Canadian Quilter Summer 2025 by Canadian Quilter

FRASER PATTERN

KATHY K WYLIE

PERSPECTIVE ON COPYRIGHT

SHANNON

Susan Madu

Suttles

A Note from the Editor

It has been my pleasure to be the editor of Canadian Quilter for the last three years. In total, I have spent 30 years working on the magazine, most of that time in design and production, working with previous editors to bring you news about quilting across the country.

As editor, my goal was to share stories from a larger diversity of people and quilting styles, and to ensure more quilters could see themselves—their quilts, their art, their culture, their values—reflected in the pages of the magazine.

It is encouraging when I see an email from a reader asking me to “keep up the good work,” or saying “thank you for what you do.”

It goes without saying that the contributors of stories, projects, patterns, and tips are the people that keep Canadian Quilter going. Along with the quilters who spend time chatting with us about their quilting practice, their generosity is the foundation of this magazine. Thank you to everyone who answered yes to my usual question: Are you game?

CQA/ACC has several long-time sponsors in the quilting community whose support of the magazine we are very grateful for. To all of the advertisers who help to offset the high cost of producing a print magazine, we thank you for working with Canadian Quilter to reach a large audience of enthusiastic quilters like you.

The design of the magazine, starting with the autumn 2025 issue, will be in the capable hands of Tara Wells, who has been helping to produce Canadian Quilter for many years, so she is deeply familiar with how things are put together.

I encourage you to support the new editor, Lois Tuffin, and to let her know what kinds of stories you want to see. Your feedback is vital to ensuring the magazine’s compass is pointed in the right direction.

I’ll be focusing on other creative endeavours, but will keep a close eye on the quilting world. I’m addicted to watching social media to see what makers and designers are creating. There is so much talent in the Canadian quilting community!

All the best, and check our bobbin.

Leslie Van Patter

(she/her)

A PASSION FOR QUILTING

Fearless, free-motion and ruler quilting!

Janome's A.S.R.™ (Accurate Stitch Regulator), truly takes the apprehension out of free-motion and ruler quilting. The Janome stitch regulation system adjusts to your quilting speed and style to provide consistent stitches, instantly reacting to the speed of the fabric under the needle. While you learn, the over-speed alarm encourages sewists to slow down. Perfect free-motion stitches, every time!

A.S.R. - STANDARD CM17/M8 ACCESSORY

Seamless flatbed with 13.5" of throat space

Continental M8 Professional

Sewing and Embroidery up to (11" x 18.1")

Continental M17

For over 1OO years, the Janome brand has pushed the boundaries of the sewing market, inspiring creativity in every stitch. Since 1978, Janome has proudly operated within Canada, providing sewists across the country industry leading home sewing, quilting and embroidery machines.

and committee members as CQA/ACC has.

As I enter my final year on the board as Past President, I am pleased to introduce Elenore Busby as the incoming president. I hope you will have a chance to meet Elenore in Toronto at Quilt Canada.

I will certainly miss the activities as President of this great organization, but more than anything I will miss the team we have created. I realize how much I value the knowledge I have gained of this organization, as well as the people who have supported and encouraged me along the way. People such as Irene Lafleche, Past President, for introducing me to CQA/ACC; Jane Cramer, Past President, for her encouragement; Leslie Van Patter, Editor, for her kinds words and for keeping me up to date and on schedule; Heather Black, Past President, for always supporting and directing me on tasks; Jackie White, Past President, for challenging me to be better; and Bonnie Rankin, Past President, for always being willing to listen and help with laughter when needed. Last, but not least, I want to recognize Carole McCarville, CQA/ACC’s Executive Director, who lost patience with me many times when I didn’t always grasp or agree with her perspective, but whom I respect. I truly enjoyed our many conversations, disagreements, and shared passion for the organization. Of course, the list of all the board members, regional representatives, committee members, and staff who supported me in the past five years is long, but I thank you all for the journey.

May you stitch your way to happiness!

Respectfully,

Linda Lake

mais, plus que tout, l’équipe que nous avons créée va me manquer. Je réalise à quel point les connaissances acquises en collaborant avec cette organisation me sont importantes ainsi que les personnes qui m’ont supportée et encouragée tout au long du chemin. Des personnes comme Irene Lafleche, ancienne présidente , pour m’avoir introduite à la CQA/ACC ; Jane Cramer, ancienne présidente , pour ses encouragements ; Leslie Van Patter, rédactrice en chef, pour ses bons mots et pour m’avoir tenue à jour et fait respecter l’horaire ; Heather Black, ancienne présidente, de toujours m’encourager et me diriger dans mes tâches ; Jackie White, ancienne présidente, de m’avoir poussée à me dépasser et Bonnie Rankin, ancienne présidente, d’être toujours là pour écouter et aider avec des rires lorsque c’était nécessaire. Dernière, mais non la moindre, je veux reconnaître Carole McCarville, directrice générale de la CQA/ACC, qui a tant de fois perdu patience avec moi lorsque je ne comprenais ou n’agréait pas toujours avec sa perspective et que, cependant, je respecte. J’ai vraiment apprécié nos multiples conversations, nos désaccords et notre passion partagée pour l’organisation. Bien sûr, la liste de toutes les membres du conseil, des représentantes régionales, des membres de comités et des collaboratrices qui m’ont supportée durant les cinq dernières années est longue, mais je vous remercie toutes pour le parcours.

Que vos points vous mènent au bonheur!

Respectueusement, Linda Lake

P.S. : La forme féminine utilisée dans ce message désigne, s’il y a lieu, aussi bien les hommes que les femmes.

QUILT CANADA 2025

DAILY DOOR PRIZES & GIVEAWAYS

Thank you to sponsors like PFAFF®, HUSQVARNA® VIKING ® , SINGER ® , The Grace Company, TrendTex Fabrics, and WonderFil® Specialty Threads for the fabulous prizes at Quilt Canada 2025. There are daily draws for door prizes for every day of the conference, as well as the opening night, plus other great giveaways by vendors in the Merchant Mall.

DAILY DRAW FOR THURSDAY, JUNE 19

TRENDTEX GIFT BASKETS

Two draws will be held for gift baskets from TrendTex Fabrics, one on Thursday, June 19 and one on Friday, June 20. The baskets contain more than $600 worth of goodies including precuts, kits, patterns, notions, and TrendTex swag.

PFAFF ® expression™ 710 SPECIAL EDITION BUNDLE

This amazing bundle includes the PFAFF® expression™ 710 Special Edition sewing machine, plus the Quilt Table, Dynamic Spring Foot, and PFAFF® Monet Bobbins. The machine features a colour touch screen, large sewing area, and the Original IDT™ System for perfect stitching every time.

DAILY DRAW FOR FRIDAY, JUNE 20

HUSQVARNA® VIKING® EPIC QUILT™ 97 and EPIC QUILT™ 97 Quilting Kit Includes: extension table, rotating cutting mat, rotary cutting tool and blades, ruler set, quilt binder, binder foot for IDF, free motion ruler foot, and two needle packs.

DAILY DRAWS FOR SATURDAY, JUNE 21

SINGER ® MOMENTO™ BUNDLE

The MOMENTO™ is a lightning-speed craft cutting machine with an extra-large 24" capacity. The bundle includes a MOMENTO™ 24" Digital Cutter, three Standard Grip Mats (12" x 12", 12" x 24", and 24" x 24"), three Mat Multipacks (12" x 12", 12" x 24", and 24" x 24"), Deep Cut Blade, Fine Debossing Tool with Housing, Engraving Tool with Housing, MOMENTO™ Mini Press, MOMENTO™ Square Press, 6" Brayer, Dual Tip Marker Multipack (18 pack), Gel Pen Multipack (18 pack), Dual Tip Metallic Marker Multipack (18 pack), Heat Removable Fabric Pen, Washable Fabric Pen, Essential Tool Set, and Heat Transfer Vinyl 12" x 24" Pastel. You’ll be crafting right out of the box!

GRACE COMPANY’S CUTIE BREEZE FRAME

Quilt where and how you want! Set up the Cutie Breeze on any flat surface and easily create any size quilt. Then simply fold it up and store it away when you’re done.

MINI QUILTER

Get into longarm quilting with this compact Mini Quilter and use your home sewing machine to do it! Two of these will be drawn during Quilt Canada.

Wednesday, June 18, 7 pm

Thank you to Wonderfil® Specialty Threads for providing door prizes for the opening night and National Juried Show awards presentation, as well as every day of Quilt Canada. Collections include the WonderFil Eleganza Ball Full Collection RSP $397, WonderFil Variegated Eleganza Ball Full Collection RSP $582, The Joy of Creation DecoBob Collection RSP $445, the Efina Collectors Set RSP $313, and the Konfetti Collectors Set RSP $279

GALA DOOR PRIZES

Not exactly as shown (image does not show all of the bundle components).

LEARNING WITH KATHY K. WYLIE

by Leslie Van Patter

During Kathy’s keynote presentation at Quilt Canada on Friday, June 20, she will tell the many stories behind the making of Beauty in the Broken, the ground-breaking quilt that won the Dorothy McMurdie Award at the National Juried Show in 2023. And, in three workshops (see page 13) Kathy will teach the innovative techniques developed to make this outstanding quilt so unique.

Butterfly Bubbles: Turned Edge Holes

Window Boxes: Inset Thread Lace Mahogany Rose: Free-Standing Appliqué

Like many of the most accomplished quilters (or anyone who outperforms in their creative endeavours), Kathy K. Wylie’s story starts early, when she was very young and learning to sew from her mother.

“I made my prom dresses, I made my business suits when I started working,” she says. “Then it was home dec, as I had my own place. All different kinds of sewing.” Plus, she was into other needle arts like knitting and crocheting, and a lot of embroidery. “I kinda grew up with a needle in my hand.”

ABOVE Beauty in the Broken (detail).

AT RIGHT Kathy K. Wylie

It wasn’t until Kathy was 31 that she discovered quilting, and as she puts it, her worlds collided. The many skills she had

developed through the early years could now be combined into one art form.

“It was life changing” she says, “because quilting was everything that I love to do.”

Quilting soon took over garment sewing, although the new skills she learned from quilting spilled back into making clothes. Always game to learn new techniques, Kathy discovered Apliquick® at a quilt show in the US.

“I embraced Apliquick in a very large way,” she says. “I was an early adopter.”

“One thing lead to another, and we ended up importing the tools from Spain, and eventually became their distributor.”

Kathy was also one of the first educators for Apliquick in Canada.

“It’s a technique for turned-edge appliqué,” she explains, “a pre-turned technique, so you’re turning the edges and glueing them before you sew them.”

“It’s very similar to the freezer paper and starch method, since you’re turning and preparing the edges before you sew.”

“One of the main advantages of Apliquick is that the templates are lightweight, fusible interfacing. So it’s not freezer paper that has to come out; it’s fabric that just stays in.”

Another difference is the tools that you use to turn the fabric over the edges of the interfacing.

“They just make it so easy, and perfect. I’m now capable of turning things I could never have turned before—more detailed, smaller—it expanded what I could do.”

With this experience, Kathy later developed what she calls a free-standing appliqué technique, which she’ll be debuting in her workshops at Quilt Canada in Toronto.

Free standing means making appliqué with no background at all, one of the most intriguing elements used in the making of Beauty in the Broken.

After finishing the quilt, it took a year to process the emotions built into it (a story she will share in Toronto), and start thinking about teaching the three main techniques used to make it. Mahogany Rose is the name of the workshop on the

free-standing technique, where students will learn to do open work; that is, a quilt with holes in it. This technique is different from cut work when you make a hole in a quilt and then finish the edge. Kathy wanted an open-work, appliqué quilt.

Beauty in the Broken, made using free-standing appliqué, a technique developed by Kathy, won the Dorothy McMurdie Award at the National Juried Show in June, 2023.

“One day it came to me,” she says. “I was thinking about it all wrong. I didn’t need to cut the holes; I needed to leave them behind. That’s why I call it free standing.”

“Normally, you would take your appliqué shape and sew it on to a background. Well, now you’re making your little appliqué shape into a quilt. There is no background. It’s completely free standing.”

The pieces have a front and back with batting in between, and they get joined to other pieces.

“I didn’t know how structurally sound everything would be. But it turns out to have really great body, because of the way it’s constructed.”

There are actually five layers in each piece: the top fabric turned to interfacing, the batting, and the bottom fabric turned to interfacing. Those five layers give it really good structure, even when multiple pieces are joined together.

“That’s the thing when you do something no one has done before. You don’t know, so you have to find out.”

In fact, Kathy had no idea if the quilt would even hang. She says Beauty in the Broken was the first quilt she ever made not knowing if anyone would ever see it.

If you missed Quilt Canada in Halifax, Kathy will have the quilt with her in Toronto. It is definitely a must-see.

TEACHING IS ABOUT LEARNING

Former students have great things to say about Kathy’s workshops. When she first got into quilting, after a career as a marketing rep and then at home with two young children, she soon realized that quilting could become her vocation.

“I was taking classes at the local quilt shop, and one day the owner asked me if I would like to teach a class.”

For Such a Time as This, winner of the Best in Show award at the National Juried Show 2019.

She really enjoyed teaching, especially because she found that the best way to learn something is to teach it. And she loves to learn new things!

(Kathy also mused that if her career was quilting, she could justify all of her quilting expenses!)

