Last night I attended the monthly meeting of the Northwest Quilters Guild. It may not feel like it given the weather we’ve been having, but spring is on the way. You can tell, because four quilt shows are coming up in the Portland area starting in March. And while not all shows feature a raffle quilt, many do. As Portland is known as the “City of Roses”, Northwest Quilters’ raffle quilt always features roses. In years past, the guild’s raffle quilt was hand-appliquéd and hand-quilted. When I was a contributing editor to American Quilter magazine, I featured a couple of the guild’s raffle quilts on the “photo finish” back page. I miss those quilts, but I understand why the guild has changed course and gone to machine-quilted pieced quilts. Hand-appliqué takes longer than piecing in general, and it was always a challenge to travel the quilt around guild members who hand quilt. Nevertheless, this year’s quilt is quite striking. Note the roses in the corner blocks. Northwest Quilters 43rd Annual Show called “A Festival of Quilts” is May 12-13, 2017 at the Portland Expo Center.
Northwest Quilters’ Raffle Quilt 2017
Northwest Quilters participate in a Spring Show Hop. One of the shows is at the Milwaukie Center. Shirley Workman, a representative from the center who is also a friend, brought their raffle quilt. I don’t know who made or quilted it, but Shirley told me she designed it. It’s a great traditional design, and I think the way the quilting echos the piecing is quite eye-catching. The title of this quilt is “Star-tacular!” The Milwaukie Center’s 23rd Annual Show called the “Airing of the Quilts” is March 17 – 18, 2017 at the Milwaukie Center in Milwaukie, Oregon.
“Star-tacular!” Raffle Quilt
