'It's not your grandmother's quilt': New designs pop up at Charlottetown quilt show
A quilt from the Depression era made with old flour sacks steals the show
Every quilt tells a story. And this week, there are many stories woven into the hundreds of quilts on display at St. Paul's Church in Charlottetown.
One quilt that's receiving lots of attention at Stories in Stitches 2017 dates back to the Depression era.
It's a double wedding ring quilt that includes linked rings symbolizing the joining of the bride, the groom and their families.
Penelope Player of Charlottetown bought the decades-old quilt on the Island 10 years ago for $40.
"This was like finding the Holy Grail of flea-market finds," said Player.
Back in the 1930s, cloth was scarce and "scrap" quilts, as they were called, were made from whatever material was handy.
"Some of them could come from flour and sugar sacks," said Player.
If you look carefully on the backing of the old quilt, you can see still see the faded imprints on the flour bags.
"If I hold him up, there's Robin Hood," Player said. "Faded now, turning a little yellow from probably years of washing. It's just absolutely stunning."
'Gets my heart thumping'
In spite of being made from scraps, Player said the old quilt is an outstanding work of art by a dedicated quilter.
"I really have to tell you about this binding that just gets my heart thumping," she said.
"The outside edge is done in curves with a little point here and that is not easy to do without having it all lumpy and bumpy and rippled and uneven. This skilled needle woman made it look very, very easy."
When asked to imagine the woman who toiled away at the old quilt, Player's face lit up.
"I see her being very excited about bits and pieces of fabric. I see some of this done perhaps by kerosene light. The little patches coming out, sitting by the wood stove in the winter, putting a few more stitches in."
'Makes your heart sing'
While the old quilt is getting lots of attention at the fabric art show, there's a newer one that has impressed Carol Macdonald, curator of the show.
"It's bright, bright colours and I just love it," she said. "It just sort of makes your heart sing and that one does it for me."
Susan Tweel of Charlottetown, a volunteer at the show, was drawn toward a quilt made up of hundreds of tiny coloured squares.
"I can't even imagine how much time it would have taken to put this together," Tweel said. "Each one of these small squares would have had to been put together separately and then stitched into the bigger squares which were then added to the other squares."
'Not your grandmother's quilt'
According to Macdonald, quilting is not an art that has always flourished.
"But in the last few years with the wonderful fabrics that you can get now, it's become an art form. As you can see in the show, it's not your grandmother's quilt anymore."
The fabric art show runs until Saturday, Sept. 30.
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