A regional competition to have your idea of Yorkshire immortalised on an artistic quilt is set to open to entries.
The ‘My Yorkshire’ quilt, which will combine the best 30 quilt squares submitted by the public, will form part of a three-quilt project based on craft work in communities that will form an exhibition in York and Texas, USA, next year.
Entrants will be asked to design a single quilt square bearing a design based on the ‘My Yorkshire’ theme, before 30 squares are chosen by Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson at the Leeds Club later this year and stitched together.
The project is the brainchild of Jules Caton, who lives in Ilkley, after she stumbled across 30 vintage quilt squares, made in the 1930s, in a second hand shop in the Texan frontier town of Smithville last November.
The 46-year-old said: “It is all about taking individuals and putting them together to create a whole and representing their community.
“The key thing is that 1933 was the depression and it was a really difficult time with poverty, so the fact that a group of women made these squares at that time shows how people can come together.”
Jules, who was in the USA getting married at the time, has since formed the craft group behind the project, which meets at the Rivers Meet Craft Cafe, in Leeds Road, Methley.
Dozens of women have joined the open group that is stitching together the 1930s Texan quilt squares using traditional techniques, while Jules is researching the women who made and signed them, 10 of which are from a town called Paige.
A second quilt, designed by members of the Methley group, will combine the yellow rose of Texas with the white rose of Yorkshire.
Jules said: “Everybody can contribute in some way, nobody is getting paid for this, everybody’s just wanting to get involved in this community.”
The competition, which is in need of a media partner, will open imminently before all the quilts are finished by the end of 2013 and displayed in exhibitions on both sides of the Atlantic, a book and possibly a film.
Visit: julescat1.tumblr.com or email: julie@theonecompany.co.uk for information.
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