For not the first time in the last few months, CQA/ACC has received photos of a signature quilt and a request to help identify the original block makers based on their names and locations.
This 1957 quilt was discovered by Rebecca MacCallum in a consignment shop in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. The names embroidered on the quilt top are from both Nova Scotia and British Columbia. How are these quilters connected?
All of the blocks were created using the same fabric, signifying that—like many signatures quilts—the blocks were made in various places by several people who are connected in some way, and then mailed to one quilter for assembly.
Rebecca was able to connect with a grandson of one of the Nova Scotia quilters named on the quilt. He is also sharing the list of names with his relatives. Rebecca intends to gift the quilt to this family once she gathers more information about all of the embroidered names.
Now, to make the same connection to the names and towns in both NS and BC. Some of the peoples’ names are embroidered with place names; some not. Do you recognize any of the names or families on this list?
Mrs. Jeanne Beck, Yale, BC
Bev Cellon (or Lellon or Ceccon)
Billie Schulz, Copper Mountain
Yvonne White
Genevieve Solien, Oliver, BC
Mary Fik
Erika D. Krutz, Webster Corner, BC
Dot McGinnis
Anne Fuller
Mavis McBurnie
Kae Colin
Annie J. Bevan, Bryn Gwyn General Store, Lower Nicola, BC
Marge Harper
Jean Booth
Anne Kloppenburg
Mabel M.P. Lacombe, Copper Mountain
(this block also has two animals on it, and the names Mel and Jeff)
Jean Sikora
Mary Munroe, Lyons Brook, NS
Phyllis Cyr, Pictou, NS
Ella Bonnie, Mulgrave, NS
If these names are familiar, please email editor@canadianquilter.com, and we will connect you with Rebecca.
We love these kinds of mysteries! Will keep you posted if Rebecca is able to find out more.
Update
If you read another recent blog post, Making Connections at Quilt Canada, you’ll know we were chatting with a quilter from the Sagebrush Quilters Guild in Kamloops, BC, which is not far from where Annie J. Bevan and her husband, Thomas, ran the Bryn Gwyn store, also known as Bevans General Store (see the feature image at the top of this post). What a treat to receive the image below, and a couple of leads for Rebecca’s research, including the quilt’s possible connection between Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Thank you to everyone who emailed us or commented on the Facebook post. All of the information you shared has been sent to Rebecca.
In addition to following up on the connections, Rebecca’s current plan is to finish the unquilted top, and then display at her guild’s spring show in Westville, NS. Following that, she will gift it to a man who reached out to her after she posted about the quilt top in Nova Scotia. Three of his relatives have their names embroidered on the quilt, including his grandmother.
