Sunbonnet Sue’s show held Aug. 7-8 at Sequim Community Church

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Beverly Beighle has accomplished many milestones in her life as an accomplished watercolorist, retired psychotherapist, world traveler, and now featured quilter.

She’ll show some of her finest works alongside many of the best locally-made quilts at the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club’s show on Friday and Saturday.

The quilt show returns after a one year break and moves to a new location and weekend. It runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, at Sequim Community Church, 950 N. Fifth Ave. in Sequim. Suggested admission is a $10 donation.

The show features a wide variety of quilts displayed on hanging racks in hand and machine quilted quilt categories. The Peninsula Art Quilters will display placemats to celebrate the club’s 40th anniversary, which club members recognized during a celebration in April.

Visitors can vote for their favorite quilts, find handmade items in the Quilters Boutique, and purchase tickets for this year’s Raffle Quilt “Something Blue.”

Since joining the club, Beighle has entered at least one quilt in each show and has won several ribbons for her work. As a part of the Peninsula Art Quilters, she’s made several vibrant pieces, such as “Celebrate the Day” that features 25 people and 25 stars to commemorate the club’s then-25th anniversary. She plans to display nine pieces at this year’s show.

As tradition, she was chosen by past featured artists with the club.

“I’m honored,” Beighle said. “I thought it really was a surprise because the quilters in the quilt club are so good and to be picked by them is an honor.”

Beighle said she’s a self-taught quilter, following in the footsteps of her grandmother Antonia, who made quilts for each of her grandchildren. Beighle, too, made quilts for her children and grandchildren.

“My grandmother and all my aunts quilted. My mother (Zella) quilted only one quilt, but she was a garment maker, and made my clothes, so I was around sewing, and sewing machines, and material for all my life,” Beighle said.

While she didn’t start quilting until she had children, Beighle said she didn’t make them quite as nicely as her grandmother.

“After washing them a hundred times, they became little pieces of fabric to my kids, but they still hung onto them,” she said.

“They didn’t want me to get rid of them, even if they were tearing apart because they dragged them everywhere.

“Then I, of course, made them quilts since then, too, but I just knew I liked my quilt so much as a kid that I knew that my babies would like them too.”

Beighle has safely stored quilts over the years that her grandmother made and the one quilt her mother made. She and her grandmother both made quilts for their grandchildren when they graduated from high school.

“I just thought it was good to carry on the tradition,” she said.

Beighle said she finds inspiration everywhere and likes to try different styles. She really enjoys the hand work in quilting, such as applique, she said.

To add to her skills, Beighle started taking quilting classes in Colorado before retiring and moving with her husband Ray to the Sequim area in 2002. She was in private practice for about 10 years before retiring after years of public service, including many years as a medical social worker.

The couple spent about a year working on their Dungeness home before she joined the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club. She knew Sequim was a great place for her because it had a quilt club and quilt store.

In anticipation of retiring, Beighle subscribed to many quilting magazines with the ambition to try new things.

“I studied the magazines a lot trying to figure out how they did things, so I was really looking forward to moving here,” she said.

Over the years, she’s taken many classes, and taught classes though the club, such as garment making.

“I don’t think my life would have been half as good without the club,” Beighle said.

“It’s supplied me with a lot of friends and inspiration.”

The Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club meets in the Sequim Masonic Lodge starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays at 700 S. Fifth Ave. For more about the club and show, visit sunbonnetsuequiltclub.org.