The Cariboo Calico Quilters Guild will be increasing quilting hours to accommodate its 14 new members.
Membership unexpectedly rose to 75 from 61 in just the past year.
Laurel Murray, who has been a member for nearly three years, said the club will add Wednesday to the typical Monday, Tuesday and Thursday quilting schedule at the Dancing Quilts store.
“Any day there’d probably be around a dozen people in there quilting at a time,” she said. “That’s why I say we’re opening up to other days, because it’s just getting so busy there’s not a lot of elbow room sometimes.”
Murray attributes the increase in membership to the number of new people moving to town.She moved up from the lower mainland, herself, only three years ago.
When comparing the Cariboo Calico Quilters Guild to previous quilting clubs she’s belonged to, she described a much more active community.
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She used to attend monthly meetings to show and tell what members were working on. She would leave feeling inspired but said there wasn’t designated time to do anything about it.
“Whereas here, you go and they have lots of time for you to quilt with other quilters, so it’s quite different that way,” she said.
“If someone’s working on a quilt and you need to put it together and pin it, there’s always a bunch of people that’ll pick up from their machines and go and help you.”
She said it’s exciting to see membership rising.
The Cariboo Calico Quilters Guild will have a booth at the upcoming Summer Festival. People will be able to sign up for classes and purchase quilts.
Murray said there are over 400 years of experience between all of the guild’s members but that all levels of quilters are welcome to join.
The guild regularly donates comfort quilts to the ambulance service, the 100 Mile baby of the year as well as communities in need, said Murray.
They are also active with the Women’s Centre, donating hand-made tote bags or cosmetic bags.
The guild is currently on a summer break but quilting will resume in September.
beth.audet@100milefreepress.net
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