When I arrive at Collingwood United Church
just before noon on Tuesday, I realize I am in time for dinner but late for the
party. Quilting Day started hours earlier.
Once I learn this is a Day, and one of
reaching back decades, I know the work being done here is special and
significant and worth witnessing, in part because the number of quilters around
the frame is slowly declining.
“We used to be able to get a quilt done in
a day,” Grace Smith tells me, “but we don’t have as many quilters anymore.”
The women – today there are seven – arrive
around 9:30 in the morning and take a break for dinner, which is provided by
the Collingwood UCW (United Church Women group).
“At our UCW meeting, we plan our quilting
dinner and we have extra people who cook for us,” explains Janet Tizzard, who
doesn’t quilt but organizes the meal, which costs six dollars and is open to
the community.
“When it comes to Quilting Day, I don’t have
to think about what to make,” says Betty Weatherbee. “I make beans and Judy
makes her chicken divan.”
That explains the husbands waiting to be
called to the basement to enjoy the homemade meal complete with bread and
biscuits and cake for dessert.
After lunch, back upstairs at the frame,
the women jam thimbles onto fingers and pick up their needles while I sit on
the piano bench and watch. The quilt is set up in the vestry, a large room
alongside the church sanctuary, where it can remain until it is finished.
“We used to quilt in people’s living rooms
before we had this vestry,” says Judy Bragg, who was taught to quilt more than
fifty years ago by her new sister-in-law.
“Doreen said, ‘If you’re going to live in
Collingwood, you have to know how to quilt so come on over.’ She didn’t care
what my stitches looked like; the quilts were just for her.”
“You couldn’t live in Collingwood and not
quilt,” says Betty. “We moved here in 1961 and I’ve been quilting since then. I
had my ‘Just Friends’ books out the other night and I was making beans for the
quilting dinner in 1983.”
Betty says that when they were all younger,
and there were 16 women around the frame, “There were days when we’d quilt all
day, go home and make supper then come back and quilt until ten o’clock.”
Now, after the big push on Quilting Day,
the women come to the vestry to work on the quilt when they can.
The group quilts when they have a project; today
they are taking the “Dresden Plate” pieces a friend’s late mother made and
finally stitching them into a proper quilt.
Grace says they once kept track of the
hours everyone worked on a quilt and they totalled 240 hours.
So if you ever balk at the cost of a quilt,
consider this small group of skilled and dedicated women who spend more than
200 hours hand-stitching every piece and every inch of a quilt – and know you
are paying for a work of art.
Nice to see everyone! Memories shared as you quilt, and new memoires created each quilting dinner.....Blessings
ReplyDeleteI remember when the ladies use to gather and quilt at Viona Carters. I remember all the laughter coming from Viona's front room. Memories. Debbie (Hyndman) Crozier
ReplyDeleteThere was always a quilt on the frame at my grandmother's. She taught me how and let me work on her quilts once my stitches were of the proper calibre. :) My wedding gift from her was one of the pieces I had worked on many, many years before--I treasure it. I used to love joining the ladies of our community on their quilts, too. It was a wonderfully social time.
ReplyDeleteMy Aunt Effie (Giddens, Delay) would have loved seeing this. I know she was probably involved as was my Nana Ripley (Violette Ripley). Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete