The last time the International Plowing Match (IPM) was held in Wellington County, in 2000, the Mount Forest-based Four Corners Quilters’ Guild won one of the top prizes in the “Roots and Wings” quilt competition. Designed and made by guild members, the winning quilt depicted a turn-of-the-century village. It was donated to the Wellington County Museum and Archives where it has been on display.
With this year’s IPM Quilt Show and Competition fast approaching – Aug. 19 and 20 at the Harriston Curling Club – members of the guild are putting the finishing touches on this year’s entry.
If the quilt wins top prize its category, guild members have already decided to donate it also to the museum and archives in Aboyne.
Work on the quilt began last fall, with the project designated one of the Four Corners Quilters’ Guild group activities for the year.
“Half a dozen of us got together and designed it and it grew from there,” said guild member Karen Carter.
The quilt depicts the view out a window somewhere in Wellington North (northeast of the plowing match site) on a lazy late summer or fall day. On the windowsill are three pies and a black cat. Look past them and the view includes a bridge representing the old bridge on Seven Bridges Road, a horse and buggy representing the Butter Tart and Buggy Trail in the Mount Forest and Wellington North area and a fallen soldier representing Arthur as the most patriotic village.
There are the windmills east of Arthur, a farmer practicing his plowing for the match, clothes flapping on a clothesline, a boy fishing and a maple tree in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday. The green squares are hay fields, the yellow are wheat fields.
The details are seemingly endless – the more you look, the more you see.
“The goal was to have all the members participate in one way or the other,” said guild member Linda Harris.
The Four Corners Quilters’ Guild has over 50 members with all levels of experience.
“And we had some former members come back and participate because they wanted to be part of it,” Carter adds.
“The project started with nine patch and log cabin blocks for the sky and fields,” a press release issued by the Guild stated. “We build on that and used as many quilting techniques as possible – hand and machine applique, thread and ribbon embroidery, hand quilting, pieced blocks and paper piercing.”
The 2016 Quilt Show and Competition has attracted 140 entries from all across the province in 11 categories including a youth class for quilters under the age of 16.
Other categories include landscape, pictorial and miniature quilts, baby quilts and wall quilts. Entries will feature hand quilting as well as domestic sewing machine, longarm and computerized machine quilting.
A certified quilt judge will select the top three winners in each category prior to the August show. Local individuals, community organizations and businesses, including a number of area quilt shops, have donated prizes, valued at $4,600 for the competition.
“The level of prizes has attracted a high calibre of entries,” stated a press release.
The show will also feature a display of stunning quilts made from the “Thirty Shades of Green” quilt block challenge held this past winter. Eighty entries were made into four quilts. The two largest, with 30 blocks each, are the prizes in the IPM 2016 Quilt Raffle.
The Four Corners Quilters’ Guild is itself sponsoring the themed group quilt category, which calls for a “an original interpretation of modern quilting, made by two or more individuals,” hand or machine quilted.
The August show will also have a Merchant Mall featuring a dozen vendors offering a broad selection of inspiration and supplies and the Harriston United Church ladies will host a tea room.
The Harriston Curling Club is located at 111 George Street South. Admission to the IPM Quilt Show and Competition is $7.
