I spent most of the day around the Rotary Pavilion which, this year, has about twenty stalls and an exhibition of quilts. These are not the sort of quilts you might throw on the bed on cold nights; they are works of art and no more than 1 metre square. There are two lots: one group of 15 or so are the entrants in the Tasmanian Rotary Hoffman Challenge, and a second group of 20 which are the finalists in the New Zealand Hoffman Challenge.
The Hoffman Challenge which started in America is regarded as the ultimate competition for serious quilters. A few years ago, the New Zealand Challenge was set up and a local quilter here in Deloraine approached Rotary last year to base a Challenge in Tasmania. We only had a small number of entrants in this first year but hope to extend it more widely as people become aware of our presence. We have good sponsorship so prizes are generous. 
One of my tasks this morning was to present awards to some of the winners of the Tasmanian Challenge. One of the winning quilts was made by a Year 10 student at the local High School as a school project. It was her first ever quilt and a really nice piece of work. Another winner was a nine-year old girl who designed and sewed her own entry, a quilted bag she entitled Don’t Give a Hoot (because of the owl motif on it.)I am astounded at what young people can achieve nowadays. Watching what the contestants on Junior Master Chef can produce in less than an hour shows that we often underestimate the capacity of children today. More likely, we don’t look in the right areas.
We can identify outstanding potential footballers in primary school but we don’t identify those who have ‘intelligences’ in unusual areas, like cooking or craft.
No comments:
Post a Comment