Andrews’ resident hopes younger generations will take up quilting

Former quilter Adele Gardiner wants to see more young people taking up the craft

Adele, a resident at Andrews of Summerside, started quilting when she was 9-years-old. She was taught by her mother, who was taught by her mother.

What started as a pastime as a young girl, became a lifelong passion. After years of quilting as a hobbyist, she went on to open The Village Craft House in North Bedeque, P.E.I. with a team of other women, selling quilts to clients around the world. She saw first-hand the joy quilting brought, not only to the people buying the finished product, but to the people making the quilts as well. She hopes future generations don’t lose that tradition.

“Nobody’s brought up with it in their homes,” she said. “I’d like to see somebody training a lot of the younger people.”

It's a sentiment shared by many in the quilting community, including Polley Whitlock, owner of Stitch in Time Quilting Studio in Hunter River, P E I

While Adele stepped away from her quilting business in the late 1990s, Polley opened her shop in 2015 She sells handmade quilts and offers classes One thing that’s stood out to her is the average age of the people interested in learning to quilt is generally 65 or older

“Nowadays there’s very few people who do it by hand,” she said “I wish people would ”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

“IT WAS ESSENTIAL”

Quilting has been part of the cultural, excuse the pun, fabric of Prince Edward Island for centuries. The practice was brought to the Island by French colonists in the 1600s. These quilts were primarily functional, serving as a source of warmth during the winter months. They were also much simpler in design, being made of repurposed clothing, blankets, horsehair and wool.

“It was essential,” said Polley “Quilting at that time was more about keeping your family warm ”

At a time when labour was divided along gender lines, quilting was primarily the work of women Girls would begin learning to quilt early in life and would develop the skill throughout adulthood

With the Industrial Revolution came more affordable and more available fabric By the end of the 1800s, decorative quilts were becoming more common It was also during this period that quilting bees became a form of social work in many communities Bees would often happen during the summer, between the planting and harvesting Women would gather together to work on a quilt, socialize and share food and drink

These traditions of working communally and passing down skills from mother to daughter remained strong throughout the late 1800s and into the 1900s It wasn’t until after the Second World War, when a combination of urbanization and an increase in women working outside the home, began impacting the popularity of quilting The rural lifestyle that birthed quilting bees was disappearing

“There’s just not enough interest as far as I can see, ” said Adele

New Life

Despite Adele’s and other veteran quilters concerns, there are younger people taking up quilting – albeit differently than Adele’s generation Maggie J. Whitten Henry, 38, began quilting in 2023 and now belongs to three quilting groups – Kindred Sprits Quilt Guild, the Modern Quilt Guild and Young and Millennial Quilters, a Facebook group that brings together young quilters from around the world. She’s met a number of quilters similar to her, who grew up appreciating the craft and took it upon themselves to learn.

She believes young people are quilting, but are less likely to join a realworld quilting guild than previous generations As someone who enjoys the social aspect of meeting regularly with other quilters, that’s something she hopes will change

“I love it,” she said, adding she’d like to bring quilting into new and different spaces

For her, quilting is the perfect artform, combining creativity, portability, technical skill and utility

“It’s very satisfying and practical,” she said “I’m definitely enjoying it so far ”

Debra had pitched the idea of raising money for Christmas lights to her sister, who volunteers with the Girl Guides, after seeing how happy residents were with their creative indoor decorations in 2023 Her hope was to raise enough money to decorate the halls on all three floors of Andrews of Parkhill

“On the second floor we had enough lights where we kind of cris-crossed them back and forth all the way up the hall and the residents thought it was amazing,” she said “They could walk down the hall, they thought they were in Las Vegas or something They all wanted to live on the second floor. They’re already excited. They’ve all been asking ‘when are you decorating for Christmas?’”

Barb Pye, activity director at Andrews of Parkhill, helped spearhead the second-floor decorations in 2023. She’s thankful for the Girl Guide’s generosity and is excited about the creative opportunities afforded by the donation.

“I can’t describe the feeling it gave to the residents,” she said. “To hear them saying ‘it’s magical’. This year, nobody is going to do without. To see these little ones (Girl Guides), to see them doing this for our residents, it was just a really good feeling.”

Team members at Andrews of Parkhill will start decorating in late November and decorations will remain up until January.