Barnswallows Quilters’s annual quilt show always puts the spotlight on a featured quilter, and the choice for this year’s event was quite surprised to be selected for the honour.
The work of Joyce Debreuil will be featured at the show set for the May 1-3 at the Access Event Centre in Morden.
One of the custom quilts Joyce Debreuil has made for each of her grandchildren
“I was astonished,” said Debreuil. “I’ve actually only belonged to the group for a couple years, although I’ve been quilting for a lot longer than that … so I was surprised and very flattered.
“I’ve always sewn quilts, but I would have never imagined being a featured quilter.”
The displays of the featured quilters often vary from being a sort of retrospective of their work to perhaps having a representative theme. For Debreuil, family connection is the common thread between many of her pieces.
“I have nine great grandchildren, and I made each one of them a quilt with their name on the top, so that’s going to be the centrepiece,” she shared.
Working with fabrics and especially sewing has long been a part of Debreuil’s life.
“I sewed all my life, but mostly I sewed for my kids,” she noted. “I started quilting about 25 years ago after I retired.
“I like working with colour, and I’ve always sewn and worked with fabric.”
She sees much of her work as not being very traditional in most ways.
“Most of my quilts are not traditional patterns. The ones I’m going to show are not traditional patterns mostly,” Debreuil said.
She referred to a couple mottos she likes to ascribe to when it comes to her pieces.
“If everything fits but one doesn’t quite match, it’s a mistake, but if nothing matches, then it looks great,” she said. “Another quote from a book I really enjoyed was 10 colours might be wrong, but a hundred colours are always right … if you have enough colours, it will be fine. My display will be very colourful.”
As to the attraction to quilting, Debreuil went back to her family connections with her creations.
“They’re useful. When I give people quilts, I tell them don’t hang them on the wall. Use them. So these baby quilts are all going to have been used already.”
Debreuil sees there being a lot of talented quilters in the region, so it is nice that this show puts it all on display.
“It’s high quality work,” she said, noting there is an upcoming national show in Winnipeg where she would love to see local quilters on display. “I went to one in Edmonton a couple years ago, and lots of the quilters here could easily show there and not be ashamed.”
And as for the local show, she also looks forward to meeting and connecting not only with other quilters and aficionados but perhaps even inspire interest among youth.
“It’s nice to see when a few younger people come in,” Debreuil said, recalling when she taught a 15-year-old great niece to quilt. That niece went on to make a huge queen-size quilt for her parents that will be in the show.
“This is a bit of a push to get some younger people interested,” she noted. “It’s a bit of an expensive hobby, especially to get started. Without having somebody to help, it’s hard to get started, but there’s a few.”
