ST. PAUL – In a room filled with quilts of various colours dotting its walls is a group of women sitting in serenity. They work on sewing machines that occasionally make whirring sounds, though barely audible.
The women are members of the Quilting Bees Guild based in the same building as the St. Paul Senior Citizens Club. They make quilts mostly for people fighting cancer, according to Angele Duncan, treasurer of the guild.
“We also do quilts for the Capella Centre,” she says, where women escaping domestic violence can find support and help, and also create quilts for residents at Extendicare.
According to Duncan, a quilting guild is a place for individuals who enjoy quilting to come together in friendship, exchange ideas and help one another.
Lorna Giggs, vice president of the guild, says being part of the group also offers the opportunity to help people in need “feel better.” Giggs says the guild, which usually meets two days a week on Mondays and Tuesdays, has been active for 16 years.
Giggs and Duncan recall how the guild was founded by Louise Belland, but at the time it was called the Sunshine Quilters. Then, Duncan says the group decided to form a guild, leading to the current Quilting Bees Guild.
“[Belland] started it because of a child,” who was suffering from cancer. The child “wanted to be buried with his quilt made for him,” says Duncan.
The small guild, composed of only 14 members, has faced challenges in keeping itself afloat. Giggs says, like many other groups, the pandemic affected the club’s funding, losing part of its funding due to another group shutting down.
“The group that we worked under was ‘Friends for Road Development,’” who would “donate some of the money they earned working bingos… and during COVID, bingos was shut down,” says Giggs. She adds, that funding has not been restored.
However, fundraising activities like St. Paul Senior Citizens Club pancake breakfasts and grants from the federal government do help. For example, the grant from the Government of Canada the group applied for two years ago is a grant that “encourages senior participation and inclusion,” according to Giggs, explaining most of its members are seniors.
Funding goes toward “fabric we use for donation quilts.” If the federal grant were to be discontinued, the club would be in trouble.
Aside from funding challenges, Giggs says it would be nice for more people to learn about the existence of the guild.
“So many people don’t know that we do this,” Duncan chimes in, to where Giggs adds, if more people knew about the group, they would be able to find more recipients for the quilts.
The guild often approaches people who they hear have been diagnosed with cancer and ask if they would like a quilt. “But it would be nice to be able to get more people or names,” to give quilts to, says Giggs.
Anyone is welcome to join the guild as long as they have their own sewing machine, even if they do not know how to quilt, according to Giggs. Members of the guild are willing to help people learn the art of quilting.
Individuals wishing to get involved with the guild can contact the St. Paul Senior Citizens Club at 780-645-5566 and ask for the Quilting Bees Guild. Giggs says the best time to call is on Mondays and Tuesdays.
