On the west coast of Cape Breton Island, along the splendid Cabot Trail, lie several villages and hamlets where the art of quilting is joyous and thriving.
On March 3, 2026, the Celtic Quilt Guild joined their semi-monthly meeting at the Belle Cote Community Centre. There, they handed over 21 completed quilts for active care in hospital palliative care and family rooms. Representatives of the Centre Communautaire Sacré Coeur de Chéticamp and the Inverness County Municipal Hospital, along with hospital board members and administrators, met with the guild members to receive the donations.
Grants received in September from the two Community Health Boards permitted purchase of bolts of batting and wide backing. They also covered some cost for machine-quilting to withstand institutional laundering.
A true group effort
First, guild members pieced all the quilt tops using fabric from their personal stashes. In November, at their first guild retreat, work on the project began in earnest. In rotation, quilters worked in assembly lines. They pieced tops, measuring, cutting batting and backing, machine-quilting and, finally, fitting bindings and labels. As a result, the members found that the project proceeded smoothly and wrapped up ahead of schedule in February.
Celtic Quilt Guild, established in 2004, meets at the Belle Cote Community Centre in Belle Cote, the Margarees, every 1st and 3rd Tuesday. The guild has taken up many community service projects over the years:
- Quilts of Valour
- pillowcases for pediatric hospitals/wards
- quilts for Housing First (housing for youth age 16-24)
- art quilts for nursing homes
On your way around the Cabot Trail, why not stop in for a cup of tea and an oatcake?! We would love to meet you.