ELK POINT - Close to 50 quilts and other handcrafted items fluttered in a stiff breeze on weathered barn wood of farm buildings and on wood and page wire fences on Saturday as an eager group of quilters from Elk Point Further Education’s quilting group gathered at the home of coordinator Verona Lea Flanders for their annual outdoor quilt show.
Quilts ranged from traditional patterns to the newest techniques, from a heart design that originated with an Australian designer to quilts centered by artistic panels, and included one featuring hand embroidered roses and another embellished with crocheted doilies, each painstakingly hand stitched in place, a longhorn cow design made up of fabric strips first fused and then machine stitched in place to form its roan hide, and a memory quilt made from a collection of t-shirts contributed by the owner’s grandchildren.
Each year’s show has a special collection, and this year it was aprons, eight racks and a clothesline displaying a total of 58 of these onetime vital accessories for every housewife, and ranging from practical everyday cover-ups to the filmy delights worn to serve tea to visitors, plus seven miniature versions, a display of apron patterns, and even a child-size apron from Flanders’ childhood that matched one worn by her favourite doll. There was even a rack of tiny souvenir aprons, shaped to fit dish detergent bottles, for everyone to take home.
Elk Point’s quilting enthusiasts haven’t been able to spend their usual Thursday sessions together for much of the past 16 months, but the show gave them ample time to catch up, share stories of their projects, and express their enthusiasm for the upcoming quilting season, which Flanders expects to get underway in September.