2024 Northeast Ohio Quilt Show coming to Wooster

The 2024 Northeast Ohio Quilt Show will come to the fairgrounds in Wooster July 18-20. The free three-day event will be a colorful patchwork of exhibits, vendors, lectures and classes, all related to quilting and other stitch crafts.

Whether one is a quilter, stitcher or embroiderer of any level; a partner or family member of someone who is taken with the craft; or a person who loves to cuddle under a quilt on a cold day, there is sure to be something at the show to capture the imagination.

This will be the third year the show has come to Wooster. Last year’s event drew around 3,000 visitors from all over the extended area. Cynthia Turnbow and Aasta Deth are the show owners and promoters. They are from Western Pennsylvania and were seeing a lot of Ohio quilters at their other shows.

“Ohio has a very high number of quilt guilds and quilters,” Deth said, so they decided to bring a show to Ohio and discovered the new venue at the Wayne County Fairgrounds.

“(It) offered all the amenities we needed for the show. Plus, it’s easy to get to,” Turnbow said.

“We absolutely fell in love with Wooster the first time we came to visit,” Deth said. “It has so much charm, especially the Main Street area. There are so many options for restaurants, places to stay and shopping. Plus, it’s central to a lot of big cities.”

“Quilting has been a tradition for hundreds of years — mostly for staying warm,” Turnbow said. She said it became a hobby in the 1970s and has continued to grow since then to become much more. The demographic in the quilting industry, however, is growing older.

“We offer free admission, which is unheard of in this industry for larger shows,” she said. “It’s important that this medium be available to the younger generation. One of the most vocal complaints with younger quilters is the cost just to attend a show with no guarantee that you’ll find anything you can use or that inspires you.”

By offering free admission, along with free parking and raffle entry, the hosts have seen a large uptick in attendance.

Turnbow and Deth worked closely with the Wayne County Fair Event Center to put the show together.

Deth strives for a diverse collection of classes and lectures while Turnbow organizes the vendors. Both vendors and instructors are asked to submit applications and proposals with the result being a carefully curated, well-rounded show.

“We want our attendees to come away feeling like they got a really great experience,” Deth said.

Vendors will offer quilting-related products such as sewing machines, stencils, preprinted patterns, fabric, thread, jewelry, sewing cabinets, quilt hangers and felting kits.

There will be demonstrations and a variety of classes. And new this year, there will be free lectures daily. It’s suggested to register online ahead of time for both lectures and classes to guarantee a seat.

Classes include updates on traditional patterns, techniques such as perfect corners and circular applique, collage technique quilts, and miniature foundation piecing log cabin. New this year will be barn quilt painting classes that will give attendees an opportunity to make their own 2-by-2-foot outdoor painted barn quilt.

“T-shirt quilts have become very popular, and we are offering both a three-hour class where you will make your own T-shirt quilt as well as a one-hour lecture on tips and techniques,” Deth said.

Other lectures will feature topics such as caring for and cleaning vintage textiles, math for quilters, and square-agonal techniques.

Wooster’s Tree City Quilters Guild will hang and display over 100 quilts and handmade items made by its members during the past year, including those that will be donated to military veterans. The guild will hold a raffle for a Quiltworx quilt made by members of the group.

There also will be an appraiser available. “You know that quilt you inherited from your grandmother?” Turnbow said. “It might be worth a fortune.”

Quilters often will get a quilt appraised for insurance purposes before sending it out to shows.

Deth said, “We get a lot of folks who have (an old family) quilt and are interested in knowing what the fabric and patterns can tell them that might give more of a connection with their past.”

Find the quilt show online at www.aquiltersdestination.com/wooster-oh. Click Classes to register for classes and lectures. For more information or to register for a class or lecture by phone, call The Stencil Company at 724-540-5076. Check out the promoters’ other shows at www.aquiltersdestination.com.

Food will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day with hot and cold options, drinks, snacks and desserts.

The 2024 Northeast Ohio Quilt Show will take place at the Wayne County Fair Event Center, 199 Vanover St., Wooster. The venue is handicap accessible with all vendors on one floor. Each attendee is invited to enter a raffle for a basket of quilting-related items worth over $1,500.

“Come see what’s new for 2024,” Turnbow said. “Visit those vendors you’ve met over the years.”

And for nonquilters, Turnbow said, “It doesn’t cost anything but a bit of your time to enjoy an art form you may never have enjoyed. Come and get inspired. You never know — you might be a talented quilter and just don’t realize your potential. Take a class, stay for a cup of coffee and attend a free lecture.”