The Marshalltown-based Central Iowa Quilt Sew-ciety (CIQS) may be best known for its semi-annual public Quilts of Valor ceremonies, but the group is active year-round making quilts, holding presentations, and attending seminars.

As a nonprofit organization, it is always seeking monetary donations to buy the needed supplies to craft the roughly 45 quilts each year it makes for the Quilts of Valor Foundation, plus its other projects. A quilt presentation luncheon fundraiser is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 16 at Consumer Energy of Iowa, 2074 242nd Street.

Attendees will have the chance to meet two quilting world celebrities — Marianne Fons, a television host, author and lecturer on quilts, and Tony Jacobson, a nationally known quilt designer and quilt shop owner. Both are based in Winterset.

“This is an opportunity to sit down and have lunch and get pictures taken with these people,” said coordinator Leslie Renaud. “Marianne served for many years on the board of directors of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, and Tony makes quilt designs for Quilts of Valor.”

A luncheon, prepared by CIQS members, will kickoff at 11 a.m., followed by a meet and greet with the two guest presenters. Fons and Jacobson will share their thoughts about the QOV program and talk about their professional quilting backgrounds, starting at 1:30 p.m.

“After their program we will be presenting three locals with their own Quilts of Valor (at 2:30 p.m.),” Renaud said.

The cost to attend the fundraiser is $15 a person.

“Funds raised will be split between our Quilts of Valor projects and the national foundation,” she noted. “The only way we can continue to award quilts is through funding from the community.”

With 65 active members in the CIQS, around 85 percent of them help in some capacity in creating the one-of-a-kind Quilts of Valor for Marshalltown-area veterans of all ages and military backgrounds.

Preregister by sending a check (only) by June 11 to Central Iowa Quilt Sew-ciety, c/o Leslie Renaud, 305 Westwood Drive, Marshalltown, Iowa 50158. For more information, Renaud may be reached at: 641-752-1770 or renaudleslie@hotmail.com.

To learn more about the CIQS, attend one of its meetings. The group meets at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month at Trinity Lutheran Church. It holds two Quilts of Valor events each year: a springtime one at the Iowa Veterans Home and one in the fall.

The group estimates the cost of completing a Quilt of Valor to be around $200 each. For more information on the CIQS, visit: centraliaquiltsew-ciety.webs.com. To learn more about Quilts of Valor visit: www.qovf.org.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at 641-753-6611 or sjordan@timesrepublican.com