121 “Junior Red Cross Members Work Continuously for British Bomb Victims.” The Toronto Star, 12 June 1941, p. 10. Quilts in Motion: StoriesWoven fromWar Victorian Fan spreads across the table: 56 fan motifs cut from patterned scraps, arranged in precise symmetry. The herringbone pattern is exact; each curve speaks of careful planning and hours of steady stitching. “It wasn’t made in a hurry,” notes Maxine March of the Canadian Red Cross Quilt Research Group in the UK, recalling the quilt’s maker. Even fragments of old cloth carry their original energy—folds and creases preserving the pressure of hands shaping them. Other quilts bear the Red Cross label, a quiet marker of purpose. Suits and Spots alternates 168 squares of wool suiting and spotted cotton, likely repurposed from men’s garments. The blocks form a checkerboard of intent, each seam pressing order from chaos, each stitch a gesture of support. One quilt (lost today), pieced from socks donated by Toronto Mayor Frederick Joseph Conboy, still hints at civic ingenuity in every looped thread.
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