Resources for Canadian Quilters

Canada has a rich and varied quilting tradition. From indigenous quilting traditions, to when cotton and other fabric imports started in the 1820s from Europe and the United States, a wide variety of Canadian quilting traditions have developed. Let’s take a look at some of the quilting festivals, museums, and suppliers that are available for Canadian quilters. 

Canadian Quilting Festivals, classes and Shows in 2022

February 5, 2022: Quilt Block Making With Ana Mathis

This is a course with renowned quilter Ana Mathis. This course is held at 457 Queen Street,Fredericton,E3B 1B7,CA, Canada. During this course, students will combine traditional quilting methods with a contemporary twist and create a mini quilt.

March 1, 2022: Creativ Festival West – Abbotsford

This is western Canada’s most renowned sewing and crafting event. This is a trade show that has several courses, shopping opportunities, and other resources for you to find new quilting, sewing, and crafting knowledge. This event will be held at 1190 Cornell St, Abbotsford, BC, Canada, which is the Tradex convention center. 

March 18, 2022: Quilters Anonymous 40th Quilt Show

For those that are willing to take a quick trip to Monroe, Washington in the United States, this is an exciting quilting festival worth exploring. With more than 400 quilts on display, this is an enticing opportunity for quilting enthusiasts. This festival is held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. 

April 23, 2022: Sunset Country Quilters Guild Show

This is a quilting show that will happen on April 23, 2022, postponed from April 2020. The festival features a quilt show, courses, and other resources to help quilters. The show does have a local focus and it may be beneficial to join the quilting guild. The show is held at the Dryden Agricultural Fairgrounds. 

May 6, 2022: City of Gardens Quilt Show and Sale

This is an annual quilt show that is held in Victoria, BC. This quilt show features quilt showings, vendors, and workshops for quilters and is held at the Pearkes Recreation Center. 

June 15 – 18 2022: Quilt Canada 2022 

Join us at Quilt Canada 2022 as we become ‘Reconnected’ with quilting friends from near and far!, Vancouver Convention Centre East Building

May 20, 2022: Genesee Valley Quilt Fest

This festival is held at the Gordon Field House and Activities Center in Rochester, NY, just a short drive into the United States. This quilting festival has over 70,000 feet of display space dedicated to showing 4000+ quilts from Canada, the USA, and Europe; offering quilting supplies from different vendors and workshops to further explore your quilting experience.

August 14 to 21, 2022: Quilting Cruise to Alaska

This is a trip that is planned from Vancouver, Washington and includes stops along the Canadian coast, ending in Anchorage. During this cruise, you will learn sewing methods and even a Janome sewing machine to take home. This is a great opportunity to work on a quilting project and to get away from it all. 

October 14, 2022: Leduc Quilting Festival

THis is a quilting festival that is a social activity, lets people learn about quilting, and also has some quilt showings. The Leduc Quilting Festival will be held at the Leduc Recreation Center. 

Canadian Quilt, Fiber & Textile Museums 

Textile Museum of Canada

This is a museum that is located in Toronto. Not only does the TMC feature displays of quilts, fabrics, and other materials, it has over 12,000 different objects from 200 different countries. The TMC is temporarily closed because of the pandemic, but many of their collections are viewable in some way shape or manner online. 

The Royal Ontario Museum

Also located in Toronto, the Royal Ontario Museum has a special collection called the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costumes. This collection contains more than 50,000 textiles dating all the way back to the first century B.C.E. 

Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

This museum is located in Almonte, Ontario. This museum is viewable online and in person. This museum features textile machinery, displays on how fabrics are put together historically, and contains useful artifacts dating all the way back to 1867.

The Quilt of Belonging

While this is not a museum, this is a quilt that makes frequent appearances at museums throughout Canada, most recently at the Royal Alberta Museum in 2021. While the pandemic is happening, you can easily view the Quilt of Belonging and read about it online. Perhaps the most intensive Canadian quilting project ever put together, this quilt has over 263 blocks telling the stories of the first peoples of Canada and other countries from the world. There is also a book available that tells the story of the quilt. 

List of Quilting Supply & Fabric Shops in Canada

If you are looking for quilting supply and fabric shops in Canada, feel free to browse through the options available below:

• Runaway Quilting: Supplier of everything from quilting kits to fabrics. 
• Lindley General Store: This is an online craft store that also carries quilting supplies. 
• QuiltSource Canada: This is an online supplier of sewing supplies and also carries basics like batting and stencils, but also has quilting and tailoring kits for kids.
• Keystone Modern Quilting: This quilting store has fabrics, knits, patterns, and other quilting resources. 
• Watergirl Quilt Company: This online store has quilting supplies and even courses, but also has longarm quiling machines available for rent if you are looking to do some fast quilting. 
• The Quilt Store: This company has everything from fabrics to sewing machines and is one of the more comprehensive quilting online stores for Canadians.
• Cottage Quilting : Cottage Quilting has a large inventory of sewing machines to help you find the right type of machine for your quilting. 
• Blue Barn Quiltco: We specialize in Liberty of London Tana Lawns and Oakshott Cottons plus a whole lot more! Our brand new brick and mortar shop is opening in May

Canadian Quilters 

Laurie Swim

Laurie Swim is a visual artist and quilter. Her quilts are often landscape-oriented and are featured at many Canadian museums throughout the United States and Canada. 

Karen Desparois

Karen is a quilter based in Montreal. Many of her quilts feature unique color overlays and elaborate floral shapes. 

Lynda Johnson 

Lynda Johnson is a long-arm quilter based in Brampton, Ontario. Many of her quilts feature interesting geometric patterns and colors. She sells her quilts on her website.

Janet Slater

Janet Slater is a long-arm quilter in Mono, Ontario who creates a wide variety of different long-arm quilt designs that are more traditional in nature, but feature unique colors and shapes.

Lorna Constantini

Lorna is a Canadian quilter who got started in 2015. She is retired from real estate, but offers quilting classes and patterns on her website. 

Berene Campbell 

Berene is a quilter and educator based out of Vancouver, BC. Her quilts feature unique shapes and colors. She also provides talks and workshops for aspiring quilters.

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