Are they just a bunch of material girls? They are – and darn proud of it, too.
Members of the Grand Quilt Guild have been gathering for over 15 years to share their love of quilting.
Sue Foard, chairman of the steering committee for the Quilts on the Grand show, said 2012 marks the guild’s 15th anniversary.
It started in 1996 with 24 members, “Now there are 92 members and we continue to grow. We welcome new members and guests.”
And out of the 24 founding members, “we still have seven as part of the guild.”
Publicity chairman for the show Linda Austin said there was a group that did home quilting, but wanted to get together and share.
Foard said one difference between quilting individually or as a group is the fellowship and sharing. She cited the example of someone learning a new technique and being helped by more experienced quilters who share new skills.
Sometimes it means bringing in presenters such as Bill Fitches, of Oshawa, who is well-known for his specialty of liturgical embroidery.
Austin said another part of the meeting is show and tell, where members show their work and answer questions. “If someone finds an easier way to do something, they can share it with other people.”
Although a not-for-profit group, Foard said there is some formality in that there is a handbook that outlines the guild’s constitution, rules and details of how speakers and workshops are handled.
“We have a mandate to do outreach community projects,” Foard said.
Charity work over the past 15 years includes the creation of table runners and placemats for the Centre Wellington Food Bank and Meals on Wheels, wall hangings or wheelchair bags for Wellington Terrace and Caressant Care, colourful pillowcases for Portage, smaller quilts and PJs for the Power of Hope, Comfort Remembrance Quilts for the mothers of spouses of fallen soldiers, and Quilts of Valour for injured soldiers when they are flown to Germany from combat areas.
The guild also collects items for the Centre Wellington Food Bank.
Because of all that, it often seems if quilters had a motto it might be “Ask not what your fabric can do for you, but what you can do for your fabric.”
Austin said members are good at collecting stashes of material from different places. “Many of those pieces of stash will end up in community outreach projects.”
Catching the quilting bug
Austin said, “I was always a sewer. I sewed my children’s clothing and I sewed clothing for myself years ago.”
Then she went back into the workforce as a teacher and as a principal.
“When I retired, I decided I wanted to get into quilting because I thought it would be a different type of craft. I took a course – and then I got hooked.”
She said when she travels, she spots fabric and grabs it. She travelled extensively in Australia, while her son was doing an internship and working on a doctorate to become a medical doctor.
“When went to Australia I picked up a lot of fabric … It took me a long time to actually put something together.”
Austin created a quilt from the Australian material and it, too, will be shown at the coming show.
Foard was also a teacher and curriculum leader with the Upper Grand District School Board, “but I never sewed – not a stitch.”
Friends, including Austin, got her involved doing quilted placemats and a small wall hanging. From there, she took a course at a local store and got hooked about three to four years ago.
“I’m improving all the time, but believe me, I’m one of the beginners in the show.”
Foard said the level of experience at the show ranges from beginners to the very experienced, including artisans and those who design their own work. She said some members have won significant awards for their work – such as at the International Plowing Match or local fairs.
But Foard added, “Some people just do it for the love of quilting, for friends or families. I can’t imagine entering a competition. I just do it for the fun of it.”
For guild members like Susan Harrop, involvement began in 2000 when she was asked to be chairman of the quilt show for the International Plowing Match when it was held near Elora.
Harrop knew how to sew as a result of her involvement in 4-H as a youngster.
But, she said, there is a big difference between sewing clothes and quilting.
She’s served on the executive for a number of years and is co-past president of the guild.
“It’s a great learning experience and there is a real camaraderie,” she said of the group.
As much as she has learned, she feels she still has a long way to go.
“It is a pastime that you can pick up and put down anytime.”
But, she added with a laugh, “It drives our husbands nuts because we’re always bringing materials into the house.”
Harrop quipped that a few years back there was an article in a quilting magazine that local guild members took to heart as they turned that article into the skit Gone Shopping. That skit shows members coming home from grocery shopping.
“We unload most of our groceries, down to the last box – a big cereal box.”
