Legendary quilting instructor Terry Rowland describes Canadians as scrappy, as in tough and resilient. Yet, she took that message to a new level with this project.
On International Quilting Day, March 17, 2025, Terry Rowland awoke to hear that the United States was challenging Canadian sovereignty. Her call to action to quilters to stand up for Canada resounded far beyond her expectations.
“The Alberta government was saying, ‘We have to sell our gas to the States.’ Ontario and B.C. said, ‘We have to look after our own concerns.’ I wanted to bring the country together,” says the resident of Delburne, AB.
She started looking at the fabric scraps she had gathered while criss-crossing this nation. Then came the epiphany and the social media messages that shared it.
“I am a quilter, so I asked quilting friends from across Canada to send me a scrap of fabric. I would use them in my collaborative quilt to unite Canada, one scrap at a time,” she said. “I had no idea if anyone would do it. Soon, I learned I had struck a chord with quilters across Canada and beyond our borders.”
Even before the flood of response started, Terry warned her rural postmaster that her mailbox might overflow. She was right as 30 to 40 letters arrived per day.
She joked that she worried people would suspect she was seeking free fabric.
“I wanted people to know their letters got to me so I tracked where they came from,” she said. She also posted images on her social media channels.
A flood as Canada united
By the end of April, she asked people to stop since she had packages from more than 600 stitchers. They came from every province and territory within Canada – and beyond.
Quilters from 31 states offered to send fabric as well, citing their unhappiness with affairs south of the border. Packages also landed from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and seven other countries.
“It was crazy and overwhelming,” she noted.
Terry had already envisioned the quilt’s design – a maple leaf with a colourwash background. Red lines shooting out in various directions would represent each province and territory.
“I have a deep love for Canada,” she stated as her inspiration.
However, some of the donations didn’t match her request for rainbow-hued tone-on-tone fabrics. She found herself looking at prints with kangaroos, Scottish thistles, a Nova Scotia lighthouse and West Coast Indigenous imagery.
As a result, she created a second quilt for the back, largely from fabric sent from quilters backing Canada. She finished it on Sept. 9 by quilting hearts and maple leaves all over it.
“If everybody does one thing to unite us, we will be one step closer,” she said. “As a quilter, I can take one step in my quilting world. One step forward is one step forward.”
In all, she used 1,688 pieces for this double-sided quilt that is 78 inches wide and 87 inches long. She named it Canada United.
Traveling with Canada United
“It’s been a journey,” Terry said. “Now, I take it everywhere I go as I’m teaching and talk about it after lunch. It’s pretty emotional for me and for others.”
So far, the quilt has traveled from the interior of British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. While presenting to one guild out east, an excited member pointed out the Elvis Christmas fabric she had donated.
“I don’t know why I sent that,” she told Terry with a laugh. “I just had to!”
“Thank you to everybody who sent me a small piece of their heart to stitch into this project,” Terry said. “Together, we united quilters across the world one scrap at a time.”
