Kookie Sewell of the Woodstock Quilt Guild
Kookie Sewell (pronounced like cookie) is one of a group of five quilters who gather weekly at her home in Woodstock NB. All of them are as colourful as their quilt designs and all of them prefer to quilt by hand. Sewell herself has been quilting for about 20 years and was one of the first members of the Woodstock Quilt Guild. A number of her large, beautiful “objets d’art” were recently on display at the Craig Gallery in Hartland.
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“This ‘Christmas Box’ quilt was a gift for
my nephew,” Sewell relates, “and I wanted it to be chintzy and sparkly.” |
Kookie, you’re showing me some very intricate work today. How did you begin quilting?
Well, I took a class at Currie’s quite a while ago and really enjoyed it. Then I took more classes in town and in Fredericton. It’s a good pastime, quite therapeutic. And I’ve found that I do like doing things that are different. That means a lot of hours ─ days and days. You couldn’t really appreciate it unless you tried quilting yourself. [At this point, Mrs Sewell insisted that your interviewer try it for himself. It’s not easy.]
Quilting is hard for someone as clumsy and impatient as me but you and your friends are committed to hand-work, not machine quilting, correct?
Machine quilting is nice and can do different things that often enhance the quilt. But I prefer hand quilting even if it does take a long time to get the job done. I especially like hand-work for pictorial stuff because it seems to make it stand out better. You can outline particular areas that you couldn’t do with a machine ─ it’s like embossing.
When I saw your work on display recently I was impressed both with the craft and the creative flair. Especially the quilt that you call “All Roads Lead to the Sea”. (See photo below.)
Well, I like a challenge and that one was a challenge! I actually saw this quilt design at a Guild show here in town and I thought I’d like to try that. So I hunted down the pattern.
Patterns? I didn’t know hobby quilting was that organized.
Oh that’s quite common. And I might take two or three patterns and combine them. Then sometimes you might see a pattern that looks terrible at first but if you can visualize it with different colours it can make all the difference.
In a way, being a quilter is very much like being a graphic designer. You need to have an appreciation of colour theory.
I have to be happy with the colours before I start so I just pick out what I like and put the fabrics together on a table so that I can visualize how the colours will go together. I want to be able to see the pattern, not have it all run together. A lot of it is trial and error, really, and sometimes I take it all apart. I’m fussy.
So you girls get together here at least twice a week?
Yes, working in a group we might pick up a few tricks, find an easier way to do something. It’s a social thing too ─ some days we don’t quilt a whole lot.
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| This pattern, “All Roads Lead to the Sea”, only partially shown here, is deceptively simple in design and very much in the tradition of Maritime folk art. The “canvas” demonstrates Sewell’s attitude toward the use of colour. “Sometimes I like to go with just two of three colours,” she says, “other times (like this) I use more colour.” |
The Woodstock Quilt Guild meets at 7pm the first Monday of every month, October to June, at St. Gertrude's Church Hall in Woodstock NB and all are welcome. Workshops are also offered to new and experienced quilters.