HALIFAX — Every Tuesday Ruth Daniels turns her home into a massive production facility that churns out quilts for those less fortunate.
The 93-year-old and 16 of her friends have been getting together for the past eight years to make quilts out of donated materials.
“It was a project for the Women’s Institute in Nova Scotia for one year,” says Daniels who decided to bring back the project annually after noticing she still had some unused fabric laying around.
Her living room is where fabric gets cut, her bedroom is the design studio, her kitchen is where all the pieces come together and her staircase has become the storage area, with about 150 quilts stacked on its steps.
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Daniels says she hopes to make it an even 200 by the end of the month.
“We have three more weeks to go,” says Daniel, “so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Once done, all the quilts are given to the Halifax Salvation Army where they’re distributed throughout the year to house fire victims, men in the shelter and the homeless.
Major Brenda Bungay, the community and family services director with HRM’s Salvation Army, says out of 180 donated last year, there’s only three quilts left.
“I think it’s a wonderful avenue to have people like that who are willing to give of their time, number one, and then also use their talent to be able to help somebody else that may be in need.”
Daniels says the work gives her and her friends great joy.
“I have lovely people, hard workers, they do a lot of work at home, make quilts, blocks at home, and they’re happy to come.”
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