The process of developing a class means anticipating what will be confusing, what may be hard to understand. This kind of thinking is right up Kathy’s alley.

“There is nothing like those a-ha moments,” she says, “when someone gets something, when someone else gets excited, when they make something and they’re thrilled about it…that’s what makes every quilting teacher tick.”

Kathy also loves it when a student asks “Why don’t you just do it this way?” and she realizes that’s a much better way.

“I’m smarter now because someone said ‘why don’t you do it this way?’.”

“That back and forth, that amazing experience of making connections with people. You can go anywhere in this country and automatically be friends, because you just have so much in common. I love that.”

START WITH A THEME

Kathy tends to work with themes, because they give her direction. They inspire colours, shapes, and quilting motifs.

For example, For Such a Time as This is about time. “That suggested that it be a medallion, like a clock, and that it have 12 repetitions,” she explains. “But we also have 12 months, so each wedge in that clock is a month in the year…birth stones, birth flowers, so now these get incorporated into the clock. How else do we tell time? The seasons, so let’s put leaves in the corners and have the leaves change colour.”

“The theme is the beginning inspiration, and that theme could be a word, or a phrase, or an idea.”

Kathy is currently working on a quilt with the theme “family ties”, so she is using knot work to represent those ties.

Viewers appreciate how the themes are expressed in Kathy’s quilts, because they bring a deeper dimension to the design. “A quilt is more than just pretty shapes,” she says. “They get drawn in.”

Beauty in the Broken is based on a very personal family experience that Kathy will talk about in her presentation. “It’s a quilt about beautiful moments that you only experience because you’re in a dark place.”

It was made over the course of four years and (spoiler alert) it has a happy ending.

QUILTING MAKES THE QUILT

Although Kathy learned hand quilting at first, she now quilts by machine. “I’d never finish anything otherwise!”

Heavily influenced early on by the work of Sharon Schamber and Diane Gaudynski, Kathy always had a passion for details.

To learn more about Kathy’s three workshops at Quilt Canada 2025, or to purchase a ticket to her evening presentation, The Hole Story, visit canadianquilter.com.

See more of Kathy’s quilts at kathykwylie.com.

One of the hallmarks of her quilting has become the tiny stippling she can fit into small spaces between the trapunto and appliqué.

“I wanted that depth and texture, and that embossed look.” So she worked on developing those skills.

If the handwork of appliqué is her favourite part of making a quilt, the quilting is the second.

“I love the way it makes the appliqué stand out, and adding that whole secondary set of designs through the quilting. To me, quilting makes the quilt.”

Butterfly Bubbles: Turned Edge Holes

Mahogany Rose: Free-Standing Appliqué

Window Boxes: Inset Thread Lace

Folded Flowers Quilt

Holly and Audrey recently collaborated on this captivating pattern available from Holly’s shop at hollyclarkedesign.com, where you’ll also find acrylic templates to make those curves easy to cut. Using the 15-inch blocks, you can make two different variations of the quilt or a table runner. Check out both Holly’s and Audrey’s Instagram accounts to see how they used just a few colours to create intriguing visual effects. And, be sure to look back to the spring 2022 issue of Canadian Quilter for another Holly Clarke pattern called Great Expectations. Current members can find it in the Member Studio at canadianquilter.com

Quilt Your Way Through Ireland & Britain—Two Unforgettable Tours!

Join us for two incredible 7-night quilting adventures where creativity meets culture in breathtaking settings. Threads of Éire Quilting Tour – Explore Ireland’s rich textile heritage, from Japanese quilting with Tomomi at the stunning Lisnavagh House to embroidery with Edel MacBride at the elegant Manor House Country Hotel. Dive into traditional Irish crafts, visit the Irish Museum of Modern Art for the Gee’s Bend Quilts exhibit, and soak in the charm of Galway and Dublin. October 6-13, 2025 – 7 nights. Only €2999 per person sharing!

Great British Quilt Quest – Journey through Scotland and England, stitching your way from Edinburgh to the Lake District. Create with top textile artists, visit the legendary Alnwick Castle and Holy Island, and experience historic grandeur in York and beyond. Wrap up with a hands-on fabric design session and a grand farewell at the Dalmahoy Hotel. October 19-26, 2025 – 7 nights. Only £2999 per person sharing!

QUILTING THE PROGRESSION OF QUEER RIGHTS IN CANADA

Quilt maker Bill Stearman of Prince Edward County, ON, is embarking on a cross-Canada tour this spring, summer, and into the autumn with several goals in mind:

• Speak with Queer elders across the country to record their life experiences from the 1950s to the present, with an emphasis on times when being Queer was not acceptable in Canadian society, nor even legal.

• Visit quilt guilds and shops to present a “Backpack” show highlighting Bill’s quiltivism.

• Teach workshops for guilds and shops using CQA/ACC’s True Colours Quilt Along block patterns, with the goal of donating 40 quilts to organizations that support 2SLGBTQI+ organizations. Shout out to Northcott Fabric, Canada, for donating 12 bolts of Colourworks Premium Solids for these workshops.

An interview with Bill Stearman

Following the trip, which he plans to do mostly by car—filled with fabric, quilts, sewing supplies, and camping gear—Bill will create 12 quilts. Each will be based on either a Supreme Court decision or legislative act of Parliament that advanced Queer rights in Canada, and inspired by the elders’ stories.

Video recordings of the interviews will be edited into two 20-minute films. It is key to Bill’s purpose that the stories of Queer elders be recorded before they can no longer share them.

The films will be shown as part of a traveling exhibition of the quilts following its debut in July 2026. Segments may even be integrated into some of the quilts… Bill is researching methods of incorporating a small video screen into the quilt construction.

He is currently working on a prototype quilt based on the passing of Bill C-150 on June 27, 1969, which decriminalized homosexual acts in private between consenting adults. This is the legislation supported by then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who famously said: “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.”

Other events of 1968-69 will be memorialized in the quilt through the use of news clippings, including the first steps on the moon, and Max Yasgur’s welcome to 400,000 people at Woodstock.

“I want to make sure there’s context for when all of this happened,” says Bill. “That’s the point at which it became legal for me to be what I am.”

The other reason for making a prototype is to work out the concept with Bill’s long-time collaborator, longarm quilter Deanna Gaudaur of quintestudios.com

“It’s a sample so she can tell me if she can do it, because each of the sections is alternating and there’s a different thread colour in each of them.”

“We’ll have grommets top and bottom, and it’ll be hung on a five-foot rod like a flag, so it will have waves in it.”

Most of the news clippings will be either sewn into or pinned to the quilt top. Some will have QR codes on them, leading viewers to more information and segments of the elder interviews.

“I don’t want it to ever seem like it’s done, because history is never done,” Bill says. “They’re always uncovering other bits of it.”

“The Federal Government was searching for homosexuals, because we were considered a security risk. It was deemed to be a character defect and lumped in with being disloyal to the Crown and to the government,” Bill explains. “So there was this purge of government employees, the RCMP, and the military, and from there that mindset spilled out into society and into teaching.”

If Bill, who was a teacher, and later a school vice-principal, had been out as Queer in the 1970s, he would not have been hired. Even after homosexuality became legalized, there was still rampant prejudice against Queer communities. And events like the Purge were never included in educational curriculum.

“It’s something that our government, our open government in this free country, has hidden from us.”

FACING PAGE Maintain the Wave. This quilt speaks to the story of progress made in Canada within my lifetime. We can’t let human rights move backwards. Maintain the wave! Quilting by Deanna Gaudaur.

Photography by Mike Gaudaur.

Many of us are unaware that homosexuality was illegal before the 1990s, or don’t recall the extent to which Queer people were discriminated against. One of Bill’s videos will be focused entirely on the Purge, a 40-year period that ended in the 1990s when homosexuals in the Canadian military, the RCMP, and the Civil Service were investigated for things like treason.

Bill would like to interview Queer elders in every part of Canada, and has set up several meetings already. He’s had a lot of interest from eastern Canada especially. “It speaks highly of Atlantic Canada, just the attitudes of the people there who seem pretty much accepting of everybody.”

The prototype quilt for the Queer Elders projects, based on the passing of Bill C-150 in 1969, which decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in private.

Hearing those stories directly from the people who lived through the 1950s to today, and recording that Queer history, is a vital part of Bill’s intent. “Those of us in our seventies now and older, we are going to die,” he says. “And nobody is going to know those stories.”

Bill has also had a lot of interest from guilds in Atlantic Canada, so when he arrives in places like Prince Edward Island, which he has not visited in 52 years, he will already have a community. The PEI Modern Quilt Guild has offered to put him up while he’s there.

For guilds who would like to host Bill’s Backpack Show or True Colours workshop, he says: “That’s all I ask, a place to stay and breakfast in the morning.”

For the workshops, Bill will be traveling with copies of the block patterns, and enough fabric cut into fat quarters for 480 people, “because if I go to 20 guilds and they each have 24 people, that’s 480 people.”

“If everyone makes two 12.5" blocks, at the end of each workshop we’ll have two quilts done,” he figures. “If this goes as planned, we’ll have 30 to 40 quilts made to donate to support local 2SLGBTQI+ communities.”

He will encourage guild members to bring fabric from their stashes, too, in the 11 colours of the Progress rainbow flag, to go with the solids donated by Northcott.

After visiting the Maritimes, Bill will travel west to Toronto to speak at Quilt Canada 2025 in June. His talk is called Even if My Voice Shakes…Ten Years of Speaking My Truth; a Backpack Show, and takes place on Saturday, June 21 at 10 am.

From there he will tour northern Ontario and traverse the North Superior Drive through Ontario to Winnipeg and then Saskatchewan. He’ll take a short break to go home and teach two classes at Loyalist College Summer Arts School in Belleville. Then he’s flying to Edmonton with his sister, where they’re renting a car to get to Peace River and Athabaska. They’ll fly to Yellowknife and Whitehorse and be back in Ontario at the end of August.

In September, Bill will tour southern Ontario while his husband, Larry Tayler— who will have been pet sitting all this time—travels around Wales on Steam Locomotives, and Bill takes over pet duties! In October they will both fly to Calgary and drive through the mountains to Vancouver and Victoria before returning home for Bill to work on the quilts.

In the middle of that schedule, on June 15, Bill has booked a campsite near Sharbot Lake, ON, a little over an hour from his home. He plans to sleep in his tent that night and wake up on June 16, his 75th birthday, and greet the sunrise coming over the lake.

Forever Changed. 1:50 pm, January 5, 2021…“You Have Cancer. Liver Cancer.” The doctor kept on talking. I know that he did. I heard his voice. But I didn’t hear a word that he said. And with those words, my life is forever changed.

Northcott Fabric, Canada, is donating 12 bolts of ColorWorks Premium Solids quilters to make True Colours Quilt Along blocks in Bill’s workshops.

“This whole trip is a celebration of turning 75 and the fact that I’m still alive,” he says. “I lived for almost two months believing that I had two years to live, that I would be dead right now. I am past my bestbefore date.”

Bill was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer a few years ago. Then he had a life-saving surgery thanks to his daughter, who donated part of her liver. His expected life span went from two years to 20 years.

“So, when you get that extra time, it’s just not given for me to sit on the couch and watch TV; that comes with a responsibility,” he says. “I have a responsibility, I believe, to make these years matter.”

This project is, in a way, a legacy project. “It just so needs to be done,” he says. “And if not by me, then who?”

“That and community, that’s a huge part of it for me,” Bill explains. Given everything that’s going on in Canada right now, the notion of community and coming together is so important. He looks forward to visiting with quilting communities across Canada, places where you automatically have friends, because you quilt.

In the second phase of this 18-month project, Bill will be making the 12 quilts and working with a video editor and an archivist on the films. The type of exhibit that he has in mind is an immersive one, in an environment where you are surrounded by the quilts. It may be the sort of exhibit you need to return to several times, to take it all in.

He’s thinking of venues like galleries and museums, including the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, and also shopping malls, to make the exhibit more accessible.

“I’d like to see it in schools after the exhibits are done in 2026. For 2027, I want to have a book done using the interviews, and photos of the quilts. And then the year after that, in 2028, I want it to be a play.”

Right Brain Quilt, 95" x 73", is part of an installation of four quilts in a private collection. The installation hangs on a 30 x 27 foot wall and also includes, My Left Brain, What Fell Out of My Right Brain, and The Part That Floated Away. These four quilts are a colourful representation of how Bill’s ADHD brain works, or doesn’t, depending on your perspective.

Bill will wake up (in a tent) June 16, his 75th birthday, and greet the sunrise coming over the lake.

Bill feels it would be interesting to have the play performed by police officers in uniform, as a training exercise. “I think it would be such a powerful thing, to help them see our story, our point of view.”

“The last guy in jail for being homosexual [Everett Kilippert; at the time he was deemed a dangerous sex offender—editor], he had a life sentence until he would say ‘I will stop having consensual sex with men’.” Kilippert’s case was sent to the Supreme Court in 1967, where his sentence for the crime of “gross indecency” was upheld. It was Trudeau’s intention with Bill C-150 to create an exception to the gross indecency law by allowing homosexual activity between consenting adults in private. It’s important to note that the legislation didn’t decriminalize homosexual activity, but allowed for toleration of it when practised in privacy.

Bill’s project officially started on March 21. By the time you read this article, he’ll be in Atlantic Canada.

