Quilters and their Art
Exhibiting work is an integral part of the quilting and artistic process
Ilene Sempert, Deidre Gold, Wendy Litz – Maternity Ward Quilts 
Sara Kershaw and her Japanese Lanterns 
Lynn Zak, “Pieces of my Heart” – Ilene Sempert, Mary Lindquist, Betty Wardle. 
New Quilter workshop by Audrey MacKinnon, October 2004 [Laces Obscured] 
Margaret Delamont with her winner of ‘Medium Quilt’ at the 2005 Quilt Show
The modern art gallery is set to redefine culture, with quilting recognized as art.
You can be a “traditionalist” in your approach or a “modernist” and make bed
quilts or art pieces. There isn’t a limit in how you use quilting as a creative process. It truly is like being a child and experiencing the joy of a package of 64 Crayola crayons and a blank canvas to colour ~ Quilter Susan Little
The guild was founded in 1985 by Lisa Sharpe and Dominique Drummond, who initially advertised for women interested in learning about quilting to form a guild. Since its inception, over 300 local women have joined as members. Today, in 2025, 60 ‘ordinary’ women, aged 30 to 94, gather twice a month from September to June, to promote the guild’s objectives: preserving the art of quilting, sharing quilting skills within a community of women, and donating quilts to social and health agencies to give to those in need of the comfort a home-made quilt can bring. In the past, aspiring quilters would start by taking a beginner’s quilting course offered through their
town’s rec department, quilt store, or guild.
However, with the advent of the internet, many beginners, regardless of gender as more men are taking up quilting, now learn through online courses. While
online courses offer convenience, in-person workshops provide an
advantage. Instructors can address individual learning and technique
issues, and participants can connect with other students. Many lifelong
friendships started while making a sampler quilt in that first class. You can be a “traditionalist” in your approach or a “modernist” and make bed
quilts or art pieces. There isn’t a limit to how you use quilting as a creative process. It’s up to the individual.
Brenda Arnold, Quilter
Brenda is the quintessential quilt top producer. At a trunk show in April 2025, she showed over 30 “flimsies” waiting to be quilted. Each was of a different pattern and for each she shared the
pattern source or online access details. Her vast source of free patterns makes her a perfect convenor of the “Worker Bee Wednesday” (#048) group, a job that she took over in 2021. One fun and quick pattern/technique she introduced for community quilts and donated fabric is the ‘three yard quilt’ – a design of Donna Robertson and her daughter Fran Morgan of Fabric Cafe. These tops are made with only three coordinating yards of fabric and the site boasts more than 70 free designs that sew up quickly and look inviting.
Judy, L. Beaulac, Quilter
Judy Beaulac joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 1997 shortly after retiring from her
teaching position. Almost immediately she took on the position of Librarian and then Books/
Templates. In 1999, she joined Judy Wright and Peggy McGowan in coordinating and making
the Sam Steele quilt for the RCMP barracks at Fort Steele Heritage Town (see CQG #001). By
2001-2, Judy was Secretary and she also took on the job of set-up and take down of the 2001
Quilt Show. She joined Audrey MacKinnon to organize the show in 2003 and again took on the set-up/take down role in 2007. Thus, Barry, Judy’s husband was a regular helper when the
quilts were being hung. That year, she was also the Guild’s Treasurer (2005-2007) and fellow
‘retired teacher’ and friend, Joy Colombo, was President. Judy taught the group Christmas
Placemats in 2003 and she regularly hand-quilted with the guild group on Tuesday mornings a the Seniors Hall. While Judy didn’t take on jobs after about 2007, she regularly donated quilts to the guild’s Community Quilts program organized for many years by Noreen Aikman and Ileane Sampert.
Donna Bernhardt, Quilter
Donna joined the guild in 2004 and is the current President (2025), having generously assumed the position in 2023. Donna was Vice President in 2012-2013 and then President 2013 – 2015, when the guild had over 90 members. This second term as president, Donna and the executive team are focusing on quilting ‘fun’ for the members, which Donna is known for from her time as Program Coordinator and the ongoing “Tuesday Mornings with Donna”.
In 2010, in just one term as the “Programs” position, Donna initiated: Block-of-the-month, Bucket Club, two Mystery Quilts and a Quilt Challenge. The minutes are full of Donna demonstrating/teaching sessions: Tumbling Block, Wrap & Roll Pillowcase, Ruler-Bag Tote, Quilting 101, Starburst Table-topper, Underground Railroad, Wanderers Wife, bindings, and machine quilting. In addition to all the time Donna has donated to helping guild members broaden their quilting skills, she has been a prolific quilter – Donna has made over 600 quilts plus all the other “stuff” like bags, backpacks, table-runners, decorations and baby items.
Diane Bjorgaard, Quilter
Diane joined the guild in 1999 and stayed a member for about five years. Her sister Donna Kovalevich had joined a few years earlier and was a consummate quilter (see #051, 052). Diane took up quilting when she gave up running – sewing gave her brain a break. Her first quilt was a log-cabin in the barn-raising layout. This quilt is still on her bed. In Diane’s words:
I had always sewed a lot. My sister, Donna, taught me to sew on our mother’s “Singer” treadle machine in 1959. At that time, I needed to make aprons for my first job as a teenage waitress. That led to making my own clothes and eventually to creating outfits for my two children. In 1999 I needed to fill my “off work” time with an activity to replace running and Donna suggested I try quilt making. She had been quilting since 1992 and was extremely fussy and very talented.
Quilt #65
Terri Brogan & Myrta Thompson, Quilters
Terri has been a part of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild since joining in 2019. Her mother, Pat Skordal, and her twin sister, Tracey Vanderlaars, are also members. Terri is one of the Worker Bee Wednesday quilters and usually attends the guild’s monthly Quilt Til You Wilt Saturdays. In one member survey, Terri wrote: My mum and sister belong, so when I moved back to
Cranbrook, I joined too. It’s fun to be around such wonderful, friendly and very skilled quilters. On Tuesday mornings, women hand-quilt. It’s exciting to see this craft still practiced, and that mentoring is offered to anyone who wants to learn.
The quilt she registered for the project was made by her husband’s ‘grandmother’, Myrta Thompson, of
Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia as a wedding present for Terri and Mitchell, November 5, 1983.The family doesn’t know a lot about Myrta’s quilting story. She likely quilted with the women of the local United Church and possibly learned from other family
members that quilted. They know that she had a treadle sewing machine and hand-quilted on
a frame, which was likely home-made. This quilt, commonly referred to as a Dresden plate
pattern, took her four months to make; she was “happy that it was done in time.” It’s thought that some of the fabrics were recycled shirts, dresses, table cloths and aprons.
Broken Needle Quilters
Gretchen Bryant Quilter
Gretchen lived in Meadowbrook, just outside Kimberley, and joined the Cranbrook guild
in 1989, staying just one year to take part in the workshops and classes. The Kimberley Guild
held its inaugural meeting in January 1990. Gretchen took a long time to join a guild after her
year with Cranbrook. In fact, Gretchen says that it wasn’t until she was in her 70s that “I
started quilting with fellow quilters and have had so much fun…”. Gretchen joined the Wasa
Country Quilters Guild in 2015, where she took her turn as President 2018 – 2020.
Gretchen sewed her own clothes and did an abundance of cross-stitch and Brazilian
embroidery prior to taking up quilting. She was busy working and getting her two boys to and
from activities – hockey being one. Her husband worked in the Elk Valley so he wasn’t home
each night. They had settled near Kimberley where Art was born to raise their boys “in one
place”. Gretchen’s father was in the Armed Forces so she had moved from base to base; one
year she attended three different schools. In her early quilting days, money had to be used
wisely, hence her first quilt was made of some “poly fabric and inferior cottons”, but she loved
the process. She continued to work, raise her boys, and quilt whenever she could. Being in the
era ‘before internet’, Gretchen learned through books and “picking the brains of anyone she
could”. She remembers that a friend, who was moving away, dropped by with a book she
thought might be of interest: Lap Quilting With Georgia Bonesteel (Oxmoor House Inc,
Birmingham, Alabama: 1987 printing).
Evelyn Buterman, Quilter
Evelyn wrote a profile of herself in 2008, it is paraphrased here: Ev began to work in the craft
when she took her first quilting class from Linda Shaw (#400) through Parks and Rec programs
in 1999. She had admired the work of her younger sisters for many years, but only felt she
would have time to devote to the work after she retired from teaching. Linda taught an excellent
class that produced a small sampler quilt; a second class in appliqué work followed in Linda’s
home. Ev quickly learned that ripping out would follow work that was done too quickly or
inaccurately. After feeling comfortable with the vocabulary of quilting, Ev joined the guild – this
was 2005 – and found it to be a great source of assistance. Ruth Rutledge and Audrey
MacKinnon (#053) came to her home to help Ev through some early problems as she developed her craft as a quilter.
Joy & Russ Columbo, Quilters
Joy Colombo (1941-2024)
Joy Colombo is another member that took up quilting and joined the guild “after she retired” – Joy retired from teaching at the elementary school level (Pinewood, Highlands, Steeples) and joined the guild in the fall of 2002. Though she was late for her first guild meeting, Joy only sat on the sidelines of the guild for that first year. From 2003-2005, she was the Vice-President while Audrey MacKinnon (#053) was President. Then Joy became President from 2005-2008.
One noted event in Joy’s tenure was reported in the Kootenay Advertiser (December 2005): a group of members made 60 pillowcases for the Chemotherapy Unit at the Hospital. Another 1
event was playing host to the Regional Quilt Conference in 2008. Mary Lindquist (see #016) was the conference coordinator. The guild rented the gymnasium of the St Mary’s Catholic School for the event and commissioned Dawn Hunt, a Certified Quilt Appraiser (Canmore, AB), to be the keynote speaker on A History of Quilting. The guild took its turn as host of the conference every 6 to 10 years – 1989, 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2023 (there was an interruption because of the COVID-19 Pandemic that resulted in a postponement from 2020 to 2023). Meetings Joy chaired were always opened with a joke or a funny story. She entertained members at the Christmas and year-end functions with hilarious skits, often enlisting Betty Wardle’s (#035) help. Betty was one of Joy’s sorority sisters.
Annie Cox, Quilter
Antonia, or Annie to the guild members, joined the Cranbrook Guild in 2015. She was the guild’s Vice-president from 2017 to 2019 when Joy French was President (see 042). Annie taught a few mini-sessions, including sewing machine maintenance and the quilting pattern “Attic Window ”, plus she shared her quilts in a trunk show, “Quilts We Made” with Julie Laird and 1 Jennifer Ham. While a member of the Cranbrook guild, Annie lived at Grasmere (B.C.), where she had a long-arm quilting business: Quality Quilts. To attend meetings, Annie had to travel 90 km one way, which took about 2 hours. Fortunately, she could commute with her friend Julie Laird (see #026). In 1983, Annie had moved next door to Julie in Fernie, BC. Julie introduced her to serious quilting, and Annie joined the Fernie Quilt Guild in 1984. She had some knowledge of quilting before meeting Julie. Her husband’s grandmother had quilted with the church ladies, and Annie had made a few baby quilts as gifts – the style with satin-stitch appliqués and a shaped border like her ‘first’ quilt made in 1980. Annie’s first quilt, made for her toddler son, features 12 appliquéd Teddy Bears in a sash-and-block layout with sashing cornerstones. She used a zig-zag stitch for the appliqués. The pattern was from a McCall’s Magazine. Annie says, “I didn’t know what I was doing. I used pre-quilted fabric and tied the quilt”. This experience was complicated because the printed pattern contained an error: the cornerstones were omitted from it.
June de Groot, Quilter
June joined the guild in 2006 and stayed until 2016. She quickly added her expertise to help the guild flourish at a time when the membership was growing; it reached its peak of 96
members in 2008 and stayed well over at 80-90 until 2016. June was guild President from 2008-2011 (3 years) and then lead the Programs for two years: 2011 – 2014. That meant she
was President for two quilts shows, 2009 and 2011. One activity initiated by June and her executive that is still a popular guild activity, was the “Quilt-Till-You-Wilt Day” – this was like a mini-retreat where the Hall was rented for the day and members invited to bring projects to work on, enjoy the company and potluck meals. Also in June’s tenure, members began donating quilts to the Rotoplast ‘Wrap-a-Smile Campaign” (41 sent in 2009) as well as keeping
up with the donation of quilts to the local social/heath services – 33 in June 2009 and another 23 in December 2009.June took up quilting seriously after her retirement from banking. She was a skilled craftsperson and artist. She sewed clothing and she worked with fused glass.
Dominique Drummond, Quilter
The founding of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 1985 is always attributed to Dominique Drummond and Lisa Sharpe (#023). Dominque attributes it to a combination of people who liked doing the same thing: making guilts. Dominique did place the “ad” in the local newspaper, inviting interested quilters to a meeting at the library. By 1986, 16 quilters began to meet regularly: Lisa Sharpe (#023), Dominique Drummond, Peggy Salvador( #021), Nell Lagerway, Linda Nesbitt, Elaine Lunn, Donna Cockwell, Barb Jones, Lenore Neads, Pat Hall, Laura Napl, Bernice Sargent (091), Debbie Hansen, Wendy Litz (#055), Anne Senyszyn, Janet Leggett, Susan Dugan, Jerry Purnell, Erica Schultz (#028), Noreen Aikman, Judy Wright (#043), Elaine Fawcett, Anne Creighton and Pam Fifield. Dominique was the guild’s first Vice-President.
Louise Dunn, Quilter
Louise is probably the most prolific quilter in the guild, though she may have slowed down her personal production recently as she has taken on machine-quilting as a side business. She estimates making 550+ quilted items over the past 55 years – 10 quilts a year! Louise joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 2004. Until then, she hadn’t taken classes in quilting despite having started the craft in the early 1970s. She was one of the workshop planners in 2010-2011 with Doreen Peebles and Ilene Lowing. Her main contribution has been teaching workshops and donating quilts.
The workshop list includes: Stack and Whack, Disappearing 9 Patch and Pinwheel blocks, Drunkard’s Path, Log Cabin Christmas table runner, and Reverse Appliqué. She has a ‘studio’ sewing area that was part of the guild’s 2009 tour. On average, Louise donates seven plus quilts a year.
Vicki Easton, Quilter
Vicki is one of the newer guild members. She joined in April 2022. She had been a member of a guild in each of the other communities she called home: Lower Mainland guilds, Victoria, and Calgary.
She started quilting from sewing; “I love sewing, and I love the creative process.” No other family members were quilters, really. Her mother, who taught her how to sew, made one quilt
that was machine pieced with wool squares and hand-tied. Vicki thinks she made up the pattern as she went along.
Vicki learned quilting basics through a 12-week class that produced the sampler quilt #165 – “My first, but not my last”. Following that class in 1990, Vicki has made 50+ quilts mainly for
special occasions or gifts. She’s added bags and even a jacket to her list of completed quilting projects. Since moving to TaTa Creek during “COVID-19”, Vicki created a sewing space out of a vintage “CP
Rail Bunkie”, brought to the property in the 70s to be a chicken barn. She cleaned and insulated it, added new windows and floors to make a perfect studio. Vicki pieces on a Bernina 580 and machine quilts on a sit-down Bernina Q20 – a recent acquisition. Her preference is for ruler work lines, which she learned mainly through books and videos. Many machine quilt artists post teaching videos on YouTube channels or their websites; there was a surge in the number of available online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when gatherings were restricted worldwide.
Tammy & Harlton Ekman Quilters
Tammy was a member of the guild for 12 years, 1991-2003. Now in 2025, she says, “I still love to quilt when I have time to create. The new fabrics are so beautiful to touch and admire. You
can create anything from your imagination, and it will never look the same as another.” Tammy started by taking a quilting course with Lisa Sharpe (#023) in 1988, and because she liked to
sew, quilting and joining the guild offered her another creative outlet. By 1992, she was part of the guild’s telephone committee and the raffle quilt committee. The quilt pattern chosen for the
The 1993 raffle was The Tree of Life. Other committee members were Jane Decredico, Linda Ainsworth, and Linda Wesley (#041). The quilt was raffled, raising $700 in profit. Tammy took over delivering the baby/juvenile donation quilts (#046) from Betty Wardle (#036) in 1997. In the fall of that year, she delivered 10 quilts to local service agencies. The guild had received $100 from the Ladies Auxiliary to the Royal Legion to purchase panels for these quilts.
Members would take a panel and add fabrics, either of their own or the guild’s, to make blocks and borders. Sometimes members gathered on a Saturday to make these quilts and other
times members completed the quilt at home.
Katy Fedorchuk, Quilter
Katy, or “Kate”, is a relative newcomer to the Cranbrook Quilters Guild. She joined in 2022, during the post-pandemic restart of the guild. When all non-essential gatherings were ‘banned’ in March 2020, the guild stopped meeting for the first time since its inception in 1984. The guild reconvened meetings in the late fall of 2020, initially via Zoom and then in person in the spring of 2021, with policies on mask use and social distancing. When Kate joined in the fall of 2022, meetings were relatively “normal” again. She does say that “quilting got me through Covid”. Kate volunteered to assist with planning the East Kootenay Regional Quilt Conference, held in June 2023. Also, she helped with the guild’s Yardage and Craft Sale in May 2024. Katy is also a relative newcomer to quilting. In 2017/18, while wintering in Yuma, Arizona, Kate joined the Villa Alameda Quilt Guild at the RV park where she and Don stayed. She joined mainly for the social aspects, but she did have a “long ago” project waiting to be made. She was already an experienced seamstress for her family, so she easily picked up quilting. That “long-ago” project was the Bridal Wreath Quilt – started in 1981 and completed in 2018(see CQG #024).
