There will be a exhibit of over 125 from Kenya, Zimbabwe,Tanzania,Rwanda and Niambia in the little village of Ailsa Craig, Ontario, Canada. This event has been over a year and a half in the making between the Kenyan Quilters Guild and Cotton-By-Post Quilt Shoppe. When this began both Kenya and Zimbabwe were hopeful that their elections would be the beginning of real change unfortunately things have gotten worse.
We went to Kenya in Feburary to go over the final details for the show and Suzanne taught in Niarobi and Mombassa. Although the Canadian government issued a non essential travel warning, we had no problems at all travelling from the Rift Valley to the Indian ocean.
The people we stayed with, and those we had the pleasure of meeting, were wonderful. We brought back quilts to share with the different guilds to give them a taste of what will be happening the week of October 20th to the 25th 2008.
What makes this event so special is that through all the unrest in the area the quilters are working on quilts for this event and over 17 quilters will be coming here share their culture and to teach classes and do a lecture/slide show. We now have over 40 quilts in the shoppe and we are really looking forward to seeing all the rest of the quilts given the beauty of the quilts we have seen so far.
This show will truly reflect what quilting means to all of us lucky enough to be a part of it including all the non quilters that will be lucky enough to view the quilts. As a last note we will finish off the week with a Taste of Africa Night on Saturday October the 25th , Auction of quilts for different charities, awards,music, food tasting and dance. The Kenyan High Commissioner to Canada will be attending as well as the Zimbabwe ambassator to Canada. If people wish to see some pictures from Africa please view www.cotton-by-post.com
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