17th European Patchwork Meeting will be organized 15th – 18th Septembre in Ste Marie-aux-Mines (Alsace, France). On the show the visitors will see a selection of more than 1000 antique, traditional and contemporary works of textile art, from all over the world.

This edition is dedicated in remembrance of the Austrian artist Greti Raffeiner, member of the quinTEXsenz group, invited this year for the presentation of their exhibition in which she had participated. Unfortunatelly she died unexpected during last February, and everyone who knew her and her work will miss her kondness, sense of humor and an extraordinary talent.

This year meeting will present us a numerous exhibitions. The country guest of honour is Belgium, and for its 20th anniversary, the Belgian Guild gave to all ots members a piece of fabric. The challenge consisted in making a quilt with at least one fat quarter of that specific fabric. ISRAEL 2011 will be presentation of non-European country. Israeli artist will show all sorts of traditional and art quilts.

From others country selections we will see: “Ralli Quilts: Textiles Treasures from Pakistan and India” (Pakistan, India), “Old Australian Quilts and Waggas made from recycled fabics” (Australia), “Selection of QUILT NATIONAL ’09 and ’11” (Athens, OH, USA), “Dutch Quilts from 1700 to 2010” (The Netherlands), “5 Running Meters about MYSELF” (Austria), “Zig Zag in Amish Country” (USA)…

As the individual artist their work will exhibit Edyta Sitar (USA), Elisabeth Nacenta (Switzerland), Hilde van Schaardenburg (The Netherlands), Alicia Merrett (UK), Isabelle Wiessler (Germany) and others.

As every year 17th European Patchwork Meeting will offer lectures, classes (machine reverse applique, layering with paper and fabric, dyeing silk with microwave, transparency effect, Marseille embroidery…) and Master Classes (Katie Pasquini Masopust: “Transforming the still Life” and Sue Benner: “Driven to abstraction: Developing abstract imagenary”).

Each year the European Patchwork Meeting wants to encourage the traditional and contemporary creativity through the contest. the 2011 theme invites artists to “tangle” threads, lines, curves, textiles, colours for challenging innovative results.

The commercial area at the European Patchwork Meeting is one of the largest in Europe, with 150 international exhibitors. It will offer a wide range of fabrics, accessories, tools, books, sewing machines…

For the entertainment here is The Singing Quilter, Cathy Miller, Canadian quilter and folksinger. She will perform daily, at 11am and 3pm, music and songs about quilts and quilting. Admission at concerts is free.