“When I am done with my travels, I will have met with, chatted with, planned with, and socialized with, local folks from both the Queer and the quilting community in all ten provinces and two of the three territories,” he says. “I will have slept on the ground in as much of Canada as I could, I will have photographed and experienced much of what is unique in every area, and I will have new friends from all across Canada; friends who support my project and who support the 2SLGBTQI+ community.”

Full details for this project, including the full scope, are available on Bill’s website at billstearman.ca.

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON COPYRIGHT

by Susan Madu

After a busy four days at a major international quilt show, my mind was overwhelmed with inspiration for new techniques and designs. The quilts were spectacular, but it was the lectures that provided even more insights into our work.

For me the key takeaway came from the lectures—our quilts are art.

When we think of art, descriptive words like original, masterpiece, rare, treasure, or uncommon come to mind. These descriptive words convey a sense of value, and more importantly as having a higher value.

But what happens when we describe our quilts as craft?

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be a substitution for legal advice. Accordingly, neither CQA/ACC nor the writer accepts any liability or responsibility for this information.

“Throughout the history of art, decoration and domestic handicrafts have been regarded as women’s work, and as such, not considered “high” or fine art. Quilting, embroidery, needlework, China painting, and sewing—none of these have been deemed worthy artistic equivalents to the grand mediums of painting and sculpture.” 1

Collectively, we need to elevate references to our work as art, and perhaps understanding and labeling our quilts as art is a key to changing our collective mindset.

If we consider our quilts art, could copyright be a fundamental protection for our quilts as art?

Whilst copyright has originated from the concept of the ability to make a copy, or reproduce a written work, it has application to all forms of art. If we simply replace the word “author” with “creator”, it is easier to understand how copyright would apply to our quilts.

“The purpose of the Copyright Act is to further the public interest by promoting the creation and dissemination of works of the arts and intellect and allow creators a just reward for their creations.”2

Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, or themes. An idea needs expression in a fixed form to be subject to copyright. Further, copyright protection does not require the work be completed nor have a higher level of merit.

To apply copyright to our art, we need to understand what copyright is and how to apply it to our quilts. We have copyright legislation in Canada and by way of the Berne Convention, this legislation is extended to 181 countries.3 Within our quilting community, and arguably the public, knowledge of what copyright is, how it works and why we need it is vague. The legislation is complex and can be difficult to apply, especially when terms like “originality” are not consistently applied.

So why should quilters care? I would simply say, “It’s our collective responsibility and it celebrates the excellence of our art!”

Before I lose you, let’s look at a practical example of how copyright would apply to a quilt, or a paper pattern, or a digital pattern. You will be surprised at the differences in applying copyright to these three expressions of our art.

Our quilts are art.

As the table on the following three pages shows, the application of copyright to quilt works can be complex. That said, copyright is vital to our quilting community!

Copyright provides quilting creators an incentive to create new work. It is through copyright that quilting creators have control over how and when their original work is used.

Simple things all quilters can do to respect copyright:

· Be an artist, label your quilt.

· For our original quilt designs:

· Include the words “an original design by…” on the quilt label.

· Exhibit your quilt and note it is “an original design” in your artist’s statement.

· For our quilts made from a pattern or workshop:

· Note the name of the pattern and designer in your artist’s statement and label.

· Where a quilt is made from a workshop technique, obtain written permission from the designer to exhibit your quilt and provide this permission to the exhibit organizer.

· When sharing at Show and Tell, be it online or in person, give credit to the designer and note the pattern name.

· When participating in a group project or workshop, ensure all quilters have purchased their own pattern.

· When you see a quilt design you would like to make, purchase the pattern. Photographing the quilt and figuring out the design is just not cool nor does it respect the designer’s copyright.

· When you’re unsure if your design is original or like another original design, contact the designer and ask the question. The best response you can receive, is “thank you for asking.” And better yet, you have gained the respect of another quilter in our community.

We all benefit when copyright protection results in an increase in quilt designs. When we respect copyright, our art will be valued in the world. So, I can’t see why we wouldn’t elevate our references, practices, and labels of our quilts as art.

Can you?

The Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild has a wonderful practice of having all members participating in a show and tell fill out a form prior to sharing their quilt projects. Form includes: quilt maker name, quilter name, pattern, consent to post and maker’s Instagram handle. The photographer photos the quilt and the form, making it easy to credit the maker and the designer in their social media.

1 brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/womens_work

2 ised-isde.canada.ca/site/canadian-intellectual-property-office/en/guide-copyright

3 Source: World Intellectual Property Organization PDF as of February 6, 2025

Does copyright apply to quilt design in form of:

Requires a creation:

· Created by a person.

· At date of creation, person was a citizen or resident of Canada, or another treaty country.

· Original work, not copied from any other source, original is not defined in legislation in Canada, requires the exercise of skill and judgement.

· A work includes literary, artistic, musical, or dramatical creations.

· Design not in the public domain.

· Works in the public domain are free for anyone to use in any way they want.

· Works are in the public domain 70 years after the death of the creator where the creator has died after December 31, 1971. For creators who died prior to 1972 different rules apply.

Requires a fixation:

· Works are expressed in some material form have some permanence.

Physical quilt made by the Creator

Design documented in the physical quilt and the supporting sketches and notes.

Design documented in a written pattern, photos and underlying sketches, and notes in either paper or digital format.

Registration of copyright is not required, nor does it require display of the copyright symbol.

Evidence of copyright, best practices include:

Consider informal registration

Document by:

Evidence of copyright date:

Label on quilt noting original design, creator’s name, and date of creation.

Take photo of quilt and label.

Photocopy sketches and other progress photos.

Send documentation by registered mail to yourself and retain unopened envelope on file.

Design documented in a written pattern, photos and underlying sketches, and notes in either paper or digital format.

Photocopy sketches and copy of paper pattern.

Send documentation by registered mail to yourself and retain unopened envelope on file.

Owner is the creator, when it was not created:

· as part of their employment, or

· a commission.

Does copyright apply to quilt design in form of:

Sole right to produce or reproduce, translate, or convert over a substantial part of the work. Note: Substantial part of work not a defined term, rather it is a facts and circumstances test.

A copyright owner has the exclusive right to create a derivative work.

A derivative work is not defined in Canadian Copyright law. It has been described as a transformation of or adaptation of one or more pre-existing works that is identifiably different from the original work(s).

Permission must be obtained from the owner of the original quilt design to use in a derivative quilt design.

With permission obtained, the new elements of the derivative design may be copyrighted.

Any use of the copyrighted pattern in another pattern would not be permitted.

A copyright owner can publish/copy or make available to the public for sale or for free.

A copyright owner holds exhibition rights, other than displaying for sale, where the work was created after June 7, 1988.

NOTE, the sale of the physical quilt does not include the design, unless so noted. Copyright of the design remains with the owner.

Where the creator’s quilt is sold, the creator’s permission is required to publicly exhibit the quilt.

A critical moral right is Right of Paternity, the right to claim authorship.

Only the creator of the original design can claim authorship of the design.

Only the creator of the published pattern has the right to claim authorship.

Ownership of the physical copy of a pattern is just the right to the use of that copy of the pattern

For quilts made from the pattern, credit should be given to the author.

Only the creator of the digital pattern has the right to claim authorship.

Users are generally granted a licence to use the pattern.

For quilts made from the pattern, credit should be given to the author.

Does copyright apply to quilt design in form of: Physical quilt made by the Creator

Permitted Use of Copyrighted Work

Fair Dealing in Canada (Fair Use in the US)

Allows users to reproduce works for specific purposes and when so doing it is fair. It is a facts and circumstances test and is the use of material with attribution for purpose of research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, and/or news reporting.

Let’s look at an example of · Fair Dealing in Education

✔

Fair Use

A photo of the quilt design in the context of educating on quilting styles when credit is provided to the creator.

✔ Fair Use

In a class to make the pattern, using selected photos or written extracts from the pattern for teaching, provided credit is given.

✘ Not Fair Use

Photocopying of the entire pattern for all class participants.

✔ Fair Use

In a class to make the pattern, using selected photos or written extracts from the pattern for teaching, provided credit is given.

✘ Not Fair Use

Photocopying of the entire pattern for all the participants.

In a class to make the pattern, fair use does not include sharing of the digital pattern to all the participants.

Users Rights

Second Sale

Quilts created from a copyrighted design

Whilst the physical quilt may be sold or gifted, there is not transfer of the copyrighted design.

Creation of a physical quilt from a copyrighted design for personal use or subsequent sale of the physical quilt is outside of copyright protection.

The owner (user) of the paper pattern can choose to sell or gift the physical pattern to another user.

Additional resources for quilters:

Stephens, Hugh. In Defense of Copyright. Cormorant Books Inc. 2023.

Gard, Sidne K. and Townsend Gard, Elizabeth. Just Wanna Copyright for Makers. C&T Publishing 2024.

Harris, Leslie Ellen. Canadian Copyright Law. John Wiley & Sons, 4th Edition 2014.

saqa.com/members/member-benefits/can-you-do-treatisecopyright-fair-use-and-social-commentary

saqa.com/members/member-benefits/derivative-art-quilts

ualberta.ca/en/faculty-and-staff/copyright/student-staff-guide/ for-content-creators.html

Creation of a physical quilt from a copyrighted pattern for personal use or subsequent sale is permitted. Copyright protection for a pattern does not extend to the finished quilt.

Note, as the maker does not own the design copyright, credit should be provided to the pattern author as copyright owner on labels and any exhibit of the quilt.

Whilst patterns may indicate the sale of the physical quilt for profit is not permitted, absent a court decision it is difficult to determine if this condition of sale is enforceable.

A digital pattern is generally a license for use for a specific purpose (i.e.: for personal use only). and as such no subsequent sale would be permitted

Creation of a physical quilt from a copyrighted pattern for personal use or subsequent sale is permitted. Copyright protection for a pattern does not extend to the finished quilt.

Note, as the maker does not own the design copyright, credit should be provided to the pattern author as copyright owner on labels and any exhibit of the quilt.

Whilst patterns may indicate the sale of the physical quilt for profit is not permitted, absent a court decision it is difficult to determine if this condition of sale is enforceable.

CAKE STAND QUILTED TABLE RUNNER

by Shannon Fraser Designs

Shannon Fraser is a quilter from Montreal, QC, whose modern designs we’ve been enjoying on Instagram for a while. So we were thrilled when she agreed to share one of her patterns with CQA/ACC members!

Shannon uses needle turn appliqué to add the Cake Stands to the quilt top, but you can use whatever your favourite method is. The sample shown above was made by Rolanda Tovey, who used machine stitching to apply the appliqué pieces.

Another option for a quick make is to skip the 16-Patch Block and use whole pieces of fabric instead, as Shannon did for the table runner shown on the facing page.

Either way, this pattern is a great stash buster, and makes a thoughtful gift for someone special (like yourself!).

Look for the links Shannon has provided throughout the pattern for tips and videos that will help you along the way.

Pattern Notes

• The Cake Stand Table Runner uses paper templates to create the cake stand base, dome, and topper.

IMPORTANT

Templates are 100% scaled.

• The pattern includes pressing instructions to help your seams nest and templates line up; however, you can opt to press your seams open.

• I recommend setting your seams as you sew. To set your seams, lay your hot iron over your stitches before pressing to the side (or open, if you prefer). This will help your stitches “sink” into your fabric, making your seams lay flatter.

• Lay out your pieces on a design wall to make sure you have them in the right order. Here’s a DIY tutorial to make your own design wall: bit.ly/sfDBDQDW

• WOF = Fabric measurements assume using 44" Width of Fabric quilting cotton.

• Fabric pieces are listed width x height unless otherwise specified.

• SA = Seam Allowance is ¼" unless otherwise specified.

• NTA = Needle Turn Appliqué.

• RST = Right Sides Together.

• CP = Charm Pack, 5" x 5".

• F8 = Fat Eighth, 9" x 21".

• FQ = Fat Quarter, 18" x 21".

• LC = Layer Cake, 10" x 10".

Fabric Requirements

• Patchwork*: Scraps; (2) CP; (1) LC; (4) FQ; or (3) ⅓ yd

• Cake Stand*: Scraps; or (3)** FQ

• Backing: 1½ yd

• Batting: 62" x 26"

• Binding: ⅓ yd

* Patchwork fabric scrap needed in a variety of colours is 5" x 5" square. One Cake Stand can be cut from a single scrap measuring 12" x 14" rectangle or a single F8.

** 2 FQ are sufficient, but three adds more colour variation.

OPTION Replace each Patchwork block with a single 18½" square behind the Cake Stand instead.

TIP Using prints for the Cake Stand is a great way to show off the designs.

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

• Patchwork: A (48) 5" x 5"

• Cake Stand: B (3) 9¼" x 8", C (3) 11½" x 5¼"

• Binding: (4) 2¼" x WOF

Assembly

PATCHWORK BLOCK

• The Patchwork Block is made up of 16 5" Piece A squares sewn together in 4 rows of 4 squares to create a 16-patch block.

• Start by placing 2 Piece A squares RST and stitch along the right edge Fig. 1. Set your seams, and press to the right (red pressing arrow).

• Continue adding Piece A squares to the end of the combined squares until you have a total of 4 squares joined, pressing each new addition to the right (red pressing arrows) to complete Row 1 Fig. 2

• Repeat these steps with remaining patchwork squares to create a total of 4 rows of 4 squares, pressing odd rows to the right and even rows to the left.

