Family sewing tradition lives on in P.E.I.'s Évangéline region
CBC
From her sewing table overlooking the Northumberland Strait and the Mont-Carmel Catholic church, Colette Aucoin watches birds and fishing boats while working on her recycled denim projects.
"I see blue jays and I see finches and they sing for me," said Aucoin as she sewed a tag onto her newest denim tote bag.
The tag reads Boutique à Point, "a name that I took from my mother's business because she had a boutique and that was the name," Aucoin said.
Sewing has been a part of Aucoin's family for generations — and now she's passing it on to her daughter and granddaughters.
Her grandmother on her mother's side, Joséphine Arsenault, was a seamstress who helped found the Co-operative d'artisanat d'Abram-Village, a handcraft store in the Évangéline region of P.E.I. that is going strong after more than 50 years.
"She was a person that had this development aspect to her and she was really a community person," Aucoin said of her grandmother.
"She encouraged other ladies from the community to up their crafts to a higher level."
Joséphine had 14 children, and Aucoin's mother Marie Anne was the fourth. She followed in her mother's footsteps and became the family seamstress.
"That was her job, so she had to dress the 14 children," said Aucoin.
Marie Anne passed her sewing knowledge down to Aucoin, who first learned to sew as a child and has sewed on and off throughout her life.
Aucoin began to focus on sewing about six years ago when she made heatable bags as Christmas gifts for her family.
She ended up starting Boutique à Point and getting a booth at the Summerside Farmers' Market, where you can still find her every Saturday.
"Sewing has become my priority and I always want to try to please customers and make new products," said Aucoin.
Her latest foray into recycled denim has proved popular with market-goers.
From the Detroit Lions losing to Apple iPhones that spontaneously update, Windsorites had things that bugged them this year.
Calgary emergency rooms are “in a state of critical overcapacity” ahead of the anticipated peak of flu season — and to cope with the surge and wait-room crowding, officials are urging doctors to speed up their decisions on whether to admit patients, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.
Northern Ontario's highway system needs improvements in order to make travel safer, a highway safety advocate said.
Hundreds of thousands of used tires are piling up across Ontario as some companies responsible for tire recycling have stopped processing tires amid reduced provincial recycling regulations for tire producers, industry experts say.
People in Guelph facing homelessness will soon have a new place to go during the day.
Islanders are reminded to plan their rides ahead of holiday festivities if they plan on drinking alcohol or using cannabis.
Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.
The racial reckoning of the COVID era saw Canada grapple with its checkered past — a process that led to statues of some foundational figures being removed, in some instances by force.
Holiday traditions are front and centre for many people at this time of year. But one Uxbridge family's Christmas tradition goes above and beyond the standard Christmas carols or holiday party.
A pedestrian is dead, and police are investigating following a collision in a north London parking lot on Tuesday afternoon.
Police have lifted a shelter-in-place order for parts of St. John's.
Nova Scotia Power is providing more information about the cyberattack on the utility earlier this year and its response in the months that followed.
A rare old-growth forest in Quebec’s Mauricie region is at the centre of a growing conflict between conservation advocates and the provincial government, after forestry roadwork was authorized in an area currently under review for protected status.