Quilting Group
It all began in 1992 when one of the members of the Newtonbrook United Church, through a series of inheritances and donations, acquired 35 boxes of Arrow Shirt Company fabric samples. How could all of this cloth be put to good use? With the formation of the Newtonbrook United Church Quilting Group!
The Quilting Group meets every Thursday morning, except in summer, from 9 AM to12 noon in Newtonbrook’s Fellowship Room. They have fun, share projects (both works-in-progress and completed), provide support and encouragement to each other and share lots of conversation, including current events, children and grandchildren, hobbies, recipes, health matters, politics – just about everything! All levels of quilters are welcome, from novice to experienced.
With the colourful shirt samples and other donated fabric, “Keep Warm Quilts” are created, usually double size, by machine piecing and hand quilting. These wonderful quilts have been donated to the North York Women’s Shelter, Salvation Army, Covenant House, Massey Centre, Victor Home for Women, Community Mental Health Centre, and the Don Valley Refugee Resettlers Committee.
Quilting is not new to Newtonbrook United Church. In 1913, the Ladies Aid of Newton Brook Methodist Church made a signature quilt to raise funds. Another signature quilt, completed in 1925, has a skillfully embroidered picture of the church from a sketch drawn by Group of Seven artist Frank Carmichael. Both quilts have been returned to the church by the original purchasers and are hung on special occasions.
In 2005, the Quilting Group celebrated the completion of the 125th quilt and in 2008, they finally used up the last of the fabric samples from Arrow on the 145th quilt. To celebrate the completion of the group's 150th quilt, they have decided to finish the quilt pictured here, which was machine pieced by one of the quilters for her granddaughter (only to be told "But Grandma, I don't like pink!"), and donate it to The QUILT: A Breast Cancer Support Project, for auction. The QUILT raises funds to provide emotional, informational and physical support for people living with cancer, their family and friends, nationally.
Quilting Bee
In Fellowship they meet,
Their long days to invest,
Snipping and sewing, only slowing
To visit, to eat or rest.
Calico scraps, heaped on laps,
Each one an exact size and hue.
Fingers nimble with thread and thimble,
Create pretty patterns anew.
Heads bent to the task, you need not ask
If these ladies love to quilt.
Their talented touch, expresses as much
As piece onto piece it is built.
Friends try to perceive who will receive
Each quilt that is stitched from the heart,
With needlework fine, the patterns entwined
A treasure, a true work of art.
(Author: unknown)
In Fellowship they meet,
Their long days to invest,
Snipping and sewing, only slowing
To visit, to eat or rest.
Calico scraps, heaped on laps,
Each one an exact size and hue.
Fingers nimble with thread and thimble,
Create pretty patterns anew.
Heads bent to the task, you need not ask
If these ladies love to quilt.
Their talented touch, expresses as much
As piece onto piece it is built.
Friends try to perceive who will receive
Each quilt that is stitched from the heart,
With needlework fine, the patterns entwined
A treasure, a true work of art.
(Author: unknown)