• Once the rows are pieced together, join the rows together following the layout in Fig. 3 pinning and nesting seams where they meet, and pressing towards the bottom of the block (red pressing arrows).

FIG. 3 FIG. 4

• Repeat with remaining Piece A to create 3 Patchwork Blocks.

CAKE STAND NEEDLE TURN APPLIQUÉ

• The Cake Stand is made up of 1 Piece B, 1 Piece C, 1 Dome Template, 1 Base Template, and 1 Dome Topper Template.

• Starting with Piece C and the Base Template, use the Base Template to cut out the Base of the Cake Stand Fig. 4. Then cut 1 Dome Topper from the remnant. Discard any excess.

• Repeat these steps with Piece B and the Dome Template to create the Dome Fig. 5

• Measure ¼" in from the edge of the Base and mark ¼" dots around the entire perimeter (white marks) Fig. 6. This creates your stay stitch guide for needle turn appliqué preparation.

FIG. 4

• Fold the Patchwork Block in half both vertically and horizontally to find the centre of the block. Measure 2½" up from the bottom centre of the Patchwork Block and use pins or a small dab of glue to place the raw edge of the Base right side facing up Fig. 7.

FIG. 5 FIG. 6

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

• Using contrasting thread, sew a running stitch along the ¼" stay stitch markings to tack down the Base (yellow marks). This is a temporary stitch that will be removed. Do not knot your thread at the beginning or end and leave long thread tails to make it easier to remove these stitches later.

BACK OF PATCHWORK

FIGURE 5

FIG. 9

• Using a matching thread colour to the Base (shown as yellow stitches in Fig. 8 for better visibility), use your needle to turn the SA under ⅛" to fold towards the stay stitch, and stitch down with a blind stitch around the entire perimeter of the base.

• Remove the stay stitches once the Base is entirely sewn in place.

• Repeat the above steps with the Dome and the Dome Topper, making sure to overlap the ¼" marking with the top of the Base and the Dome respectively, so that the Dome and Dome Topper will overlap ⅛" after NTA is complete. Fig. 9

NEEDLE TURN APPLIQUÉ (NTA) TIPS

• A ¼" seam allowance guide and chalk pencil are great tools to mark the stay stitch guide.

BACK OF PATCHWORK 2½"

• Leaving your block flat on the table as you add your stay stitches helps keep your block from puckering.

FIGURE

FIG. 7

FIG.

FIG. 10 BACK OF

FIG. 7

FIG. 9

FIG. 10 BACK OF PATCHWORK

2½"

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 9

FIGURE 8

2½"

PIECING TABLE RUNNER TOP

• Sew your blocks together into a row of 3 blocks, making sure to rotate the center block. Have fun with your block placement Fig. 10

BASTE

• Baste your table runner by laying your backing fabric wrong side up. Lay your batting on top, followed by your table runner top right side up. Baste using your preferred method.

• See basting in action here: bit.ly/YTPinBasting

QUILT

• Quilt using your preferred method.

BIND

• Join your binding strips on the bias, RST, as shown in Fig. 11 Press in half lengthwise, wrong sides facing each other.

• Attach your binding by lining up the raw edges of your binding with the edge of the top of your quilt. Sew around the perimeter a ¼" from the raw edge, mitering the corners. Leave a 10" section unstitched at both the beginning and end, backstitching at the beginning and end.

• Lay one loose end flat along the edge of the quilt. Lay the other strip on top so they overlap by 2½". Cut excess off top binding strip. Join on the bias. Cut off excess, press, and continue stitching to secure in place. Flip your binding to the back, enclosing the raw edge, and either machine or whip stitch in place.

• Refer to these binding tutorials for step-by-step instructions:

Part 1 for getting started (bit.ly/QuiltBindingPart1), then either Part 2 for regular hand binding (bit.ly/sfDBHandBindingTutorial) or Part 3 for big stitch hand binding (bit.ly/sfDBQuiltBinding3).

LABEL

• Don’t forget to label your table runner, and you’re done!

• Here’s an easy way to create your own label! bit.ly/sfDBDQL

Post your finished table runner on Instagram tagging @shannonfraserdesigns with #cakestandquilt and #shannonfraserdesignspatterns.

FIG. 11

OF FABRIC

FIG. 12

FIGURE 10

FIGURE 11

CAKE STAND DOME TEMPLATE

1 of 2

SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS

CAKE STAND DOME TEMPLATE

2 of

SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS

CAKE STAND BASE TEMPLATE 1 of 2

SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS

SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS 1" TEST BOX

2 of 2

CAKE STAND BASE TEMPLATE

CAKE STAND DOME TOPPER TEMPLATE SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS

CAKE STAND DOME TEMPLATE 1 of 2

FROM BARNS TO BRUSHSTROKES CELEBRATING TRADITION AND CREATIVITY

by Alison Harle, Mad About Patchwork

When I think about where this all started, I always come back to my mom, Patti. She’s the kind of person who sees beauty and meaning in the small things. And one day, what caught her eye were barn quilts. These big, bold quilt blocks, hand-painted onto barns, had been appearing across rural landscapes for years. To her, they weren’t just charming roadside art; they were visual reminders of the quilting heritage we both loved. And she was right. Something about seeing a quilt block, painted ten feet tall on the side of a weathered barn, felt both powerful and deeply nostalgic.

When I started Mad About Patchwork, I thought about those barn blocks a lot. I wanted to bring that same sense of presence and pride to our shop. I dreamed of putting our logo—a quilt block, of course—on the peak of our shop, which is a historic cordwood-constructed barn.

But then it hit me: not everyone has a barn. And not everyone lives in the country. I realized that if this was something I wanted to share with more people, I needed to reimagine what a barn block could be. So, I decided to scale them down. Instead of painting them ten feet wide, we’d make them small enough to hang in a sewing room, sit on a mantel, brighten up a garden shed, or even hang on a front door. What was once a rural symbol, used to mark homesteads and tell quiet stories of family and farm, could now live in

urban spaces and individual homes—still meaningful, still beautiful, but far more accessible.

Barn blocks have such a rich and layered history. The tradition has been credited to early European settlers in North America, particularly in areas like Pennsylvania. Immigrants brought with them the customs and aesthetics of their home countries, often bright folk designs, and a deep respect for storytelling through patterns. Over time, quilt blocks became a visual language. Painting one on the side of a barn might have denoted the family’s

values, their heritage, or simply what they grew. It was said that a Corn and Beans block, for example, might indicate that corn was a staple crop. Others believed that barn quilts held spiritual meaning, or were meant to offer protection. Regardless of the intent, they became something enduring—part rural landmark, part artistic expression.

The tradition faded over the years, but it didn’t disappear. In 2001, a woman named Donna Sue Groves in Ohio decided to honour her mother, a lifelong quilter, by painting a quilt square on their barn.

That single gesture sparked a resurgence. Soon, entire communities were painting blocks, and what started as a tribute grew into full-scale quilt trails that now span across North America. People began to follow these trails, driving through backroads to see giant, painted quilt patterns, often paired with stories about the families or the history behind them. It’s an amazing fusion of folk art, geography, and shared memory—and I wanted Mad About Patchwork to be part of a quilt trail, a part of that conversation, even in our own scaled-down, community-focused way. The first time we fully introduced barn blocks at the shop was during our annual Quilt Walk. We created a series of painted blocks and paired them with posters explaining the significance of different quilt patterns, along with information about local quilt trails. It was such a joyful moment to see people stop and really see them—to read, to ask questions, to talk about barn quilts they’d spotted on past road trips. It sparked something. People weren’t just curious; they were excited. They wanted to make their own. And from that moment on, I knew we had something special. Barn blocks had the power to inspire connection, creativity, and curiosity in equal measure.

That’s how our Barn Block Painting classes began. I didn’t want them to feel intimidating or overly technical; I wanted the process to be welcoming and accessible. In traditional barn quilt painting, you’d often need to tape off each section carefully, wait for paint to dry, then tape again, sometimes over multiple sessions. That wasn’t going to work for our community. So we introduced a solution that changed everything: laser-etched barn blocks. Each design is pre-etched with shallow grooves that act like guidelines and paint barriers all at once. The result is clean, crisp lines, without any taping or smudging or bleeding. You don’t have to worry about pencil marks or waiting for

one colour to dry before starting another. The process is smooth and fun, and people are blown away by how professional their finished piece looks—no prior painting experience required. People can focus on the fun part—playing with colour—instead of worrying about whether their lines are straight. And they’re always amazed at how professional the results look.

We started hosting classes regularly. Some are open-studio style, where people come in, pick a design that speaks to them, and get to work. Others are paint nights, where

people sign up in pairs, enjoy drinks and charcuterie boards, and paint together in a relaxed, social setting. We provide all the materials—blocks, paints, brushes— and people just bring themselves and their creativity.

What’s been so beautiful to witness is the sheer variety of people who come through the door. We’ve had quilters and nonquilters, artists, and total beginners. We’ve had a grandfather painting next to his granddaughter, moms and daughters sharing stories, aunts bringing their nieces,

The same block can feel traditional, modern, whimsical, or rustic, depending on who’s painting it.

groups of friends making it a monthly tradition. It’s not just about the painting, it’s about the connection. Beyond the brushes and paint, barn block classes have become a place of community. Quilters bring non-quilting friends. Artists meet hobbyists. Stories are shared, laughter echoes, and new traditions are born. We’ve seen friendships form, generations connect, and even a few quilt groups come together just from meeting at a class. It’s more than just painting—it’s sharing a love of handmade beauty.

And oh, the variety we’ve seen! One of my favourite things is watching how the same design comes to life in completely different ways. Some people choose soft, muted palettes—calming blues and greys, while others go for bright, saturated reds and yellows. The same block can feel traditional, modern, whimsical, or rustic, depending on who’s painting it.

We’ve done everything from classic log cabins and sawtooth stars to birds, florals, Canadian cottage themes, and even a series inspired by Dolly Parton, which was as fabulous as it sounds. Around the holidays, we launched a twist on the classic wreath and started offering what we called “Doornaments”—barn block-style decorations for the front door, about 18 inches wide, festive and full of cheer. People absolutely loved them. They painted them as gifts, made multiples at holiday parties, or brought friends to paint nights where everyone left with their own handmade, quilty piece of holiday decor. The most moving part of it all, though, has been seeing the joy it brings. People walk in unsure if they’re “creative enough,” and they leave glowing with pride. They share stories while they paint—about quilts their grandparents made, or colours that remind them of home. There’s laughter, sometimes tears, always a sense of shared experience.

Some people go on to recreate their painted blocks in fabric form, sewing a quilt inspired by the woodblock they painted. Others find that the freedom of painting opens up a new door into quilting itself. It becomes this beautiful, full-circle moment—art inspiring craft, and craft becoming art.

We run the classes monthly or every other month, depending on the season, and we’re always playing with new themes and ideas. For those who can’t make it in person, we also offer the etched blocks for purchase so people can paint them at home. Some folks use them for parties or family nights, and others just enjoy the quiet of painting on their own time.

For me, barn block painting is more than just a workshop or a product—it’s a way of honouring the heritage of quilting while making space for creativity, expression, and connection. It’s about taking something with deep rural roots and giving it new life in today’s world. Whether it ends up hanging on a garden shed, inside a studio, or proudly displayed on a front porch, each barn block carries a little story, a bit of tradition, and a whole lot of love.

And that’s what Mad About Patchwork has always been about.

FROM RURAL ROOTS TO RUNWAYS

A MADE-IN-CANADA QUILTING REVIVAL

by Marilyn Smulders

April 2, 1972. In the midst of a snowstorm, Vicki Lynn Crowe came back home from New York City to tiny New Germany, Nova Scotia. The flurries in her wake are still swirling more than 50 years later.

She brought with her a big idea destined to provide fairly-compensated work for rural women, while injecting new life into traditional quilting. She was 24 years old. While in New York, Vicki studied interior design and then, fresh out of school, scored a job as one of two assistant interior design editors of American Home, a monthly home decor magazine with a circulation in the millions. As an editor, she took the pulse of what was new and hot in home decor—things like fondue pots, wood paneling, push-button telephones, and shag carpeting. But along with the plastic and shiny, handmade products were also causing a stir. The 1970s saw the emergence of artisans as integral players in the economy. Potters, weavers, and woodworkers were returning to handcrafts as a means of expression and in contrast to mass-produced goods. In particular, Vicki was noticing the impact of the Mountain Artisans Co-op from West Virginia. The quilting collective founded in 1968 was employing the wives and widows of coal miners to make patchwork quilts and other quilted items, all of which were ending up in the pages of American Home, not to mention on the beds of the White House and the four-posters in Sharon Percy Rockefeller’s mansion. Married into the famous family, Sharon Rockefeller was the co-op’s patron; her name and marketing savvy were opening doors and helping to revive the traditional handcraft. So, turns out what was new and hot was as old as the hills. Quilts. Could something similar happen in Nova Scotia? The daughter of a country doctor, Bruce Crowe, Vicki knew some of the quilts in her parents’ modest home were given to her father in exchange for medical services. A handmade quilt that took more than 300 hours to make might fetch a mere $25.

