Sesquicentennial Quilt on Display at Convention

VAN NUYS — A 10-foot-by-10-foot quilt celebrating California’s 150 years of statehood will be on display today during an annual quilting convention.

The quilt, representing all 58 counties, was designed by more than 300 people from across the state. After touring California, the sesquicentennial quilt will be permanently displayed in Sacramento.

The quilt will be in town for the annual convention of the Valley Quilt Makers Guild and the San Fernando Valley Quilt Assn. It will be on display starting at 11 a.m. at the Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys.

Zena Thorpe, 59, of Chatsworth, an award-winning quilter, helped develop the quilt. It took 15 months for Thorpe and Ellen Heck of Somis to complete the quilt, with most of it assembled in the Valley.

Thorpe, a native of Sheffield, England, moved to the Valley more than 30 years ago and has become a nationally known quilter, said Jack McGrath, a spokesman for the Valley Quilt Makers Guild.

The quilters ran into some roadblocks along the way. They wanted to include Mickey Mouse on the quilt as part of California’s history, but after a scuffle with Disney officials, the mouse was pulled. A rose symbolizing Pasadena’s Rose Parade was put in its place.