The Grand Quilt Guild is holding a showcase June 8 and 9 at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex in Fergus.
The guild was first established in 1996 and has grown to 152 members this year.
“I have especially noticed … after each quilt show we gain new members because they hear about us,” said past chair Sue Foard.
The membership is drawn from all over Wellington County and beyond from Centre Wellington to Guelph, Hillsburgh, Arthur and Mount Forest.
Every person who is part of the guild has the opportunity to participate in the quilt show.
“We’re not likely to get 100% participation, we have bed quilts, we have lap or through quilts, we have runners, table mats, table toppers, wall hangings, bag, (clothing) … all categories that people will submit to us,” said show committee member Bernadette Green.
The quilt show will also contain a guild challenge in which member quilters are asked to make a piece that has a 40-inch perimeter at the most, with a children’s books theme. When visitors come to the show they will receive piece of paper with a list of the children’s books represented. While visitors are encouraged to play the game there is no price involved.
The guild has also asked members to donate small quilted items to donate to “toonie treasures.” Visitors will be able to purchase 10 tickets for a toonie, which they can then use to enter the draw for the “toonie treasures” of their choice, for example, bags, wall hangings, placements, wallets etc.
Vote for favourite
Green said visitors will also be able to vote on their favourite quilt for the viewer’s choice category.
Visitors will also have the chance to guess how many two and a hall inch fabric strips are in a bag. The person who is closest will win the fabric.
“There could be 300 different fabrics in there,” Green said.
The St. James Anglican Church will be catering the tea room at the event.
They’ve done it all three years,” Faord said. “They did it when we were in the church and then we asked them back last year because we didn’t want to take that money away from the church.
“It’s their fundraiser, they do it all, we don’t.”
While most of the quilts are for show Green explained there will be five on sale. Five quilting vendors will also attend, selling fabrics and other quilting supplies.
The Grand Quilt Guild meets the second Wednesday of every month from September to June at the Fergus Legion.
“Generally what we do is we have a guest speaker of some sort and lots of them do trunk shows,” Green said. “A trunk show is when they come with their massive suit cases full of quilts that they’ve made that they have done in very different techniques or different fabrics.”
In addition to the meetings the guild also holds sewing days on the first and third Tuesday of each month and a stash buster day on the second Wednesday of the month.
Green said the guild offers camaraderie.
“This guild is so helpful with each other,” she said. “You can ask anybody of any expertise because we get a complete wide range of people.”
For Faord the guild offers fellowship and learning.
“The guild has a mandate to preserve the tradition of quilting,” she said. “The other thing that this guild does is it does a tremendous amount of charity work.”
The guild has donated quilted items to the intensive care unit at Guelph General Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, Victim Services Guelph Wellington, Hopewell Children’s House, Big Brothers Big Sister Centre Wellington and food banks to name a few.
For more information call Sue Foard at 519-846-5877.