“I heard a bagpipe playing in Central Park, and it was like the music was calling me home,” says Vicki (now Vicki Lynn Bardon) some 52 years later. We’re in a basement storage room of Suttles & Seawinds’ massive store in Mahone Bay, NS, the last vestige of an empire that once included boutiques from coast to coast, and a workforce of 200 rural women who created quilts, home decor items, and clothing from their own homes to Vicki’s

designs. Vicki stepped back from day-today operations about a decade ago.

“If they could do it in West Virginia, why not Nova Scotia?” she continues. “That’s when I thought, okay, I’ll come home for a while and see if there’s interest.”

Within days of Vicki’s return, family friend, former babysitter, and soon-to-become right-hand woman Hazel DeLong had the young woman booked to speak to

the Women’s Institute in Barss Corner, a rural community where women have been making quilts since its founding in 1838. The women were eager to hear what the doctor’s daughter had been up to for the past two-and-a-half years in the big city, and Vicki wanted to know if her idea to create a Made-in-Nova-Scotia version of the Mountain Artisans Co-op was possible.

“I don’t really remember that first meeting,” says Vicki. “Was it at Hazel’s house or in a hall? What I do remember is that it started these ‘tumbling blocks’ of events, one after another after another.”

After Barss Corner, Vicki met with small groups of women in nearby communities, such as Parkwood, Maplewood, Newburne, New Canada, Wileville, Petite Riviere.

Seen on a map of Nova Scotia, their names are printed in the smallest typeface, located along the LaHave River until it empties into the ocean past Bridgewater, population 4,230, the south shore’s largest town. Tumbling Blocks, by the way, is the name of a time-honoured quilt pattern. A quiltmaker skilled at choosing fabrics can have fun with it and make it look like three-dimensional boxes, which roll one on top of the other down the quilt top. The pattern has a contemporary Escherlike quality, which is why it still appeals today. Many of the old patterns like Tumbling Blocks—Kites and Spiderwebs, Old Maid’s Eyebrows, Grandmother’s Fan, to name a few—were still being made, but in unassuming pastels. Vicki learned through her visits to Women’s Institute branches that function was deemed more important than beauty.

“I was seeing a lot of quilts in pastels, light pinks, and soft blues. A lot of Dresden Plates I wondered, ‘Why wasn’t anyone making quilts that were red and white? Why don’t they have any punch?’,” recalls Vicki.

“What I learned was that women were told (by a government official) that if they were going to keep making quilts, to make them in pastel colours, so they wouldn’t show through the chenille bedspread on top,” she says.

Buoyed by the enthusiasm of the women she met, Vicki talked next with representatives from what was then the Nova Scotia Department of Development.

They seemed skeptical, she says, and asked her to organize a meeting to gauge how many women might be interested in taking part in the enterprise she was envisioning. So, with Hazel’s help, she organized a meeting in the New Germany Rural High School gymnasium and invited the government officials.

“Two hundred and fifty women showed up,” she says. “The guys who came out from Halifax nearly dropped their teeth.”

One thing led to another and another. Vicki was back in Manhattan just six months after she returned home, bringing with her a selection of quilts, pillows, hooked rugs, placemats, napkins, tablecloths, and wall hangings made by rural women to her specifications. She named her collection “Suttles & Seawinds” suttles being a Lunenburg County word referring to brightly coloured scraps of leftover fabrics used to make quilts or hooked rugs, and seawinds carrying their work far and wide.

That collection of 30-odd quilts and other home decor items included traditional designs re-imagined by Vicki and some re-named by her too, with a distinctive

Nova Scotian flavor. These quilts included patterns such as Storm at Sea, Scotian Scallops, Mariner’s Compass, and Kingsport Ketch. She also made her own quilt designs including Bluenose II (which she notes was not of a schooner, but a sloop and later redesigned) and Scotian Village, a variation on the old favourite school house pattern, with each block highlighting the charming architecture of Nova Scotia’s main streets.

She took inspiration from everywhere: the historic bed coverings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection that she loved to visit when she lived in New York; the treasured heirlooms her neighbours brought out of cedar chests and off of beds to show her; and, significantly, a shoebox bulging with yellowed newspaper clippings of quilt patterns that a friend lent her. Fabric, too, was an influence: she loved stripes, polka dots, and prints, prints, and more prints.

“The more prints I could put in a quilt, the better I liked it,” she says. She recounts how she’d sit on the floor with a quilt block and a pair of mirrors to see what the block would look like in a repeated pattern.

Sponsored by the Nova Scotia Government, the Suttles & Seawinds show was on display for a week at the Canadian Consulate on Fifth Avenue. It was attended by buyers for big American department stores, stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, and Abercrombie & Fitch. Newspapers and magazines including Home Furnishings Daily, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens ran stories about the show, and several publications, including Vicki’s former employer American Home, sent writers and photographers to New Germany to see what was happening for themselves.

In a hand-written draft memo “to the boys back home” (the officials at the Department of Development) written after the show, Vicki records that the buyers were impressed by the quality of the workmanship, the re-interpreted traditional designs, and the nautical motifs. She also notes the reaction of the buyer from Saks, a quote that still makes her smile with delight all these years later.

“These are like Rembrandts and I’m only used to seeing $30 oils,” he told her.

The idea for Suttles & Seawinds had taken flight.

Visit suttles.ca to see their wide selection of home goods and fashion from around the world, including brands designed proudly in Canada.

FROM SCREEN TO STITCH DESIGNING AND CUTTING A QUILT WITH MYSEWNET ™

by Claire Haillot, mySewnet™ Sewing Events & Product Specialist

If you read the spring issue article, Unlock New Quilting Possibilities with the mySewnet™ Quilting Software, you may remember the 28" x 28" quilt pillow project designed using mySewnet™ Quilting software. That project focused on exploring the software’s design tools, but now it’s time to take things one step further: moving from digital design to real fabric cutting using the SINGER® MOMENTO™ Digital Cutter!

This article will walk through how to use mySewnet™ Quilting software to create a 40" x 40" quilt and cut all the fabric pieces with the SINGER® MOMENTO™ digital cutter—no scissors, no rotary cutter, just precise, effortless cutting!

mysewnet.com/en-ca/

WHAT IS THE SINGER® MOMENTO™ DIGITAL CUTTER?

MOMENTO™ is a powerful digital cutting machine designed to handle a wide range of materials with incredible precision. Whether working with paper, cardstock, leather, vinyl, basswood, mylar, craft foam, aluminum foil, or fabrics, it ensures clean and accurate cuts every time.

One of its standout features is the extra-large 24" cutting width, making it perfect for quilting projects by allowing for more fabric to be cut in fewer steps. This means saving time and effort while ensuring every piece is the exact size and shape needed.

For fabric cutting, MOMENTO™ ensures premium precision with the included rotary blade, specially designed for cutting fabrics like cotton, canvas, denim, and felt. For best results when cutting fabric, a red mat is required. These specially designed adhesive mats hold fabric securely in place during the cutting process, ensuring sharp, clean cuts. Available in 24" x 24", 12" x 12", and 12" x 24" sizes, these mats allow flexibility in preparing fabrics for any project.

Think of it as a quilter’s best friend—instead of painstakingly cutting each piece by hand, MOMENTO™ does the hard work for you. Simply send your quilt shapes directly from mySewnet™ Quilting software to the mySewnet™ Crafting software. No complicated steps—simply select the mat size you will be using to cut the project, and the cutting information will be transferred to the MOMENTO™ digital cutting machine automatically!

STEP 1: DESIGNING IN MYSEWNET™ QUILTING

We would like to let everyone know that the software is available for free on the mySewnet™ website: mysewnet.com/ en-ca/Quilting/Quilting-Software. It is compatible with Windows and Mac computers, as well as iOS and Android tablets. To get started, create a free account with your email address and password. Once logged in, download the software and then access the Quilting Software from the mySewnet™ Space section by clicking its icon.

To begin designing this quilt, the Load a Preset Quilt Layout option was selected, choosing a 3 x 3 layout for a structured yet customizable base.

• Centre block: Square in a Square design—simple yet striking!

• Four corner blocks: Road to Oklahoma block, with two rotated by 90 degrees for a dynamic effect.

• Remaining four blocks: Constellation Star, adding contrast and movement to the quilt.

Once the layout was set, fabric colours were customized to reflect actual fabric choices, ensuring an accurate preview of the final quilt before cutting. This feature is extremely useful, eliminating surprises and allowing for a clear, well-planned design.

STEP 2: SENDING THE PIECES TO MOMENTO™

This is where the magic happens! Instead of manually cutting each piece, the quilt shapes are sent directly from the Quilting software to the Crafting software, which then prepares the cutting instructions for the MOMENTO™ digital cutter.

A preview screen appears in the Crafting software based on the selected 24" x 24" mat, the software automatically calculates the amount of fabric needed and provides the minimum material size required for each colour in every batch.

For example, in the first batch (as shown in the image), a 22" x 22" piece of white fabric is required to position on the red mat. Within moments, MOMENTO™ can cut the pieces perfectly—no waste, no guesswork, and best of all, no sore hands!

STEP 3: STITCHING IT ALL TOGETHER

With the quilt pieces cut quickly and accurately, it’s time to jump right into piecing and stitching—the fun part! The quilt project can be saved and revisited anytime by either saving the file on your computer or using the Vault Integration.

The Quilting software also provides a clear roadmap to follow. By navigating to the Project Instructions tab, a step-by-step assembly guide is generated, complete with yardage requirements, cutting diagrams, and detailed stitching instructions. Each step is visually illustrated for easy reference, ensuring a smooth and stress-free quilting experience. The instructions can be printed or saved as a PDF, making it easy to follow along while sewing. No second-guessing, just smooth, stress-free quilting!

Once the quilt top is complete, it’s time to layer everything together. The quilt is sandwiched with batting and backing fabric, then quilted using a preferred method—whether free-motion quilting, straight-line stitching, or decorative stitches. Finally, binding is added to finish the edges, completing the quilt project beautifully.

PRECISION CUTTING, EFFORTLESS QUILTING— WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

The Crafting software completely transforms the quilting workflow. Instead of spending hours cutting fabric, the focus remains on the best part of quilting: sewing and bringing designs to life. Whether you’re making a simple baby quilt or an intricate masterpiece, the mySewnet™ Quilting software integrated with the SINGER® MOMENTO™ digital cutter helps you get from designing to sewing in no time.

So, are you ready to ditch the rotary cutter and let MOMENTO™ do the work for you? Give it a try—I promise, your hands will thank you!

Claire Haillot mySewnet™ Sewing Events & Product Specialist mysewnet.com/en-ca/

SUSTAINA BLE QUILTING PART NINE

by Bridget O’Flaherty

Stitching Sustainability into Quilting Exploring a Canadian Fabric Marketplace

As quilters, we face an ongoing challenge: how do we responsibly source our materials and supplies without contributing to waste? From unreliable fabric exchanges on social media to the high cost of shipping across Canada, many of us are left searching for better alternatives. The idea for a Canadian second-hand fabric marketplace emerged from conversations with quilters seeking a sustainable way to buy, sell, and exchange materials. This article is more of a request for input. I am opening up a dialogue to discuss our needs and wants, barriers and opportunities together.

Why a Canadian Fabric Marketplace Could Matter

Unlike the U.S., where shipping is often faster and cheaper, Canada’s vast geography presents unique challenges. American platforms like Feel Good Fibers have successfully provided a space for quilters to circulate second-hand fabric, proving that this kind of marketplace can work. However, Canadians have been excluded from this platform due to the cross-border import, export, and tax complications, as well as increased shipping costs. However, a whopping 68.6% of Canadian quilters surveyed expressed definite interest in using an online marketplace for exchanging and de-stashing second-hand fabric and craft supplies.

For many quilters, sourcing fabric from other parts of the country—or even within their own provinces—can be cost-prohibitive. Nearly 70% of Canadian

quilters expressed frustration with high shipping costs when buying fabric online from domestic sources.

What if there was a way to foster local connections and reduce shipping concerns, support Canadian businesses, ensure reliable transactions, and focus on sustainability?

Could there be a better way to navigate the complexities of shipping and trust? Many quilters in Canada currently rely on social media groups to buy and sell fabric, but these spaces can be unpredictable and there’s no built-in way to ensure trust between buyers and sellers. At the same time, there’s a growing desire for alternatives that offer a more intentional, community-driven space for connecting, exchanging, and learning. But what exactly could this alternative look like?

The Urgency of Now:

A Circular Economy for Quilters

Textile waste isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a legacy issue. Did you know that textiles account for up to 10% of landfill waste in Canada? The fabric, notions, and supplies we accumulate today shouldn’t become a burden for the next generation. Instead, we can create a space where resources are intentionally shared, repurposed, and passed along responsibly. A circular economy in quilting means keeping high-quality fabric and supplies in circulation, ensuring they remain useful for years to come. 94.7% of respondents to the recent survey indicated that they would be interested in buying or selling

second-hand quilting cotton on such a platform. This strong interest underscores the opportunity to build a system where fabric is repurposed, reused, and shared among quilters who want it most.

Sewing Opportunities in our Backyard: Benefits for the Canadian Economy

Moreover, by supporting a Canadian enterprise, we’re also supporting other Canadians by keeping money in our local economy. But what if we could measure the positive impact of this marketplace beyond dollars and cents? By tracking the amount of fabric diverted from landfills through our platform, we can tangibly demonstrate the environmental benefits of circularity. This not only strengthens our quilting community, but also contributes to economic sustainability by fostering local business and environmentally responsible practices.

