Annette Kennedy’s mother started quilting when Kennedy married her junior high school sweetheart and moved away from home.

Kennedy began quilting for a similar reason.

“When my only child went to college, I was devastated,” Kennedy said. “I decided I would make him a quilt so he would remember that his mom still loves him.”

Kennedy had always shied away from quilting because she saw how long it took her mother to complete one. Then she discovered she could make quilts with a sewing machine.

Kennedy, who has been quilting for five years, was brought to Steamboat Springs by the Delectable Mountain Quilters Guild to lead a workshop about how to add paint to quilts.

“It’s just another way to embellish your quilt,” Kennedy said. “You can create pieces that are a cross between quilting and painting.”

Kennedy began using paints to add shadows, depth and details to her pictorial quilts.

“I now use a fused applique technique as opposed to just making a geometrical quilt,” Kennedy said. “What made me think to paint was from the folk art painting I learned. That painting technique would take flat objects and give them depth.”

Kennedy is one of many speakers the Guild brings to its monthly meetings. The Guild is a group of about 50 local quilters of varying abilities.

“We meet every third Monday of the month to promote education and the enjoyment of quilting in the community,” said Sharon Yannaccone, president of the Guild. “We present different speakers within the community and outside areas to bring in a different element to our quilting repertoire.”

Like any group, Guild members have their own particular styles and tastes.

“It’s just a creative lot. Some people take to paint, paper or write. We take to sewing,” said Madeleine Vail, chairperson of the Guild’s raffle committee. “Some people like to do old-fashioned designs. For myself, I never take that avenue. I take the side streets.”

Deb Perkins, vice president of the Guild, participated in Kennedy’s workshop to learn a new technique to create shadowing and detailing effects.

“For years I would embroider to bring out things,” Perkins said. “I don’t know how to paint and was nervous, but I did a good job.”

Of the 11 people who took part in the workshop, only two were artists or painters.

“I was impressed that nine of us (quilters) went outside our comfort zone,” Perkins said. “But the quilts (Kennedy creates) look like stained glass, and it is better than cutting out 5,000 teeny pieces of fabrics and sewing them together.”