Marj Nicolle, co-founded the Prairie Hearts Quilter’s Guild back in 1990 and ever since, has played an active role both in the guild and the community.
One of her more noteworthy contributions has been the simple gesture of providing coffee and home-baked goodies for guild members for 33 consecutive years.
“For 33 years, at every single meeting, twice a month, she has made the coffee, baked the goodies, and brought them in,” said the guild’s president, Ann Richey.
“I don’t even want to pack lunches for my kids!” she jested.
On Oct. 5, Nicolle announced her plan to assume more of a limited role, and said she’ll no longer be able to provide her usual package of goodies.
The decision came after Nicolle found it a bit too difficult to continue as she had before.
“She’s not as (physically) stable as she used to be, and she’s just finding it hard,” explained Richey. “And the expense too — to bake goodies for 100 people as a 93-year-old pensioner would be a fair expense. We would chip in to help her, but there’s still the time and (other) expenses.”
“After 33 years, she’s more than entitled to step down,” Richey said. “We said ‘it’s going to take 44 people to replace you, you know!’”
In a show of appreciation, her admiring guild sisters gave her the standing ovation she deserved.
“We just felt she was entitled to a really good round of applause for everything that she had done, and a few gifts,” said Richey.
“So, we bought her a cute little apron that says, ‘The Baking Queen,’ and we got a wooden spoon. It has burned sewing (themed) designs on it… and we gave her a round of applause and a standing ovation.
“She was quite chuffed” in response to all the praise, Richey said.
Thanks to Nicolle’s long-term role as mentor and friend, the celebration in her honour was deeply heartfelt by her guild sisters.
“She was one of our mentors. If you had any questions, you could always go to her,” recalled Richey.
“She was very involved in the community, and in bringing quilting to the community,” Richey said, noting that Nicolle’s involvement helped the guild steadily grow in numbers over the years.
The Prairie Hearts Quilter’s Guild now has around 100 active members.
Nicolle was heavily involved in several community outreach initiatives, and this has always been a defining quality of the Prairie Hearts Quilter’s Guild. One of those initiatives was the guild’s involvement with the Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum.
“She was the one that initiated the quilters going up to the Sukanen (Museum) during the Sukanen Days, and they used to do a demo on hand quilting all the time,” Richey said.
“She actually started the first quilt show, so every second year we have a show which has now grown… it started at Diversified Services, has gone to a church… and now it’s up at the Events Centre because it has grown so much.
“She basically started (the guild), kept it going, kept everybody enthused, and kept everybody fed,” explained Richey.
Marj Nicolle is still a member of the guild and she’s still quilting. She continues to mentor new guild members and contributes where she can. “Marj is appreciated by every quilter in the city, and she is just an amazing lady,” Richey said.
“She is an absolutely amazing lady, and we all love her to death,” Richey concluded.
For more information on the Prairie Hearts Quilter’s Guild that Nicolle helped establish and grow, visit PrairieHeartsQuilters.com.
The guild can also be contacted by sending an email to [email protected].
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