Heather Latter
LaVerne Tibold, who has been quilting for 14 years and sewing since she was a teen, had never exhibited any of her handiworks at the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society’s annual fall fair in Emo until this year.
She’s glad she did.
Not only did the Emo resident earn five first-place prizes and one second-place honour, but one of her projects—a beautiful mauve-coloured quilt—was chosen to move on to compete at a regional level in Thunder Bay.
Tibold recently learned her quilt took first place for Northwestern Ontario and earned a spot to compete for the title of Provincial Grand Champion Machine-Quilted Quilt/Wall Hanging, which will be selected at the annual Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies (OAAS) convention in Toronto in February.
“I was surprised because I was competing against some really good quilters,” Tibold enthused.
“It’s such an honour,” she added. “To think this is the first time I put a quilt in and some have been entering for years.”
Tibold is unsure whether she will enter her quilt in the provincial competition since there is the challenge of getting it there. No one from the local fair board will be attending the annual convention this year.
“We’ll have to see,” she remarked, though stressing she’s thrilled just to have won first place in the region.
She believes it may have been the deep mauve colours, which aren’t typical quilt colours, as catching the judges’ eye.
Tibold also had help with some of the embellishments from Margaret Westover of Rainy River, which she said added to the look of the quilt.
But her husband, Joe, who sells and repairs sewing machines in their home, stressed his wife’s sewing on the quilt was exceptionally good.
“She really does nice work,” he said, noting his wife makes numerous other items, as well, such as jackets, bags, and placemats.
“She spent many, many hours on it [the quilt] and it was worth it,” he added.
“The judges couldn’t find anything to criticize,” echoed Jan Judson, secretary/treasurer of the RRVAS.
Tibold used a “stack and whack” technique to design her quilt, which uses a set of identical pieces cut from a print fabric to create unique kaleidoscope designs.
It was the first time she had made this style of quilt.
“It has a more traditional look,” she explained, admitting it’s difficult to know what the judges are looking for.
Tibold noted since there are some innovative things being done in quilting these days, she’s not sure how her quilt would do in Toronto should it compete there.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a local exhibitor has been chosen to compete at the provincial level.
Last year, Glenda Lloyd of Emo had her loaf of whole wheat bread compete for the title of OAAS Ontario Bread Baker Champion of 2010.
While Lloyd didn’t win provincially, Judson noted it’s a testament to the amount of talent there is here.
“There are categories for posters, bread, quilts, and chocolate chip cookies,” she explained, adding the OAAS plans to add even more categories at the provincial level.
As such, Judson hopes more people choose to exhibit their projects at the Emo Fair next August.
