Over 300 people attended the Paris Quilting Bees’ Quilts on the Grand River show on Saturday, April 27, 2024.
The event marked the guild’s 20th anniversary and visitors from all over southern Ontario came out to celebrate.
With around 140 quilts on display, and 240 total items displayed throughout the main floor, visitors took their time to admire the work and read the stories behind the various creations.
“We’ve got our quilts displayed on the banister, along the pews and then various little mini displays,” said Kim Pittaway, President Paris Quilting Bees. “We have a couple of opportunity quilts so you can purchase tickets for a chance to win those and of course we have our President’s challenge; Members were asked to make 16×16” blocks of a memory and then when folks come in, they get a door prize tickets and a ticket to vote on which blocks they like best. We have various bags that are being displayed and we also have a stunning display of vintage machines which many quilters love because they have such a history.”
Cheryl Humphrey, the quilt show’s Chair, said that show was a great chance for quilters to scope out new patterns, styles and colour combinations.
“Quilts have progressed so much over the years because they’ll typically be certain quilt blocks that have been repeated over and over and again, but you can see that there’s very few quilts here that have the same pattern,” she said. “People come out to these shows because they want to learn new techniques, new colors, new patterns, and our members have done quite a bit to make them more individual and more like an art quilt as well too.”
Both Humphrey and Pittaway said that they were thrilled with how the show turned out and that they couldn’t have done it without the work of their nearly 60 members.
“I’m very proud of the quilt show, but I’m really proud of working with some marvelous people,” said Humphrey. “Our members have been just so responsive and have produced so much. Some of these quilts might be ten years old, some of them might be ten months old, but it’s just been a wide spread of things that we have here, and our members have jumped in and just been absolutely marvelous.”
For Kathryn Watson and her daughter Sarah Davis, the two made the trip from Toronto to Paris to check out all that the show had to offer.
“Today’s show is just stunning, and the venue is beautiful,” said Watson. “I’ve been to other quilt shows where they exhibit in a church and display them on the pews, but to see two layers of display in such a large venue, it’s really, really beautiful and the stories are just so touching. There’s so many methods and techniques and you have very new looking quilts, as well as more antique looking designs and I’m always just impressed with what has been done here.”
In another room, quilters could also browse and buy from the marketplace vendors who sold a variety of quilting tools, fabrics and accessories. Guests also checked out the guild’s community outreach program where members create and donate “fidget” blankets and place mats to local nursing homes.
On top of the various displays, guests also had the opportunity to take home several prizes throughout the show’s run as door prizes were announced every half hour.
“We’ve had just such generous donors and we’re really thankful to be able to give away this many items with their help,” said Humphrey.
Humphrey and Pittaway said that when it comes to quilting and their guild, it’s all about having fun and making something you love.
“I think most of us are tactile people. We love to walk through fabrics stores and touch all fabrics and I think when you get a finished quilt, you love to wrap yourself up and enjoy the warmth and the love that comes from it, you know? I think that feeling is really very important,” said Humphrey. “It’s also the creativity, the knowledge and the techniques that you get to learn and challenge yourself with, right? It’s the memories and the social aspect to0 because It can be very solitary, but with the guild, we do workshops and we have our meetings so it’s very social for us and it’s a great chance to stroll down memory lane together.”
