The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
Dedicated to
Kwil’s Prairie Aunt Joan Rea,
Fynley H. and ALL Canadians
Kwil has stitched a little poem
Yet it's not so very small!
It patches provinces and territories
In a pattern of love for all!
You may not yet have heard. . .
Just ask frizzy-fuzzy Kwil!
His Prairie Aunt is . . .
"The Great Canadian Quilter”
Her sharps and notions never still!
A quintessential Canadian quilter!
She knows how dreams are built!
So she 'set' up a creative challenge:
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt!
It took many happy years!
She knew precisely what to do!
Quilting was her way to sparkle
Blocking, basting, binding, easing. . .
Gorgeous gifts for me and you!
This meant...
Long days piecing and pressing.
Stippling, sashing, scrimming,
and serging with joy!
Wrapping Canadians in a cuddle quilt!
A gift for women, men, girls, boys!
Kwil’s Prairie Aunt lived in Alberta,
Over the Rockies from Kwil.
So she quilted to nearby west,
Before heading north and east—
An explorer's love-filled thrill!
She stitched and sewed the pieces
On scorching or freezing days
She would recite
a prairie piece-work poem.
She'd smile and stitch and say:
Canada is a wondrous place.
It is home to you and me.
Canada is a loving place
It's our patchwork country.
Canadians are its people,
People like you and me!
Gentle, caring, proud, strong . . .
A loving patchwork family.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
Will cover vast, rugged country,
Embracing young and old.
A patchwork quilt of love
Keeping Canadians from the cold.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
grew over the Rockies
And West Coast Mountains too.
It draped the Mackenzies
and Pacific islands
As it grew and grew and grew!
In fact...
It grew north-east
across Canada’s upper third,
Yukon and Northwest Territories
so c-c-cold and vast.
Then blocking and binding in Nunavut
It backstitched Canada’s future
And echo-quilted past!
It grew south and west across
the rolling patchwork Prairies.
Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
Manitoba’s wide-open lands.
All provinces she'd see in summer
Roaring off to “fill her eyes”. . .
In her Prairie Aunt van!
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
kept right on growing,
Stitches running up and down
And even if she grew weary. . .
Not a simper, sigh, or frown!
She stitched and sewed the pieces
On scorching or freezing days
She would recite
a prairie piece-work poem.
She'd smile and stitch and say:
Canada is a wondrous place.
It is home to you and me.
Canada is a loving place
It is our patchwork country.
Canadians are its people,
People like you and me!
Gentle, caring, proud, strong . . .
A loving patchwork family.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
Will cover this vast, rugged country,
Embracing young and old.
A patchwork quilt of love
Keeping Canadians from the cold.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
kept right on growing
Draping Ontario and Quebec!
Two great neighbours side-by-side
Sharing Hudson and James Bay
and “Les Grand Lacs”
It did not stop there, of course.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
kept growing strong.
Newfoundland and New Brunswick were next,
Draping mainland and islands.
Reveling in the stashes
of hearty, hand-stitched song.
And yet. . .
On and on and on it grew!
Draping Nova Scotia
and Prince Edward Island too!
Provinces she loved to visit.
Oh, the colourful memories…
She'd sit and stitch and sift through!
As she stitched and sewed the pieces
On scorching or freezing prairie days
She would recite
a prairie piece-work poem.
She'd smile and stitch and say:
Canada is a wondrous place.
It is home to you and me.
Canada is a loving place
It is our patchwork country.
Canadians are its people,
People like you and me!
Gentle, caring, proud, strong . . .
A loving patchwork family.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
Will cover this vast, rugged country,
Embracing young and old.
A patchwork quilt of love
Keeping Canadians from the cold.
And NOW?
Now her life’s work is done
It's her turn to sit back,
rock, roll, and rest!
She's 'cuddled up' Canadians
A loving, growing family—
From north to south to east to west!
Some may think this is batty,
Like the batting in a quilt!?
But Kwil's Prairie Aunt
comes from the generation
When Canada was built!
She knows better than to worry.
All doubts she's left behind.
Reciting her prairie piece-work poem,
Stitching and sewing in her mind:
Canada is a wondrous place.
It is home to you and me.
Canada is a loving place
It is our patchwork country.
Canadians are its people,
People like you and me!
Gentle, caring, proud, strong . . .
A loving patchwork family.
The Great Canadian Cuddle Quilt
Covers this vast, rugged country,
Embracing young and old.
A lofty patchwork quilt of love
Keeping Canadians from the cold.
©1999 Kalen Marquis
