COVID brought out the creative side in lots of people, and in Limerick, there are now hundreds of quilters and crafters who have rediscovered the hobby of creating beautiful handmade items.
The craft of quilting will be celebrated this week in the city with the 16th ‘River of Dreams’ exhibition, featuring 61 unique creations from Limerick and around the country.
“People certainly rediscovered the art during Covid,” said Limerick quilter Jane Harris, who is one of the organisers of the exhibition, which runs from July 6 to July 12.
“People were going online and taking part in making mystery quilts with international teachers. A lot of the teachers did it for free during Covid. It gave people a sense of community.”
One of the quilts which will be on display at the Limerick School of Art and Design Church Gallery in Clare Street is the ‘Optomistic Photo Project’, created by Suzanne Pass from Annacotty.
Suzanne posted funny and inspirational photos to Facebook every day for the first 100 days of lockdown, to give people something to smile about. The result is her quilt, featuring the photos.
She is joined in the exhibition by her son, Conor (13) who has created his own quilt, representing a chessboard.
The River of Dreams exhibition is free to attend and there will be an hour-long demonstration of quilting and patchwork skills each day at 1pm. Children’s Day is on Saturday July 9, and there will be a demonstration of quilting with children.
The exhibition is the result of the hard work of a team of volunteers volunteers who want to share their love of the craft.
