Quilting bee invokes memories, gathers home’s community
Friday, April 28, 2006 -- Craig Anderson
A home built quilt designed by Eileen McMillan, now a resident at Manitoulin Lodge, has been pieced together over three days with the help of residents, volunteers and staff at the home’s annual quilting bee.

The quilt has been blessed “Girls of the World,” its theme represented in twenty different segments depicting girls of various nationalities clothed in traditional garb. McMillan, 81, designed each ‘block’ using liquid embroidery ink.
Following extra quilting efforts to piece together the blocks, including layering the internal matting and the backing cloth, the finished quilt now measures an impressive 96 by 92 inches.

The host of the annual quilting bee, Gloria Hall, activity director, looks fondly at a recent resurgence of interest in quilting, and other hand-sewing techniques.

“It’s coming back,” says Hall, who is planning to apply for a license to offer Eileen’s quilt in a local raffle. Prior to the final construction of the “Girls of the World” at Manitoulin Lodge, the individual blocks were shown at a local quilting show.

Regular shows and the growth of quilting clubs on the island are another sign, says Hall, of renewed interest in the art.
Inviting residents, volunteers and staff to assist in quilting the final phase is a community building exercise, she says. Beyond socializing, it also allows residents a chance to reminisce.

“A number of our residents also wanted to learn after seeing the quilt,” says Hall.
Activities that spur memories can impact residents with dementia too, notes Hall, who noticed an increasing interest from one male resident whose former wife was an avid quilter.

The man, now in late stages of Alzheimer disorder, would periodically stop by and watch the quilt being made. Over the April 11-13 bee he returned with greater frequency, says Hall.

“He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was remembering.”

Quilting is also a form of recycling, says Hall, a way to re-use and maximize use of old clothes. In nearby Providence Bay, she notes, local United Church volunteers constructed more than 25 quilted blanket for the area’s homeless using old clothes. The blankets are coupled with a care package.