Inside the box were all the quilting supplies bought that day without the husbands knowing. “We pulled out the rulers, the thread, and kits one can buy. They were none-the-wiser … because how many husbands help put groceries away?”
She added, “We had such laughter that night, everyone had fun.”
What’s involved?
Austin said one of the most important aspects of quilting is picking the fabric and knowing what colours work together and create interest. Plus, a decision is needed on a pattern – whether it already exists or is something personal. She added a quilter also needs to be accurate when sewing and cutting.
“If they are not quarter inch seams, it doesn’t go together as well.”
She said once the top is created, it is sandwiched with the batten and the backing.
At that point, the quilt is either hand quilted or machine quilted.
Many guild members still do their quilting by hand.
Once an identification label is included, the quilt is either shown, given away or kept for personal use.
“When someone starts to quilt, I think its a good idea to take a lesson or to work with someone, because there are a lot of tricks to the trade,” Austin said.
Foard added the “guild workshops are offered for a reason.”
Austin said, “There’s always something to learn and you never accomplish everything.”
She quipped, “We all have unfinished objects … We call them UFOs.”
Foard said with so many existing designs and patterns, it seems everyone has a favourite. She cited a well-known underground railway pattern.
In addition to ready-made patterns, Austin said there are designs that go back years and years in traditional quilting.
Specifically, she described a recent display of log cabin quilts at the Wellington County Museum and Archives.
“Those were made not with store bought materials, but from fabrics from materials people had in their homes.”
She explained there are more modern quilts, designed by the quilter, often with additional embellishments.
And the guild represents both types of quilters, she said.
Foard explained one set of speakers visiting the guild showed members how to utilize old, antique grain sacks to be incorporated.
She said some of the local members like to collect antique fabrics, linens and lace to use in their quilts.
“There are all kinds of ideas.”
The time involved depends on the project, said Foard.
And that is one of those cases where size might not be the issue. Austin said with some miniature quilts, the stitches are so tiny it may actually take longer than a larger quilt.
Guild member Terry Towells is one of three members currently overseeing the guild’s library, which has about 220 books.
“All the members are welcome to borrow them,” she said.
Those books are categorized into different applications, such as how-to blocks, themes, labelling or even binding. The books range from those helping beginners to lessons for the more experienced quilter.
Lists of the book topics are also kept on the guild website and there are book reviews in the guild’s newsletter.
“Its a good resource for anyone starting quilting or [who] has been quilting for years,” Towells said.
In addition to regular additions and the culling of the library from time to time based on members’ interests, that library has now expanded to include DVDs.
Structures quilt 2002
Austin said the Structures Quilt for Centre Wellington was designed and created in the summer of 2002.
“The idea was to bring Centre Wellington home to anyone who would see the quilt,” she said.
The boundaries became the borders of the quilt, which focussed on buildings and locations of interest. Some dug through personal archives for inspiration while the Irvine Bridge image came from a pamphlet advocating the saving of the bridge.
The Grand River flows through the community, so it, too, became a focal point.
Starting in the autumn of 2002, guild members began the daunting task of organizing all the components for the project into a coherent and pleasing whole.
Though members attempted to maintain relative positioning, some creative licence was taken where visually or structurally needed.
Throughout the process, members often reminisced about the events they had enjoyed in those places they were depicting.
“The quilt now belongs to the Wellington County Museum. We’ve just borrowed it back so we can show it in our show,” said Austin. “The guild members who worked on it are very proud of it, and we hope it will bring back memories for those who look at it.”
Quilts on the Grand is a celebration of guild’s 15th anniversary and the tradition of quilting. About three quarters of the members submitted one to three items for the show.
It is the group’s first public quilt show.
The show is not a juried competition, but rather a friendly display of quilting at various skill levels from beginning to experienced. There will be ballots for viewers to choose their favourites.
The show is at St. James Anglican Church in Fergus on June 8 from 10am to 6pm and on June 9 from 10am to 4pm.
Austin estimated there will be over 150 quilts there created by guild members.
Admission is $5 and the building is wheelchair accessible.
For more information about the show or the guild, contact Foard at 519-846-5577 or Austin at 519-843-4171, or visit guild website www.grandquiltguild.ca.
