Cape Breton's Magazine

(So where does quilting come into your life?) Quilting started just about the time I first came up here. I got inter? ested in it kind of as a hobby. It was • something to do in the long winter nights up here. And then gradually it took over as a business. And I guess it's my crea? tive outlet, and it's my way of earning money. The farm supports us food-wise, but there's no cash. So the quilts provide the cash. (Why quilts?) I'm not sure. I think it's probably, like a lot of women say, it's just this womanly thing with fabric, that you're attracted to fabric, the feel and the texture and the colours of fabric. Af? ter you get a quilt made, it feels really nice to the touch. And it looks nice, too. And it's something you can pick up and fold up and stick it wherever you want it. I did a little painting. And I never liked oil paints because I was not patient e- nough to wait for them to dry. I wanted to keep working on them. And with a quilt, of course, you just keep working on it till it's done. I've since realized you can do that with oil paintings, too. (You look on quilting now as a full-time occupation, as a business.) Pretty well, from fall till spring, and then the farm takes over. (We're going to discuss just one quilt. Go over it section by section,) It's called "Seasons of My Life," because the squares around the outside are arranged seasonally. It's 102 by 112 inches. Top is summer, left side's spring, right side's fall, and the bottom's winter. And you notice the symbols quilted in the corners between the blocks? You have sun in the summer and a tulip in the spring, and a snowflake in the winter, and a maple leaf in the fall. It's a quilt I'd wanted to do, but I knew it was going to take a lot of time. And I felt I couldn't afford the time to do it just for myself. And this show came up called "Mirrorings." And it was to be wo? men and their roles in life and community, and the way they see themselves. It was just Maritime women artists. So I sub? mitted a proposal for that. And I. made the first selection, the first 25. And then those 25 had to start on their work, and go to Halifax with it, and show it to them. I did that, and then I made the final se? lection. And they took 14 artists in the end. (So you may have made it eventually some? time for yourself.) I don't know. I needed an excuse to do it. And so there was my ex? cuse. Even though the quilt wasn't for sale--I could have sold it if I wanted; but I didn't want to; I didn't make any money off of it--it was still a good thing, because it made the show, and a lot of peo? ple saw it, and it travelled around and got great exposure, and it started me on more of a reputation as a Canadian quilter. Instead of just being back here and making them for the tourist trade. (It says, in sewn thread, "This is the story of my life in 1982./ These are some of the things I do." How do you follow it?) Well, you can read across the top, which is just a few verses of coming here, like a brief history, what the quilt's about. And then under each block there's a little verse about what each block is about. And then on the bottom there are the family names and their birth dates, and where they were born. Because, when people are doing research on quilts, they always want to know about the maker and the family-- anything they can about the maker and how they made the quilt.* So I thought, rather (19)