the remainder of the year, according to Stitchin’ Bees member Janet Bailey, who organizes and directs the show.

“Bear,” a quilt that was designed and made by Gail Marirea was featured at the Stitchin’ Bees Quilt Show at Tupper Arts on Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

“The arts center has been wonderful to us,” she said.

With over 80 quilts on display, submitted by 14 different quilters, getting the show together in an aesthetically pleasing manner wasn’t a straightforward task.

“They’re very prolific,” she said. “And we have very different talents, which makes for an interesting show.”

Bailey collected the design and dimensions information for each piece and plotted a model of the display using computer software, ensuring that similarly sized and designed quilts were next to each other, creating harmony in the various rows visitors walked through.

The setup and take-down were similarly all-hands-on-deck efforts, with husbands, grandchildren and friends either hired or enlisted to move the racks up and down the stairs and get the frames assembled or taken down.

“A Tribute to Dick Sabin” is seen on display for the Stitchin’ Bees Quilt Show are seen at Tupper Arts in Tupper Lake on Saturday. The quilt was made Dianne Sabin Denney, Dick’s niece, and was gifted to him for his 90th birthday. The quilt, which contains a Tupper Lake Fire Department patch at center, honors his decades of service to the department, of which he currently remains a member. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Bailey said in her experience with Stitchin’ Bees, most people enjoy the creative freedom coupled with the regimented set of fabric patterns needed to produce the finished product. She said there’s really no such thing as a consistent timeline for how long it takes to finish a quilt. It is influenced by a myriad of factors, including the quilt’s complexity and size, as well as the quilters’ experience level.

Some “quicker” ones take about six months to complete, and others take several years. Bailey said there are two predominant methodologies among the quilters, which she dubbed “process-oriented” and “product-oriented.” The process-oriented quilters, she said, tend to have multiple quilts going at a time, switching back and forth between projects at similar stages of design when they get bored with one. Product-oriented quilters, on the other hand, tend to hone in on one until it’s done, Bailey said.

In addition to taking in the art on display, showgoers had the chance to watch quilting demonstrations by Stitchin’ Bees members and make smaller fabric works, such as potholders and table runners.

Aisles of quilts on display for the Stitchin’ Bees Quilt Show are seen at Tupper Arts in Tupper Lake on Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)