“Anita Smith works on her latest applique piece in the quiet setting of her home. She prefers hand stitching to machine work, she said, because for one thing it is portable. You can take it to a ball game, or on an airplane or a camping trip, she saidJoan Soltys/staff photosClasses in appliqueAnita Smith will be teaching applique classes at Quilting by the Sea in Langley Village beginning Feb. 1, using her original design, Applique Floral Centerpiece. Details are available at the quilt shop; call Mary Darby, 221-8171.Clutching 100 envelopes in her hand, Anita Smith a few years ago took the short walk to her mailbox in Sunlight Shores and mailed them to quilting guilds in Washington State, suggesting the formation of a new organization called The Applique Society.In the process, she also took what she still calls a big leap of faith.I remember that walk so well, Smith said. It was something very much beyond my comfort zone.The small steps that led to the founding of the now 2,200-member Applique Society had their inspiration from an applique quilt that Smith had sewn just a year before and entered in a contest.I entered my first quilt contest after quilting for 15 years, Smith said. And I was doing so many things I’d never done before and was not comfortable doing. I felt I was going to the edge and jumping off. So my husband suggested the name of the quilt, ‘Beyond My Comfort Zone.’Smith worked about 200 hours on the quilt. The hand buttonhole stitching took two hours to do on each of the sashed roses; the birds took 1/2 hour apiece to hand buttonhole stitch, she said.The quilt won first prize, and Smith said the whole event gave her the confidence to try other beyond my comfort zone ideas like The Applique Society. I went way beyond my comfort zone to start it, she said. And it grew so much larger and faster than I could have imagined. It’s exciting, and gets scary too. When I get too scared I remember what the journey was like with my quilt and then I get encouraged.Smith’s vision for the Applique Society is one that sees the organization as a source for the applique world, to network ideas, teachers, tools, shops, and fabric and applique groups. I envision the United States and the world like an album quilt, with each region having its distinct style and history that we, as applique lovers, can learn and appreciate in its diversity as well as its universality, she said.Smith describes the album quilt and the Baltimore applique era of 1845 to about 1852 as the only voice women had at the time. It was the way they told their story, she said — storytelling with fabric. The immigrants who came into the Baltimore Harbor brought their own history with them, which the women stitched into quilts, she said.In an album quilt each block tells a story and when pieced with others makes the quilt, Smith explained.Each block is different but in that difference the blocks do not compete, they enhance, she said. Today, she said, We too can have a ‘voice’ with applique. It translates into many languages because it is done in ‘pictures’ of cloth. The ‘Album Quilt’ of the world today has differences, and each difference can stand alone and be admired. However, putting it together, it becomes a story quilt for the world.Smith is enthusiastic about the potential for applique to remind people in Europe of a forgotten heritage and customs. People awaken to their own history, before all the negatives, she said. They’re able to see their history with different eyes. And through the Internet, she added, hundreds of thousands are coming together. It’s historic.Smith has herself interacted in a personal way with the European culture she wants to see preserved: She spent over a month last spring traveling 4,000 miles in a little rental car visiting countries that included Belgium, Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland and Luxemburg. There she taught classes and workshops, met the international members of the Applique Society, and saw the wealth of history and design in Europe waiting to be noticed again. Anita Smith has now added classes in applique and quilting to her schedule, after taking a brief break from teaching.I feel if we do not teach this to people and especially the younger children we will lose a valuable art. I feel I am doing my small part to help that to not get lost, she said. I’ve taught adults, as well as little girls and even one boy, she said. It gives them such confidence when they learn to do it.She said the quilters also learn to have patience with themselves.It’s process minded, not product minded, she said. And it gives us the gift of time. Classes in appliqueAnita Smith will be teaching applique classes at Quilting by the Sea in Langley Village beginning Feb. 1, using her original design, Applique Floral Centerpiece. Details are available at the quilt shop; call Mary Darby, 221-8171.Smith also teaches the traditional method of quilting in her home. A quilting instructor since 1981, Smith has taught students at many different ages and levels of experience. The youngest has been six years old and the oldest was very young at heart, Smith said. The classes, in four- or eight-hour workshops, include one-dimensional applique, good for beginners and intermediate students. Featured are roses, old-fashioned patterns and other simple to challenging patterns. In Applique Part 2, Smith will teach different types of dimensional applique, including ruching, folded roses, morning glories, and many more, all done with fabric.For class information, call Smith at 321-830 or e-mail her at ams@whidbey.com. You can also visit her Web site, www.sunlightcottage.com.What is applique?As described by Anita Smith, Applique is taking pieces of fabric cut into various shapes and designs to produce a picture, flower, historic landmark, or just a simple heart; then putting these items on background fabric with various types of threads.The threads, in various sizes and weights, can be textured or colored, but most times it is matched to the exact color of the piece, Smith said. It can then be applied with an applique stitch or a blind stitch. Buttonhole stitches, blanket stitches and also running stitches have all been used to apply these shapes.The designs can commemorate a birth or celebrate an event. Applique is freedom, Smith says with a unique passion. Freedom to connect with the rest of the world, and freedom to create anything with cloth. The Applique Society is a nonprofit organization founded by Anita Smith in 1997. From its original 75 members, it has grown to become international in scope, with a current membership of 2,300 worldwide in 12 countries. The society publishes a regular newsletter and holds an annual meeting in various parts of the country, at which classes and workshops are offered on topics ranging from needle turn applique to machine and Celtic applique techniques and designs. The 2001 annual meeting will be held in May in Irving, Texas. The society’s Web site (www.theappliquesociety.org) has been translated into French, Spanish, Dutch and soon German and Japanese. For information about membership, visit the Web site or write to The Applique Society, P.O.Box 21566, Seattle, WA. 98111-3566 (206-595-0259). “