History
The Thousand Islands Quilters’ Guild was formed in May
1987 by an enthusiastic group of women who had been meeting regularly to
quilt, discuss, share and trade ideas in quilting techniques. In order to
share their love for working and designing with fabric, a Quilters’
Guild was formed.
The first general meeting was held in Brockville on September 24, 1987.
The objectives of the GUILD are as follows:
To provide a place for quilters to meet and exchange ideas;
To form a vehicle for bringing qualified experts in this field to Brockville for seminars and workshops;
To work on community projects in quilting;
Any other aims and purposes as the membership, by simple majority shall from time to time deem appropriate.
The GUILD meets at Merc Hall in Maitland on the 4th Thursday of every month to share ideas, friendships and a cup of tea. Visitors and new members are always welcome.
The Guild holds studio work days every Monday at the Brockville Public Library and has a hand appliqué group that meets on Wednesdays at the Standard Church.
Since its beginning, the GUILD has provided its members with guest speakers, supported weekend workshops, arranged mini-workshops, organized silent auctions, material swaps and has had slide shows and films about quilts and well-known quilters. The GUILD has also hosted a number of very successful quilt shows and takes part in the annual quilt show at Upper Canada Village in September.
The Guild has a large and interesting library which is available to members only and which is available at Guild meetings.
Over the past eighteen years, the members of this Guild have designed and quilted many quilts which were donated to charitable groups in the Brockville area and used by these groups as fund-raisers. The recipient groups include the Alzheimer’s Society, Big Brothers Association of Leeds & Grenville, The Brockville Library, The Girl Guides, The Friendship Centre, The May Court Club of Brockville, The Brockville Museum, The Homewood Museum, Fulford Place Museum, St. Lawrence Lodge, The Brockville General Hospital Auxiliary and Interval House.
Each fall small quilted items are made for charitable groups. These have included book bags for the Brockville Library, placemats for Meals on Wheels, quilted purses for the Big Sisters Association and pot holders for fundraising for the Lung Association. A quilt was made for the first family to move into a Habitat for Humanity House in Brockville and also for the family that moved into the Habitat for Humanity house in Athens. We are presently making quilts for the family moving into the new house in December 2005.
The past several years have seen a concentrated effort to make quilts for an orphanage in the Chausy area of Belarus. This past February (2005) we were able to send another 54 quilts.
Our hand quilters are often called upon to demonstrate quilting on a frame at various heritage events. We have also demonstrated our hand quilting at "Rib Fest" for several years.
Yearly membership fees are $30.00 and are due in September. Visitors’ fees are $5.00 per meeting. We welcome all community members to come and share your talents and ideas, make new friends and enjoy the mutual interest of fellow quilters.
Projects undertaken during the past few years:
Place Mats for the clients of the Meals on Wheels program in Athens, Brockville, and Prescott.
Baby quilts for the Red Cross for their baby layettes. These layettes are given to new Moms in our local area who have no supplies for their new babies.
Book bags for the Brockville Public Library to sell and raffle as a fund raiser.
Small baby quilts for babies at the Brockville General Hospital and preemie quilts for the Ottawa Hospitals.
A quilt for the family that moved into the Habitat for Humanity House in Athens.
Two quilts were sent to the fire victims in B.C.
Lap quilts were made for the chronic care patients at St. Vincent de Paul Hospital.
Twin sized quilts were sent to the orphanages in the Belarus area of Chernobyl.
Top quality, hand quilted quilts were made for raffle quilts for Sherwood Park Manor and for the Brockville General Hospital.
