Valerie Hearder on the art and soul of quilting

Slow Quilting

I drive 40 minutes along the shore to join Phyllis and friends to quilt in a rambling house called The Bee Hive. Phyllis lives in the tiny village of Broad Cove on the South Shore in Nova Scotia. It has old oak avenues, gracious wooden homes and an atmosphere that resonates with olden days.  I pause under an oak to breathe in the grounded quietness. Phyllis says when the wind blows onshore, the ocean roars and the air fills with salt and noise.

We’ve been gathering to help Phyllis quilt a twin sized quilt for her grandson, Cooper. It is full of energetic colours, perfect for a small child. We quilt, talk, drink tea beside a crackly wood stove.


Phyllis brought out her grandmother’s 1940's quilts and spread them over the quilt frame. We gaze at the patchwork, the fine cotton, the tiny quilting stitches. Like sentences in a diary, each patch is a record of housecoats and childhood dresses and dressmaking scraps from an era when women made all the family's clothing. We stroke the surface texture of the quilts.

Double Wedding Ring, Blazing Star, Log Cabin, Dresden Plate... we know the patterns by heart. We sense the comforting continuum of generations of women who stitch. And so it continues with Cooper’s quilt. We’re doing what women have always done…slow stitching, remembering, talking, helping each other.

Gathering

To gather with friends is a simple, rich experience and, when women gather to stitch, it is particularly special. Last week began with two days with my dear friends, Judy and Margi at Penny’s house in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia… always a treasured and affirming time.

We stitched and sipped wine in the studio surrounded by quilts and cloth and books… always books. We read each other quotes and talked of hopes and plans.We talked about the meditative aspect of quilting. Margi commented that the hand stitch is like a "physical mantra". I like that.

The stitched pieces here were made by Judy. You can read more about her work on her popular blog, Judy's Journal. Also check our Penny's blog, Tanglewood Threads.

I had to leave  our gathering two days early to attend the birth of my first grandchild named Scarlett. A rich week indeed - my soul if full.

November Retreat

November now, and it's growing cold. It's also the busiest time of year for me as I prepare for my annual African Threads Christmas Sale.  In the midst of the rush I took four days to go on retreat with some dear friends.  We did drawing exercises, discussed our work, stitched and talked art for four days.

We walked each day in the natural beauty of of the Bay of Fundy and Annapolis Basin. Looking at nature's mark-making in twiggy bushes and bleached branches. Each of us noting how lovely they would look stitched. Breathing salty air, enjoying each mindful moment.

 

We stayed up way too late each night, not wanting to miss a word or waste a drop of our precious moments together.

My cup runneth over. Thank you Penny,  Margi and Judy. wise, dear freinds.

 

The Quilts of Polly Greene

Mary Black Gallery, Halifax, NS July 19 - September 1

I joined Barb Robson and Laurie Swim to co-curate this show of Polly’s personal collection of bed quilts, quilted wall hangings, woven coverlets.  The quilts and woven coverlets are not all pristine; they have been put on beds, washed and used. When faded and worn, quilts still hold the process of making and gain layers of memories and stories.

Polly was on the leading edge of the quilting renaissance in the early 1970's when she was the first teacher to put together a workshop on a Sampler quilt. This led to one of the earliest Canadian quilting publications to be produced for the Nova Scotia Museum.

Polly is an esteemed member of the quilting and fibre arts community in Nova Scotia and was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Designer Craft Council. Her work was featured in Traditional Nova Scotian Double-Knitting Patterns by Janetta Dexter (1985 NSM Publication) and Head, Heart and Hands by Jim Lotz (1986 Braemar Pub), and Canadian Living Magazine, among other publications.  Polly’s quilts and woven coverlets are a significant body of work and an important cultural contribution to Nova Scotia. 

Every stitch in Polly’s quilts and every shuttle thrown in a woven cloth is a recorded moment in her life and a creative expression for her love of textiles. A life filled with the making of her hands, is a most abundant life indeed. We honour and celebrate the lifetime contribution and work of Polly Greene.

Photo credit: Kate Inglis

 

 

 

Dessert with an Extraordinary Quilter

Every year the Mahone Bay Quilters prepare a feast of desserts that covers 2 banquet tables. We invite an Extraordinary Quilter to be our speaker thus creating the perfect combination of desserts and quilts. This event, Dessert with an Extraordinary Quilter, was the brainchild of Barb Robson and has been going for 12 years.

This year Lynne Edwards from England was our E.Q. What a treat! Lynne is loved for her fine quilts, her wit and wisdom. We all so enjoyed Lynne’s compassionate humour as she spoke to our hearts and had us laughing all evening.

“Relax everyone, its sewing,” reminded Lynne. “Don’t take it all so seriously. Do what you love, learn from others. Share. Be kind”. In essence, this is what quilting is about. See our guild blog for Barb's photos of Lynne’s workshops and the dessert party.

Lynne was my house-guest and it was precious to spend time catching up with each other’s lives as we reminisced on shared adventures from the past 20 years.

We visited PennyBerens  in Granville Ferry, NS. Penny showed us her stitched journal. Penny has started hand embroidering a 6” line of stitches for each day. Even though it’s only 4 months into the scroll, it has the look of something ancient, sacred. We were both moved to see it. 

 

Lynne holding one of Penny’s quilts in Lynne’s favourite colours: "dreary”.