St. Jacobs Quilt Festival 2012 Part 6

This was my last day in St. Jacobs, for this year's Quilt & Fibre Art Festival. Good thing I'm not working at my actual job this week, or I wouldn't have had time for all this quilt stuff. And it seems my quilt quotient level is way up. I can hear a little voice in my head telling me to save some for next week in Halifax, but I'm going all out. I come home and work in my garden until it's dark, with a little sprinkling of sewing in my day, too. It all feels great, though.

Quilt by Ruth Kennedy

So today, I went specifically to see a trunk show with guest artist Ruth Kennedy from Fergus. She has been quilting since 2000, but had a lot of sewing exposure and experience since she was very young. Ruth loves sewing curves, and she showed us a beautiful quilt, shown at left. Her award-winning quilt, "You Still Give Me Butterflies" is featured on the International Plowing Match brochure. Check it out here.  Surrounded by some of her family, she showed us an incredible array of quilts she has made. She teaches quiltmaking as well, and it was fascinating and inspiring to hear her story. She wound up her speaking with a very moving tribute to her mother for encouraging her and giving her space and freedom to sew when she was young. Reminded me of my own mother.

 

Needle Sisters Quilt Guild display

Quilts for the World display

Also on the slate for today were the quilts at the St. Jacobs Mennonite Church. I enjoyed this show. As I've mentioned before, the local Mennonites are so much a part the area's quilting, and some of their quilts were on display at the church, some destined for the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale this Saturday. Other local quilters also had quilts on display. Included in the show was Susanne Williams' very impressive collection of local antique red & white quilts, and a special display by the Needle Sisters Quilt Guild from Elmira.