In honour of its summer musical,Anne of Green Gables, Rosebud Theatre is looking for quilt blocks inspired by Canada’s favourite redhead – Anne Shirley. And quilters who submit these blocks have a chance to win prizes.
Mark Lewandowski, marketing coordinator for Rosebud Theatre, says the idea of a quilt contest took a little doing.
“Last summer, we held a writing contest in honour of Jake & the Kid by W.O. Mitchell and loved how it engaged our patronage. This year, we wanted to keep the tradition of a summer contest. Although Anne is ripe for storytelling, we struggled to come up with a good angle. At some point in the meeting, someone suggested displaying quilts in Rosebud, and the idea of a quilt contest just jumped to the front.”
Because making a full quilt is time consuming, participants are asked to create a 12-½” square quilt block, using only cotton fabric, something most quilters can do in a day. The trick is - it needs to be inspired by Anne.
“We didn’t want just a standard log cabin or other basic pattern to be submitted. We wanted a direct connection with the show,” says Lewandowski. “We’re interested in how people are affected by Anne of Green Gables, whether it’s the books, the play, the movies or TV show, or even just that imaginative and creative girl herself.”
The submitted blocks will be judged by a panel of quilters local to Rosebud. The top ten will then be entered into a draw for some prizes.
“When investigating quilt contests,” Lewandowski explains, “we realized so much of the judging has to do with the whole quilt, how the blocks interact, how the colours work, etc. So an individual block is more difficult to assess.
“We decided we could probably come up with the ten best blocks based on if the block conforms to the entry criteria, on its workmanship, and on how it is inspired by Anne. Each of these ten blocks will then receive a metre of specialty fabric. These winners will also be entered into a draw for more prizes, including tickets to an upcoming Rosebud Theatre show.” The contest, which began June 15, ends August 11. Blocks can be mailed in, or dropped off in Rosebud.
And what will become of the blocks after the contest?
“We thought of that. Last year we ended up with over 60 story entries which we then made into a book. We have no idea whether we’ll see six or 60 blocks. After the contest is over, we’re going to have a good, old-fashioned quilting bee and make some quilts out of them. We’ll then auction them off at different events as a fundraiser for our parent organization, Rosebud Centre of the Arts.”
“We’re very excited about this contest, and so far the quilters we’ve talked to think it’s a great idea.”
