A group of ladies that get together weekly to sew at the Pioneer Place in Smithers have put together two quilts to be sent to the victims of last month’s mass murder in Nova Scotia.
Group organizer Amy Ali said they started putting them together after getting a request from a quilters guild in Nova Scotia.
“Our quilters, like all quilters leaped into their sewing machines, the request was put out there and I’m sure they will be overwhelmed with quilts,” she said. “After the [Humboldt Broncos] bus disaster, one the quilters guilds there put out a request and they received more the 1,800 quilts from across Canada and the United States. So quilters will use any excuse to sew.”
The local group also sent quilting material to Australia after the wildfires. Ali said it cost more than $100 to send squares. The money to create the quilts and the cost to send them to places comes out of the sewers’ own pockets.
The ladies haven’t been able to sew together at the Pioneer Place since the pandemic hit but have started to meet on Fridays in the parking lot for coffee and to show off what they’ve been sewing during the week.
“We really need each other,” said Ali. “We really like each other. We learn from each other. We share a skill and a craft that is a passion for most of us. It is a group of women that support each other through everything.”
The group has also been working on sewing masks for the community. Some go to the hospital and some go to the Sunshine Inn. There is a bin of masks at the hotel for community members to take for free. Ali estimates they’ve made more than 300 masks. Again, all costs of the material are provided by the ladies who sew them.