Quilt Show offers blocks of history

Quilting is more than just fabric and thread – it’s memories, it’s time shared with other quilters and it’s a fine craft. For 27 years, thousands of quilters have made a pilgrimage to the annual Washington State Quilters’ Quilt Show in Spokane.

This year’s three-day event, “The Magic of Quilting,” begins Friday at the Spokane Convention Center.

The show is open to the public and features a merchants’ mall with the latest quilting supplies, a boutique with handcrafted items by local quilters and live music.

In addition, there are hourly demonstrations of various quilting techniques during all three days of the show. And there is an incredibly beautiful raffle quilt, “If These Old Barns Could Talk,” made collectively by 14 Spokane Chapter quilters. Tickets are $1.

Katie Banister, a farmer’s wife, designed the raffle quilt last year after finishing a barn quilt of her own. Many of those who made the 15 individual blocks were inspired by all the old barns around the region.

According to Spokane Chapter president Lorean Boornazian, the quilters wondered about the stories the old barns might tell if they were able to talk.

“Some of the quilters took photos of local barns and created patterns for their blocks,” says Boornazian in an e-mail. “Others looked at books and made up patterns; some barns were purely imaginary.”

It is estimated that each quilt block took between 10 and 30 hours to make.

“Quilts are a labor of love and are made by people who take time to enjoy the process,” says Boornazian. “Designing even a simple block and choosing the fabrics can take longer than making it.”

With more than 500 quilts on display, folks may not be able to see them all in one day, so there is a one-time only $5 entry fee. You can return as often as you want during the three-day run of the show.

The doors open at the convention center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., at noon on Friday and close at 9 p.m. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information on the Spokane Chapter go to its Web site at www.geocities.com/wsqspokanechapter.

(Read more about the Washington State Quilters Show and its featured quilters in the cover story in today’s Home section.)

‘Mapmaker’s Eye’ opening at MAC

Early 1800s journals, maps and mountain sketches of the Columbia Plateau provide the narrative and visual thread of the new exhibit opening Saturday at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

“The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau” highlights the Northwest’s greatest geographer. Thompson spent five years exploring the Columbia Plateau, building trade relations with American Indian tribes and mapping the entire Columbia River.

Field sketches by Paul Kane and Henry James Warre enhance the show, as do surveying instruments from the Smithsonian Institution, fur trade objects and Plateau Indian artifacts.

Events around the exhibition opening include:

“ “Rendezvous at the MAC,” a gala opening party on Friday night at the museum, featuring author Jack Nisbet. Tickets are $100 for members and $150 for nonmembers. Contact Joyce M. Cameron for more information at 363-5323.

“ On Saturday the “Family MACFest: Trapping, Trading and Trailblazing” takes place from noon to 3 p.m. Activities include historical re-enactments, sextant demonstration and opportunities to make maps and create fur trade-era items. Cost is $10 per family.

“ Also included in the Family MACFest activities is “York,” a play based on the life of William Clark’s slave/manservant, the only black member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The one-person play was written by David Casteal and Bryan Harnetiaux and will be performed by Casteal. It runs from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and is suitable for children ages 12 and up.

The museum, 2316 W. First Ave., is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and students. Children 5 and under and museum members are admitted free.

Bears up for auction

Just a couple days are left for a last look at the colorful downtown bears before they are auctioned at a formal fund-raising event Saturday.

The individually painted, life-size Kodiak bears can be seen on the mezzanine level of the Davenport Hotel until Saturday, when the “Bear Affair” auction culminates the Ronald McDonald House fund-raiser. Tickets are $150 to the Saturday night auction at the Davenport. Call 624-0500 for reservations and information.

Seeing ‘Double’ in Clark Fork

The paintings of Tom Kramer and Robens Napolitan are showing in “Double Image” at Clark’s Creations Gallery.

An artists’ reception is Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. in the gallery, 217 W. Fourth Ave. (Highway 200) in downtown Clark Fork, Idaho.

See the work through Nov. 12, Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call (208) 266-0354.

Harrison festival

The Harrison (Idaho) Fall Festival is Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Grange Hall Park. Among the many retail businesses having open houses is Sunset Gallery, which is presenting paintings and drawings by Michael S. Jones, paintings by Mary Lehner, glasswork by Dorian and Kristy McCoy’s big raku pots.

For more information on the festival call (208) 680-3935. Call Sunset Gallery is at (208) 689-9076

CREATE Place shows ceramics

“Mudslingers,” a pottery exhibit, opens Tuesday at the CREATE Place, Fourth and Fea streets in Newport, Wash.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The show runs through Oct. 31 with a chili tasting and hootenanny on Oct. 28 from 4 to 6 p.m.