Painted Quilt Bees

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

Work has begun on the painted quilts, the winning idea of the ‘Let’s Make a Pitch’ event held in 2014.
The Hope Bridges Society, which came up with the winning idea, began working on the first set of ‘quilts’ on Jan. 21.
Painted Quilt Bees sessions will be three weeks long, and any adult is welcome to attend. Participants get the opportunity to learn about the history of quilting, designing, taping and painting. This also provides them with a chance to connect with other members of the session.
The quilts are being done to support the Town of Strathmore’s revitalization efforts and will be placed on local buildings throughout the town.
“We are going to beautify this Town of Strathmore with art and build community here,” said facilitator Johanna Jackins. “I’m going through the steps with them on how to actually get one of these painted, teaching them about the wood preparation and then we’re playing with design and colour. I’m hoping that they’ll come up with designs and we can have three original quilt designs.
“I just really want to see people come and enjoy this process, and make some new friendships of course. It would be awesome to see piles of them hanging up in town and would be a great tourist attraction to come through Strathmore.”
Sheila Marshall is one of the participants in the first daytime group. She has worked with oil paints and acrylics in the past, and when she heard about the Painted Quilt Bees sessions she was excited to try a new medium.
“I’ve never done this, never painted a quilt,” said Marshall.
“(It’s) a new escape to design and a place to put it.”
Her group is planning to paint their quilt in the Town of Strathmore colours.
“Strathmore has been very supportive, the groups within Strathmore that have contributed to this are amazing and it gives lots of people the opportunity to take part in the beautification of Strathmore,” said Marshall about the reasoning why.
“We estimate that it will take about three weeks to complete the quilt, it really is an experiment because we have done some samples of quilts, and we’ve done them with smaller groups,” said Wanda Reinholdt, Hope Bridges Society Coordinator. “It will be a really unique and fun process because every team will have different people, and because they are different people they have different levels and different learning abilities and different physical abilities as well. It will be cool to watch the process involved.”
The program will run for the next three to four months, and there is no limit on how many quilts can be made during that timeframe.
There is still a chance to sign up for the second session, which should begin on Feb. 11. There are both daytime, and evening sessions available. For more information about joining a session, or displaying a quilt, contact the Hope Bridges Society at 403-983-3640.