Serendipity – A quilt completed

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One of the ongoing programmes at the Grand Valley Institute for Women (GVI) involves about 25 women from the community who volunteer on a monthly basis to help make knotted comforters. Inmates apply for what is considered a “job” in the institution, and are keen participants. The MCC Material Resources Centre at 50 Kent Avenue provides fabric and batting, and a MCC staff person draws up the schedules for our Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the gymnasium. This is also a part of MCC’s Restorative Justice work.

Designing comforters with the available fabrics is a challenge, but sometimes we get lucky. The comforters are usually constructed of either 8” or 10” squares. In this case, some larger embroidered blocks surfaced in the chaplaincy programme and were snapped up by one of our sewers. By chance, we had enough of a complementary plaid fabric to set them off. Only having eight blocks to work with, setting them on point provided both a practical and artistic solution.

At that point, the women couldn’t picture it knotted and shipped off with the more utilitarian comforters. I offered to add borders and get it quilted. The suggestion of having it auctioned at the New Hamburg Relief Sale was enthusiastically endorsed. The quilt was marked by Susannah Brubacher of Hawkesville and quilted by the Erb Street WMCEC.

We hope that it does well at the Relief Sale so that we can take back an exciting report to the women at GVI. They certainly deserve some positive feedback!                                                                               ~Emily Hunsberger