Quilting to be celebrated
The art of quilting will be celebrated with the 12th annual quilt show and sale in Port Hastings.
The Causeway Quilt Show and Sale will take place at St. David’s United Church from Aug. 10-15. It is one of the largest quilt show and sales in Cape Breton and is expected to feature more than 100 quilts made by members of the Ocean Waves Quilt Society.
The society is comprised of 170 quilters primarily from across Cape Breton and Antigonish County.
The show, sponsored by the Ocean Waves group and hosted by the Port Hawkesbury Tea Thyme Quilters, will have traditional and modern quilts in all sizes available for sale and display. The adjoining church hall will be filled with a variety of smaller handcrafted items.
The show will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. each day. Donations will be accepted at the door and a percentage of each sale will be put toward the upkeep of the historic St. David’s Church.
Port Hawkesbury quilter Barb MacIntyre, a juried member of the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design and a driving force behind the quilt show since its inception, believes it will be another successful event.
“This quilt show is quite unique in that it features quilts and smaller handcrafted items made by quilters and artisans from all across the island and the Strait area,” she said in a news release.
MacIntyre says she is contacted throughout the year with questions about the show.
“We draw visitors from across Canada, the United States and some European countries,” she said. “Of those who come to the show, many are repeat visitors who plan their trips to Cape Breton about this time to coincide with the quilt show.”
A regular feature of the quilt show and sale is a demonstration in the church hall of hand quilting done on a traditional wooden frame.
This year the quilt that will be part of the demonstration will be made and donated by the quilters to Housing First, a federally funded program to find housing for chronically homeless individuals.
The quilters were contacted by members of the Cape Breton Coalition for Social Justice seeking support to provide double and single quilts for clients in their new homes. MacIntyre invites the public to come in and see the quilting demonstration or participate by quilting or learning to quilt, during the show. The quilters also invite anyone in the community to participate in this project by donating a new or slightly used quilt to the homeless project.
For further information about the Celebrating Quilting at the Causeway Quilt Show and Sale, contact MacIntyre at 902-6251546 or visit the Facebook page, Celebrating Quilting at the Causeway Quilt Show and Sale.