Young Generations and the Rise of Upcycling and Second-Hand Shopping

The younger generations, particularly Millennials and Generation Z, have increasingly embraced values rooted in sustainability, ethical consumerism, and reducing environmental impact. This mindset is reflected in their preferences for second-hand, upcycling, and reuse— values that directly intersect with the world of quilting.

Upcycling is Cool

Today, upcycling is not just a buzzword; it’s a lifestyle choice for many young

Young quilters aren’t just looking for cheap fabric; they’re looking for materials with a story—fabrics that have already been through one life cycle and are ready for a new one.

people. According to a 2023 Statista report, 72% of Millennials and 66% of Gen Z prefer buying second-hand or pre-loved items as a conscious choice for sustainability, with over 60% of both groups acknowledging that they are actively engaged in reducing waste by upcycling or repurposing materials. In the quilting world, these numbers align perfectly. Many young quilters, even those with limited resources, are seeking ways to incorporate sustainability into their crafting. Instead of purchasing new, they are looking for fabrics, scraps, or even unwanted textiles to upcycle into their quilts. This is not just a cost-saving measure—it’s a philosophical choice, one rooted in the desire to give new life to old items and avoid contributing to the ever-growing textile waste crisis. Whether it’s finding vintage quilting cotton, repurposing old linens, or buying fabric from community groups, young quilters are joining the movement to reuse and recycle materials.

Empowering Young Quilters Through Upcycling

Young quilters aren’t just looking for cheap fabric; they’re looking for materials with a story—fabrics that have already been through one life cycle and are ready for a new one. Upcycled materials allow them to be part of the solution, not just the problem. There is an opportunity to connect the typical quilter in Canada— women over 65 with large stashes—to these young DIYers.

Existing Community Initiatives:

Building on a Strong Foundation

Quilting has deep roots in Canadian culture, symbolizing resilience, creativity, and community. We could build on this foundation to support swaps, trunk sales, meetups, and community-led markets— places where quilters can connect, exchange resources, and learn about sustainable textile practices. A national marketplace could complement and collaborate with these efforts already in place.

Several Canadian organizations are already making significant strides in fabric reuse and sustainable quilting:

· Quilts for Survivors & Victoria’s Quilts Canada: Turning donated fabric into quilts for those in need.

· UJAMAA GRANDMAS: Supporting the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign by selling fabric and craft materials.

· The Green Thimble (Victoria, BC): A fabric and sewing supply consignment shop dedicated to reducing textile waste.

· Blenderz Garment Recyclers (Edmonton, AB): A circular textile hub repurposing fabric and offering resale options.

· EcoEquitable (Ottawa, ON): A social enterprise that empowers women while promoting fabric reuse.

· Our Social Fabric (Vancouver, BC): A non-profit keeping high-quality materials in circulation by selling donated deadstock fabric and fibre arts supplies.

By collaborating with these groups, a marketplace could serve as a hub for connecting quilters with existing resources while expanding access to sustainable quilting materials nationwide.

Overcoming Key Challenges: Shipping, Trust, and Accessibility

Through our survey and discussions, several concerns around an online marketplace emerged:

· Shipping Costs: Can we build regional connections to reduce long-distance shipping? Would local pickup points or guild partnerships help? Shipping costs were frequently cited as a major challenge, with many respondents highlighting the need for more affordable and reliable shipping options.

· Trust in Sellers: Unlike unregulated Facebook groups, this marketplace could incorporate seller verification, clear descriptions, and buyer protections. As one quilter noted: “Pictures don’t always show enough features.” Our platform could address this by requiring sellers to provide detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and even optional video walk-throughs of their fabrics.

· Quality and Cleanliness: Several respondents expressed concern about the quality, cleanliness, and potential odours of second-hand fabrics. The marketplace could implement a rating system and provide guidelines for accurate product descriptions to address these concerns.

· Going Beyond De-Stash Groups: How can we ensure this platform offers more value—such as educational resources, community support, and sustainable textile advocacy?

What Could This Marketplace Look Like?

There are many ways this could take shape:

· A simple buy-and-sell platform? A straightforward marketplace where users list and purchase second-hand fabric.

· A trade economy based on points? Allowing members to exchange fabric and supplies without direct monetary transactions, fostering a community-centric approach.

· A social enterprise? Generating funds to support textile sustainability projects.

· A co-op model? A member-owned marketplace where quilters collectively shape policies, share resources, and benefit from pooled profits.

· A resource hub? Providing education on local sustainability initiatives.

· An exchange system? Using loyalty points or charitable contributions in addition to selling options.

· A network of regional hubs? Reducing shipping barriers by enabling in-person transactions.

Each of these approaches has benefits and challenges. How do you see yourself interacting with a second-hand quilting marketplace?

Seeking Advisors: Help Shape the Future

This marketplace is still an idea in development, and your input is Would you be interested in shaping this project? We are looking for quilters, textile artists, sustainability advocates, and business-minded individuals to join an advisory board to explore funding opportunities (including grants) and determine the best

A Call to Action: Join the Conversation

We want to hear from you! How do you see this marketplace working for you? What challenges should we address? What features would be most useful? Your insights will help shape the next steps. Go to bridgetoflaherty.com/marketplace to learn more and contribute or scan the QR code to the left.

Bridget O’Flaherty is a Canadian free-motion embroiderer, quilter and textile artist, teacher, speaker and podcaster with a decade of experience in the sustainable building industry. Known as The Sustainable Quilter, she shares her passion for the natural environment in her art and online community.

bridgetoflaherty.com/threads-of-sustainability-podcast/

Pacific Dreams/Rêves du Pacifique

May 5-10, 2026

Richmond, British Columbia Registration opens September 1, 2025

EAC/ACB’s seminar features classes, an exhibition, prizes, boutiques and so much more!

Internationally renowned instructors include:

• Natalie Dupuis, CA

• Terri Bay, US

• Emma Boughton, UK

• Stephanie Bonneau, UK

• Wendy Innes, CA

• Heather Lewis, UK

• Kim Beamish, CA

More than 30 in-person and virtual classes to choose from!

Techniques include:

• box making

• goldwork

• boutis

• stumpwork

• canvas work

• punto-in-aria

• silk ribbon

• white work

• beading

See all the classes and instructors at eac-acb.ca/seminar

Pacific Dreams

Rêves du Pacifique Seminar 2026

STITCHING IN QUILTING

by Cindy Connell

Last year in Edmonton I took a class with Kathleen Riggins to learn how to make my own 3D buttons. Wool embroidery and hand stitching are becoming more and more popular…something I swore I’d never get into—that’s another story; never say never! Thanks to Sue Spargo and other designers like Katheen and Sharon Fisher, I got hooked. I mostly enjoy making smaller wall quilts with details and have started to add these new skills to my work.

Kathleen taught us how to make Yorkshire and Dorset Buttons. I LOVED this experience! Then, when I did more research, I discovered that these were some of the ways clothing was held together in the 1700-1800s. Cool!

I’m a hands-on girl, but you can find all sorts of articles on the internet about this craft. There is even a Canadian embroidery association which produces magazines full of great patterns (see their ad on page 49). A few I found interesting: Embroiderers’ Association of Canada, Inc. eac-acb.ca

Somerset Stitch (a UK blog) somersetstitch.blogspot.com/ 2021/07/quick-stitch-yorkshire-buttons.html

Gina-B Silkworks (also a UK company, great for supplies) ginabsilkworks.co.uk/buttons

Another popular older technique is Sashiko Stitching—or slow stitching as some call it—a hand-stitching method that adds texture to your finished work. It is not as precise as traditional hand stitching, so it’s perfect for me! It only took me an hour to stitch the wall hanging shown here after I’d assembled it. No fighting with the sewing machine to quilt it.

If you wish, you can also be precise with this technique. I first heard of it in the 1990s at a sewing show in Edmonton where I met Susan from A Threaded Needle (athreadedneedle.com).

I never thought I’d be using what I learned way back then and adding it to my quilting repertoire.

Traditional quilting has evolved to include many types of embellishments. Beading, hand dying, and use of recycled items of all types are now being incorporated in art quilts as well. When I speak with people who practice other handcrafts individually, I always encourage them to attend Quilt Canada and other quilting shows, because now you will now see them all in quilting!

Electric Quilt 8 Electric quilt 8

HOW TO DESIGN A QUILT IN EQ8®

BUILD THE FRAMEWORK

Open EQ8 and click Design a quilt from scratch on the Home Screen. Create your quilt by working through the Quilt Worktable tabs from left to right. Input these settings:

NEW QUILT TAB

• Layout Style: Horizontal

LAYOUT TAB

• Number of Blocks Horizontal and Vertical: 3

• Block Width and Height: 8 inches

BORDERS TAB

• Border 1: Long Horizontal style, 0.75 inches

• (Add) Border 2: Corner Blocks style, 2.50 inches

The framework is done. Let’s save our work then add blocks and fabrics!

SAVE YOUR WORK

Note: The finished size of your quilt is always displayed in the bottom-right corner. Make adjustments on Layout and Borders tabs as needed to achieve your desired size.

Click the Add to Project Sketchbook button on the left toolbar. A message will explain that the project file has not been saved yet (notice the top of your EQ8 window says Untitled). Click OK. In the Save As box that appears, type Basic Quilt Design Lesson and click Save.

Now, the top of your EQ8 window says Basic Quilt Design Lesson. PJ8 – EQ8. Every time you click the Add to Project Sketchbook button, the project file will be updated with your latest changes. Click the View Project Sketchbook button on the left toolbar. With the Quilts tab selected on the left, you’ll see the quilt we just added. Close the Sketchbook.

ADD BLOCKS TO THE QUILT

Click the DESIGN tab and select Block Tools in the ribbon. Click the Set Block tool in the palette toolbox. You may see a few sample blocks in the palette, but there are over 6,700 blocks in EQ8 so let’s grab some! Click the Open Library button.

On the left side of the Block Library, you’ll see the block categories and styles. If necessary, click the plus sign (+) to see more options. (You can search for blocks too!)

Under 01 Classic Pieced, click Diamond in a Square. Click on the second block, Economy Patch, and then click the Add to Sketchbook button.

Next, scroll down to Two Patch Patterns and click on the third block, Roman Stripe 4, and add it to the Sketchbook.

Finally, click Variable Stars and add Variable Star Variation to the Sketchbook.

Close the Library. The new blocks will be at the end of the Blocks palette.

Click the Variable Star Variation block to select it then click on the center block space in the quilt to set the block.

Select the Roman Stripe 4 block and set it into the corner spaces.

You can set blocks in borders too! Select the Economy Patch block and click each corner space in the second border to set the block.

Scroll through the other blocks in the palette to find the EQ Default Variable Star block and set it into the four remaining spaces in the quilt.

Click the Rotate tool then click on a Roman Stripe block in the quilt. Each click rotates the block. Continue clicking until your blocks match the illustration.

COOL TOOL Keyboard shortcuts make setting blocks faster and the Symmetry tool will rotate blocks for you, creating stunning designs! Scan the QR code in the EQ ad to learn more.

Click the Add to Project Sketchbook button on the main toolbar. (View the Project Sketchbook if you’d like to see it. You may need to use the horizontal scrollbar in the Sketchbook to see multiple quilts.)

ADD FABRICS TO THE QUILT

In the ribbon at the top, click Fabric Tools and click the Paintbrush tool in the palette if it’s not already selected.

Default fabrics are in the palette for quick coloring, but there are over 6,200 fabrics in the Fabric Library! Click Open Library in the palette toolbox to see them.

The Fabric Library has three main categories for the built-in fabrics: Colors, Manufacturer Basics, and Themes. (You can search too!) Browse through the fabrics and add a few to the Sketchbook. Close the Library when you’re finished.

In the Fabrics palette, drag the scrollbar to the right to see the fabrics you added.

Let’s start coloring this quilt! Select a fabric with the Paintbrush tool and click on a patch in the quilt to color it. Color the quilt to your liking and add to Project Sketchbook as often as you’d like!

COOL TOOL Keyboard shortcuts make coloring faster and the Randomize tool will color your quilt for you! Scan the QR code in the EQ ad to learn more.

PRINT & SEW

When you’ve finished coloring your quilt, click the Print & Export tab to view all the printing options to get sewing! Choose

Options for printouts include rotary-cutting charts and fabric yardage estimates.

VIDEO LESSON

This lesson is available in video format with helpful tips! Scan the QR code in the EQ ad to watch it.

Longarm Quilting Services

Lisa Adam—Canada’s Quilt Angel®

• Basting services from $0.015 CDN per square inch

• Computerized longarm services from $0.02 CDN per square inch

• Custom longarm services from $0.045 CDN per square inch, and

• So much more quilting expertise found on my website…

Let’s connect and work together to finish your wonderful quilt project.

www.quiltangel.ca

Simcoe

Photo courtesy of Heidi Bischof Huronia Spinners Guild

Thread Talks

ENHANCING QUILTS THROUGH HAND EMBROIDERY

by WonderFil Specialty Threads™

Aquilt is never just a quilt. It’s a canvas of creativity, stitched with intention; and sometimes, it calls for something more. For quilters who want to add an extra layer of personality, meaning, or tactile beauty, hand embroidery offers a world of possibility.

