Hundreds will pour through the doors of Alstonville’s historic Crawford House this weekend to admire the stitch work and artistry of the region’s quilters.

The traditional Airing of the Quilts exhibition (with a $10 entry fee for adults) raises thousands of dollars for the museum. It will run until Sunday 4pm.

So popular is the show among quilters that there is no more display room in the 116-year-old house.

John Sim

Alstonville Plateau Historic Society spokesman John Sim says members of 27 quilting groups from Tweed to Yamba compete for one of the 121 display spots in the Crawford House museum for the four-day show.

“The leftover quilts that don’t get a place in the museum are set aside for the turning of the quilts, which happens twice a day at 11.30am and 1.30pm,” he said.

“People come for that event and sit outside, and the quilting experts hold up their quilts and speak about them.”

On display is the five-metre-long Alstonville quilt made in 1986 to celebrate the town’s four consecutive wins of the tidy town competition.

“Twenty women worked on it, and it has 40 metres of material, and the Lions Club donated $500 to pay for it,” said Jenny Davidson who helped sew it.

Jan Allen founded the Turning of the Quilty exhibition in Alstonville in 2007, it took three years to convince Crawford House to host it.

“I thought that Crawford House lent itself to a quilting exhibition with its big verandas,” she said.

“And we also have quilters in this area who don’t belong to quilting groups but still want to show their quilts off.”

Ms Allen, in her 80s, has been quilting for 50 years and says it is about creating a family heirloom.

The airing of the quilts.

Crawford House

“There are a lot of quilts on beds that were made by grandmas. I have a quilt at home that was made in 1915, which is a work of art,” she said.

Carol Bonamy, the current exhibit organiser, said the quilting exhibition also lures people into the historic Crawford House for the first time.

As well as quilts, there is a room of working quilters assembling new quilts.

Pam Crummy was on the sewing machine on Friday, with tips for quilters – ”Measure once, measure twice, but cut only once and learn to work your free motion sewing and practice, practice, practice, until you get it.”

Elizabeth Bayliss was also in the quilting room, sewing by hand.

“You choose colours that belong together,” she explained. “Warm colours go together, and cool colours go together, and look at the artist’s colour wheel.”

Ruth Toppler, also in the sewing room, said the length of the stitch was influenced by whether you are sewing by hand or by machine.

Elizabeth Bayliss, Pam Crummy and Ruth Toppler.

Sandy Cousins

“In some groups, everyone sews by machine; in other groups, there are hand-sewers. It’s a personal choice,” she said.

Sandy Cousins from Sherilee Stiches has a pop-up shop at the exhibition and can also advise on design, given that she also creates quilt designs.

“I get a lot of inspiration from geometric designs that you might see on tiles,” she said.

“My latest design was influenced by a historic novel I was reading. I saw a royal-looking border print, so I designed a Tudor-period quilt.”

The Airing of the Quilts Exhibition is on at Crawford House on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm.

MAIN PHOTO: Carol Bonamy with Jan Allen with the renowned Alstonville quilt.