The Prairie Hearts Quilters’ Guild is excited to once again bring its quilt show to life at the Moose Jaw Events Centre this April, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to put the popular event on hold for a couple of years.
The 16th biennial Prairie Hearts Quilters’ Guild quilt show is titled “Sew Full of Whimsy” and will take place over two days at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Friday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, April 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Daily admission to the show is $15 plus tax individually, or $25 for a two-day pass. Tickets are available at the Moose Jaw Events Centre box office or online at Sasktix.ca.
A Trunk Show with guest artist Deb Barlow will be held at the Events Centre on Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m. Barlow is a nationally certified quilt show judge and juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council who is based in Saskatoon.
The Sew Full of Whimsy show will feature around 250 spectacularly varied quilt displays, demonstrations and workshops by experienced quilters, a penny parade, a raffle quilt, a guild table, and a vendors selling everything from quilting machines to gadgets to fabrics.
Concessions will be available from the upper floor of the Events Centre.
Quilt show committee chairperson Colleen Lawrence said the guild has resumed normal activities since September 2022, with their usual twice-monthly meetings at the Masonic Hall on Main Street. The social aspect of the hobby, with its inspirations, collaborations, and visiting, is important to the guild’s 100-plus members, and the show is an exciting time of year.
“We usually have about 800 people come through, and sometimes we have a busload that will come from Saskatoon or Calgary to see the show,” Lawrence said. “And our guild does that kind of thing, too, of course. In the fall, we’re going to take a bus up to Saskatoon for the quilt show there.”
Lawrence started quilting once her youngest was old enough to drive to her own activities. She joined the Prairie Hearts guild and started attending the classes they hold through the year. Those classes helped her to dabble in all aspects of the art, but her specialty is paper piecing.
“I admired quilting for a long time,” she explained. “It’s just so relaxing, and it’s beautiful and I have something to show for my effort when I’m finished. I give a lot of quilts as gifts — anybody who gets married or has a baby, you know, and most quilters do that.
“We also do a lot of charity work in Moose Jaw. People donate fabric and we get together and make quilts, so anytime there’s an emergency … we give quilts to any kids that are involved in that situation. And at Christmas, we make placemats, and they’re distributed between the hospital and the old folks homes.”
Lawrence said the quilt show will be a combination of judging and trade show. It’s a great place to satisfy curiosity about quilting, do some shopping, and take in the beautiful art, but there are also 40 categories to place in, and prizes to take home.
“We try to make sure that everybody can enter something in,” she explained. “Anything that a quilter could think of, there’s a category for it. And anybody can enter, it doesn’t just have to be Moose Jaw people.”
This year’s featured quilter is Wendy Findlay. She will have her own display area and will be available for questions and visiting.
More information about the Prairie Hearts Quilters’ Guild is available at www.prairieheartsquilters.com.