Whether it’s stitching bold motifs across a finished quilt, adding charm to a border with big stitch techniques, or hand lettering a quilt label that becomes part of the design, using hand embroidery threads like perle cotton can transform your project from finished to unforgettable.

The

Art of the Extra Stitch

Hand embroidery invites you to slow down and connect with your work in a new way. Unlike piecing or machine quilting, it’s deeply personal; each stitch placed with care, each detail chosen with intention.

Perle cotton, with its smooth sheen and dimensional presence, is especially well-suited for this kind of embellishment. Available in various weights (#8, #5, #3), its non-divisible structure and lustrous finish make it a favourite for visible stitching. This gives the thread a round, uniform body that creates beautifully consistent stitches, every time. Because the thickness stays the same throughout, your stitching looks cleaner, smoother, and more intentional—perfect for visible hand quilting, decorative details, and lettering that needs to stand out. It stands out beautifully against cotton and linen fabrics, adding richness and rhythm to even the simplest quilt.

Big Stitch Details That Make a Statement

Big stitch quilting and binding have grown in popularity for good reason. They’re approachable, versatile, and striking. Using a thicker perle cotton thread, quilters can create bold, graphic lines across blocks, echo shapes within the piecing, or add oversized stitches along the binding for a distinctive finish.

These stitches aren’t just decorative, they’re textural. They ask to be touched, followed, admired. Whether in bright contrasting colours or gentle tone-on-tone shades, they add movement and interest that invite a second look.

Post-Quilting Embellishment

Even after a quilt is quilted and bound, there’s still room to play. Adding hand embroidery to a finished quilt is a delightful way to highlight favourite sections or fill negative space with creativity.

Stitch around appliqué shapes to make them pop, add little motifs like leaves or stars in open areas, or frame patchwork blocks with decorative borders. It’s an especially lovely technique for wall hangings, mini quilts, and art quilts, but it can bring warmth and originality to everyday throws and bed quilts too.

Stitching a Signature: Handcrafted Quilt Labels

The quilt label is often overlooked, but it doesn’t have to be. A hand-embroidered label becomes part of the storytelling; a visual and tactile reminder of the maker, moment, or message behind the quilt. Use perle cotton to embroider names, dates, and meaningful notes directly onto the backing fabric, or create a separate patch that gets appliquéd in place. Add a border of stitched embellishments to turn a simple label into a little piece of embroidery art.

Hand embroidery isn’t just an embellishment; it’s a conversation between you and your quilt. It adds layers not just of thread, but of care, creativity, and meaning. Whether you’re outlining shapes, adding textures, or leaving your signature in stitches, it’s a way to infuse your quilt with even more of you.

Tips for Stitching Success

• Choose your needle wisely: A chenille or embroidery needle with a sharp point and large eye works best for thicker threads.

• Mind your thread length: Keep it around 18-24" to avoid tangles and fraying.

• Hoops help: Especially for stitching through quilt layers, an embroidery hoop can improve tension and visibility.

• Experiment first: Try out stitch types, colours, and spacing on a scrap quilt sandwich before diving into your main project.

So the next time you finish a quilt, don’t ask if it’s done; ask what more it has to say. Then pick up your needle, and let the story unfold.

CQA/ACC MEMBER QUILT SHOPS

Quilt shops are an integral part of the quilting community. These creative entrepreneurs offer the best fabrics for quilting, plus notions, books, patterns, workshops, and more. We encourage you to shop locally whenever you can, to support the community and benefit from the experience and expertise of those who know quilting best. Visit the website for the most current list of member shops and where to find them: canadianquilter.com/quilt-shop-list.

Alberta

Adventures in Fabric

Mary Lessard

264 Royal Oak Heights NW Calgary, AB T3G 5S4 403-801-4566 adventuresinfabric@shaw.ca adventuresinfabric.ca

Emmaline Bags Inc

50 Manitoba Ct Spruce Grove, AB T7X 0V5 780-887-8408 janelle@emmalinebags.com emmalinebags.com

In Stitches Fabrics Ltd (Fabricland Grande Prairie)

Mary Ann Smith 104, 10660-108A St Grande Prairie, AB T8V 7X4 780-532-5319 fabriclandgp@telus.net

Klare’s Korner Quilts n’ More

Wendy Aubut 201, 2903 Kingsview Blvd SE Airdrie, AB T4A 0C4 klareskorner@gmail.com klareskornerquiltsnmore.ca

Quilters’ Palette

Jane Morgan

178128 Priddis Valley Rd W Priddis, AB T0L 1W1 403-680-8683 jane.morgan@outlook.com quilterspalette.ca

British Columbia

Dream, Create, Joy

Valerie Preston 3872 Walker St Thornhill, BC V8G 3L6 250-631-9828

dreamcreatejoy@gmail.com dreamcreatejoy.ca

The Green Thimble

Bizz McKilligan 3508 Quadra St Victoria, BC V8X 1G9 778-433-6253

contact@thegreenthimble.ca thegreenthimble.ca

QuiltBitz

Kim McCauley

1595 Emerald Dr Kamloops, BC V2E 0C4 250-919-8750 quiltbitz@gmail.com quiltbitz.ca quiltbitz.myshopify.com

The Stitchery

Jill Schuler

2608 St Johns St Port Moody, BC V3H 2B6 604-492-0508 info@thestitcherystudio.ca thestitcherystudio.ca

Troll Brothers Quilt Designs

Stacie Wilson

2744 East Shawnigan Lake Rd Shawnigan Lake, BC V8H 3B6 250-710-2246

trollbrothersquiltdesigns2@gmail.com trollbrothersquiltdesigns.com

Newfoundland and Labrador

Jennifer’s Quilt Shop

Jennifer Peddle 19 Juniper Place

Conception Bay South, NL A1X 7G1 709-691-7711

jennifer@jennifersquiltshop.ca jennifersquiltshop.ca

New Brunswick

Kate’s Open Quilt Studio

Kathryn Bowron

42 Octave St Shediac Bridge, NB E4R 1P7 506-962-6455 openquiltstudio@gmail.com openquiltstudio.com

La filé ²

Geneviève Lamontagne 59 rue Principale Lamèque, NB E8T 1N1 506-344-8080 Lafile53@gmail.com

Nova Scotia

Raspberry Lime Designs

Renata Piedmont 75 Giles Dr Bedford, NS B4B 1B9 902-403-3349 renata@raspberrylime.ca raspberrylime.ca

Northwest Territories

The Quilted Raven 5005–53rd St. Yellowknife, NT X1A 1V9 867-920-0303 thequiltedraven@northwestel.net thequiltedraven.com

Ontario

Anita Retreat

Belinda Beaulne 18 Anita Dr

St. Clements, ON N0B 2M0 519-577-6491

info@anitaretreat.com Anitaretreat.com

Artistic Quilts with Colors

Jinni Beens

1963 Old Highway 2 Belleville, ON K8N 4Z2 613-966-4715

info@artisticquiltswithcolors.com artisticquiltswithcolors.com

Bee Joyful Sewing

Carol-Ann Stubbe

1581 B Bridge Rd

Richards Landing, ON P0R 1J0 705-941-0850 beejoyfulsewing@gmail.com beejoyfulsewing.com

The Cottage Quilter

63 Shady Lane

Corbeil, ON P0H 1K0 705-752-1496 thecottagequilter@gmail.com

The Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop

Trina O’Rourke 220 Main Street S Seaforth, ON N0K 1W0 226-376-3880 thecottonharvest@gmail.com thecottonharvest.com

Country Concessions

35 King Street N Cookstown, ON L0L 1L0 705-458-4546

quilting@countryconcessions.com countryconcessions.com

The Fabric Loft

Karen Leach 2397 Elm Tree Road Lindsay, ON K9V 4R1 705-341-5253

thefabricloft@hotmail.com thefabricloft.ca

Gem Sewing Inc

55 Regina Street

New Liskeard, ON P0J 1P0

705-622-3723

gemsewing@gmail.com gemsewing.com

Happy Wife Quilting

280 Timberwood Drive Carleton Place, ON K7C 0C4 613-257-9023

jen@happywifequilting.ca happywifequilting.ca

Kalidoscope of Quilts

17528 Elginfield Road

St. Marys, ON N4X 1C6 226-661-4004

karen@kalidoscopeofquilts.ca kalidoscopeofquilts.ca

Kawartha Quilting and Sewing 892 Zion Line

Millbrook, ON L0A 1G0 705-313-3023

sales@kawarthaquiltingandsewing.com kawarthaquiltingandsewing.com

Lori’s Quilting Shop

Lori McCluskey 108 Shirley’s Brook Drive Kanata, ON K2K 3M7 343-997-2563 lorimccluskey123@gmail.com lorisquiltingshop.com

Meerkat Trading

248 Geddes Street Elora, ON N0B 1S0 519-400-0075 celeste@sentex.net meerkatshweshwe.com

My Fabric Dresser

Amie Norton 137-4096 Meadowbrook Drive London, ON N6L1G4 519-282-8843

myfabricdresser@gmail.com myfabricdresser.ca

The Needle & Thread Emporium B-688 Storyland Road Renfrew, ON K7V 3Z8 289-241-9367

theneedleandthreademporium@gmail.com theneedleandthreademporium.ca

NeedleWorks Studio Canada

Christina Recoskie 142-Third Avenue Cochrane, ON P0L 1C0 705-271-6701

create@needleworkscanada.ca needleworkscanada.ca

Quilting Confections 3393 County Road 42 Windsor, ON N8V 0A5 519-250-8888

heather@quiltingconfections.com quiltingconfections.com

The Quilt Jeannie

Jean Cloes 35 Thomas Street Harriston, ON N0G 1Z0 519-502-6064 thequiltjeannie@gmail.com thequiltjeannie.ca

The Quilt Place 3991 Perth Road 107 PO Box 223 Shakespeare, ON N0B 2P0 519-625-8435

heather@thequiltplace.ca thequiltplace.ca

The Rural Quilter Ivo Inger 7581 Road 164 Atwood, ON N0G 1B0 226-622-2885 theruralquilter@gmail.com facebook.com/pg/TheRuralQuilter

Sanity Hill

Hilda Wales 3855 Bruce Road 4, RR#1 Formosa, ON N0G 1W0 519-392-6046

murhilfarm@wightma.ca sanityhill.ca

Sew Productive

Melinda Noble 47 Mill Street E Acton, ON L7J 1H1 416-562-0981

melinda.noble@outlook.com sewproductive.ca

Call for Volunteers

Enhance your Quilt Canada experience and become a volunteer! CQA/ACC is looking for Classroom Assistants and General Volunteers. Come join the team, we can’t wait to see you! For more information visit: www.canadianquilter.com

Thimbles & Things

Paula Trecartin 1282 Broadie Drive Orillia, ON L3V 0V2 705-326-9357

paula@thimblesandthings.com thimblesandthings.com

Quebec

Colette Dumont 120 route Bouffard Saint-Romain, QC G0Y 1L0 818-570-1388 cabouron.inc@tellambton.net

Intimate Partner Violence

Find information and support for Victims at sandysmallproudfoot.com

JN HARPER YOUTH CHALLENGE 2025 Stargazing

CQA/ACC is thrilled to announce an exciting update to the prizes sponsored by Janome Canada for the JN Harper Youth Challenge 2025!

Janome is donating nine sewing machine prizes: one Memory Craft 6700P machine for the firstplace winners in each of three age categories; a 3160QDC-G machine for the second-place winners, and a 2030QDC-TC for the third-place winners in each category.

Thank you to Janome for their outstanding support of youth quilting in Canada.

VOTE NOW! VOTE NOW!

The online vote for your favourite 2025 Youth Challenge entries is May 9 – June 13 at canadianquilter.com/ 2025-youth-challenge-gallery

First

Second Prize

Third Prize One in each Age Category

Notice Board

CQA/ACC Annual General Meeting (AGM)

A virtual AGM for voting members (individual, professional, and shop members) of the association will be held on May 29 at 7 pm ET via Zoom. Registration information is advertised in the April and May 2025 member newsletters. The Slate of Directors to be presented to the membership for approval at the 2025 AGM:

• President – Elenore Busby

• Vice President – Vacant

• Past President – Linda Lake

• Secretary – Joyce Thrush

• Treasurer – Lois Smith

• Membership – Kelly Moore

• Communication – Vacant

To view position descriptions and to retrieve the nomination forms go to canadianquilter.com/cqa-positions.

For additional information about Board of Directors positions please email Linda Lake at linda.lake@canadianquilteradministration.com.

Quilt Canada 2025

Join us in Mississauga, ON (Toronto) June 18-21, 2025 for Quilt Canada

Lectures begin on Wednesday, June 18, and the award ceremony will be held that evening. The show hall and merchant mall open on Thursday, June 19.

Detailed information is available at canadianquilter.com/ quilt-canada-2025

Registration—Online registration for Quilt Canada 2025 ends on Saturday, June 14 at noon ET.

Show hall entry passes can be purchased at the door June 19-21, 2025. Some lecture tickets may also be available on-site. Please visit the registration booth at the International Centre, Mississauga, ON, to see what is available.

