MANITOULIN—Several Manitoulin Island quilters were represented at this year’s Quilt Canada conference, including one young quilter who won the prestigious Viewers Choice online award. The Island was well represented not only in attendance at the show but with the representation of quilts in the show.
The JN Harper youth quilt challenge, 10–14-year age category, Viewers Choice online award was won by Rachel Quackenbush of Little Current. Rachel also won the Viewers Choice vote at the conference. She was awarded a $4,800 sewing machine sponsored by Janome Canada. Her quilt titled ‘How We Got the Bear Paw Quilt’ was designed and created by Rachel with the guidance of her grandmother Holly Scott.
In ‘How We Got the Bear Paw Quilt,’ Ms. Quackenbush wrote, “I wish I had a quilt made from the night sky,” said Little Bear. “You shall have it,” said the Wishing Star, but for only one night because it will fade away when the sun comes out,” said the Wishing Star.
“Little Bear loved his night sky quilt with the beautiful blues and shiny stars. He didn’t want it to fade away,” wrote Ms. Quackenbush. “All day long, Little Bear stood over it to shield it from the sun. But when evening came, all that was left of his night sky colours were the four footprints where his paws shaded the quilt throughout the day. And that is how we got the Bear Paw Quilt. I used four layers of tulle in the tiny Bear Paw quilt so it would be puffy, but light to fold back.”
Ms. Quackenbush had the real bear in attendance at Quilt Canada along with her Grandmother Holly.
A terrific entry (also in the 10-14 age category) was from an Island youth as well, Cora, who entered her quilt, ‘Camping with the Stars.’
Jackie White had her quilt, ‘Out of the Box,” which was created by her based on a number of blocks sent in by friends focusing on a theme she had set up. She then took those blocks, created many more and turned it into a quilt. A second quilt ‘Birth of a New Democracy’ was created by Jordan St. James and quilted by Islander Melissa McIntosh.
There were other concurrent shows that had representation from Manitoulin quilters including Deborah Grant, Isadora Bebamash and Rolanda Tovey.
The group of Islanders that travelled to the show did very well. One was Freda Bond, who purchased a new sewing machine and met Brett Lewis, a famous Canadian quilter, with another local quilter winning a $7,000 cutting machine as a door prize.
Quilt Canada is the national quilt conference held annually across the country, hosted by the Canadian Quilters Association (CQA). The event consists of the coveted National Juried Show in which quilts have to be juried in and then judged with over $60,000 in cash prizes being awarded, four days of workshops and lectures, several concurrent quilt shows and of course a big merchant mall.
This year it was held in Toronto and record-breaking numbers in attendance with 7,000 quilters coming through to see the show, take part in workshops and enjoy the shopping.
