Grand Manan woman finishes 600th quilt

Many people would like to leave something tangible by which they'll be remembered. Grand Manan resident Myrtle Dow -- "Mert" to her family and friends -- will leave a legacy of kindness that stretches across Canada and even across an ocean. The 95 year old islander lives at the Grand Manan Nursing Home and recently finished making her 600th quilt.
Dow is the fourth of 12 children and has been making quilts all her life. She relates that the first one came about as a result of needing something to fill time. In her teens, she worked for two North Head women doing household chores. In those days, she recalls, "You lived there [with the employers] because there was no transportation." After dinner, the mother and daughter regularly took naps, and Dow "needed something to do." She asked her mother for some material to make a quilt. She had never made one before, but her mother had taught her and her sisters how to make hankies for their grandmother. They learned how to make a hem, and she stenciled something in the corners for them to embroider. "We learned how to sew and embroider on the same day," she says.
Embarking on her first big sewing project while the two ladies rested, she says, "I got right down on the kitchen floor" and cut big squares with a cardboard pattern. "I wasn't much of a sewer," and to begin with, she made big stitches. With the squares pieced together, she showed it to her grandmother, who suggested taking it to a North Head storekeeper for some backing material. The storekeeper did most of that work with a little help from Dow. "I took credit for the whole thing," she laughs.
With her appetite for the craft whetted, she made more quilts. Some projects were shared with a sister in St. Stephen, and they sent squares back and forth. When she learned someone was collecting items to send to people in need in Africa, she began contributing her quilts to that cause. Eventually that project ended, and she wanted to keep making quilts, so she looked for another place to donate. Several went to the Saint John Salvation Army; then she learned about Hestia House, a women's shelter also in Saint John, and donated some there. Because of the pandemic, she isn't able to send any currently, and the last few quilts have gone to family members. The 600th quilt is destined for a granddaughter in British Columbia.
Of all the quilts she has made, Dow says she has kept one, and all have been given away for free except six that she sold to people who asked for commissioned work. She makes different sizes; many are small, and her favorite design uses squares. She tacks a warm blanket to the backs and says each one takes about two weeks to make. All 600 quilts have been hand stitched; she was unimpressed with a sewing machine that kept tangling the thread.
In between making all those quilts, she likes to read and visit with other ladies at the nursing home. She's also done minor sewing repairs for the residents, like fixing seams and replacing buttons. She is looking forward to making more quilts.