Celebrating intricate and colourful quilts
"We hold A Celebration of Quilts every two years and this year it promises to be quite spectacular..." Yvonne Mcewen
Quilting in Palmerston North is a hugely popular pastime and it’s set to be celebrated.
Thirty years ago, Rose City Quilters established a guild with 20 members. Now affiliated to the national Aotearoa Quilters Guild, Rose City has over 200 active members.
Many of them will be exhibiting this weekend at the biennial Celebration of Quilts at the Palmerston North Girls’ High School’s Huia Centre.
The guild’s Yvonne Mcewen said Rose City was one of New Zealand’s bigger guilds, and over the years, the celebration display, which started in 1988 as Quilt Fest, has needed to find larger venues.
‘‘We hold A Celebration of Quilts every two years and this year it promises to be quite spectacular with more than 200 quilts.’’
Guest exhibitors are renowned international quilters, former teacher at Huntley School Anna Williams, and nurse Chrissy Sheed.
‘‘Anna teaches the technique known as trapunto and specialises in Celtic work. Chrissy has run the Sydney Quilt Show, and tutored around Australia.’’
Out-of-town judges for this year’s Celebration of Quilts Helen Pedersen and Christine Hartigan, made their decisions last weekend.
Members of the public will see the various awards over the two days of the expo this Saturday and Sunday, as well as appreciate the high quality of the work.
Guild members meet each month in the Newbury St community hall to hear guest speakers and for classes, and also create quilts for charity organisations.
Mcewen said in recent years one of their biggest efforts was to send 600 quilts to Christchurch in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
‘‘We’ve also made quilts for Ward 21 at the hospital, and replaced all the quilts at the hospice.
‘‘July is our birthday month, and we give money to a nominated charity and provide two quilts for them to raffle. This year we chose Guide Dogs.’’
Rose City Quilters also sponsor two prizes at Evento - Best Workmanship, which has been won by Feilding High School’s Danielle Fredriekson for the last two years, and for Best Use of Textiles.
The Celebration of Quilts includes merchandising stalls, a cafe and raffles.
Entry to the Huia Centre is $5 with children accompanied by an adult, free.