THE
JOURNAL-PIONEER Thursday, April 23,
1998
Quilt show impresses
O’LEARY
-- “It’s encouraging to find that young
women today are doing this” commented Jean Dewar of O’Leary as she toured the O’Leary
Figure Skating Club’s quilt show on Saturday.
Dewar didn’t have any quilts in the show but she was obviously enjoying
the tour.
Quilt admirers, she said, would often have
to travel to Moncton to see a quilt show of this quality.
“These are beautiful; I hope you do this
every year”, she said to an organizer.
Indeed, the Figure Skating Club plans to make the show an annual
event. Organizers are satisfied with the
attendance for their first show and are confident attendance will grow.
The show featured 101 pieces, including
heirlooms and other quilts, dresses, table runners, pillows and wall
hangings. All the pieces were entered by
quilters from O’Leary and further west.
There were even 3 generations of quilters
featured, Empress McDowell of O’Leary, her daughters Verna Jeffery of Alma, and
Elsie Smith and grand-daughter Juliet Darrach both of West Point.
One of McDowell’s quilts will be raffled
off as a fundraiser for the long-term care wing of Community Hospital. One of Verna Jeffery’s entries, a Primrose
design, hand appliquéd and hand quilted, was judged as best of the show. All show visitors had a hand in picking in
the winning quilt. Pat Sabine’s country
floral placed second and a star design, made by Elsie Smith was placed third.
Dewar suggested quilting was a form of
entertaining many years ago. She said
she finds it surprising that women today can find time to quilt, although she
acknowledge that it certainly must still be regarded as a form of
entertainment.
Empress McDowell has been quilting for
going on 60 years. Her mother quilted
into her 90’s. One of Verna Jeffery’s
proud possessions is a quilt her grandmother Lucy Collicutt quilted at the age
of 89.
McDowell said she has no idea how many
quilts she has made. For the last 15
years she and another quilter have been working together and they made 300
quilts in that time frame.
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