Fibrefair is soon here!

FIBREFAIR- On Sunday, November 26th

Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) will be hosting our first Health and Wellness “Fibrefair," and the number of participants is growing! There will be chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopaths, Reiki practitioners, and fitness facilities.

Also, represented will be essential oil advocates, yoga studios, a grocery store, outreach programs for community support, and more! You’ll discover what services and talents our community has to offer, and even get some Christmas shopping done! Amanda and Tara, regular vendors and familiar faces at the Almonte Farmer’s Market, will be running a cafe, so rest for a while with a fresh juice or a healthy lunch.

Do you like a bit of competition? See who you can outbid in our Silent Auction! Come and join us for a fabulous day of enlightenment, education, and inspiration!

Fibrefest

When the kids head back to school and the first hint of autumn is on the air, Almonte starts gearing up for its favourite fall festival: Fibrefest! This year’s event — the 22^nd annual celebration of the fibre arts — takes place on the weekend of September 9th and 10th at two locations in town. For the low admission price of $5 per day, visitors will find demonstrations, vendors, and exhibits at both the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum and the Almonte Arena.

Local guilds will demonstrate spinning, knitting, weaving, rug hooking, lacemaking, smocking and quilting. Vendors include spinners, weavers, and fibre artists from across the province, as well as quilt shops and alpaca farms. And at 4pm on September 10, hundreds of felted lambs will be spun in a bingo spinner at the arena, and the owners of the first three lambs to come out of the spinner will win fabulous prizes. Tickets for the spin will be on sale during Fibrefest at the at the arena.

During the two-day festival the Friends of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum will offer their popular tea room services featuring homemade goodies, beverages and sandwiches at very reasonable prices. At the museum, explore the permanent history exhibit Fabric of a Small Town, which interprets how a piece of wool becomes a piece of finished cloth and includes industrial machines used throughout the process. Also on display this year is the featured exhibit A Life Inspired, a retrospective of works by William Hodge. Mr. Hodge is a retired teacher from the textile faculty of the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. His extraordinary works of beaded portraits and woven tapestries are in permanent collections of institutions across the world

Fibrefest Events You Don't Want to Miss!

Workshops
For the first time, several hands-on workshops will be taking place in conjunction with Fibrefest. This is your chance to roll up your sleeves and get felting, weaving or hooking with talented fibre artists and vendors.

For more details, and to reserve your place please contact the MVTM at http://mvtm.ca

The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is privileged to host this significant quilt during our celebratory festival of all things textile, our 22nd Fibrefest event.

Following a day of workshops, on Sept 8, the quilt will be displayed upstairs at the Almonte Arena for an evening lecture followed by a Q & A session. The lecture will examine this socially charged textile exploration of a dark chapter in the lives of so many from a vulnerable sector in our society.

Join Pam Hart as she discusses each panel. Learn about the journey from pain to healing that expressive quilting has provided for these individuals and its universal relevance. Even those among us who have been fortunate enough to be untouched by violence, abuse, depression and suicide may find that the tactile experience that all forms of fibre art delivers can be cathartic.

Tickets are $10. Light refreshments will be available. Proceeds to benefit the MVTM and the Kawartha group.

Please visit the MVTV website for all events and special showings!

http://mvtm.ca/ and once you are there click on Fibrefest for details

An intimate Evening at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is both proud and pleased to announce that the renowned textile artist William Hodge will attend Fibrefest 2017 to be part of our textile festival. On the evening of Saturday, September 9 at 7pm at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in the Nora Rosamund Hughes Gallery, William will conduct a small and select tour through his exhibition.

William C. G. Hodge is a talented artist and a well spoken educator who teaches with passion and brings a rich depth of experience to all his lectures and workshops.

A selection of his works is currently on display at the Museum until September 16. These pieces represent a smattering of the enormous contribution made by this Canadian artist to the textile art world and are prime examples of the scope of his talent. In this intimate setting, he will guide attendees through each of his pieces being exhibited; teaching, inspiring and fostering creativity.

Only a small group of 30 attendees can be welcomed. This lucky group will enjoy the celebratory evening of wine, cheese, and art. Tickets are $20 and available at the Museum.

Please note that the artist will also be on hand at the gallery during the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 10, from 1-2 pm to answer questions from those who wish to view this exhibit before it closes the following weekend.

Details

Saturday, September 9, 2017
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Norah Rosamond Hughes Gallery

Point of interest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a exhibit you don't want to miss..

A richly hued portrait of the human family, Quilt of Belonging is a 120 foot (36 metres) long collaborative textile art project. Its 263 blocks portray the rich cultural legacies of all the First Peoples in Canada and every nation of the world at the dawn of the new Millennium.

Follow the link below to see the exhibition highlights

https://www.quiltofbelonging.ca/

Mark your Calendars

FESTIVAL OF QUILTS

The Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild proudly presents “Festival of Quilts 2017” May 12^th-14^th, 2017, at the RA Centre Curling Rink in Ottawa. This Quilt Show is a great opportunity to visit Ottawa and celebrate Canada 150!

There will be a historical quilt display, a trunk show with quilts from various quilt guilds in our area, as well as our popular Viewer’s Challenge which this year will feature a look at each of the 15 decades in Canadian History. We hope to have over 150 quilts in the show, in both traditional and artistic categories. We’ve brought back the touch quilts and youth quilts categories, and this year we’ll have scavenger hunts for any children visiting.

Help us choose our “Best of Show” by submitting Viewer’s Choice ballots on Friday or Saturday, and see the ribbons on Sunday! We will also be featuring four artists in residence over the weekend, and with over 20 vendors all in one room you’re sure to find that perfect fabric to spark your next quilting project. Did we mention there are door prizes, too? Be inspired by the art, bring someone who’s never quilted before, and join us in Ottawa this Mother’s Day Weekend!

