1 – 24 February 2019

Stratford Village Quilters are celebrating their 21st anniversary with an exhibition at Percy Thomson Gallery opening this Friday night, February 1, at 7pm.
In 1996, Stratford newcomer Rhonda Bunyan advertised a meeting for people who were interested in starting a quilting group in Stratford.  A few interested bods turned up and three seasoned quilters from Hawera brought quilts and quilting tools and gave a talk about the art of quilt-making.
The local gals were hooked and a few classes followed, the first a wedding-ring quilt lesson, one of which will be in the ‘first-ever’ quilt section by founding member Dianne Caskey.
The new Stratford Village Quilters group was formed and met at Pioneer Village twice a month. Over the next 21 years meetings were organized by a number of different convenors, each bringing their own style and skills to develop and foster quilting in the group and to increase membership. They have organized guest tutors, weekend workshops and day and night demonstrations.
The style of quilting is forever changing, new tools and methods have become fashionable. There has been a move in more recent years to add stitching, to use paint, dye, embellishments and to have quilts three-dimensional. A new quilter will often come on board to make a child’s quilt….they are expecting a new grandchild and have always wanted to make a cot quilt.  Some of these will be displayed in the exhibition.  The first-ever quilts section will bring back lots of memories for members.  You will see how members have progressed with workmanship, style and use of colour. The group challenge has extended skills by asking members to make a quilt using a specific piece of fabric and completing it to a certain size.  
This will be Stratford Village Quilters 5th quilt show at Percy Thomson Gallery.