Patterns of Love

in towns throughout North America the annual fair brings an excitement that is unequaled families come from miles around to show off the best of the year's work the arts and crafts display usually includes an exhibit of quilts that was the grand champion quilt in the fair and I was Spartan enough to win that honor I felt as though I hated to part with it because I felt it was something special it wouldn't matter to me if I come last it's just a satisfaction of Internet in the fair you know somebody else seeing my work and I'm looking at somebody else's somebody else wins that's fine I've been making quilts all my life first of all for the children when they were small if anything I could get a hold of and then later on I started making them just for pickup work or exhibition human beings have always felt the need to create beauty in everyday life nowhere is this more evident than in the dazzling colors and intricate patterns of the quilt these warm bed coverings are at once practical and beautiful useful works of art labors of love a judge looks for overall design and pattern and quilting the materials chosen general workmanship and the evenness and quality of stitching and there again we have a little problem with the edges rolling it doesn't lie it's a complete you see it she's put her binding on there she's had a little problem with that circles are very well done although eight to ten stitches is the average some quilters can boast sixteen stitches to the inch mrs. Margaret Carr has been making quilts for over 40 years I find trouble in deciding on a pattern to do my curling you should do something on the boll head around the foot and across the flower and the stem and the leaves and here you would do it around the arm I first started quilting in the mid 30s when I taught school up in Calvert and County I usually did the blocks when I was away from home I couldn't set up a big quilt in someone else's home I did that when I came home during the summer or some of them may be carried over until I had a home away on I think this might have been the first pattern that I ever made back in the 30s when I started it was relaxing and interesting work to do when the long winter nights cloth was rare and expensive in Pioneer North America and the long winter season provided the time for women to stitch together pieces of old clothing to make quilt covers using the intricate colors and patterns of nature the patchwork quilt was born the study of Croats is a full-time occupation for publisher Mary Conroy Crowley in Canada came with the immigrants from the European countries mainly the British Isles first of all of course for France and each of them brought with them something unique the British techniques of patchwork the German quilters tended to quilt on whole cloth and they had very elaborate and traditional design the second great wave of immigration came by land and these for the people from the United States who had decided not to live under a republic and they brought with them very unique skills in quilt making it was very much part of their tradition that they patchwork quilt had become at this point in time symbols of their folk ways a quilt on a bed symbolizes to a great many people some of the most significant times in their lives if you think about it most of the important events in our lives happen in bed were born in bed we get married and we usually die in bed and the settlers who first colonized Canada left everything except their bed skin a love of quilting has lasted more than 70 years for mrs. Annie Mae Johnston I make quilts I my tribute that nor relaxes amid enough in the bones and those parents are busy all the time nineteen nine was my first quilt and all down through the years I have made so many quilts especially when the war was on I didn't work hard at quilts at that time they used to have a down here in the hall the ladies would be cutting out things the sense of the boys and the clippings would be put in a box and send up to me at the farm and I would make quilts up there with the sewing machine and send them down here and they would quote them to send overseas I've been making them ever since and I love quilts just as much much more than I have that I did at the nineteen nine this is an interesting quilt because it's not only embroidered with the place where the quilt was made but it also has the date on it 1899 the height of the craves for Victorian patchwork crazy quilts were really show quilts they were made to display the lady of the houses virtual City with her needle in fact you were considered to be a very poor needle woman if you couldn't put at least a hundred different stitches on your crazy patchwork quilt in the 60s the artistry that has always been present in quilts began to be recognized they started to appear in art galleries museums and shops one collector who turned her fascination with quilts into a business is Gloria Rosenberg [Music] the first Saturday that I was open I came home and my husband asked me what kind of the day I had and I told him it was simply a terrible day he said what was the matter well you know someone came in and bought a coat and he says well honey you're in business and I just burst into tears I really found it very difficult to sell quilts that I have lived with and that I loved but I'm over that now and I really I like I like it when someone nice buy the nice clothes quilts have also been a means of expressing beliefs in the 19th century American women included black patches in their quilts to protest slavery today artist Joyce Whelan uses quilts to convey her social concerns I felt that the quote was a good platform for politics the circular quilt called Arctic day probably the most important piece because it's unusual and different to the other quilts because it has drawings on it there are animals birds and insects of the Arctic and I think the water quilt is successful it's a quilt that essentially looks very innocent it's 64 little pillows that I have embroidered upon them arctic flowers when the flap is lifted up there is a text about a group in Washington and the government who decided to make a plan to reroute the major waterways of the Kay and Arctic South to the United States I thought that it would be a great way to show it's kind of insidious plot underneath these little flaps when quilting began to seriously decline in Canada just around the end of the 20s in the early 30s lady tweets mere whiskey why for the Governor