Dulwich Quilters hold a biannual sales exhibition where they raise money for a local charity – this year it is Dulwich Helpline.
Group Quilt POTS & POSIES (60″x90″)
A felt quilt, designed and co-ordinated by Ann Rutherford. The design is based on British canal art which decorated working narrow boats and the utensils used by the people who lived on them. Hand stitched by members of Dulwich Quilters and for sale at £250
Dulwich Quilters was formed in 1986 by a handful of ladies who met at a patchwork and quilting class. We are still small in number but huge in talent and diversity.
It’s leading light at the outset was the late Adele Corcoran. Of the eight who started, having attended a course on patchwork and quilting which they wanted to continue practising together, five are still members today. The group has grown to 25, two of whom now live in Dorset but still keep in touch and exhibit with the group. Because we meet in each other’s homes the group has to be kept small.
The group meets one Friday afternoon and one Monday evening a month and enjoys guest speakers, workshops, demonstrations, challenges and discussion.
You may think of quilters as women who sit meekly at home quietly sewing. Not so in this case. They are strong minded, vociferous and adventurous in their work, exploring new design possibilities, techniques and materials.
The group has links with Fine Cell Work, a project which teaches prisoners to sew, embroider and quilt. One of its members, Caroline Wilkinson, teaches patchwork and quilting to the (male) inmates of Wandsworth prison, one or two of whom have exhibited at major quilt shows. They will work to commission if required.
Dulwich Quilters have made a number of small, brightly coloured quilts for Project Linus which gives them to very sick children in hospital who can then take them home when they are able to leave. They have also made small quilts for babies born in prison. These babies are only allowed to stay with their mothers for a year and they can take the quilts away with them when they have to leave.
The current chairman of Dulwich Quilters issues a challenge to the group. Each member, in this case, was supposed to make a small quilt inspired by the phrase ‘dark to light’. The results will be on display in our show at the weekend.
Some quilts are made by individuals others by groups and some are raffled.
Here is the no. 1 raffle prize
BUTTERMILK BLUES (72″x80″) - a double bed quilt
The quilt has been co-ordinated by Jan Lancucki, pieced and hand quilted by various members of Dulwich Quilters.
CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (38″ x 42″) is another raffle prize and has been devised by Ann Rutherford. Made in felt, the stylised animals come from North American Indian Art.
The exhibition is at the Old Library, Dulwich College, Dulwich Common, SE21
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th November
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days
£3 to include catalogue. Children free.
Refreshments/Cakes: Sales Table
For more info. contact: Khurshid Bamboat 020 8693 3772
email: [email protected]
Tickets will be on sale at the exhibition and the draw for this quilt and other prizes will be on Sunday 9th November at the show.
2 Comments
I have been told by a blogger friend that all bloggers love getting comments.
So may I say how delighted I am to see DQ on the website blog and the bit about Dulwich Quilters, the exhibition etc looks so good. I hope we get a lot of people coming to visit the exhibition on Saturday and Sunday. Thank you Ingrid. Hopefully there will be a follow up after the exhibition closes on Sunday?
We had a fantastic exhibition. The raffle prize Buttermilk Blues was won by a lady who is very active in fundraising esp. for Dulwich Helpline. The second prize ‘ Creatures Great & Small’ was won by a lady who works in Dulwich Hospital. We raised £1700 for the Dulwich Helpline - they had sold raffle tickets which helped as well.
Judging from the remarks, everyone enjoyed the exhibition and the variety of quilts on show. Although it was difficult for the hanging team (sounds ominous doesn’t it?) to decide where to display the different quilts, it looked very impressive when the doors opened on the Saturday.
Despite the rain on Saturday, we had lots of visitors braving the weather. We had worked very hard to make it all look good and I think we succeeded in every way and more importantly we enjoyed ourselves as well.
Our next exhibition will be in November 2010 so watch this space!