Joy French, Quilter
Joy French was in her third year as the guild’s President when the COVID-19 pandemic response required that all non-essential gatherings cease and the guild’s meeting place, the Senior Citizens’ Hall, closed (March 2020). The guild did not meet from March 2020 until November 2021, when the hall reopened with restrictions, including mask-wearing, social distancing, hand sanitizing, and no admission without proof of vaccination. The guild’s COVID-19 plan was submitted to the Seniors Board in January 2022, and in-person meetings resumed in February. Joy and her executive had kept the members updated through those tumultuous times – VP Julie Laird (#049), Secretary Wendy Murdoch, Treasurer Janet Smith, and Past President Jennifer Rae. In November 2021, a new executive (#020) was elected to guide members through the restart. At the close, there were 66 members; at the restart, there were 52 members – by the fall of the following year, 2022, 18 of those members were over 80. When the guild stopped meeting, everything was in place for hosting the Regional Quilt Conference in May 2020, but the event had to be cancelled and was not held until June 2023. Joy’s personal activity during “COVID-19” included taking an online course with Judi Madsen, similar to the Fabulous (#062) course. And she, along with Betty Valin (#127), made masks to give to local seniors and others, as well as PPE gowns needed by hospitals.
Tracy Garvin, Quilter
Tracy Garvin was the voice of the guild on its first Facebook page in 2013. And she acted as guild Historian until that role was taken over by Joy French (see #042). The guild had a small presence on social media before this through a website attached to Judy Wright’s (see #043)
internet account. The Facebook page was to keep members informed and, hopefully, attract new members. In the spring of 2015, the guild’s social media presence increased when Wendy Hogg (see #153) set up a new guild website to advertise the quilt show and keep a record of the display. This site has been phased out (June 2025), leaving the guild with a public Facebook account managed by Joy French. Tracy joined the guild in 2012 to learn new facets of quilting and meet new people. She stayed a member for six years. She had actually taken up quilting in 1987. She took a course at the East Kootenay Community College (now College of the Rockies) when she was ‘eight months pregnant’. The instructor was Mary Pagnucco from Purcell’s Stitch and Knit in Kimberley. Tracy does many crafts: knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, bead work, paper, cards, and ‘junk journal’. Quilting was something new to try in 1987 – nobody in her family had been a quilter. One of her first large quilts was a wedding gift for her sister. She adapted a pattern, “Ride ’em Cowboy” by Anastasia Antonsion.
Ruth Gilbert, Quilter
Ruth is the maker of many, many quilts. She estimates that she has made about 160 quilts. Ruth joined the guild in the fall of 2023 and is an avid participant in the ‘Worker Bee Wednesdays’ and ‘Tuesday Morning Quilting’ with Donna Bernhardt. She taught the in-house workshop on cuddle capes (see CQG#102). Ruth has probably shown a finished piece at every guild meeting since joining. Her most recent full-size quilt (Winter 2025) is documented under the Workshop: Colorado Star Log Cabin (CQG#096).
Ruth started quilting in 1994. Her interest was piqued when she saw some quilts at a fair. She took a “sampler quilt” class at The Chicken Coop in Mundare, AB. This was a year-long project in which participants made one block per month. The queen-size quilt was pink, purple, and green, and was longarm quilted at the quilt shop. Ruth’s daughter has this quilt. Sadly, Ruth can’t convince her daughters to sew.
Jan Gordon Hooker, Quilter
Jan created her first quilt in 1977, while living in Smithers, BC, when she made her toddler son a simple block-and-sash quilt, “Streets and Avenues”. His son could play with his toy cars on it
and sleep under it as well. All the sewing was straight-stitch (quilting is a plain-stitch textile craft), and she cut the patches with scissors, as this was the “time before rotary cutters”. No
doubt she measured with a simple tape measure or a school-type ruler. Jan was in the Women’s Institute in Smithers and used a pattern circulating among the group. After a hiatus of 26 years, Jan took up quilting as a hobby and never stopped – this was 2003. A lot of Jan’s major pieces are self-designed – she sees a block pattern or conjures an idea and begins. An admirer of what Jan titled “her best work”, a landscape quilt she made for her sister-in-law, suggested it should have been entered in the Houston World Quilt Festival, which is held annually in Texas. Such is the calibre of her design style.
Judy Guido, Quilter
Judy came to quilting after sewing her own clothes since age 12. She continued to sew clothes for her husband and children until she retired in 2003, and decided she wanted to quilt.
She started a sampler quilt with Lisa Sharpe, but didn’t put the blocks into a quilt because she used “cheaper” fabric – “A Big Mistake”. Her mother and grandmother were self-taught quilters. They most often used material from clothes, so it might be any type of fabric, not just cotton. Judy was ‘inspired’ by her grandmother and the quilt she felt for her grandchildren.
Joan Haddad, Quilter
(1963 – 2025 [Interview – February 2025)
Joan joined the guild in 2008 and stayed until 2022, when it became more difficult to attend activities. She was part of the Worker Bee Wednesday group for several years, and she
enjoyed the Tuesday Morning guild quilting activities. When in Hemet, CA, for the winter, Joan belonged to a quilting group. To start, she and a friend took a workshop at Cotton Tree Quilt
Shop. One of her first quilts was an Irish Chain pattern in magenta, cream and beige. Essentially, she enjoyed quilting and just kept on going with it.
Lorena Hall, Quilter
Lorena joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 2014. Lorena is a true ‘guilder’: she has been a member of the guilds of Rossland, Castlegar, Kimberley, Golden, Wasa and Cranbrook, plus
the Appliqué Society, which is a virtual group. Added to this, she belongs to a small local Longarmers Group and the Tear Drop Quilt Group of Welton, Arizona, where she spends the winters.
Lorena started quilting in 1987 (age 35) when she taught her children to sew using scraps left from making clothes. She used a ⅝” seam allowance rather than a ¼” because that was the
standard for dressmaking, and the binding was the backing folded to the front and tacked. When she joined the Kimberley guild, she learned the ‘proper’ ways.
Marg Hall, Quilter
Marg started with the guild in January 2023. She had retired from her EA (Education Assistant) position, and her four boys were ‘launched’, so she now had time on her hands. Her mother,
Enid Holloway (see #040), was an avid guild member from her arrival in Cranbrook in 1999 until she ‘aged up’ and attending meetings was too difficult. Marg had learned to quilt at age 12,
under her mother’s guidance. Marg is guiding the guild’s hand-quilting group on Tuesday mornings, and she is one of the team carrying out the “Quilting in School” project, along with Shirley Neil, Barb Olson, Joy French, Vicki Easton, Beth Lenz, Ivy-Lynne Stein, and Susan Little. She also organizes the Fort Steele Heritage Town Hand-quilters. She joined that group
with her mom a number of years ago. For Marg, quilting at “the Fort” is “the best of times”.
Jennifer Ham, Quilter
Jennifer is one of the ‘young’ guild members and one of only a few who works. She joined the guild when she moved to Cranbrook in 2013. She had been a member of the Vancouver Quilt Guild and the Fraser Valley Quilters Guild when she lived in the Lower Mainland – “it was inspirational to be connected to creative people.” Besides helping with the guild events,
Jennifer took care of the Cranbrook Guild’s Membership files from 2021-2024 when the guild was able to reconvene during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, the meetings were online through
Zoom and then in person with COVID-19 restrictions (masks and social distancing) in Spring 2022. Jennifer has been quilting for 24 years! She learned the basics through a class at The Cloth
Shop” on West 10th Avenue in Vancouver. She walked by the shop many times as a UBC student and “the colours and patterns of the fabrics and quilts called to me”, so much so that sometimes she stopped just to touch the fabric! She didn’t have a sewing machine then, and she didn’t have the money to spend on a new hobby. It was a few years after she graduated (2001) that she took her first class, and she followed that class with several more over the next few years – designing, appliqué, embellishing, quilting. She “loves that there are so many different ways that fabric can be used to create traditional and modern works.”
Dorothy Hinton, Quilter
Dorothy joined the guild in 2007. She holds the honour of being the most ‘senior’ member, having celebrated her 93rd birthday on August 29, 2024. In 2005, while wintering in Yuma, Arizona, she joined a community of quilters. Dorothy was a young “74” then. On returning home, she joined the guild. Members recall her showing her “S” shaped (Spicy Spiral variation) table runner at a meeting and later teaching the technique. And her adaptation of a sweatshirt into a quilted jacket! She spent 16 winters in Yuma starting in 1997. That “S” table-runner from four fat-quarters is still her favourite pattern. Needle skills-wise, Dorothy was a sewer first – she started with maternity wear as a young wife and graduated to dresses, coats and children’s wear, and even jeans construction – but quilting was new. Her Aunt Lizzie was a quilter. Dorothy didn’t learn from “Lizzie,” though she inherited 16 Dresden Plate blocks when she passed in 1976. These were tucked away until 2001, when Dorothy created a bed-size top and had it quilted at Sew Creative Chalet in Kimberley.
Wendy Hogg, Quilter
Wendy started quilting in 2013 “when I was waiting for a hip replacement and needed a sedentary activity.” That year, a friend invited her to a guild meeting and she joined. It was a
time when she was looking for a creative outlet as well as to be with people who were passionate about what they did. A bonus is the “feeling of community; people willing to share or give advice and who celebrate successes.” Wendy even quilted for a few hours before heading to the hospital for her surgery. Initially she learned the basics through guild workshops and YouTube videos. Then in 2015 she started taking classes at the Quilter’s Affair in Sisters, Oregon (soqs.org) – her total to date is 25 days of classes with some of the most renowned quilting instructors in the USA. Wendy also goes to two retreats a year with friends. She knows for sure that her great-great grandmother quilted because she owns one of her “quilt tops” that was hand pieced. There were always “utilitarian style, scrappy quilts” that Wendy and her siblings used on their beds, but Wendy never asked who made then, so probably her grandma, great aunt or great grandma also quilted.
