Since its inception in 1994, the Campbell River Friendship Quilters’ Guild has grown from 23 members to a healthy 75 members in 2006. As the name implies, the founding members envisioned a group built on friendship as well as on a love of quilting. The carefully chosen name remains true to the hope and vision of these original quilters.
Friendship has expanded to other quilting guilds along the West Coast. The guild is yearly involved with Hands Across the Water – a day or two event aimed at celebrating, studying and learning the art of quilting.
Over the years, the guild has had a strong interest in donating quilted items to various community organizations. Some of these donations include: baby and child quilts for the Salvation Army Outreach, placemats for our Meals on Wheels Programme, lap quilts for our senior citizens, RCMP quilts for highway patrol. We have also contributed to the National Quilt Project in honor of breast cancer. The guild has made quilts for various raffles.
Besides having regular displays of our ongoing work at local venues (the museum, the art gallery, the Tidemark Theatre), the guild has hosted several very successful quilt shows. Our 1st in 1999 “Quilting Up a Storm” was the model for the 2002 “Hearth and Home” quilt show and most recently in 2005 the quilt show “As Time Goes By”.
The guild has produced a cookbook, recognizing that quilters have wonderful recipes!
Education has been a priority for the guild, hosting many workshops with talented instructors from many corners of the world.
Ever since a guild member designed the very distinctive logo, many adaptations have been created. This versatile logo now appears on guild pins, on pottery mugs made by a talented guild member and embroidered onto various clothing items. Imagination will continue to find exciting ways to communicate quilting at it’s finest.