General of Canada that and she could see that there was a lessening in the quality of work being done and so she had commissioned some good work done and circulated to all the women's Institute's across candidates called the tweets mere collection and they still have it and women could see what good quilting was and they could work towards it and it's this group of people who have really kept alive the art of protein traditionally women's Institute's and churches raise money by quilting here years and years ago grace Hamel and all of kibble and I came over 40 years ago we've been chrome we practically started from the other key features debbie here is a new member and she's doing very well because she likes the work and she liked it so well when she started here that she's got a quilt just about made you know it is just tell them for a buck twenty-five dollars grace and I pieced a very competitive round with the Tam twelve years ago we cut the patch as the lady provided all the materials we put it together we brought it here and a filter and charged the lady eight dollars some people when there's an important occasion either in the national life for their own life might write a poem about it someone else might write a song but many people make a quote the Canadian centennial brought about a quilting Renaissance sparked by the use of quilts in the restoration of Pioneer homes a whole generation of women had skipped the learning of quilting from their mother because these women were involved in wartime work and they just plain never learned to do it so they had to be taught by someone and this is when they began to involve themselves in guilt still predominantly a rural craft quilting is becoming increasingly popular in cities enthusiastic newcomers gather in groups such as the Etobicoke quilters guild founded in 1975 by sandy small I wanted people to be able to get together in exchange patterns exchange ideas for quilts and just general stimulation to care with her quilting after they finished my lessons and that's how the Etobicoke quilters guild came into being I think the interest in quilting has stemmed in a great part because I think people like to think that they can go back to their roots the natural way of doing it there's natural health foods people are getting back into natural fibers for sewing I was an oil painter just a son the oil painter before I got into quilting and I find I have both types of work on on the go traditional and also the the wall hangings which I really enjoy doing I wanted to make a farm quilt and I put the animals around the outside and the path going up to the farmhouse in the barn my son wanted me to put a tractor in that was his contribution so I didn't want anything too busy in the background therefore I just put the straight lines in the path if you'll notice has a cobbled effect and around the Duckett's it's outlined with waves and so on I didn't want anything to take away from the actual pattern itself I think quilty is here to stay I think it's going to be very interesting to to see what we all leave combining innovative methods and ideas large quilts bring warmth and texture to modern office buildings one artist who specializes in wall hangings for public places is Laurie swim I don't know which happened to be quilted to give it a dimension this one was designed for a competition in Nova Scotia they asked us to submit designs for particular areas and this one I chose to do because I thought it would be good for a waiting area quilting as a textile art has begun to attract the attention of men such as John Willard I got started in quilting by amassing a collection of antique quilts over a period of about six years and when I had this collection together I began wondering what it must be like to make one the broken star quilt is the first quilt I ever did the I ever finished the first one I've actually started I still haven't finished yet I basically designed my own and I thought I'd do a commemorative quilt of the sinking of the Titanic it was a 65th anniversary that year I think in 1977 it's a subject that's fascinated me ever since I was a child I don't think anybody can get through doing a quilt without pricking their finger at least once and every time I do it which I do on every quilt I always squeeze a little bit of blood out and rub it somewhere on the inside on the batting so every one of my quilts has got my blood in it [Music] I always ask the children if they have any quilts and many of them do one day I went a little further and said to one little boy well who made your quilt and he said my grandma did what does it mean he where I asked him he looked at me and smiled and said it means my grandma loves me my grandmother me she was four years old when she made it I felt oh my god so I just started to put something together and my aunt she'd seen what she'd done folks - and so she helped me with the first view at 4-h we had about seven meetings and they started us off gradually it was something little showed us how to do all the stitches and everything and then we had to make something of our own whenever we want exhibits and competitions have always played a part in the quilting tradition quilts are entered first in local fairs winners then advance to district competitions the best go on to the finals where judges face the difficult task of selecting the grand champion the current widespread interest in quilting suggests that this folk art will continue to be a colorful part of our culture I decided to exhibit my coats at the fair because I put a lot of work on them made them really nice just the beginning and clean you look at them quilt 72 by 90 it looks like a big job for one person but sooner or later you'll get finished if you stick to it the applique did you see any spots that were missed in quilting no she's really covered it isn't 8 to 11 stitches to the inch sure is have to take a decision here girls yeah me too now as I move back to the to the white tablecloth that's covering the quilt I'd like you to announce the winner I would like to say in the first place district number 4 is involved so are you in greement that this is first thank you yes I preview the fair that is involved is Bobcaygeon and the winner is mrs. Margaret car [Music] [Applause] [Music] from bug cage in Ontario [Applause] we are just delighted to be able to add your quilt to the collection which you see behind you and we trust that it's a big win for you also [Music] [Applause] [Music]