by Deborah Grant
This month our Island Quilt Guild spotlight is on Vicki Collins, who resides in Sheguiandah. She started quilting around 2012, stating her reason was that quilting appealed to her and she just loved the idea of working with fabrics. No one she knew had quilted before her, not her mother, grandmother or any other family member. Vicki was able to take a course from Linda Burnett, of The Needle Box, stating that Linda shared a lot of knowledge and was patient as could be.
Vicki joined the Island Quilt Guild in 2013 and has been a member since then. She has entered the Manitowaning Fair where she won a ribbon for second place for a wall hanging she made. She has also entered several ‘block of the months’ into fairs, but they were not picked by the judges as winners.
Her favourite type of quilting is piecing together quilt blocks she makes from various patterns using her sewing machine. She does not like hand quilting stating that it takes her too long. Vicki also loves to work with panels, cutting them up and then rearranging them into something new. Paper piecing is something she has not tried so far.
Vicki says it’s a relaxing hobby, even when you get mad. When the going gets tough her advice to a new quilter is stick with it—it will work eventually.
Her favourite quilt is the one she is sharing with us, in the photo saying that she saw a photo of it in a magazine but thought she could never make it. When she tried it she was amazed at how easy it was to do the curves; she had been thinking that it looked way more challenging than it turned out to be.
The pattern for the quilt she is sharing here is called a Rob Peter, Pay Paul, and is a heritage block quilt. At this time the quilt has not been named. It is a gorgeous red and white quilt with a creamy beige backing on it. It is around 57” by 74” and fits on a queen size bed.
If you would like to learn more about quilting why not come out to the Island Quilters Guild monthly meetings which are held at the Community Centre in Mindemoya on the third Thursday of the month at 7 pm. For more information you can phone or text Kathrine Grant at 519-495-0309, or email Deborah Grant at dgrant098@gmail.com.
