First United hosts colourful quilt display

First United Church hosted a colourful salute to the quilting tradition which exists in their congregation.

On Thursday, June 13, First United held Quilts in the Pews, and there were over 200 quilts lovingly on display in the church sanctuary. Quilts were draped over every pew on the main floor and choir loft, more quilts were hung from the upper sanctuary, while additional handcrafts were displayed on the walls.

Event organizing committee member Peggy Worrell said they borrowed the idea from other congregations which have hosted these events, but one church in Nipawin shared their program and registration forms which helped them get started. However, the completed display exceeded their expectations,

“Wow is the word that I keep hearing over and over again…so it’s kind of fun to hear their awestruck response,” she said.

“Its been better than we hoped. We had no idea of course how many entries there would be.”

At the entrance of the display was a board recognizing the Quilters Group members who had been active within the church over the years.

“Sadly there isn’t a quilters group any more, and that actually was one of our main goals was to honour the quilting tradition in our church.”

Their souvenir program contained the names of 50 women who had belonged to the quilters group over the years. Organizers sent special invitations to family members of those original quilters inviting them to attend, plus to lend a favourite quilt to display at the event.

“But we wanted very much to honour these quilters, and we displayed their quilts in a separate place up on the choir loft.”