Call for Nominations

CQA/ACC is seeking nominations for the following Board positions:

• Communications Director (immediately)

• Vice President (for 2025-2026)

See the job descriptions at canadianquilter.com/cqa-positions, and contact Linda Lake, Nomination Committee Chair, with questions at linda.lake@canadianquilteradministration.com

Regional Representatives Needed

Seeking volunteers for the following Regional Representative positions:

• Manitoba

• Northwest Territories

• Nunavut

• Ontario Central

• Ontario GTA/Niagara

• Quebec

• Saskatchewan

For additional information, please email Carole McCarville at executivedirector@canadianquilteradministration.com

Babillard

Traduction par Sylvie Jane Leclerc

Assemblée générale annuelle (AGA) de la CQA/ACC

Une AGA virtuelle de l’association aura lieu pour les membres actives (individuelle, professionnelle et boutiques membres), le 29 mai 2025 à 19 h HE via Zoom. Les informations pour s’inscrire seront indiquées en avril et mai 2025 dans les bulletins d’information électroniques pour les membres.

Liste des membres du conseil et des directrices qui seront présentées pour approbation auprès des membres lors de l’AGA 2025 :

• Présidente : Elenore Busby

• Vice-présidente : vacant

• Présidente sortante : Linda Lake

• Secrétaire : Joyce Thrush

• Trésorière : Lois Smith

• Abonnements : Kelly Moore

• Communications : vacant

Pour voir les descriptions des postes et pour vous procurer le formulaire de nomination, allez à canadianquilter.com/ cqa-positions*

Pour plus d’information au sujet des postes du Conseil d’administration veuillez envoyer un courriel à Linda Lake au linda.lake@canadianquilteradministration.com

Quilt Canada 2025

Venez nous voir à Mississauga, On (Toronto), du 18 au 21 juin 2025 à Quilt Canada.

Les conférences commenceront mercredi le 18 juin et la cérémonie des remises de prix se tiendra le soir. La salle d’exposition et le mail des marchands ouvriront jeudi le 19 juin.

Des informations détaillées sont disponibles à canadianquilter. com/quilt-canada-2025*.

Inscription—Les inscriptions en ligne pour Quilt Canada 2025 se termineront samedi le 14 juin 2025 à midi HE.

Les passes d’entrée pour la salle d’exposition peuvent être achetées à la porte du 19 au 21 juin 2025. Sur place, il pourrait aussi rester des billets pour certaines conférences. Venez vous informer au kiosque d’inscription au International Centre de Mississauga, On, pour connaître les disponibilités.

Appel de candidatures

La CQA/ACC recherche des candidates pour les postes suivants au sein du conseil d’administration :

• Directrice des communications (immédiatement)

• Vice-présidente (pour 2025-2026)

Allez voir les descriptions de tâches au canadianquilter.com/ cqa-positions*. Pour vos questions, contactez Linda Lake, présidente du comité de mise en nomination, à linda.lake@canadianquilteradministration.com.

Recherchons des Représentantes régionales

La CQA/ACC recherche des bénévoles pour les postes de représentante régionale suivants :

• Manitoba

• Nunavut

• Ontario centre

• Ontario GTA/Niagara

• Québec

• Saskatchewan

• Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Pour plus d’information veuillez contacter Carole McCarville à : executivedirector@canadianquilteradministration.com.

* En anglais seulement

P.S. : La forme féminine utilisée dans cette page désigne, s’il y a lieu, aussi bien les hommes que les femmes.

Summer 2025

Vol. 43, No. 3 (ISSN 1489-7423)

Canadian Quilter is a publication of the Canadian Quilters Association/Association canadienne de la courtepointe issued three times a year.

Mailed under Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 40032555. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: CQA/ACC Administrative Assistant, PO Box 2065, Petrolia, ON N0N 1R0.

GST # 89443 3663 RT

President Linda Lake

Editor Leslie Van Patter

Translation Sylvie Leclerc, Compton, QC

Design ....... Leslie Van Patter, Sackville, NB Tara Wells, Sackville, NB

Printing Timeline Printing Inc.

Advertising Leslie Van Patter

The views expressed by various writers in this publication are not necessarily those held by the Association. All contents of this publication are COPYRIGHTED, and cannot be republished (reprinted) for six months. Please contact the Editor. Written permission must be obtained before anything is reprinted. CQA/ACC must be acknowledged if any material is reprinted.

WEBSITE canadianquilter.com

SUBMISSIONS Members are encouraged to submit articles and news to the Editor: editor@canadianquilter.com

Please tell us if articles have been submitted and/or published elsewhere, and be certain to include all credits. We reserve the right to edit all work and to publish all letters received. We welcome good quality photos with submissions. Digital photos should be high resolution, at least 300 dpi at print size.

COPY DEADLINE The Autumn 2025 issue deadline is August 1, 2025. Early submissions are advised.

BACK ISSUES of Canadian Quilter are available. To order, please visit canadianquilter.com or contact Ana Dailey, Administrative Assistant, ana.dailey@canadianquilter.com.

ADVERTISING information is available from the Editor, Leslie Van Patter, editor@canadianquilter.com

A TRIBUTE TO LAUREN MACDONALD AN EXTRAORDINARY CONTRIBUTOR

by Jackie White

The Canadian Quilters Association/ Association canadienne de la courtepointe (CQA/ACC) extends its sincerest gratitude to Lauren for her contributions to the organization over the past decade. Lauren, simply put, is a force—a kind, respectful, and fun-loving force. Her dedication to everything she does is unparalleled. Whatever she commits to, she does at 200%, never looking back until the task is complete.

Lauren was ‘discovered’ in her guild, where she managed the newsletter as if she had done so forever. Her impeccable work ethic and positive attitude caught the attention of a future CQA/ACC president (may have been me), who quickly recruited her to serve a two-year term on the Board of Directors as Secretary.

During that time, Lauren played a pivotal role in organizing the Quilting Bee at Quilt Canada 2017 in Toronto. She was at the

heart of this monumental event, working tirelessly with a dedicated group to ensure its success.

Lauren’s commitment did not end with her term on the Board. She also served as a Regional Representative and continues to champion the organization with her favourite quote: “If you're a quilter and Canadian, then of course you are a member of CQA/ACC!”

Lauren’s talents extended beyond administrative roles. For many years, and until just recently, she wrote articles for Canadian Quilter, educating members about Electric Quilt (EQ). Crafting new topics and creating articles complete with images and easy-to-follow text, Lauren made complex concepts accessible. While some find starting a new quilt daunting, Lauren approaches it with enthusiasm and dedication, embodying her belief: if you commit, you give it your all.

New members of CQA/ACC are offered a free pattern designed by Lauren called Wheelhouse. It comes in three variations for traditional, modern, and beginner quilters. You can find it in the Member Studio (just search Lauren MacDonald).

CQA/ACC is honoured to have had such a devoted member and volunteer. As Lauren steps back to enjoy more quilting time, we wish her the very best, and look forward to seeing the beautiful quilts she will create.

On behalf of CQA/ACC, thank you Lauren!

Contact Information

2024/2025 CQA/ACC Board of Directors

President (Interim): Linda Lake Sharbot Lake, ON • 905-376-1220 president@canadianquilter.com

Vice President: Elenore Busby Edmonton, AB vicepresident@canadianquilter.com

Past President: Linda Lake Sharbot Lake, ON • 905-376-1220 president@canadianquilter.com

Secretary: Joyce Thrush Sylvan Lake, AB secretary@canadianquilter.com

Treasurer: Lois Smith Sesekinika, ON treasurer@canadianquilter.com

Membership: Kelly Moore Sherwood Park, AB membership@canadianquilter.com

Communications: Vacant

Youth Programs: Diane Carson Exeter, ON youthprograms@canadianquilter.com

Executive Director: Carole McCarville 116 Frederick Ave., Halifax, NS B3N 2L1 1-877-672-8777, Ext. 3 or 902-388-4848 executivedirector@canadianquilteradministration.com

Administrative Assistant: Ana Dailey PO Box 2065, Petrolia, ON N0N 1R0 ana.dailey@canadianquilter.com 1-877-672-8777, Ext. 1 (North America)

Sponsorship Coordinator: Carole McCarville sponsors@canadianquilter.com

Quilt Canada 2025 Registrar: Janet Kasper quiltcanadaregistrar@canadianquilter.com 647-519-4276 or 1-877-672-8777, Ext. 2

CQA/ACC Regional Representatives

Alberta South & North: Lynn Kist Calgary, AB absrep@canadianquilter.com

British Columbia Coastal: Pam Robertson Rivet Medicine Hat, AB bccorep@canadianquilter.com

British Columbia Interior: Pam Robertson Rivet Medicine Hat, AB bcinrep@canadianquilter.com

British Columbia Lower Mainland: Pam Robertson Rivet Medicine Hat, AB bclmrep@canadianquilter.com

British Columbia North: Pam Robertson Rivet Medicine Hat, AB bcnorep@canadianquilter.com

New Brunswick: Tabitha Robinson Saint John, NB nbrep@canadianquilter.com

Newfoundland & Labrador: Denise Hodder Torbay, NL nlrep@canadianquilter.com

Nova Scotia: Rita Solkin Bedford, NS nsrep@canadianquilter.com

Ontario East: Hope Bell Jasper, ON onerep@canadianquilter.com

Ontario North: Cindy Connell Sault Ste. Marie, ON onnrep@canadianquilter.com

Ontario West: Keary Fulton-Wallace St. Mary’s, ON onwrep@canadianquilter.com

Prince Edward Island: Patty McKenna

Charlottetown, PE perep@canadianquilter.com

Quebec: Louise Gour (interim) qcrep@canadianquilter.com

Yukon: Margaret Dumkee Whitehorse, YT ytrep@canadianquilter.com

Vacant: Manitoba: mbrep@canadianquilter.com

Northwest Territories: ntrep@canadianquilter.com

Nunavut: nurep@canadianquilter.com

Ontario Central: oncrep@canadianquilter.com

Ontario GTA/Niagara: ongtarep@canadianquilter.com

Quebec: qcrep@canadianquilter.com

Saskatchewan: skrep@canadianquilter.com

NEW THIS YEAR—Join us June 18 for four daytime lectures Exhibition Hall opens June 19

The International Centre • 6900 Airport Road, Mississauga, ON canadianquilter.com

Canadian Quilter Summer 2025

A Note from the Editor

A PASSION FOR QUILTING

QUILT CANADA 2025

DAILY DOOR PRIZES & GIVEAWAYS

DAILY DRAWS FOR SATURDAY, JUNE 21

SINGER ® MOMENTO™ BUNDLE

GRACE COMPANY’S CUTIE BREEZE FRAME

MINI QUILTER

LEARNING WITH KATHY K. WYLIE

TEACHING IS ABOUT LEARNING

START WITH A THEME

QUILTING MAKES THE QUILT

Folded Flowers Quilt

Quilt Your Way Through Ireland & Britain—Two Unforgettable Tours!

QUILTING THE PROGRESSION OF QUEER RIGHTS IN CANADA

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON COPYRIGHT

Our quilts are art.

Simple things all quilters can do to respect copyright:

✔

✔ Fair Use

✔ Fair Use

✘ Not Fair Use

CAKE STAND QUILTED TABLE RUNNER

Pattern Notes

Fabric Requirements

CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS

Assembly

PATCHWORK BLOCK

CAKE STAND NEEDLE TURN APPLIQUÉ

NEEDLE TURN APPLIQUÉ (NTA) TIPS

PIECING TABLE RUNNER TOP

BASTE

QUILT

BIND

LABEL

Share

CAKE STAND DOME TEMPLATE

SHANNON FRASER DESIGNS

CAKE STAND DOME TEMPLATE

CAKE STAND BASE TEMPLATE 1 of 2

CAKE STAND BASE TEMPLATE

FROM BARNS TO BRUSHSTROKES CELEBRATING TRADITION AND CREATIVITY

FROM RURAL ROOTS TO RUNWAYS

A MADE-IN-CANADA QUILTING REVIVAL

FROM SCREEN TO STITCH DESIGNING AND CUTTING A QUILT WITH MYSEWNET ™

WHAT IS THE SINGER® MOMENTO™ DIGITAL CUTTER?

STEP 1: DESIGNING IN MYSEWNET™ QUILTING

STEP 2: SENDING THE PIECES TO MOMENTO™

STEP 3: STITCHING IT ALL TOGETHER

PRECISION CUTTING, EFFORTLESS QUILTING— WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

SUSTAINA BLE QUILTING PART NINE

Stitching Sustainability into Quilting Exploring a Canadian Fabric Marketplace

Why a Canadian Fabric Marketplace Could Matter

Young Generations and the Rise of Upcycling and Second-Hand Shopping

Empowering Young Quilters Through Upcycling

What Could This Marketplace Look Like?

Seeking Advisors: Help Shape the Future

A Call to Action: Join the Conversation

Pacific Dreams/Rêves du Pacifique

STITCHING IN QUILTING

Electric Quilt 8 Electric quilt 8

HOW TO DESIGN A QUILT IN EQ8®

BUILD THE FRAMEWORK

SAVE YOUR WORK

ADD BLOCKS TO THE QUILT

ADD FABRICS TO THE QUILT

PRINT & SEW

VIDEO LESSON

Longarm Quilting Services

Lisa Adam—Canada’s Quilt Angel®

Thread Talks

ENHANCING QUILTS THROUGH HAND EMBROIDERY

Art of the Extra Stitch

Big Stitch Details That Make a Statement

Post-Quilting Embellishment

Stitching a Signature: Handcrafted Quilt Labels

Tips for Stitching Success

CQA/ACC MEMBER QUILT SHOPS

Alberta