"HISTORY PAGE"
IN THE BEGINNING
Rosemary Makhan was the founder of Halton Quilters' Guild. As a Home Economics (Family Studies) teacher, Rosemary also taught three night school classes in quilting for the Halton Board of Education. Many members of the Halton Quilters' Guild obtained their first experience of quilting from Rosemary's classes. In the fall of 1977, Rosemary circulated a letter to generate an interest in forming a guild. She also encouraged participants in her night school classes to become members.,
The guild first met at Queen Elizabeth School in Oakville and was made up of approximately 25 members from her classes and church people. Because they were novices they didn't keep records as they didn't know we would want to know how far we had come.
According to Rosemary, the guild started with one magazine, "Quilter's Newsletter", and Rosemary's own book, The Standard Book of Quilt Making by Marguite Ickis. There were no quilt stores in the area and the Etobicoke guild was the only other one in the area.
"Quilters are nice people to know, in quilting they have developed qualities that tend to carry over into other spheres of their lives - precision, patience, gaiety and a sense of orderliness."
From Rosemary Makhan's initial letter to organize the guild and Mary Conroy's book, 300 Years of Canada's Quilts.
Note: the above note was taken from the Pears of Wisdom booklet presented at the Halton Quilters’ Guild 30th Anniversary Celebration
Retrospective from Rosemary Makhan (Click Here)
Retrospective Photo Gallery
30th Anniversary Dinner Event
30th - Dinner Photo Gallery