Festival of Quilts a showcase of colourful creations of comfort

By Steffanie Costigan - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on June 23, 2023.

Herald photo by Steffanie Costigan Sylvia Vermette and Diana Cambers enjoy the vendor booths at Festival of Quilts last weekend at Lethbridge College.

There weren’t any basketballs, volleyballs, birdies, hockey pucks or anything else one might expect to see in a college gymnasium, but there were quilts as far as the eye could see.

That’s not the usual scene at the Lethbridge College, but it was this past weekend during the 2023 Festival of Quilts put on by the Lethbridge Centennial Quilters Guild.

There were nearly 200 quilts showcased at the festival, with about 36 awards won, each nearly as impressive at the quilts.

“Each ribbon is made by a separate guild member,” said Judy Barnett, head of awards for the quilters guild. “And they’re works of art themselves.”

Spectators were given the opportunity to vote on the best quilts for 11 different categories at the show. In the category of the art quilt, Effie Brandt won first place for her quilt titled ‘I still miss someone,’ and third place for her other quilt titled ‘Hope.’

The quilters guild had four years of planning and preparation for this year’s festival of quilts. Spectator and quilters guild member, Darlene Patterson, shared her enjoyment of the quilt festival, and creating her own quilts to enter in the show.

“I love it, and some of the quilts are just stunning,” Patterson said. “I have to confess I have one or two entered, but they’re not the stunning ones. The ones I love are really inspirational to me.”

Spectators also had the chance to participate and try their luck in varying raffles at the show. The co-ordinator of the raffle for the quilters guild, Bev MacTavish, said the money raised from the raffle tickets is donated to local charitable organizations.

“We usually do a raffle quilt draw, so someone makes the quilts, and then we have the tickets and sell them for the draw,” MacTavish said. “The money goes towards our Community Services program in the Quilt Guild, and that is making quilts for charitable organizations that are in Lethbridge area.”

Vendors came from in and out of the province, and one vendor, Alain Dupuis, owner of Cottage Treasures, said he was impressed with the quality of the quilts.

“Quality of the quilts was really good,” Dupuis said. “I’ve seen a lot of handmade quilts where they don’t even use a machine. I don’t have the time or the skillset to do that yet.

This year’s quilting festival also permitted for the first time machine embroidered quilts, breaking years of quilting protocal.

“If I’m guessing correctly, a lot of people are traditional with quilting,” said vendor BJ Squarek. “They don’t think that machine embroidery has that, that skill to take a bunch of different fabrics and stuff like that and piece it together for a traditional type of quilt. Whereas this – it’s done by your machine.”

The quilters guild invites anyone interested in joining or who may just want to see what the guild is all about, to attend with other members at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of the month at Casa.