Quilter finds the craft therapeutic

Chrystal Higgins began sewing when she was 8 years old.

“My mom didn’t sew and I wanted to learn to make clothes for my dolls,” she said.

She’s been sewing ever since. Higgins, of Whitefish, is the Teakettle Quilt Guild’s quilter of the year and will be featured during the guild’s show Saturday at Glacier Gateway Elementary School.

Higgins still has her first sewing machine, tucked away at her Whitefish home. Her mom, Esther Paul, who was a nurse, bought it for her. Her father, Clyde Paul, worked for the railroad.

At 16, she began quilting.

“I just started making table toppers and hot pads,” she said.

Quilting was therapeutic in her adult life. She spent 30 years as a paralegal for a personal-injury law firm, a high stress job.

“My ex-husband said he could tell how mad I was at him by how fast I was sewing,” she said.

Today, Higgins is retired from law and makes her living quilting and doing crafts. She has a long arm machine at her home and does the final quilting for sewers from across the country. She also teaches basket weaving and makes canvas clothing and other items.

She has two grown daughters and two grandchildren. She either gives her quilts away to family or sells them. Quilting is not a cheap hobby. A typical quilt can cost $600 to $1,000.

What makes a good quilt?

“First, it has to be made well,” she said. “Second, it has to have a nice color scheme.”

The quilt show runs from 9 to 4 p.m. Admission is free, though canned donations for the Columbia Falls Food bank are appreciated. In addition to Higgins, the show features dozens of quilters, vendors, exhibits and there will also be a raffle for a quilt at the show.