Quilters in the Caribbean

Happiness is finding a Quilt Store

On the off chance of finding African wax fabrics (fabric lengths rather than clothes) in St Martin, I went in search of textile shops.  Well, there aren’t many, but one big surprise was finding a quilt shop, A Stitch at a Time, located in Cole Bay, Sint Maarten, which fortunately, was within easy walking distance for me.

Owner Lyseth Olaria, keeps a very tidy and inspiring quilt store offering a neat selection of colourful (and very tempting) patchwork fabrics, including trays of fat quarters.  Aside from a huge display of sewing gadgets (and who ever has enough of those?), there was a nice selection of machines, wadding, bag making supplies & more – in all, an Aladdin’s cave for any quilter!  We bonded over our love of Bernina machines…

A peek at what's inside A Stitch at a Time

Lyseth was very friendly and most helpful, making suggestions and showing bolts of colours that could make suitable matches for my own small bag of scraps.  She also gave me plenty of browsing time given my need to explore and select just the right fabrics.  Lyseth clearly knows quilters and how we love to touch the cloth!  I had an absolutely wonderful time given my 3 months of quilt making deprivation, though I’m not so sure about the Cap’n!

You can tell, the Cap'n was enraptured !

A Stitch at a Time is in a group of shops in Orange Grove Plaza, Unit 3C, Orange Grove Road, Colebay, Philipsburg, St. Maarten.  It is open on weekdays from 9am to 6pm.  Phone: +1 721 - 544- 3224 & Email: info@stitchatatime.com.  Lyseth’s blog can be found at http://www.stitchatatime.com.

When you visit St Martin, Lyseth’s quilt shop is an easy run (by taxi or mini bus) from Marigot or Phillipsburg to Cole Bay along Union Road.  A Stitch at a Time is on the corner of Union Rd and Orange Grove Road, but I doubt you will find any street signs.  (Use Google Maps on your phone.)  In the next block is your nearest landmark, the vast ACE Hardware store, more like a Department Store than a Hardware!!  No fabric though.

My selection of blue & whites (very Dutch, yes? & a great find!)

A Quilt of Belonging…

This is not exactly what I had planned for today.  Really!  I was making a “things to do list” with hopes of doing a bit of blog tidying up.  Somehow though, I fell into a rabbit hole and ended up searching for information about Caribbean textiles.  All is not lost however, as I discovered a spectacular quilt called “A Quilt of Belonging”. 

Photo of the Quilt of belonging at the Inaugural exhibition at the wikipedia:Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Photographer: Nick Wolochatiuk.

The concept is amazing, the result even better.  Although finished in November 1998, I can’t say that I’d heard about this quilt and I must have been dozing in my garden shed when/if it came to Australia.  The block for Australia is one of embroidered wildflowers, beautifully done by Lyn Prichard.  The write up by the Australian High Commission leaves a lot to be desired.  Perhaps it would have been better to have assigned that task to our famous Quilt Historian & Collector, Dr Annette Gero.  The craft of quiltmaking came to Sydney’s colony (NSW) with British female convicts.  The Rajah Quilt was made in 1841 during the women’s transportation.  

If you are interested in a brief overview of Australia’s quiltmaking history then a good place to start is The History Blog.  Otherwise, seek out one of Annette Gero’s excellent books.  They are guaranteed to keep you away from your sewing machine for weeks.  Of course, you can always count this as research and inspiration!  Time well spent, I’d say…

So, getting back to the Caribbean, here are the colourful blocks provided by these tropical island countries to A Quilt of Belonging.