They are labours of love, works of art and frequently luxuriant family heirlooms to boot.
“They take a lot of time and effort and it helps if you’re a bit of a fabri-holic,” says Castlemaine’s Merlyn Pritchard describing what goes into crafting a quilt.
Merlyn would know. She’s created quite a few of them and, as a member of The Goldfields Quilters, she is also coordinator of a special exhibition set to showcase some of the quilters’ finest next weekend.
The Goldfields Quilters currently boasts about 30 members and their enjoyment of getting together to “sit and sew” has stood the test of time.
In fact the exhibition taking place in the Castlemaine Town Hall over next Saturday and Sunday – September 17 and 18 – celebrates their 30th anniversary
Merlyn says in excess of 60 handmade quilts will be on show during the two-day event which the quilters are keenly anticipating after being forced to move the event online over the past couple of years.
“Quilting is something you can do on your own but it’s great to do with others,” Merlyn says.
She says workshops are also something that The Goldfields Quilters do from time to time, and she is already looking forward to leading one planned for next year.
Next weekend’s exhibition will also feature a traders’ table with items made by members, materials and tools of trade.
“We’ve also got two traders coming from Bendigo,” Merlyn says.
Goldfields Quilter secretary Christine Christie says members will be on hand to answer questions about how to get involved in the time honoured craft and join the group that meets regularly at the Castlemaine golf course.
There’s also the chance to take home the raffle prize of an award-winning quilt that was collaboratively made by multiple group members and collected first place ribbon at last month’s Victorian Quilters Showcase awards held at Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
Raffle tickets are currently being sold at Castlemaine’s Maxi IGA in the lead up to next weekend’s exhibition and will also be sold at the exhibition where the winning ticket will be drawn.
Christine notes that money raised through raffle ticket sales will go to Castlemaine SES and Campbells Creek fire brigade.