A work of heart: Meet Ena Rietveld

Ena Rietveld has a bit of an addiction.

“I find quilting entirely addictive,” says the 70 year old.

And that’s the truth. Any chance she can get, she’s expressing herself through her handiwork. It’s not just a thing to do to pass time. For Ena, it’s more than that. The end result of being able to look at something she made with her own two hands is what’s driving her. She puts her whole heart into whatever she makes, whether it takes weeks or months or years. Her attention to detail will have you getting up close and personal with almost anything she’s made. She has high standards when it comes to the quality of her work, and that’s evident in every single one of her handmade creations.

She says she owes a lot to her husband, Henk. He’s helped her create a beautiful work space in her Huntsville home. Everything she needs is at her fingertips. And it’s because anything she needed, he accommodated. He’s always been so caring and supportive. That means a lot to Ena.

Quilting wasn’t Ena’s first love. Sewing was. And the skill was passed down to her by her mother, who was truly dedicated to the craft. Ena was left-handed and so in order to teach her how to sew, her mother watched herself in the mirror. It was a clever tactic that proved successful. By the time she was eight years old, Ena was cutting her own patterns and making sweet little dresses for her favourite dolls. Sewing became an inherited trait, and over the years she just got better and better at it.

Ten years ago, Ena, who had previously retired from a profession as a teacher, had a bit of extra time on her hands and wasn’t exactly ready to completely unplug from the working world. Although she didn’t have any experience quilting, her proficient sewing skills landed her a job at a local quilting shop. She became a perfect fit. It was while working there that Ena made her first quilt, and rather quickly, she discovered a new passion.

Quilting really allows you to tap into your creative side. You put a part of yourself into what you’re making.

Flash forward from then to now. She’s become somewhat of a master quilter, an expert on the subject. She’s even designing her own patterns through a computer program, which is an “interesting process” that allows her to get creative.

She has lots on the go and in the works! As you can see, Ena has made many colourful handmade quilts, each one made with a lot of love.

During the day, she often uses her machine and, at night, when it’s time to kick back and relax and watch Netflix, Ena does a lot of work by hand. She doesn’t just enjoy quilting either; patchwork and appliqué (a style in which pieces of fabric are sewn, by hand or machine, onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern) have big appeal as well. The fact that there will never be a quilt that is the exact same as another is extremely satisfying for Ena because she says she doesn’t like to make the same thing twice. (Although she did make 2,500 pipe caddies for a local member of the Legion’s pipes and drums band and had a lot of fun doing it!)

I love fabric. I have an affinity for fabric and colours, and the way you can put can something together and come up with something totally original. I started designing my own patterns and I’ve set up a small business, and I designed and sold some patterns to quilt shops in the neighbourhood and quilt shops in British Columbia.

She was a member of The Pine Tree Quilters Guild in Bracebridge for close to five years. She’s also currently involved with a quilting group who meet at the Aspdin Community Centre twice a month and has become a mentor to some of the ladies who attend. There’s a very rewarding aspect of that, she says. While she may be passing along her knowledge to the ladies, they, too, are inspiring her and giving her fresh and new ideas for current or future projects.

“It’s just so great because we learn from each other.”

Ena is constantly being encouraged by her friends to enter some of her work into competitions and it’s a possibility she may consider in the future. But in the meantime, she’s going to just keep doing what she really loves to do.

“I can’t stand having nothing in my hands,” she says.

Anyone who is interested in contacting Ena to learn the basics of sewing/quilting can send her an email at [email protected]. She’s also got cupboards full of one-of-a-kind handmade creations that will take your breath away!

Ena cross-stitched this picture for one of her daughters more than four decades ago and it just shows the skill of her handiwork. It sits next to dozens of neatly-piled baby blankets that Ena has made since she became an avid quilter.