The Quilts Are Coming

Make sure that coming to Toronto is in your summer plans. The Royal Ontario Museum (also known as the ROM) has a new exhibition entitled “Quilts-Made in Canada.”

Drawing from their permanent collection, it will highlight some of the most visually intoxicating examples of artistry, community, and sustainability made in Canada: quilts. Many of these quilts have not been seen since they were donated over a half century ago.

I have been told that one of the WWII quilts that Canada made in the war relief to sent to the UK, has been repatriated and will be part of the exhibit. If you don’t know, Canada sent over 400,000 quilts to Europe to help soldiers and displaced families. It is a story just now being told and you can find out more from this episode of Karen’s Quilt Circle with the researcher Joanna Dermanjian here.

So grab your quilty friends or members of your guild and organize an outing. It’s also a great activity to do with extended family. And why not make a day of it with some fabric shopping? I have three videos about where to shop for fabric in Toronto. You can find a link to them below when you click on the picture. Plus there is handout that you can print out to guide you on my homepage, here.

Quilts: Made in Canada opens June 29, 2024 and is free with general admission. If you use the code MUSEUM15 you will receive a 15% discount.

I have been crazy busy with guests, preparing for my cruise and finishing off some very long term projects. I have to remind myself, even though the time is ticking, to slow down and enjoy the process. As I am putting the final stitches to my New Hexagon Millefiori, I can’t believe how far I have come since I started back in 2007. I have learned so much about fabric and pattern, that I wanted to share these lessons with you. And that’s what this week’s video is about. I am hoping that people will enjoy finding all the little motifs in the quilt as much as I enjoyed stitching them there. 

Karen's Quilt Circle

This week, I had Saskia ter Welle on the podcast. Saskia trained in haute couture embroidery techniques at the renowned Ecole Lesage in Paris. And she is passing on her skills at her Dutch Couture Academy in the Netherlands. You can listen to my interview with Saskia here.

Listen to any of my Karen's Quilt Circle podcasts on the YouTube Music app here. 

Upcoming events

My next Stitch’n Chat with Karen’s Quilt Crew is on Sunday, June 21st at 2:00 pm EST. If you are a channel member, you will find the zoom link on the Just Get It Done Quilts community page.

Online Class

By popular demand, my next online class will be an Introduction to English Paper Piecing on July 21st from 11am to 2pm EST. The class is free to all member's of Karen's Quilt Crew The class will occur immediately before the monthly Stich n Chat, which you are welcome to stay for as well. The class will cover everything you need to start your first EPP project. It will be recorded and available to replay afterwards for 30 days.

Travel with Karen

Join me and Verstaet travels in September for our textile tour of the Netherlands and Belgium. We are staying in the beautiful old town of Zutphen and have our own private coach as we tour around. There are open air markets, quilt stores, lace, linen, African wax prints, museums and even a couple of local sew-lebrities to join us on the bus. I hope that you can join us too. Just click on this link for more information.

I am just finishing off packing for my Fire & Ice Cruise next week. Next year my cruise will be the Best of Scandinavia. I'll have details up on my website shortly.

Take care