More information about OVQG and the “Festival of Quilts 2017” can be found on the web at www.ottawavalleyquiltersguild.org , or on social media @ottawaquilts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).

Curator Information Session for
'Blanket Statement: No Shame in Patches'

Visit the Museum March 17, 2017 at 10:00am to listen to Curator, Michael Rikley-Lancaster speak about the Museum's newest exhibition 'Blanket Statement: No Shame in Patches: by Gloria Daly. Members can attend at no charge, other visitors welcome.

In this, Gloria Daly from Duncan BC gives discarded blankets a new public image, using today’s philosophy of “recycling.” The works are a contemporary take on mending, patching and darning. The layered cloth in the works allows worn and weathered fibres to have dignity as they record the changes in temperature, the ravages of rust, and the tints and tones of tarnish and stain. This exhibit celebrates the 150th anniversary of industrial blankets woven in the Mississippi Valley.

The exhibition opens March 14th and runs until May 20, 2017.

For your information :

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TEXTILE MUSEUM
3 Rosamond Street East
Almonte, Ontario K0A 1A0
Phone: (613) 256-3754
Email: curator@mvtm.ca

Directions from Ottawa

Get on the Trans-Canada Hwy/ON-417 West.
Follow Trans-Canada Hwy/On-417 West to March Road/Ottawa Regional Road 49.
Take exit 155 from Trans-Canada Hwy West to Ottawa 49/Ch. March Road toward Almonte and turn left.
Continue on March Road.
At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Ottawa Street.
Continue onto Main St. E.
Turn right on Mary Street.
Continue straight to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.

Directions from Perth

Get on and follow Trans-Canada HWY/ON-7 to Tatlock Rd/Route 9 in Mississippi Mills.
Turn left on Tatlock Rd/Route 9.
Turn right onto Wolf Grove Rd/Lanark County Rd 16.
Continue onto Almonte St.
Turn left onto Mary Street.
Continue straight to the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum.

Parking

Parking is available in front of the Museum on Rosamond Street, or behind the Museum as seen in the photos below (access from Rosamond Street.) Some spots behind the museum are reserved for residents of Millfall located next to the museum

This is it!

This is the latest Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt called En Province.
It is approximately 80x80 now and has two more borders which I think I will leave off as it will be too large for what I have in mind. I had some fabric already and threw this together it is a mix of blues. Purple, tone on tone beige , and I kicked in the lime green. Being a mystery quilt I was unsure of my colour combination as I went rogue when a colour wheel was suggested. Combined with a small work space I was curtailed in getting the true picture until the top was done.

Once complete and a picture snapped I see the boldness of the pattern not to be outdone by my imperfection and sewing skills. I hope to use a high loft poly batting and longarm a baptist fan to offset the squareness of the pattern. I plan to do this edge to edge then put on an edgeless border that wraps around the back

This means I now have approximately 200 + 4x4 squares already pieced a good start for the next adventure - send suggestions Lol

Blanket Statement:
No Shame in Patches

by: Gloria S. Daly

March 14, 2017 - May 20, 2017

Vernissage:

Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 2 - 4 pm.

This year the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is not only celebrating Canada’s sesquicentennial, but is also marking the 150^th anniversary of Almonte’s Rosamond No. 1 Woolen Mill. It’s a celebration of more than 150 years of industrial textile production in the Mississippi Valley. It is only fitting that many of this year’s exhibitions feature historic textiles or historic themes. Opening on March 14 and running until May 20, the exhibition “Blanket Statement: No Shame in Patches” fits both categories.

In this colourful, creative and fascinating exhibit, textile artist Gloria Daly from Duncan BC gives discarded blankets a new public image, challenging the viewer to look for the inner beauty in the old and used. The works that she creates are labour intensive and thought provoking, exploring the relationship between yesterday’s discarded cloth and today’s philosophy of “recycling.” The works are a contemporary take on mending, patching and darning. Layered cloth allows worn and weathered fibres to recapture dignity as they record changes in temperature, the ravages of rust, and the tints and tones of tarnish and stain.

Artist: Gloria S. Daly

An outstanding artist, Gloria has received awards from the BC arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. She studied Design and Embroidery with the City & Guilds Institute of London, England, was elected to the Embroiderers Association of Canada, and was chosen as an example of excellence in Design by the Embroiderer’s Guild of America. Her works are in private and corporate collections in Australia, Japan, Canada, and the USA.

Come and celebrate Almonte’s textile history at the vernissage for this exhibition on Saturday March 18 from 2 to 4 pm. For more information call the Museum at 613-256-3754.

Soup Up Those Winter Blahs!

Mark the date Saturday, March 4 on your calendar now. You won’t want to miss this year’s “Soup for Thought” Luncheon Fundraiser. There’s nothing like a nice hot bowl of soup to warm you up on these chilly days – and what soups they are!

Food and museum lovers attending this popular event will enjoy gourmet soup from the best restaurants in Almonte and the Valley and will take home the beautiful handmade stoneware bowl it was served in, courtesy of the Almonte Potter’s Guild.

Again this year there are two Seatings :
Seating One: 11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Seating Two: 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Sarah Robertson of Prior Engagements will be donating additional dishes and utensils. Patrice’s Independent Grocer will be providing coffee and rolls. Rental Village will be donating beverage containers. And the Friends of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum will be providing tasty desserts.

Tickets are $25.00 each. Children under 12 are free (soup, no bowl to take home). Tickets will be available at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Baker Bob’s, and Pêches et Poivre. Be sure to get your tickets in advance as only 150 tickets will be sold for each seating.