CHIEFLAND, Fla. — Marlene Welter and Midge Howe are quilters with about 80 years of experience between them — committed to continuing the craft.

The two met at the Levy County Quilt Museum in Chiefland, where they display, create and celebrate the craft of quilting.

“We make quilts; we sell them," Howe said. "It’s also just a fun place to visit because of all the old machines and the special quilts.”

The women are members of the Log Cabin Quilters, a group that started in the early 1980s. They come to quilt and help each other frame their life experiences.

“We all come from different paths,” Welter said. “And so we would sit there and, you know, give advice. We were cheaper than, you know, a counselor or anything like that.”

Howe has been part of the Log Cabin Quilters for about eight years.

“It’s really in some ways very sad because so many of them that started out here are now gone, you know? Either moved in with family or have passed away,” Howe said. “But we do enjoy our times together.”

Howe now teaches teenagers to quilt, so the Log Cabin Quilters  — and the craft itself — can continue.

“It is challenging and rewarding to do it with these young people,” Howe said. “And not be forgotten, like so many things have been.”

Quilting is remembered, celebrated and practiced, one multilayered square of fabric at a time.