THE 2014 FEATURED QUILTER AND NAMESAKE FOR THE SHOW:
ELEANOR ROSE (EVANS) McRAE (1922-2005) 
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Photo: Kathy Levandoski hangs her mother's quilts at the first show in 2014.

The quilts that hung in the first show were made over a span of forty years, from 1961-2002. Eleanor (my mother) was a great gardener and quilter. She loved the farm and doing carpentry and feeding the birds. In one fell swoop, she could drive a grain truck with no brakes, come into the house and bake the best homemade bread, and then put the finishing touches on a velvet bridesmaid dress. She loved all these things and was forever learning a new skill. Most of all, however, her first love was her husband and her family.
 
We, her children and her grandchildren, each received a quilt or two at some point in our life. She always encouraged us to use them so some are a little worn and weary from years of service. I know her grandchildren felt a sense of security and warmth under Grandma's quilts, and now her great-grandchildren are doing the same.

Over the course of her lifetime, she made innumerable quilts and quilted items - wall hangings, sleeping bags for her granddaughters and their dolls, clothing, tote bags and cushions. She went through many phases - from the utilitarian quilts made from whatever-fabric-that-could-be-salvaged-so-you-could-stay-warm-at-night phase, a traditional pattern phase, an Amish phase, and in the last years of her life she enjoyed making her own designs.

In the winter there was very often a quilt set up in Eleanor's living room; she always enjoyed a good quilting bee with all the neighbour ladies sitting and chatting while they put a few stitches in place. She would at times help others with their quilting projects as well. For example, her neighbour Annie could no longer quilt because she had developed rheumatoid arthritis, so Eleanor helped her finish piecing a quilt top together and then organized a bee. Annie came as a spectator and to listen to the tales.
What you see here is but a small sampling of the many things she made. 

​Kathy Levandoski