The provincial association Courtepointe Québec Quilts was founded in 1988, following the national meeting of Quilt Canada that took place in Montréal in 1987. This important event on the Loyola campus gathered together more than 300 members of diverse Quebec organisations, and included visitors from Australia.
“Freddie” Wilson and Adaire Schlatter chaired the first annual meeting of Courtepointe Québec Quilts in the fall of 1988. Since then the meetings have been hosted by different member guilds across the province.
At this annual meeting, which is held the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, members are welcomed by the host guild to share their creations during a Show and Tell, to learn new techniques and to deal with current business of the association. During the bilingual meetings, participants keep their hands busy creating blocks that will later be assembled by the host guild to make a quilt. This quilt is drawn at the annual general meeting two years later and awarded to a lucky attendee.
Monies collected through association fees help CQQ publish a newsletter (Le Journal), provide support to member guilds, provide rosettes for guild shows, maintain the CQQ website and encourage quilting in the Province of Québec.
The newsletter LE JOURNAL is published twice a year to keep members informed about shows, guild activities and upcoming events in the quilting community.
A quilt registry was instituted in 1991 to document the origins and details of quilts in Quebec. The volunteer members of this committee travel to all corners of the province to record these works of art. We are also financially involved in a quilt census in conjunction with the Gail & Stephen Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art and Concordia University. These records soon will be on an internet site, accessible to the public.
Two of our members are textile evaluators certified by the American Quilters Society and who are also members of the Professional Association of Appraisers Quilted Textiles. They can evaluate all types of quilts: antique, art quilts, new or old.
To celebrate Montreal’s 350th anniversary, Courtepointe Québec Quilts launched a block contest that saw entries used to create a hand-quilted mural; it is currently in McCord Museum’s Canadian History Collection.
Today our association has 45 member-guilds and 539 individual members province-wide. Since the spring of 2004, Courtepointe Québec Quilts has organized a large, biennial provincial quilt show that highlights hundreds of quilts and textile art pieces, the end result of exacting and enduring work.
May 2012 will mark the 5th Salon. This quilt exhibition will be held at Collège André Grasset in Montréal. From May 24th through 27th, visitors to the Salon 2012 can also participate in workshops with renowned teachers. In addition to on-site vendors, visitors can treat themselves to that dream quilt offered at our fabulous La Boutique. To top off the event, a valuable quilt will be raffled.
These grand shows could not have been achieved without the participation of our major sponsors and the hard work and devotion of the many volunteers who undertake to organise and run the events. The successful growth of each Salon is our best reward.