I’ve been speaking with a few past presidents of CQA/ACC about what we have done in the past to promote quilting in Canada. Margaret Connibear (past president 1988/89) said something that stuck with me…
“I feel there should be a record of what has been done in the past to help us in our future of quilting in Canada.”
In the United States, they are very good at sharing their accomplishments, including in quilting. We should also try to preserve our quilting heritage.
In the late 1980s, the Canadian Quilt Study Group was organised in British Columbia. It is now disbanded. It’s a shame that there is no current repository for past magazines, research papers, and books about quilting in Canada.
Thanks to Margaret, I now have an archive of CQA/ACC newsletters, Canadian Quilter magazines, and National Juried Show catalogues since the organization’s beginnings in 1981. I’ve also been in contact with a past editor of Canada Quilts magazine (not affiliated with CQA/ACC) about her publication and a major project she initiated: the Quilt For Canada Project.
This year I have also received a few requests for copies of articles or past patterns to be reshared. It was my pleasure to scan and send an article about a wonderful quilter and her sister who recently ‘earned their wings’ for a memorial display. Another wanted a pattern for a table runner that was published in a past magazine.
So, to gauge the your interest, CQA/ACC is starting to build an archive of past publications. See if you would like to join in.
What was CQA/ACC doing 10 years ago? 20? 30? We have started by uploading scans of the newsletters from 1994, issues of Canadian Quilter from 2003, 2004, and 2014, as well as National Juried Show catalogues from those same years.
These PDF files can be accessed in the Members Studio.
You will find plenty of information and interesting stories in these older publications, as well as patterns that are just as relevant today as they were back then.
Please take a look and let us know if these archives are of as much interest to you as they are to me. Also, let us know if there is something specific you would like to see from a previous magazine that we should make available in the Members Studio.
Enjoy!