Enid Holloway, Quilter
Enid Holloway: CQG #040, 145
Enid’s daughter, Marg Hall (see #039), brought Enid’s story and the quilt to the documentation day. Part of the story comes from an interview with Enid by a guild historian, Ev Buterman.
Enid stayed a member of the guild until 2015. She died in 2017 at age 92. She had joined the guild shortly after she moved to Cranbrook in 1999. Quilting was part of her heritage, so she
sought out ways to be involved with the local quilting community. Initially, this interest brought her to the Fort Steele Heritage Town Hand-Quilters. She loved to quilt and socialize. She was a
prolific quilter – most were gifts for new babies or weddings, some were for charities to raffle.
She didn’t always label her pieces. Besides her six children and five step-children, Enid had “18 grandkids, 21 great-grandkids, and two great-great-grandkids” in 2017.
Carol Hoodicoff, Quilter
Carol had been quilting for several years before she joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 2013, after retiring. She has made about 60 quilts for no special reason other than “because I could”. Her first quilt was made through a 12-month block-of-the-month course offered at Shannon’s Fabrics (#073) in 2003. The quilt was made with templates, some as small as one
inch! Carol thought it turned out “really nice for a first attempt with the majority of points showing.” The ‘quilt police’ watch that the points are not cut off when patches are sewn together – the points being the intersections of seams, especially where triangle shapes meet or angles like the tips of diamond shapes. Carol later decided that she didn’t like how she quilted this piece, and about 10 years later, she ‘picked the stitching out’ and had it re-quilted by Diane Gardner and Barb Alaric (early guild members). In the guild, Carol, along with Linda Holm and Betty Valin (#127), organized a 50/50 draw at meetings to bolster the guild’s budget for community quilts – the guild supplies the batting for donation quilts and some of the fabrics. And they delivered the quilts to the social and health
services from 2017 to 2019.
Stephanie Kastelan, Quilter
Stephanie is the youngest member of the Cranbrook Quilter’s Guild at age 31; however, she isn’t a novice quilter. Before joining the Cranbrook guild, she was a member of the Creston
Valley Quilt Guild from 2013 to 2021, when she moved to Cranbrook. As part of that guild, Stephanie was Vice President, then President, and she helped organize two quilt shows. The
show in 2017 was themed “Baskets Full of Quilts” to fit with the Valley’s Full Plate Celebration, “arts meet agriculture”. Stephanie’s perspective on quilts/quilting was a feature of a
news article about the guild’s show: Stephanie Longpré, the youngest member of the guild, isn’t interested in cheap premade blankets. She believes blankets from big box stores are of poor quality and have become part of our throwaway culture. “It isn’t a matter of whether quilts are necessary or not. When I make a quilt, I’m not thinking about expense; I’m thinking about the creative process,” said Longpré. “Quilting is an art form, and I enjoy choosing different colours
and themes that make each piece unique. Handmade quilts are often made with someone in mind, and they last for generations. And I enjoy the challenges of quilting; there’s always something new to try.”…It turns out that, according to a recent study, quilting improves
wellbeing in ways that physical and outdoor activities cannot. Quilters have found the activity helps their cognitive, creative and emotional wellbeing, particularly among older people. “I’ve made all sorts of quilts – different sizes and levels of difficulty – but each quilt was an artistic challenge.”
Sara Kershaw, Quilter
Sara is exotic – she dresses with pizzazz, holds glamour well, and talks with a “New Yorker” accent. At one time, she sold Mary Kay cosmetics, though she didn’t drive a pink Cadillac. That pizzazz was reflected in her pattern and fabric choices. Sara is a bright quilter. Her tastes turn to the flourish of colours produced by Kaffe Fassett and Ricky Tims. She was the only guild member to fashion “Jane Sassaman”1 style quilts using Jane’s idea of “big, bold and beautiful fabrics”. Sara is the quintessential ‘needle-turned appliqué-er’. She says that she took to that technique like a “duck-to-water”. That was back in the 80s in New York when she started quilting with some friends – Sara was in her mid-40s. She was a seamstress by then – she made clothes for herself and her sons. Her quilting story goes that she was invited by friends to pay $10 for packets for a small quilt in a bag. She drew templates for this early work, and that began her love of needle-turn appliqué. She could work all day on these projects and used them to “relax”. The small group she joined had 10 members – Sara enjoyed the little classes and listening to the others chatter about quilting and their lives. In 1986, she found a McCall’s Quilting magazine that used vintage handkerchiefs to create the bottom of heart appliqués – another style of appliqué and another thing to collect. To expand her skills, she started watching quilt shows on TV. At one
point in her younger days, she sold pieces – the first an Amish design that she made on consignment, followed by pieces that she saw in magazines, mainly those with appliqués. She leans toward the bright and bold, and Asian motifs, plus she likes to buy kits so she doesn’t “waste time planning and selecting fabrics… so she can get to the piecing right away.”
Donna Kovalevich, Quilter
Donna’s story comes from her quilter’s profile, written by Ev Buterman, and a conversation with her daughter, Julie Van Hesteren. Donna was crowned the Queen of Paper Piecing by her guild friends. She was a member from 1997 until she died in 2008 and was known for her absolute precision as a quilter. She was a
sewer forever, but didn’t start quilting until after her husband died in 1992. Donna was an alumna of Lisa Sharpe’s sampler quilt class (1995) (See CQG#023). Apparently, Donna made several trips to the quilt shops, selecting and re-selecting fabric. Choosing fabric and the centre of the eight-pointed star were a challenge. Hand-quilting, however, was not a challenge – she quilted this ‘first quilt’ meticulously. Of those beginning days, Donna said: “Quilting got into my blood as soon as I started in Lisa’s class. I’ve poured over the magazines and read every article, including the ads at the back”.
Julie-Ann Laird, Quilter
Julie is known as the “Queen of Scrap Quilting”. Her first quilt was actually made of clothing scraps sewn to a sleeping bag and bound with blanket binding. Her first traditional quilt, machine-pieced and hand-quilted, was made in 1986 in a class with Joan Hodgeboom of the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, MN, USA. Joan frequently taught classes in Fernie and Cranbrook in the early years of the guilds, and Kalispell is close to the Canada/USA border, so it is an easy place to visit, even for a day trip. Julie joined the Cranbrook Guild in 2014 and travels in for meetings from her home in Jaffray. She was a member of the Fernie Guild when she lived and worked there. She also hand-quilts with the Fort Steele Heritage Town Hand-Quilters. In Jaffray, she’s a key member of the “Queenagers Group”, which meets regularly at the community hall to sew and socialize. She held the position of Vice-President with the Cranbrook Guild from 2018 until the guild’s closure under the COVID-19 pandemic requirements in March 2020.
Beth Lenz, Quilter
Beth loved sewing and decided to learn to quilt, essentially so that she could make gifts for graduations, new babies, family, and, more recently, for her many grandchildren. Beth’s mom sewed, and her sister is a self-taught quilter who prefers hand-quilting. Beth’s beginning course was taught by Catherine Lanctôt at Shannon’s Fabrics (#078). The project quilt was a sampler from the 1995 book “Joy of Quilting” (J. Hanson & M. Hickey, Martingale & Co., 1995).
The book promotion states: 12 lessons – all you need to know to do several patterns… choose rotary cutting and speed piecing or scissors and templates. The patterns were all based on half and quarter square triangles, half rectangles and diamonds (see the picture of Beth’s first quilt). One of Beth’s favourite patterns is Bargello (see #011) because of the multitude of ways it can be styled. She took a Bargello course at Sew Creative Chalet in ~2010 – that piece graces one of her walls. Besides joining the guild to learn more, she was part of one of the weekly quilting groups at Cotton Tree Quilt Shop for a time, and she belonged to the small Longarm Quilters group. Beth has made about 50+ quilts and 30 or more wall-hangings, start to finish – meaning that she has machine quilted all but three/four that she sent to a longarm quilter.
Mary Lindquist, Quilter
“Quilters are good people; you certainly meet a lot of wonderful people through the common bond” likely sums up what kept Mary a guild member since 1994 (age 52), despite her initial misgivings about managing the demands of being a guild member when she was already stretched thin as a mother of four boys, who worked for Victim’s Services as well as being a ‘minister’s wife’. She jumped in when someone advised: Just pick what you can do or want to do. In the guild, Mary “picked” being the Hospitality/Sunshine chair for 17 years, teaching many sessions of the Colorado Star Logcabin Quilt (see CQG#084), organizing the merchants’ mall for the 2007 Quilt Show and then the 2008 East Kootenay Quilt Conference. Mary states that her official quilting time started in 1994. Though her Aunt Clara was a quilter, Mary came ‘fresh’ to the art when she enrolled in Lisa Sharpe’s Beginner Quilters Course (see Mary’s quilt CQG #019). She was immediately hooked on quilting, which she described as “painting with fabric” and “a catharsis activity” for releasing the emotions that came with her position in Victims’ Services. In actuality, Mary had chosen her “first” quilt in 1992 before learning the basic skills from Lisa. This was an ambitious beginning piece (CQG#018), which seems to be a trend in Mary’s approach. In an earlier interview, Mary commented, “I just barrel ahead, racing ahead before I know what I should be doing. I take on stuff that I don’t begin to realize the extent until later”. Indeed, she often said, “I saw a picture in … and decided to make the quilt.”
Susan Little, Quilter
Susan is one of the minds behind this “Virtual History of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild” and its principle writer, hence this story will be written in the first person voice. I have coordinated the guild’s History Project since its inception in 2023, as well as the guild’s partnership with the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History (CBIRH) (basininstitute.org). That spring, I had completed a two-year term as guild President, having volunteered to take on the position and help the guild reconvene after the COVID-19 pandemic stoppage. The other executive members were: Juananne Wales as Secretary (#106), Sandra Martin (#072), Treasurer, and Past-
President Joy French (#042); the Vice President role was not filled. The two main outstanding items, a quilt show (that became the I Quilt exhibit) and the Regional Quilt Conference, were the focus of my term, along with the question: is the guild’s history worth preserving formally? Hence, the History Project was envisioned by Derryll White of CBIRH and I – we have been friends for 50+ years, and Derryll asked that question as he was ‘smitten by quilts’ after scanning the pictures of Judy Beaulac’s quilts (#084). (Derryll and Barry Beaulac were friends from when Derryll was the curator of Fort Steele Heritage Town and Barry was a volunteer.)
Wendy Litz, Quilter
Wendy is an original guild member. She joined at the start in 1984 and stayed a member until 2017. All that time, she worked full-time on Maternity at the local hospital in Cranbrook. She served the guild in many capacities, including President 1993-94 and 1998-99, Secretary 1995-96, Vice-President 1991-92 and 1996 to 2000. She also held the roles of Public Relations, Quilt Show Coordinator, Resources/Librarian, Raffle Committee, Programs, History Committee, and Workshops. At most biennial quilt shows, Wendy coordinated the setup and teardown. When she joined, she had been quilting for six years (since 1978). She shared her developing expertise by teaching a variety of workshops, including quilting on a domestic machine, appliqué methods, ‘Sparkle Nine Patch’ with Juananne Wales, The Scrap Quilt Wendy’s Triangles, Judy Niemeyer’s “Seasonal Table-runner”, and Folded Edge Machine Appliqué. And Wendy frequently volunteered to “be the program” at the guild’s social meetings by demonstrating techniques such as loading a quilt on a hand-quilting frame, paper-pieced name tags, Judy Niemeyer project cutting, and sharing her many creations in a Trunk Show. Besides taking on many of the guild’s positions, Wendy hand-quilted on Tuesday mornings when it fit into her work schedule. The ‘regulars’ at the beginning were Peggy Salvador, Jeanette Oddy, Noreen Aikman, Pat Hall, Betty Wardle and Juananne Wales.
Ilene Lowing, Quilter
Ilene says that she “uses quilting as an escape and challenge – it is a relaxing way to spend time”. Quilting always makes her feel good. It’s a “no-brainer – I sit and sew, and it occupies my brain”. Ilene actually started on a treadle sewing machine at age six, and by age 12, she was making her own clothes. Ilene was in the local 4-H Club for several years, where she learned to sew because she wasn’t allowed to take Home Economics in school. Her mother did help hand-quilt, but didn’t make quilts. Ilene came to quilting from painting at age 59 – “I use fabric to create my art like I used to paint”. And the colour palette she prefers for both crafts is vivid and saturated tones.
Ilene joined the Cranbrook guild when she moved to the area from Calgary in 2005. She had started quilting with a friend, Joan Hawey, in Strathmore, AB, four years before. Joan had introduced Ilene to the craft in a “trade of skills” – Joan wanted to learn to paint, and Ilene wanted to learn to quilt. They met as their husbands worked together – WestJet pilots – and the skills trade was the birth of a lasting friendship. Both Ilene and Joan still paint.
Audrey Mackinnon, Quilter
Audrey MacKinnon (1937 – 2025) Interview November 2024)
Audrey MacKinnon became a vital member of the guild the moment she joined after moving to Cranbrook from Terrace in 2000. She was Vice President in 2002 before becoming Guild President 2003 – 2005. Other offices were: Workshops Coordinator (2001), Quilt Show Chair (2003 with Judy Beaulac and in 2009 with Margaret Delamont), ‘Quilted Treasurers’ initiator (2011), as well as many years as the Hospitality Coordinator. Audrey was especially helpful with machine issues and taught the workshop “Getting to Know Your Machine”. Binding – Audrey’s Way was a popular demonstration at the guild’s social program evening. Her technique made it easy to create a mitred binding of any width. Audrey never hesitated to try new things, mentoring many members in the process, including teaching the beginner classes the guild offered at one point. In 2019, Audrey designed the centre motif and pieced the appreciation quilt made for Ken Bridge owner of Bridge Interiors, a furniture store that hosted the guild’s Quilt Show. In all her guild roles she was known as ‘small but very mighty’.
Sandra Martin, Quilter
Sandra is a ‘finisher’ – she gets her pieces done relatively quickly, “if they are for gifts”, and cautiously takes on other projects, not wanting to have too many PHDs! Projects Half Done or PHDs is a guild term and program. Members like to say they are working on a PHD when
invariably asked, “What are you working on now?” The program, now under Sandra’s leadership, has members sign up to finish projects that have started but languished. For each, you pay $5, and if you complete it by the date you chose, your $5 is returned; if not, the money goes into a ‘pot,’ and the winner is drawn among the members who met all their deadlines. Sandra does have PHDs logged into her My Quilts App. It shows 60 projects started and 39 completed. Her defence: “If it’s just for fun, it doesn’t always get done.”..
Shirley Neil, Quilter
Shirley joined the guild in 2004 after she retired from teaching home economics/textiles. She talks about being a sewer, but quilting was different, so she joined the Guild to learn quilting techniques. Her neighbour and dear friend, Rose, gave her a cutting board and blade as a ‘retirement gift’; Rose knew Shirley would get hooked on quilting. To learn the basics, she took a beginner’s block-a-month course through Shannon’s Fabrics. This first quilt was a traditional sampler with blocks like bear paws and flying geese. She says that she “missed the memo” on squaring up blocks, so she had to “fudge” to join the seams. Shirley’s journey to quilting is similar to her Aunt Marg’s. Though Shirley didn’t appreciate it when she was young, she knew that her aunt was an excellent quilter, who likely progressed to quilting from sewing clothing for her children.
Barb Olson, Quilter
Barb has always ‘dabbled’ in art and created with “my hands”, encouraged by her mother, who was an accomplished sewer. At a young age, Barb outfitted her paper dolls. In her teens, she made sock puppets. In Home-Economics classes, she loved making bell-bottom pants and started a wee business splitting blue jeans and adding a decorative triangle to make her friend’s pants shine. She sewed clothes for herself and her kids, plus Barbie doll and Cabbage Patch doll clothes, and many Christmas gifts on a second hand Singer sewing machine she bought at Shannon’s Fabrics (#078)In the guild, Barb is famous for her Selvages Trunk Show – see #148 – that included quilts plus
another 30 items including an apron, hat, lamp shade, stool cover, and bag all made from the selvage edges of quilters’ cottons (2015-2016). This was definitely “out-of-the-box” quilt making. She really took up the “art of quilting” in 2010, and many of her pieces show her leaning toward quilting.
Dawn Pelton, Quilter
Dawn Pelton – CQG #141
Dawn joined the guild in 2002 with her teacher friend, Joy Colombo (#010) – Dawn was 48 and still teaching, and Joy was 61 and newly retired. Joy always picked her “young, busy friend” up for the guild meetings. Now, 23 years later, Dawn is retired, travelling a lot, and still taking workshops and participating in/helping with the guild activities. She actually started quilting in her early teaching years. Sometime around 1978, she and Vicki Bjerstead (former member) took a block of the month course at Dominique Drummond’s (#302) home studio. This was long before Dominique and Lisa Sharpe (#023) met and talked about forming a guild. Dominique taught basic quilting techniques through the construction of traditional and more ‘artistic’ blocks. Dawn has yet to use these blocks in a quilt. Over the years, Dawn has primarily used quilting to make gifts. Her first completed work was made of “Friendship Star” blocks (#013) in bright colours, for her niece. That quilt has lasted – it is now being used by her niece’s two young boys!
Hilda Pingitore, Quilter
Hilda was born in Cranbrook, May 16,1915, to Malcom and Annie Gillis. Hilda was the second child. Hilda’s parents were both born elsewhere – Nova Scotia and Boston – but their marriage took place in Cranbrook at Malcolm’s parents’ home. Malcolm worked as a Teamster for CPR. Annie was a housewife.
Hilda’s older brother, Larry, died in WWII, leaving a wife and one child, Roland (1938- 2012). Hilda would have attended Cranbrook Grammar School. We know that she had “infantile paralysis” and that the community rallied to send her to Vancouver for treatment. She used walking aids or a wheelchair. Hilda belonged to the Presbyterian Church Ladies Aid, and according to the local Courier, her quilts were shown at that group’s tea in 1958. Hilda had been a winner of the Toronto Star Weekly Quilt Contest in both 1956 and 57. The first was for a quilt, “Morning Glory”, which was the 75th quilt that she had quilted. She had made 45 quilts herself and earned money by hand-quilting pieces. Some of Hilda’s customers were in Eastern Canada.
Sheila Plant, Quilter
Sheila Plant is a new member of the Guild. She joined in September 2024 after moving to the area. She’s also a member of the North Star Quilters in Kimberley and the weavers’ guilds in the two cities. She belonged to the quilt guild wherever she lived, joining because she liked being with people who shared her interest. Quilting is one of her passions; even after 35+ years, Sheila still “enjoys learning new techniques and supporting newer quilters”. She’s open to helping with the library, since that was her profession, and to teaching workshops. She has taught curved seams and other basic designs, as well as Sashiko Japanese stitching, at the Haliburton School of Art and Design (Guelph) and at some of the guilds she joined. She learned and kept quilting in part because she “loved the idea of first creating chaos by cutting up this perfectly fine material into a thousand pieces,… and then creating beauty and order by sewing them back together in different patterns.”
Elaine Ransom, Quilter
Among the guild members, Elaine’s crazy quilt, 3-D appliqué, and needlework are unique to
her. Elaine encouraged Linda Wesley to create her “Miniature Baltimore Album” ( see#109), and
some members do Folk Art Quilts using Sue Spargo’s “creative stitching” patterns
(suespargo.com) (see# 203), or other wool appliqué designs from Primitive Gatherings or
Buttermilk Basin. Some have dabbled in Sashiko stitching and tried a bit of crazy quilting;
However, none of the other members work like Elaine. Elaine taught herself crazy quilting while she and Paul were living at Mt Isa, Queensland, Australia. This was from mid-July 1988 to January 1990. They had struck out from Canada after making a house exchange. Elaine’s first pieces were made using things she had collected on her travels. She grew up in Montreal, where her family made a living in the “Rag Trade”, as fabric work was called. Her dad was in the Cloak Operations Union, the union of workers who made coats and suits. During the war, he worked at Canadair, a civil and military aircraft manufacturer. Post-war, in 1948, Elaine’s parents opened a fabric store with “dressmakers’ service” (making buttonholes, covered buttons, and belts as home machines did not have that capacity).
Peggy Salvador, Quilter
Peggy is a founding member of the guild. By 1984, Peggy had been quilting for about seven years. In 1977, when her children were still young, she actively sought out older women because she didn’t have family living close by. She found her niche with the Fort Steele Heritage Town Hand-Quilters, who had a ‘quilting bee’ once a week as part of the ‘living museum’ displays.
Peggy was an experienced sewer, having made clothing like t-shirts and jeans. At Fort Steele, she was invited to participate in the social aspects of the quilting bees, and the women taught her to hand-quilt, including how to load a quilt and use templates and scissors to cut fabric for quilt blocks. Locally, she purchased quilting fabric from Sew & Sew. 2. Peggy had family living in Spokane, WA, and Calgary, AB, so on trips, she would pick up fabrics where there was a greater variety to choose from.
Ileane Sampert, Quilter
Ileane Sampert (1938 -2018)
Ileane took care of the guild’s community quilt donations from 2005 to 2011. She photographed each piece, recorded the name of the quiltmaker, and the agency that received the quilt. To make it easier for members to create a donation quilt, she bought baby and toddler-focused panels and bundled them with fabric for blocks and borders. Ileane joined the guild and started quilting in 1998 with Sharon Petruk and Icille Pighin, who were school friends. Ileane Lilley, at the time, was the first Snow Fiesta Queen in 1956 at Kimberley’s winter festival. She photographed each piece, recorded the quiltmaker’s name, and the agency that received the quilt. To make it easier for members to create a donation quilt, she bought baby and toddler-focused panels and bundled them with fabric for blocks and borders.
Bernice Sargent, Quilter
Bernice Sargent (1932 -2015)
Bernice was a founding member of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild. She was the guild’s “master hand-quilter”. For years, Bernice led the hand-quilters on Tuesday Morning, becoming the “official” coordinator from 2009-2011 when the position was formalized – meaning it was a budget item and separate activity. The hand-quilters had always gathered to quilt the guild’s raffle quilts, but by 2009, the yearly guild raffles were no longer happening, and the majority of members were finishing their quilts with machine quilting, either doing it themselves on their domestic sewing machine or sending the quilt to a longarm quilting service. As with all the early members, Bernice took her turn at being on the Executive: she was President 1988-89 and Treasurer 1999-2001.
Erika Schulz, Quilter
Erika started as a novice quilter in the summer of 1980 with the Fort Steele Heritage Town Hand-Quilters. She went on to be a founding member of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 1984/85. She’s now a ‘master hand-quilter’ with 45 years of experience. She was already an
adept sewer, having made her children’s clothes for years. She started sewing at the age of 14 on a Pfaff treadle machine. Quilting was a new focus at a time when her children were teenagers and no longer wanting ‘home-made’ clothes. She wanted to use up the fabric scraps. In 1980, Erika decided to apply for a volunteer position at “Fort Steele”, which is a “living museum” and open from late spring to late fall. At ‘the Fort’, Erika met a group of ‘senior’ women who were hand-quilting. A quilting bee is one of the living-museum activities, as “bees” had been a part of life in Fort Steele town since the early days, 1898 onwards.
Lisa Sharpe, Quilter
August 1, 1935 -November 18, 2025 Louisa (Lisa) Sharpe –
Lisa Sharpe and Dominque Drummond are credited with founding the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in the fall of 1985. At the time, neither quilter had belonged to a guild. What they knew about guilds came from what they read in some quilting magazines. Both Lisa and Dominique had been quilting since the mid 70s. They met at a quilting conference in Banff in the summer of 1985. At the conference, they met a quilter who had helped form the Creston guild. Creston Valley Quilters Guild held its formation meeting on November 9, 1983 – Gail Greenwood was elected as Chair, and Yvonne Brownfield was elected as Vice-chair. The Creston Guild shared its Constitution and Bylaws with Cranbrook. Lisa was the first President of the newly formed Cranbrook Quilters Guild, Fall 1985 to June 1987. Dominique was the Vice-President until she moved to Grand Forks in 1988. Pat Hall was Secretary, and Ann Senyszyn was Treasurer. Lisa describes the early meetings as mainly about chatting about quilting, getting ideas for new projects, or helping one another with quilting issues. The initial members to gather at the library meeting room were: Lisa and Dominique, Judy Wright (#043), Peggy Salvadore (#021), Noreen Aikman, Anne Senszyn, Linda Nesbit and Pat Hall. Lisa favoured foundation paper piecing and appliqué. She usually labelled her creations by hand or computer, on muslin or a pre-printed fabric label. Lisa would still encourage people to take up quilting as a hobby. To her, it has been a way to be creative. Her words – “express your creativity, pay attention to the foundation of the project, but don’t take it too seriously and have fun”.
Linda Shaw, Quilter
Linda joined the guild in 1987 with her neighbour, Linda Wesley. They connected through their children playing “on the street”. When Linda Wesley was having difficulty with the Y-seams on her first quilt, Linda Shaw efficiently helped her correct the block. It seems those early members accepted that they would have to take a turn at being on the executive, and Linda did her fair share: she started as Secretary in 1987-88 when Judy Wright was President.
That year (January 1988), Linda started the guild’s first newsletter, which was mailed to
members, area guilds, as well as to a few out-of-town quilt shops like the Quilt Gallery,
Kalispell, MN (USA) and Muriel Neade, in Grand Forks, B.C. Her guild contributions continued: Historian 88-89, Workshops 89-90 and again in 92-93 with Lisa Sharp (#023), Raffle Quilt committee 1990 (#500), Books 90-92, and then Vice-President 1996-97 (Debby Pettypace was President). Linda was President, 1996-97, with Vice-President, Wendy Litz (#055); Secretary, Betty Wardle; and Treasurer, Janet Leggett (#400). Linda frequently used her talents teaching guild workshops like paper-piecing, Celtic design (see Raffle Quilt Gallery #500-12 – Red Celtic), design with lines following Pam Clark’s methods, and a Quilter’s Carry-all. At the same time, she operated Mountain Threads (1988 – 1995) as a home-based business (#078), initially with Judy Wright. The “shop” and her quilting space took up most of the basement. Now, 37 years later, the families can’t really recall the beginnings of Mountain Threads.
Pat Skordal, Quilter
Pat’s first quilt was a flannel “rag quilt”. This is a variation of a “quilt-as-you-go” quilt characterized by exposed, frayed seams on the right side of the quilt created by clipping the seam allowances and washing the finished quilt. She was introduced to quilting and encouraged to join the guild by her sorority friend and guild member, Myrt Dent (#400). Pat joined in the fall of 2005, at age 63. Pat’s key contribution to the guild, besides attending many of the workshops, was her years of planning and delivering the guild’s “community quilts”. She took on this role from 2012 to the spring of 2017. Pat was joined by various members in those years: Donna Cockwell (#400),
Beth Lenz (#128), Robin Taylor (#034) and Judy Beaulac (#084). Besides donating to local groups, quilts were sent to communities experiencing ‘disasters’. In June 2013, the 13,000 residents of High River, AB, were evacuated as the town flooded. Quilters from Western Canada sent over 1000 quilts. The guild received a thank-you letter from the organizers for their
contribution, though it wasn’t recorded how many quilts the guild sent, it was likely more than 2013, which was also the year when groups were asking for quilts more suitable for boys and for adults with families, and for quilts that added texture to those donated for people with special needs.
Ellen Stapleton, Quilter
Ellen Stapleton (1940 -2025) – this was written a week before Ellen died.
Ellen joined the guild in 1987 and is now a lifetime member. Her quilting story starts in ~1985. She was working full-time as a lab technician at the local hospital, but her two children had finished school and moved out. She had some free time and thought she’d fill it with quilting. Ellen says that she had been browsing through the paper and saw an ad for a quilting course, so she convinced a friend to take it with her. Ellen had quilting knowledge because both her mother and grandmother quilted. Her mother started in earnest when Ellen and her twin, Helen, left home. And Ellen had already made the Trip Around the World top using cardboard templates, a ‘school-type’ ruler and scissors. But her mom and grandmother lived too far away to teach her more. The beginner’s course was taught by Dominique Drummond at Shannon’s Fabrics, which by then was bringing in quilter’s cottons. Ellen still has that small
sampler quilt. The course had been the answer to getting Ellen’s quilting hobby started, as it “taught a lot of techniques”. Dominique Drummond and Lisa Sharpe were the two quilters who advertised for interested quilters to form a guild in the fall of 1984.
Ivy-Lynne Stein, Quilter
Ivy-Lynne joined the guild in 2017, though she had been quilting since 2013. To start, at the encouragement of a friend, she signed up for a course at the Cotton Tree Quilt Shop, in Cranbrook. In the family, her Aunt Barb (Ruault) was a quilter, so Ivy-Lynne had been exposed to the art. She delayed joining the guild because she felt she hadn’t gained the skills of an accomplished quiltmaker, not knowing that guild members are willing mentors to the novice
quilter. Once she met the members, she realized that the only requirement to join the guild was the love of quilts and quilting. She has supported the guild in many ways: she is the baker who provided the cookies for the guild’s popular opening reception at the Art Gallery Show, I Quilt, in 2021; she was part of the four-person organizing committee for the guild-sponsored Regional Quilt Conference in 2023, along with Kate Fedorchuk, Vicki Easton and Susan Little. For the past two years, she has been part of the “Quilting in School Project” team, where grade 8/9 Home Economics and Textiles students are taught quilting basics by making a mug rug. Since 2022, Ivy-Lynne has been the guild’s Librarian. In that role, with fellow member Pat Skordal, she switched the longstanding system and organized the books by categories to make it easier to find topics of interest. Locally, Ivy-Lynne is an avid supporter of the “Special Olympics” and has been “helping families negotiate the world of diversity for 20ish years” (diversefamilyroots.ca).
Robin Taylor, Quilter
Robin joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 2010. She has been part of a small group of quilters, the ‘Sunday Morning Group’, hosted by Louise Dunn. Robin distributed Community Quilts from 2013 to 2016 with fellow quilters Pat Skordal (2013-16), Donna Cockwell (2013), and Judy Beaulac (2014).
Robin took up quilting after she retired from teaching. She had been a sewer, making her own clothes and household items. She took a beginning quilter’s class taught by Audrey Mackinnon at the Cotton Tree Quilt Shop. On a trip to Disneyland, she had been inspired by the quilts in one of the displays. Robin estimates that she’s made 20 to 30 quilts. Some have been exhibited at the Guild’s quilt shows. Some were made as gifts or for special occasions, and some were donated to the community. Robin has a designated quilting space and a small stash organized by colour. She prefers cotton or flannel in blue, green and turquoise tones, and likes coordinated hues and blocks. Batiks are a favourite motif, and “pinwheels or anything that looks like it moves” is a favourite pattern. She mostly shops at the local stores past and present – Sew Creative Chalet, Cotton Tree, Sugar Town- and some in Lethbridge, AB. Quality fabric is essential so that the products last.
Joyce Thorbergson, Quilter
Joyce’s quilting story begins around 2003, when she followed a pattern for a baby quilt to make “quillows” for her nieces. To make a quillow, you make a quilt top, a backing, and an attached pocket. The quilt is folded in thirds, then placed in the pocket. The style is still popular as a “carry quilt” for children, a picnic blanket, and a car blanket. Joyce enjoyed learning sewing in high school, but had little time for it until her children were grown. When they were young, Joyce was a ‘Circle Leader’ for Creative Circle products. This involved in-home demonstrations of various stitchery products. The leaders would earn a commission for each kit they sold. So, Joyce was used to learning from written directions and brought that skill to quilting. For the quillows, the instructions had her cutting all the 2” squares diagonally and then sewing
the triangle patches together to create two colour half-square triangles. After joining the guild, she learned a quicker method for creating these particular blocks as well as many other ‘efficient’ piecing techniques. She enjoyed many of the in-house workshops to learn new techniques and patterns, and to work on her projects. She attended some quilting retreats at Three Bars Ranch and Bull River Guest Ranch.
Betty Valin, Quilter
Betty joined the guild “to stay” in 2012 with Barb Olson (# 044). They had come to a few meetings years earlier, but weren’t enticed to join then. In the spring of 2013, Betty helped with the setup and teardown of the guild’s 2013 show, but didn’t add one of her quilts to the exhibit.
And for the 2014-2015 year, she joined Barb Olson, Linda Wesley (041) and Isla Collinson to plan the monthly programs for the social night meeting. In 2016-2017, she teamed up with Carol Hoodicoff (#156) and Linda Holm to help increase the guild’s funds by applying to the BC Gaming Commission for a license to run 50/50 draws at the meetings. The funds raised were used for supplies for Community Quilts. Betty, Carol, and Linda took over the planning and delivery of Community Quilt donations from 2017 through to 2019, when the guild closed because
of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Then Betty made masks for community members and even some PPE gowns needed by hospitals. Betty has been part of the Worker Bee Wednesday group since its inception in 2016. She’s responsible for the construction and quilting of the scrappy star quilt (#048). For the past three
years, Betty has organized the Quilt-Till-You-Wilt Saturdays. Betty was part of the planning group for the guild’s gallery exhibit in the summer of 2022 – I Quilt at the Cranbrook Arts Council. Since the fall of 2023, she has held the executive position of Secretary. In 2025, the President is Donna Bernhardt (#009), the Treasurer is Sandra Martin (#072), and the Vice-President is Belinda Luke.
Juananne Wales, Quilter
Juananne has been a member of the Guild since 1987 and a Professional Longarm Quilter since 2002. In the guild, she is known as the “quilter and longarmer extraordinaire” – she has such a broad experience base in quilting, and her custom quilting is a match to any of the ‘renowned’ names of the day.
She wrote this piece for the Guild’s grant application in 2023: I have always loved quilts! I remember as a child being given one made by a family friend. I know how it made me feel when I wrapped myself inside it. It was like being hugged by a blanket of love. I knew then that someday I would make one myself… I completed my first quilt using a McCall’s tissue pattern back in 1976 (age 19), the year the USA was celebrating its Bicentennial. That quilt really wasn’t very good. Over the years, I’ve taken many workshops to learn various quilting techniques. I’ve made many quilts in the process. Most of these early quilts were hand-quilted.
Then, when I became a busy working mother, I knew something had to change. I just couldn’t hand quilt all the tops I was making. I took a machine quilting class from Harriet Hargreaves. I saw the beautiful work she could accomplish using her home sewing machine, and I wanted to do the same. It wasn’t quite as easy as I expected. Then I met Pam Clarke of Spokane, Washington. She opened up a new world for me. Her “Design with Lines”1 technique gave me the confidence to machine quilt some of my projects. I discovered that I loved machine quilting. Several years later (2002) I bought an A-1 Longarm quilting machine and started my own business… In addition to taking numerous classes with Pam Clarke, I have taken classes with renowned instructors: Jamie Wallen, Dawn Cavanaugh, Suzanne Early, Kimmy Brunner, Dustin Farrell, Judy Madsen, Angela Walters, Cindy Needham, Jodi Beamish, Karen McTavish and many others who are champions in what they do. With online learning, I have been able to take classes from world-renowned teachers from the comfort of my own home, at a time and pace that suits me…In 2008, I was introduced to the revolutionary “Square in a Square ® ” technique developed by Jodi Barrows and became a Certified Instructor for this technique. I was in the first graduating class of “Threadology” offered by Bob Purcell of Superior Threads… I learned about batting from H.D. Wilbanks Jr., who worked at Hobbs Batting Company, and from Debbi Trevino, the “Consumer Reports for Batting”. I worked with a group of machine quilters who tested different battings.
Betty Wardle, Quilter
Betty Wardle joined the Cranbrook Quilters Guild in 1992 and never left. She’s known for her wild sense of humour and for always winning the draws! Betty was the oldest of three children (and “not the prettiest”), grew up in a railway station-house (i.e. no amenities like running water) in Gull Lake, SK, worked in London, England and travelled Europe as a 20+ year old, raised her boys, and took up quilting about age 50. Her mum, Elizabeth Bajnok (#035), was a quilter, so Betty decided she “should try”. She always loved quilting fabrics, and as her boys had left home, she decided it would be lovely to make quilts like the ones her mum had made. By this time, Betty had settled in Cranbrook, and her mum was in Medicine Hat, AB, so she knew she
couldn’t rely on her mum’s help. Betty’s first quilt and likely the idea of joining the guild came from the classes she took with Lisa Sharpe – Lisa’s famous sampler quilt – in 1992 (see #023). Betty has stayed in the guild because of the camaraderie, the different ideas members share, and ‘the shopping sprees and retreats across the line’. Across the line is the local term for the USA states of Idaho, Montana, and Washington, which were popular day-trip shopping destinations from Cranbrook, mainly because the fabric selection was broader and yardage cost less than in Canada. Since COVID-19 and the decline in the value of the Canadian dollar, day trips have decreased.
Linda Wesley, Quilter
Linda is another member who uses a varied repertoire of quilting skills – patchwork, wool pieced hand work, traditional appliqué, art/free form, paper-piecing, thread play, machine free motion quilting, and hand quilting. She has a fine hand to go with her fine eye for bringing colours and patterns together. She makes patterns that catch her eye, no matter the style. Linda enjoys the challenge of new techniques and finishes what she starts, even if it doesn’t turn out as she had hoped; “someone will love it.”
Linda has been a key guild member since she joined in 1987. Almost immediately, she was part of that year’s raffle committee, along with Peggy Salvador (#021) and Shirley King, who chose a Log Cabin Sampler pattern. It has an appliquéd border with 100 leaves and 25 birds! From there, Linda became the guild’s Art Council Rep, Publicity member (4 years), Newsletter producer (2 years), and Workshop Committee member, for a total of 4 years. Linda made a ‘first quilt’ when she was 18 and a college student in Lethbridge, AB. She gathered fabrics of all sorts, cut them into squares, sewed a top, sandwiched it with a backing and polyester batt in a pillowcase style, and then tied the layers together with yarn ties rather than quilting stitches. She knew about quilting because her grandmother and great-aunt were quilters. This ‘first quilt’ served its purpose: to keep her warm in the Alberta winter. Linda wasn’t new to sewing. She had started sewing doll clothes for her “Barbies” at a young age.
She used her mom’s electric Bernina sewing machine (her mom sewed and knit).
Sewing was also part of junior and senior high school, offered through the Home Economics classes.
Shirley White, Quilter
Shirley White ‘saved’ the guild by accepting the position of President-elect in June 2000, taking over from Noreen Aikman (#400). Shirley is a ‘Lifetime Guild Member’ because she is over 80. She joined the guild in 1999 after retiring from her position in medical office management. Shirley ‘offered’ to be President the following year when, at the wind-up dinner, she sat across from Wendy Litz (#055) and heard that the guild might be without a President. To be a guild under the Canadian Quilting Association (CQA/ACC), the group must have three officers: President, Secretary and Treasurer. In 2000, the Secretary was Judy Beaulac (084) and the Treasurer was Bernice Sargent (091). The nominating committee was unable to find a member willing to serve as President. The quilters could have continued to meet, but the Guild would lose its membership with CQA. Shirley was experienced in group leadership and, on
talking with Wendy, thought: “Well, I could do that !” So she was ‘elected’ and served as
President for three years – 2000-2003. Shirley’s successor was Audrey MacKinnon (#053).
Judy Wright, Quilter
Judy Wright (1947 – 2024)
Judy was a founding member of the Cranbrook Quilters Guild when she joined her friend Lisa Sharpe and 22 other quilters in the fall of 1984 to talk about forming a guild. Her talents were missed when she moved on from the guild in 2017 to other creative pursuits – painting and lapidary. She left the guild when she saw that members were stalled in their attitude: “Many were not willing to branch into new techniques”. She wasn’t dismayed; she just decided it was time to move on. Judy was the guild President 1987-88. The guild had 33 members then and was busy being a “hobby group” planning workshops for members to advance their quilting skills, starting a library, already creating a third raffle quilt to raise funds for activities, and reaching out to the community by donating baby-size quilts to the hospital and the Crisis Centre. A raffle quilt (double-size bed quilt) brought in about $550. The yearly membership fee
was $10. In 1987-88, Judy taught Seminole Patchwork (Brackman #4177), and Lisa Sharpe (#023) taught a six-week beginner class. Joan Hodgeboom of the Quilt Gallery in Kalispell, Montana, travelled to Cranbrook to teach “Curved Two Patch” (Brackman #1456 (v)) and “Attic Window” (Brackman #1366). Judy took on the role of workshops coordinator for 1990-91 and again 1994-95, and taught many techniques. In 1998-99, Judy, along with Lisa Beaulac (#084) and Peggy McGowan, coordinated the Fort Steele Quilt (#001) project. In 2004-5, she was one of the members who drafted, pieced, and quilted the Cranbrook Centennial Quilt (#080). She also took her turn producing the newsletter (2000-1, 2006-7), which she turned into the guild’s first website (2009-12).
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Lynn Zac, Quilter
When Lynn joined the Cranbrook Guild in 2004, she had been quilting for 6 years. Her initiation came about in 1998. She had recently retired as a Realtor when friends Sharon Petruk, Ileane Sampert and Icille Pighin (all guild members) invited her to go to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for a quilt show. On being awed by the display, she determined, “This is what I want to do in my retirement!” At the time, she and Brian were moving to the coast, where she conveniently settled only minutes from Wineberry Fabrics in Surrey. Lynn started taking classes at Wineberry, discovered how much she enjoyed the art, joined the Peach Arch Quilters group, built a fabric and pattern stash, found the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and eventually moved back to Cranbrook. Like many quilters, she came from a sewing background.
Prior to her move to Cranbrook in 1990 and her adventures in real estate, Lynn had owned a fabric shop and taught classes on parka making ala Linda MacPhee (macpheeworkshop.com) in Whitecourt, AB, and MacKenzie (B.C).
For a time, Lynn lived between Cranbrook and South Surrey/Whiterock, travelling to and from every two weeks, at first in a sporty PT Cruiser and later in a truck as she needed more luggage room for her and her dog. Her “dedication” was such that she timed her travels to mesh with Guild meetings (and “Kootenay Ice” hockey games) in Cranbrook, and the Peace Arch Quilters meetings in South Surrey. The Cranbrook Guild reaped the benefits of Lynn’s vast experience.
Cranbrook Quilters Guild
Quilts
FAQs
What is your process while working on a quilt?
Quilting is the absurdity of cutting up perfectly beautiful fabric into small pieces and sewing them back together. However, this is the process of creating
a quilt top. To make a quilt top, you take yardage of complementary fabrics, cut shapes (squares, rectangles, even circles or curved pieces), and then sew the pieces together to create new patterns. Once a patterned “top” is made, you make a quilt sandwich of three layers: the top, batting, and backing. The sandwich is then quilted either by hand or by machine. After the quilting is done, the edges are usually finished with a binding or a facing.
One of the “jokes” about quilting:
You can be a “traditionalist” in your approach or a “modernist” and make bed quilts or art pieces. There isn’t a limit to how you use quilting as a creative process. It truly is like being a child, experiencing the joy of a box of 64 Crayola crayons and a blank canvas to colour.
Who is behind the Cranbrook Quilters Guild?
The guild was founded in 1985 by Lisa Sharpe and Dominique Drummond, who initially advertised for women interested in learning about quilting to form a guild. Since its inception, over 300 local women have joined as members. Today, in 2025, 60 ‘ordinary’ women, aged 30 to 94, gather twice a month from September to June to promote the guild’s objectives: preserving the art of quilting, sharing quilting skills within a community of women, and donating quilts to social and health agencies to give to those in need of the comfort a home-made quilt can bring.
I want to become a quilter, where should I start?
In the past, aspiring quilters would start by taking a beginners quilting course offered through their town’s recreation department, a quilt store, or a guild. However, with the advent of the internet, many beginners, regardless of gender as more men are taking up quilting, now learn through online courses. While
online courses offer convenience, in-person workshops provide an advantage. Instructors can address individual learning and technique issues, and participants can connect with other students. Some lifelong friendships started while making a sampler quilt in that first class.
Should I join a guild?
Joining a guild isn’t for everyone, but if you’re willing to take on the responsibilities, it can be rewarding and a lot of fun. As a guild member, you may need to be on the executive committee, or develop a program, or take a workshop simply to ensure sufficient participants to cover costs. While there’s work involved, there are also perks. You’ll have ready access to tutors, a community of like-minded individuals to play with, workshops and demonstrations to add to your
skill set, and an audience that’s delighted by your creations. Perks do make the commitment worthwhile.
CranbrookQuiltersGuildHistory 