The Saugeen Times Quilters keep each other in stitches

Quilters keep each other in stitches
By Liz Dadson

Lynda Pratt (L), Mary Rigden, Sheila Murray, Agnes White, Janet Moyser, Barbara Taylor and Dianne Knight of the Kincardine Quilters' Guild with the 2009 donation quilt, In and Around Bruce County

The saying goes that "a stitch in time saves nine," but for the Kincardine Sunset Quilters' Guild, it's more like 50, and membership continues to grow.

The organization began in 1994 when Simone Lynch and Joyce MacDonald, already members of another guild, brought together a group of ladies in Kincardine who liked to quilt. They started meeting in the Kincardine Legion, and later at the Kincardine United Church, but since 1998-99 have been holding their regular monthly meetings at St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, with an average of 50 members at each meeting. Eventually, they formed their own quilters' guild.

"We're a non-profit organization that wants to bring back the art of quilting," says president Mary Rigden. "We are here to teach beginners how to quilt and we also want to encourage the extensive skills of advanced quilters."
They believe strongly in supporting their community and for that reason, each year they complete a quilt and donate it to a group to raffle off as a fund-raiser.

"It's important to do these outreach projects and help others," says Rigden. "We have donated quilts to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the hospital, Special Olympics, PRANCE, and the mental health association." Anyone who wants a quilt for a fund-raiser need only contact the quilters' guild and make a presentation.

"The quilt is put together by various members and then set up in the church so everyone can add a few stitches when they can in order to complete the project," says Rigden.

The guild also donates quilts for cancer, and makes cancer hats and Preemie baby hats, as well as Quilts for Hugs to anyone in the area who needs one. Another community project is the fancy quilted placemats which are donated to Meals on Wheels and to the area seniors' residences.

Besides the regular meetings, the guild holds workshops, such as the cable-appliqued sweatshirt in October, led by guild member Judy Williams. "I was at our winter home in Texas and learned how to make the sweatshirt," says Williams. "I wore it home and it was so popular that we held two classes and may do it again in the spring." Thirty women completed the project, with part of it done on their own and then finished at the workshop.

The regular meetings are always a lot of fun as the members exchange information and take part in various activities, such as the penny auction, trunk show, and quilt block of the month program on Nov. 12, and the Christmas luncheon slated for Dec. 3.

Each meeting ends with a show-and-tell time when members display projects they are especially proud of. November's featured a Christmas tree skirt; a baby quilt; table runners; and a new member's quilt made from blocks that were measured incorrectly but she didn't want them to go to waste.

So, what's in store for 2009?

Guild members have already created the blocks, the quilt has been put together and is now on the frame for the new donation quilt: "In and Around Bruce County."
"We get together and quilt it," says Rigden. "Then we're going to donate it next year to an organization or we may raffle it off ourselves."