Taranaki Patchwork and Quilters Guild host festival in Stratford thanks to TET grant

The Taranaki Patchwork and Quilters Guild festival commitee members were pleased to receive the grant. Photo / Supplied

The Taranaki Patchwork and Quilters Guild hosted their biennial quilt festival in Stratford thanks to a grant from Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET).

The guild received $3780 from the TET for the hire of Stratford’s War Memorial Centre.

Festival committee treasurer Chris Macdonald says the festival, which took place at the end of March, was successful.

“The festival was beyond our expectations. We had 854 visitors from the Taranaki region and further afield. We had people from Auckland, Dannevirke, Wellington and Christchurch.”

She says the Taranaki Patchwork and Quilters Guild has 160 members, with the aim to support the members and other Taranaki creators with their craft.

“We support, motivate and encourage people with what they’re doing and provide the opportunity for them to showcase their work in our biennial festival. It can take a couple of years to create a quilt so running the festival every second year is a good way to give people the time to plan and make their quilts.”

Members create quilts that are both traditional and modern.

“We have a whole range of quilts that our members make.”

As well as creating quilts to display in the festival, the guild also runs a comfort quilt programme, where the quilts are donated to different organisations in the region.

“We create quilts for the neo-natal unit, Hospice Taranaki, Nurture Taranaki, schools, mental health and police initiatives and also for independent groups. Our quilts are made by Taranaki people and help Taranaki people.”

She says the group is always looking for more members and people can register their interest by emailing tpq.secretary@gmail.com.