The late Nellie Young of Red Point

Today - working with a Longarm Quilting Machine in St. Catherines

The late Adele Townshend wrote an entertaining column for the Eastern Graphic newspaper, entitled Looking Back. This article was originally published on December 13, 1978.

Since the publication of the novel, "Roots" and the showing of the television show based on the novel, people on both sides of the border have become interested in their own genealogy. But who would think to embroider their family tree on a quilt? Apparently this was not uncommon in earlier days.

Ella Shannon Bowles, in her book "Homespun Handicrafts", tells an interesting story about one such quilt. An old family tree quilt, yellow with age, but with the embroidered names as clear as they were when made and telling of births, marriages and deaths, established the claims of a Los Angeles man to his father's estate. The father and mother had separated and the boy had gone with his mother to California. The father migrated to another state, and at his death, the only possible clue of his identity for the son to bring into court was the embroidered quilt designed by his grandmother.

The quilt was admitted as evidence in the suit of the son to obtain his inheritance. In the times when young girls were sewing, crocheting and working to fill their "hope chests", the art of quilting was taught at an early age, sometimes in school along with the alphabet. When the young girls had a number of quilt tops made, the family held a quilting bee.

All the women and young girls of the community would be invited to the quilting bee. Usually the housewife would plan to get the quilting out of the way before haying. The quilting frames were brought to the living room and set up. They were long pieces of wood, held together with wooden pegs thrust through gimlet holes to form a rectangular frame large enough to hold the quilt. The frames were wound with flannel, serving as a foundation for sewing the quilt in place. First, the frames were placed upon the floor and the lining sewn in the pats of wool laid laid evenly upon it. Then the frames were carefully lifted to the tops of four kitchen chairs, and placed under each corner at such a height as would be most convenient for the workers. Then the quilt top was laid across the wool pats and pinned evenly all around the edge.

The guests arrived early in the afternoon to admire the quilts tops and help with the last important job of making the quilt - the stitching. The tiny, even hand sewn stitches are a very important part of any quilt. The women who could not gather about the quilt, knit or worked on their own sewing. Tongues chattered as fingers flew and soon the quilt was ready to be rolled over the frames as far as finished. When the last row of quilting was reached, the married women left the frames and the girls began a contest to see who should set the last stitch. The girl lucky enough to do this would be the first to get married.

After the men of the family had been fed, the table was spread with the best china and platters of cold meat, biscuits and cakes were set out for tea for the quilters. Guests helped to clear up and then the husbands and sweethearts came to take the women home. It sounds like a lot of fun. Quilting is still an Island art, one that is on the increase in popularity but the old quilting bee, like so many of our lovely old rural community go gettogethers, have gone I think. Anyone been to a Quilting bee lately?

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard