Jeanne Wallace is not the type to sit around. The avid quilter and rug hooker belongs to both the Orillia Quilters Guild and the Sunshine Rug Hooking Guild and attends both groups regularly.
There is always something new to learn, and Wallace loves to learn new techniques.
Wallace does hand quilting for other quilters at her home and nearly always has a quilt set up in her basement quilting frames.
Another part of her quilting life is spent at Westmount Congregation United Church at their quilting group. This group takes in quilt tops for quilters who love to make the quilt tops but would rather they were quilted by someone else.
The Westmount quilters do custom hand-quilting and can be found quilting at the church on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. These days, many ladies send their quilts out to long-arm quilters for their quilts to be machine quilted, but at Westmount, all quilting is done by hand
Rug hooking, like quilting, is something that many people would consider a dying art, but that is not the case. Orillia has very large, active groups for both crafts.
Wallace will share her love of quilting at Shopaganza at Westmount Congregation on April 7 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. with an old-fashioned Quilt Turning. What is a Quilt Turning you ask? Basically, a Quilt Turning is a showcase of your quilts.
Traditionally, the quilts are all piled on the bed and they are peeled back one by one to display the quilt beneath. Two ladies would stand on either side of the bed and unearth the treasure of each quilt, explaining the pattern, any special fabrics or the intricacies of that particular quilt – all the way through to the bottom quilt on the pile.
Wallace has a good variety of quilts – both traditional, and modern, some made with the most aux current fabrics such as Kaffe Fassett, while others feature vintage materials. To find the Quilt Turning at Shopaganza, head down the hallway to the Sunday School rooms.
Active in displaying her quilts, Wallace’s work can also be found at the Sunshine Quilt Show, which will be held at Trillium Manor on April 14-15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Wallace continues to make her quilts and rugs. Her dream is to make Orillia known as a major centre for quilts and she is certainly doing her part to make it so.
