KAMSACK — In addition to weekly sessions of socializing and sewing on Wednesdays, members of the Heart and Home Quilting Club in Kamsack have been spending time Mondays and Fridays learning how to operate the club’s recently acquired long arm quilting machine.
In January, the club purchased a Queen Quilter 18, the machine that allows members to sew all three layers of a quilt, the backing, batting and cover, together into a quilt of any size, up to king size.
Before obtaining the machine from a quilter in Humboldt, the club had been relying on two if its members, Bobbi Wanner and Linda Scobie, to use their own machines to finish the quilts that they had created.
Although the two members had worked as volunteers, it had come to the point that without the machine, the club would have had to start paying the two members per item for their work, said Lise Rochefort, club co-ordinator.
Since February, the club has been renting the basement of the St. Stephen’s Catholic rectory where the long arm machine has been set up. Members have been assembling the equipment and tweaking it.
“We’re so grateful to the congregation for providing this space and at such a reasonable cost,” she said, explaining that members are being taught how to use the machine by Wenner and Scobie and the expectation is that all members will learn how to use the equipment, if they wish.
The purpose of the long arm is to allow members to finish their own quilts without having to rely on the work of others, and to teach and learn how a quilter works.
The 12 core members of the club welcome others to join them for “socializing and sewing” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Wednesday in the lower hall at Westminster Memorial United Church. Members pay $10 a year for membership and $2 each Wednesday for the cost of coffee.
“We meet for camaraderie, learning from each other and for the sharing of patterns, materials and knowledge,” said Linda Scobie.
Using fabric donated by past quilters, club members, recently, have been concentrating on creating quilts for babies and have agreed to provide quits for the neo-natal intensive care unit at the Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. Babies’ quilts have been donated by the club to the Stepping Stone clinic in Kamsack, the Keeseekoose First Nation health and wellness centre, the Cote Family Resource Centre, Victims Services in Kamsack and the Assiniboine Medical Centre in Kamsack.
“Of course, for several years now, the main focus of the club has been the making of Victoria’s Quilts,” Rochefort said, estimating that 25 to 50 such quilts have been donated to the Victoria’s Quilts organization by the club each year.
Those quilts are distributed to cancer patients throughout Saskatchewan, she said, adding that if anyone in the Kamsack district, who is battling cancer and would like a quilt, all they need to do is contact Victoria’s Quilts and request one.
Club members are keen to acknowledge the support provided by Affinity Credit Union, Access Communications, SaskTel, Legacy Co-op and the Kamsack Nursing Home auxiliary.
Members are also focusing on the club’s Afternoon Delight Dessert Tea being served from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on June 7 at the United Church. The event, during which Madge Lake author Patti Hack, will be discussing her book What Old Broads Know, will include door prizes, a silent auction, a Toony game and a quilt fashion show.
Because only 64 admission tickets are being printed for the tea, club members advise persons to purchase advance tickets as soon as possible. They are available from any member of the club, including Wanner and Scobie.
Funds raised at the dessert tea will help keep the club supplied with such needed items as batting, backing and threads.
“We’re open to more members,” Rochefort said. “Persons need not be quilters to participate. Other crafts, including knitting, crocheting and Diamond Dot are routinely done during the weekly quilting sessions.
“Stop by for coffee and see what we’re doing.”
