A room in the Filberg Lodge that was once off-limits to visitors is now bathed in gold, thanks to the Comox Valley Schoolhouse Quilters’ Guild.
The guild, under the guidance of Verna Power, community quilts co-ordinator, recently created a gold, 1930s whole cloth quilt, which covers the bed in the upstairs bedroom of the lodge.
“As the new president, it’s just so exciting to work with this association and to really consider what we’re leaving for a legacy in this Valley,” said Mo McKendrick, chair of the 2011 Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park board of directors.
“It’s a little gem of Canadian heritage, and you’ve contributed to that in a very wonderful way.”
Last month, the quilt was officially unveiled to the public, and Power says a lot of research and pre-planning took place for 12 quilters to contribute to the piece, which took about three months to make.
“I came out one morning and looked at the bed and though we were going to build one in a beige colour, but it turned out to be gold,” she noted.
“When I researched it on the Internet, I wanted a 1930s-style of quilt, and it was supposed to be a whole cloth and this is a whole cloth but we did it in squares so that it could be done at home and then put it together.”
Power added whole cloth quilts were very common in the ’30s, when groups of women would come together to work on a quilt in one communal space.
The Filberg quilt is a modern twist on a whole cloth quilt, she explained.
“This is a modern take … it took 12 women sewing (separate squares) for three months, and took about five days per square of just handstiching,” Power added. “It took a while to come up with the right material.”
She brought many samples to the bed, and eventually found just the right one.
“I brought fabric from Fabricland, and Eden (Lindsay-Bodie, administration assistant) and I stretched the material on the bed and when I stretched the gold material, Eden and I looked at each other and said ‘that’s it.’ And we both knew the minute I saw it,” she said.
She noted each square took about approximately 60 hours to create, but the batting used was “a treat for all the hand quilters … just like putting a needle through butter.”
The 100 per cent polyester quilt has 20 squares each with a different design, and Power says the nicest compliment she has received was during a show when someone told her it appeared to be handquilted by one person, not 12.
The quilt is on display to the public during regular hours of the Filberg Lodge. For more information, visit www.filberg.com.
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