The Bermuda Quilters? Guild is holding a quilt show and raffle this week to raise money for autism.

The quilt show is being held at the Masterworks Art Gallery at the Botanical Gardens until Sunday 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The raffle prize will be a double bed size quilt stitched with colourful turtle and fish motifs.

Guild member Audrey Morbey said the raffle quilt was a group effort.

?Everyone made a fish square and a turtle square and then we put it all together,? Mrs. Morbey said. ?It is all hand-quilted in a wave design all the way around. We each took a turn doing the quilt.?

A handmade quilt like this is worth between $1,000 and $2,000, but a lucky person could buy it for just $5 by purchasing a raffle ticket. Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Bermuda Autism Support and Education (BASE) group.

Other prizes will be raffled off including a smaller quilted wall hanging of flowers.

Mrs. Morbey said she has sewn all her life, and started quilting while living in the United States.

?I had one winter in New Hampshire in the mountains and it was cold and snowing,? she said. ?It was in the Waterville Valley area. I said ?what do people do in the winter here?? The answer was, they quilt. Then when I came back to Bermuda I became a member of the Bermuda Quilters? Guild.?

Mrs. Morbey admitted with a laugh that she often has to have the air-conditioning in her house cranked up to keep going with her hobby during the summer months. The Bermuda Quilters? Guild was formed in 1992 by Marty Fountain. Meetings are held twice monthly and have always been at the Peace Lutheran Church Hall, South Road, Paget. There are five original members of the guild still attending and two others who were almost founding members. The Guild now has a membership of 45, which is its highest ever.

Over the years, the Guild has had five Quilt Shows; the first two being held at Verdmont and the rest at St. Mary?s Hall in Warwick. The Guild makes a Group Quilt to raffle on each occasion and the money raised is donated to various charities.

Besides making quilts for the raffle, the guild had made quilts for many worthy causes including Christmas stockings for the Star Foundation for children with AIDS or who have lost a family member through the disease. They have also made wall hangings for the Children?s Ward at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, amongst other things.