The Rossland Quilt Guild put their best works on display this weekend at their quilt show. The show, Every Quilt Tells a Story, ran Saturday and Sunday and included a wide array of works from Rossland quilters.
The guild is also raffling off a quilt.
Deyanne Davies, president of the guild, said they made service quilts as well, for causes like the hospital and the Japan relief effort after the tsunami.
The guild itself is now up to 20 members.
Davies said they started doing shows eight years ago and do one every two years or so.
The guild itself started in 1995 and currently meets Monday nights in the Seniors Hall in Rossland from 7 to 9 p.m. They also have business meetings once a month.
During the Monday meetings she says the guild gets together with their quilting machines and sew, though the fun isn’t just for the regular meetings.
“We have fun at our business meetings too,” Davies laughs.
“Every couple years we make a raffle quilt for somebody in the community and we make service quilts too. We’ve given them to the hospital, we’ve given them to Rotary, last year we sent some to the Japan relief as well.
“We bring in instructors, once in a while, and that’s just for guild members but we’ll have courses and hire quilting instructors. We have a lot of fun.”
The quilt show is a chance for the guild to show off its art.
“We’ve been doing them every two years but that’s not a given,” she said. “We might wait three or four until the next one, [because] it’s a lot of work.”
For each show, a quilter has to have a new quilt, because it can be shown at a show just once.
“There aren’t many rules, but one of them is that once it’s been shown, you can’t show it again in next year’s quilt show,” she said. “So they all have to have new quilts, or new to the show.”
So they need a lot of time to make some new ones and the time it takes depends on the complexity of the pattern and how many colours are used. It also depends on whether it’s sewn by hand or by machine.
The quilt that is being raffled was put together using pieces sewn by individual members of the Rossland guild. The proceeds will go to Special Olympics for Trail local.
“So the money is going to be going to Trail, Rossland, Castlegar and Fruitvale kids,” Davies said. “It goes to the local Special Olympics, not B.C.”
She said there are three from Rossland.
To buy tickets for the raffle, contact either a quilt guild member or a Special Olympian.
“We will have tickets on sale during Spirit of Christmas, because the draw is right after Christmas.”
You can also contact Davies at 362-7727 for more info on the guild or the raffle.