submitted by Teresa Harrison and Nancy Grundy
The Kemptville Quilters’ Guild has received a grant from North Grenville Municipality for Eastern Ontario Quilt Documentation. Quilt historian, Bethany Garner, of Kingston will be facilitating volunteers to document the rich history and the quilters and quilt owners in North Grenville and area. Historically, quilters understood and practiced the concept of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ in order to create quilts for their families. They used all manner of textiles, such as sugar and flour sacks, leftover scraps of fabric from clothing projects, as well as repurposing well-worn clothing and bedding to make warm quilts for their families.
If you are the proud owner of an old or antique quilt or have a significant quilt that you would like to have documented in the Eastern Ontario Quilt Documentation Project, please contact Nancy Grundy / Teresa Harrison to make an appointment to have your quilts photographed and documented on May 30 and May 31. To register: documentation.ngquilts@gmail.com or call Nancy Grundy 613-791-7505 for questions. The event will be held at Grenville Mutual Insurance, located at 380 Colonnade Dr, Kemptville and is being sponsored by Kemptville Quilters’ Guild and the North Grenville Historical Society.
Bethany Garner, who is a quilt historian and restoration consultant, specializes in the conservation of heritage textiles and is the curator for the Eastern Ontario Quilt Documentation Project (EOQDP). This project is rejuvenated following a COVID-19 shutdown. During Richmond’s 200th Anniversary in 2018, several quilts were documented and logged in the database.
Bethany will lead a training session for local volunteers to learn the process of documenting quilts in preparation for documentation days which will be May 30 and May 31. Bethany will explain the importance of preserving and documenting family quilts as they tell important stories of the lives of the people who lived here. There is much to learn from dating fabrics and pattern designs which help approximate when a quilt was made and where the fabric might have been sourced.
It is important to collect information about the owners and the quilters who created the quilts. Forms will be used to collect the details about the quiltmaker, quilt description and quilt history. It is the intention of the group to create a book for the library and historical society that will celebrate the quilts and their history for future generations.
Look in your closet – maybe you have a quilt that was made for milestone events and special celebrations that could be part of our project. The Eastern Ontario Quilt Documentation Project is interested in all quilts and learning the stories behind the quilts. We are especially interested in quilts made or brought to North Grenville in the early days of settlement and/or quilts made by local groups such as signature quilts.
