Piecemakers Quilt Show, St. Mary's

Another road trip on Friday took me into very pleasant farm country to St. Mary's, near Woodstock, to a most excellent quilt show. This is the biannual show of the Huron Perth Quilter's Guild and the Stone Towne Quilter's Guild. I greatly enjoyed this show. This show is now housed in the Pyramid Recreation Centre, a terrific venue for quilts.

As there usually is at these guild shows, there were a contingent of large quilts all hung together, for quite a spectacular effect. It's always wonderful to see a number of quilts hanging. It makes a real visual impact.  Many of these were pieced quilts, with some applique sprinkled in. All were fabulous quilts, surrounded by vendors. What could be better!?

Sunset by Gerie Nordman

Located in another room were the smaller quilts. These also were great pieces. One in particular caught my attention. Sunset, by Gerrie Nordman.  I believe this one is an original design. There were many other small items, all beautiful.

10 Tulip Challenge
Betty Murray

10 Tulip Challenge
Memories by Donna Waterman

And the Ten Tulip challenge produced some real gems. Check out these photos. Betty Murray's used 3D flowers and great quilting stitches. Donna Waterman's was created from her own original photograph.

Another cute item I really enjoyed, while not actually quilted, was a related display.  Kelley Richardson had a display of her handcrafted teddy bears. Very cute. I once made a wobbly bear named Benjamin, and collected many others, so I paid particular attention to these very captivating creatures.

Another treasure at this show was the presence of some of the quilters from Denmark, to whom I spoke about quilts in Canada, and whose quilts are showing at Ailsa Craig May 1 to 5, 2012. I'll write about that when I go there.

One last thing I would like to mention, after seeing a number of recent quilt shows in the area, is that I've seen small regional influences amongst quilt guilds. I think this is because guild member influence each other, and teach each other. When they see their friends' quilts, they want to make something similar. So I believe I've been seeing these influences in the shows I've been visiting. I would like to explore this concept further. Stay tuned.