INUVIK
They might not have worked their fingers to the bone, but a group from the Inuvik Quilting Guild were tied up in knots over the weekend.

Shona Barbour of the Inuvik Quilting Guild was one of the participants at a workshop held March 28 and 29 at Aurora College with visiting instructor Krista Hennebury. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

While a good chunk of town was on the East Channel enjoying themselves in the brisk weather at the Muskrat Jamboree, the sewers were attending a two-day workshop with visiting quilting guru Krista Hennebury of Vancouver.

"Today we're doing some improvisational quilting learning a method called 'under the influence,'" she said. "It's an improv method for traditional quilters. It's a way to begin looking at original design work and using warm and cool colours, so it's a bit of a colour study as well."

The 10 participants were making pieces of a quilt that Hennebury was intending to call Temperature Check, where the design would "show the relationship between warm and cool colours together."

Hennebury said she'd been quilting for 15 years.

"I teach mostly locally in the Vancouver area," she explained. "Shona (Barbour) was given my name by a friend of mine in Alberta, and she contacted me to ask if I'd willing to come up and teach."

Interestingly, Hennebury once worked in the NWT as a geologist nearly 25 years ago.

"So I was super-excited to come back and teach. I had never come as far north as Inuvik, only to Norman Wells."

"I think things are going very well, and I think it's going to give them some ideas for future projects. Shona is using fabric she dyed herself, and others are using their own stuff they've purchased online.

Barbour is the head of the quilting guild, who has taught several of the other members, including Arlene Hansen.

The quilters were mostly quiet as they worked with intense concentration.

"It's like a good meal, where everybody is quiet," Hansen joked.

She's been quilting for about seven years, under Barbour's tutelage.

Barbour said the guild is a very active one.

"Inuvik loves its quilting," she said, noting the guild has about 30 members.

Eight of them were in attendance at the workshop, with other members from the general public attending as well.

"We received a grant from the NWT Arts Council for this, and then the guild kicks in 30 per cent of the cost as well."

The remainder of the money came from registration fees from the participants, Barbour said.

"We do classes with out-of-town people twice a year. We did a class in January with people from Yellowknife.

"We teach all of the beginner skills ourselves, and then we bring people up to train on more skills," Barbour explained. "For myself, and the other people who teach beginners, it's fun for ourselves too because we get to take classes and learn."

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