If you are looking for a little alternate entertainment between the Indoor Rodeo and the bull sale this weekend drop in at the Williams Lake Curling Rink.
Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19 The Cariboo Piecemakers are hosting the Jean Andersen Memorial Quilt Show.
There will be quilts, quilts and more quilts. From king size to small quilts, modern to antique, to traditional. You name it we will have it.
Not only will there be quilts to look at, visitors will have the opportunity to try quilting in a hands-on demonstration if they like.
There will also be a display of antique sewing machines, some of which will be demonstrated.
Quilts featured in a National Film Board production will also be among the items on display.
Quilting suppliers will be coming from Grand Forks, Penticton, Prince George, 100 Mile House as well as two local companies will have vendor booths at the show.
The Cariboo Piecemakers have been active in Williams Lake for more than 30 years and are happy to honour one of their founders by hosting the Jean Andersen Memorial Quilt Show, which will feature a large display about Andersen’s contribution to the club.
Jean Andersen was a wonderful person and an exceptional quilter. She was also someone who generously shared her passion and knowledge of quilting with club members and anyone else who wanted to learn this time-honoured craft which has evolved into a modern day art form, with the dual purpose of keeping people warm on cold nights or simply decorating walls.
The Cariboo Piecemakers have a long history of supporting different organizations in Williams Lake by making and donating quilts to be raffled to raise funds for organizations such as the Hough Memorial Cancer Society and Station House Gallery.
In 2013 the club sent 45 quilts to Alberta for people who had lost their homes to the great floods that year.
A few of the comfort quilts the club has donated to the local Emergency Social Services will also be on display.
For many years club members have been making quilts in the lakecity for people who have lost their homes to fire.
Tickets for the quilt that will be raffled this year will only be sold at the show.
The profit from the quilt raffle and the show will go towards purchasing more fabric for club members to make more comfort quilts.
We invite you to join us for a memorable fabric tour of quilts in all shapes and sizes.
Pauline Southgate, the owner of Hamels Fabrics & Quilting in Chilliwack said she met Jean at a quilt show in Quesnel about 20 years ago and took her up on her offer to stay over at her home in Williams Lake on the way home.
“She would often come to my mind and when she did it was a beautiful smiling face and her kind generosity towards my daughter and I when years ago we were so tired heading home at night from a show in Quesnel,” Southgate said.
“When I was falling asleep on the road coming down the hill to Williams Lake I took her up on her offer for us to stop and stay at her home … Not ever knowing her before the offer at the Quesnel show the day before, we showed up at her doorstep late at night and she welcomed us into her home and was so kind.
“This has to be almost 20 years ago and I have never forgotten it. Jean was a special woman.”
Hamels has donated $500 toward the club’s fundraising project this year.
For more information call Yvonne Teskey at 250-392-2879 or Rilla Warwick at 250-392-3473.
Story submitted by the Cariboo Piecemakers Quilting Club.