The Hubbard Lake sisters often do projects for fundraisers, raffles, and charity events, using their crafty skills to help the community.

Most recently, Boyer handcrafted a beautiful “Lake House” quilt as a fundraiser for the Hubbard Lake Association’s Friendship Day, which is from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today at the Hubbard Lake Community Center.

“Phyllis and I both grew up sewing,” Boyer said.

Their mother, Adah (Armstrong) Vander Vlucht, taught 4-H for 27 years, and she taught her daughters how to sew using a treadle sewing machine.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht holds up a colorful “Four Seasons” tapestry she created to hang on the wall.

“Her quilting that she did was always the old-fashioned hand-tied quilts,” Vander Vlucht said of their mother. “Margaret, as she got older, got into more detail.”

Boyer said a church she attended while living downstate supported a pregnancy crisis center, for which she made quilts to donate to families in need.

“It was because of that influence that we would get together, and it was a social group at the church, and we’d make baby quilts,” Boyer said. “One of the ladies that was involved in it, she had a long-arm quilting machine, so she did all of the quilting for us. That’s how I got started into quilting.”

Boyer has also made quilts for the Quilts of Valor program, presenting comforting quilts to veterans or service members touched by war.

“I have done quilts for Quilts of Valor,” Boyer said. “I made one and sent it out to my husband’s friend that he was with in Vietnam, that lives in California.”

News Photo by Darby Hinkley

She enjoys designing and creating the quilts.

“I think it stretches my brain and it shows off my skill as far as sewing,” Boyer said. “Phyllis can paint. I can’t, and it drives me crazy.”

Both sisters laughed after that comment. They both have creative skills, and they support each other’s projects and interests.

Vander Vlucht makes colorful rugs and tapestries, as well as painting on many interesting items, such as a dried gourd made into a birdhouse, and a heavy piece of slate.

“I’m a rug hooker,” Vander Vlucht said, holding up a colorful tapestry to hang on the wall. “This is called ‘Four Seasons.’ You’ve got winter here, you’ve got fall, you’ve got summer, and you’ve got spring. What this is is all recycled wool. I collect 100% wool skirts or pants, strip them up, and then do the design, and put them in.”

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht shows one of her hooking projects she’s working on. She uses the hooking technique using strips of felted wool to create rugs and tapestries.

She made several of the gorgeous rugs in her home.

“It’s called primitive rug hooking,” Vander Vlucht said. “I started it when I lived in Romeo (Michigan). I was teaching, so that’s got to be 45 or 50 years ago. I took a class, and I continued with it.”

She also makes intricately designed chair seat covers, and she is a basket weaver.

Vander Vlucht belonged to a group downstate called Fabric and Fibers, in which rug hookers, quilters, and others who work with fabric or fiber, would meet, enjoy lunch together, and work on their current projects.

“That’s what we’d like to get going up here,” she said.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht painted this gourd to hang in the yard as a bird house.

Boyer said taking pictures and documenting the process of a project gives you something to look back on when you complete your crafty creations.

“It’s amazing when you see where you start,” Boyer said.

Boyer explained how her sister starts a hooking project.

“She takes a piece of burlap, just a plain piece of burlap, and she draws the design on the burlap, and when she talks about stripping, she uses a cutter to strip the wool into little pieces.”

“I run it through my stripping machine, and I cut these little threads, and then I poke down there and bring it up, and start putting my design on,” Vander Vlucht said as she used a special needle to push the small wool strips through the burlap.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Margaret Boyer holds up a quilt she made.

Boyer explained how to work with wool.

“Because of the nature of wool, when you wash wool you have to be really careful, because it does a process that’s called felting, so it brings it in very, very tight, so when you strip it into little strips like that, it doesn’t fall apart,” Boyer said.

Vander Vlucht has not kept track of the number of rugs she’s made over the years. She just really enjoys using her hands to keep busy and creative something beautiful in the process.

“It gives me something to do, and I like the reward when it gets done,” Vander Vlucht said. “It looks good.”

Their father’s name was Hans Vander Vlucht.

“My folks were farmers,” Vander Vlucht said. “He was always helping neighbors when he had time. He was always doing something to help other people. And we didn’t have television or computers, or anything like that, so we had to be creative.”

“Well, the TV and the telephone didn’t come until I was probably in about seventh or eighth grade,” Boyer said. “My folks were probably last to get that kind of stuff.”

“Being farmers and raising four kids … it wasn’t really big and profitable, but we didn’t go without anything,” Vander Vlucht said.

“My mom always had chickens, and I can remember her selling her eggs for 10 cents a dozen,” Boyer said.

They added that one thing they learned not to say as children was “I’m bored.”

They found something to do, or they were given chores around the house or farm.

“We always had chores,” Vander Vlucht said.

The ladies enjoyed reminiscing, and encourage others, especially younger generations, to get creative and reap the rewards.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Margaret Boyer holds up a colorful quilt she made. Boyer enjoys making them for various fundraisers and charity projects.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht painted this cozy winter scene on slate. She enjoys doing various crafty projects.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht created this colorful rug featuring an abundance of colorful leaves.

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Phyllis Vander Vlucht designed and crafted this rug featuring sunflowers and leaves. It is seen on the floor in a hallway in her Hubbard Lake home.

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