35th Jade Anniversary
Celebratory Exhibition, June 2019
The following article, written by Ruth Garner, was published in the British Patchwork & Quilting magazine, August 2019, issue 307
The exhibition was held in the Town Hall, a beautiful building, to show our quilts. Members were invited to enter one or two quilts and thirty seven of them rose to the challenge. We had 60 exhibits in total and we didn’t turn anyone away – a good decision on our part because they were all so beautiful. The quilts demonstrated a wealth of skills, expertise and techniques from traditional, modern, contemporary and textile art. In the above photo you can see (at the centre back) part of a group project facilitated by Ruth Axson, Textile artist. This exhibit is a replica of the Town Hall windows and each member made one of the glass circles out of fabric scraps which were then attached to a Lutradur ‘window’.
There were too many lovely quilts to show here so to give you a flavour a few have been highlighted. Christine Davidson was the Chair of the group in 2019 and here you can see her next to one of the quilts she exhibited. ‘Butterflies for Ebony’ is a beautiful single quilt made for her grand daughter who loves butterflies. The butterfly designs are by https://lillyella.com/ Quilters Cache and Love Quilt patterns. It is machine foundation pieced and in the process of being hand quilted. You can see that it is unfinished to show visitors a work in progress and the layers involved.
Here’s Chris Flatman with her striking quilt ‘Amsterdam’ made in 2018 (own design). This was using fabric obtained from Nantwich Fabric Sale (an annual event near here) and an Amsterdam Quilt Show. It was machine pieced and hand quilted.
Something to brighten the day was ‘Lucy’s Wonky 9 Patch’ by Mary Turner.
This is a delightful, single quilt made for her granddaughter Lucy who is 12 years old. Remit was ‘no flowers, purple, grey and green to match bedroom colours‘. Pattern was from Fairfield World Craft Projects; Heather Kajan. This has been pieced and machine quilted but is still a work in progress. Mary’s granddaughter saw it for the first time at the exhibition and was absolutely thrilled!
The Tumblers Quilt’ by Patchwork Corner This was machine pieced and quilted by Jean Goddard in 2018. Jean describes this double quilt as a ‘learning project’. It was beautifully made and the borders really gave it depth.
For something a little different this is ‘Arthurs Quilt’ by Janet Whitewright.
It is a single quilt made for her grandsons ‘big boy’s bed’. The pattern used was from a step-by-step class Janet took many years ago and all the applique has been done by hand. It has been lovely to hear about what inspired some of the quilts!
One of the quilts that really caught people’s eyes in the exhibition was ‘Prairie Sunset’ by Anne Wheater .
It is a double quilt inspired by her colour stash. Made in 2016, it is adapted from Emma’s quilt (Quilters Trading Post). It is machine pieced and machine appliqued using a blanket stitch before it was beautifully hand quilted.
A little bit different is this work in progress by Ruth Garner .
‘Flora and Fauna’ is a Block of the Month by Raggedy Ruff Designs and is a mix of raw edge applique, thread drawing and hand quilting. This panel has been set in borders making this the size of a double bed quilt. Great fun to make and lots to look at.
Here are two of pieces by Ruth Axson; 118 is called ‘Gas’, produced in 2018, which is made up of small quilts mounted on an artist’s canvas. The faces are created with stitch then painted to evoke the horrors of a gas attack in World War 1. 223 is called ‘Map Form – Northwich’ and it started with an Ordnance Survey map of the area then the contour lines and the areas of water were drawn in fabric and stitch, leaving everything else out except the major chemical works to try to achieve an abstract form. Finally exhibit 217 by Margaret Eardly and is a mini quilt called ‘Double Flowers’ by Betty Croke. Quite a charming piece.
The exhibition committee facilitated the production of bed quilts for raffle prizes. Two beautiful quilts were produced by the group. The cream based quilt is the ‘Beartown Buckeye Beauty’ (long arm quilted by Alison Forbes from Quilting for Bees). The committee costed out this quilt and displayed the breakdown of charges for visitors to see. The final cost of this quilt came to £1,200 including fabric and time (based on minimum wage if £7.50). The red quilt also shown in figure 10 is the ‘Beartown Bright Bonanza’ which was made using the same block as the Buckeye Beauty.
Here we see Gwen Hayhurst (left) and Christine Fairclough (Right) meeting and greeting visitors. They are sitting in front of a large double quilt which is a Thimbleberries block of the month design called ‘A Quilter’s Garden’ by Lynette Jensen. This quilt was donated by Christine Fairclough, patchworked and finished by Christine Davidson and longarm quilted by Lyn Holman of finishing touch in Helsby.
All of the quilts entered deserve a mention as they were all made with love and beautifully executed; whether by a beginner or an expert. We would like to thank everyone for their time and effort in creating exhibits and helping at the exhibition. A special mention should be made of the committee for all their hard work over the three years leading up to the exhibition. The photographs were all taken by JJ Hill Images; Jules Hill, and her assistant, freely gave such a lot of time capturing the exhibits and we would like to thank them for the images produced. Finally, the event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Congleton Town Hall, Congleton Town Council and Congleton Inclosure Trust.