‘A really large quilting community’: Digby County business connects quilters from all over

It’s Friday mid-afternoon in Brighton, just outside of Digby, and the excitement is building. In a few hours Quilts by the Bay will be going live on Facebook.

“We’ll have all new fabric and new inspiration,” says Quilts by the Bay owner Debra Howard. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Quilts by the Bay has 10,000 followers from around the world and on any given Friday night there might be 200 people who join in and purchase fabric. Product arrives every day at Howard’s home-based business — anywhere from 15 to 20 boxes of fabric in a typical week — and the Friday night show is the reveal.

“I don’t open any boxes until I open them live on the show,” Howard says. “So, I see the new product exactly when my customers see it.”

People bid on the bolts of fabric, which are shipped out the following day.

Howard sets a price, but if everything is not sold, the price is reduced so the product moves.

“We have really good shipping rates with Canada Post, so that benefits our customers,” she says.

The live shows were started before the pandemic, and Howard speculates that they provided a much-needed social and creative outlet during the period of isolation.

“It really took off during the pandemic when people were home looking for something to do,” she says. “It’s not comedy, but we keep things lighthearted and fun to watch.”

Quilting and Saint Mary’s Bay have been constants in Howard’s life; hence the name.

She learned the art of quilting from her grandmother Elsie Mullen in nearby Weymouth. Now she has six staff working out her Brighton home. The business has taken over a two-car garage, and much of the home. 

“We only have a living room and bedroom left,” she says.

“I love the creativity of it. There is a passion that comes from touching and purchasing beautiful fabric, and then cutting it up into small pieces to create something beautiful.”

While guiding others on their quilting journey, Howard makes more than 20 quilts herself each year, and sells both completed quilts and fabric.

“We’re right on the main highway, so we have a lot of tourists who will stop in to buy quilts,” she says.

Quilts by the Bay also does custom orders. Customers will often request a memory quilt, which are stitched together with the clothing or personal items of a departed family member.

Howard was a paramedic for 25 years and during this time she was selling quilts from her home. It was six years ago that she went into the business full-time.

“People were expecting me to sell fabric,” she recalls, “because it was a quilt shop.”

Quilting is a wonderful outlet for people who need a distraction or a hobby in life, and so Howard takes great satisfaction in facilitating the social bonds that are part of the quilting process.

“There is a really large quilting community,” Howard says. “We ship everywhere from Yellowknife to New Zealand. When we put on a retreat, people will come from Ontario and P.E.I.”