Monthly Meetings
When: We meet the second Thursday of every month except August
Time: Room opens at 6:30 pm for fellowship. Meetings start at 7:00 PM
Where: Meridian Community Centre, 100 Meridian Way, Fonthill, ON
Guest fee: $5.00 Featured Speaker $10.00
Let’s Bee Friends
Dedicated to making our NMQG inclusive and welcoming.
We organize regular social quilty gatherings, called BeeHives, in Niagara locations and on Zoom.
Our BeeHives hope to grow existing and inspire new friendships. We’ll share conversation, ideas, skills and more.
Quilting Kindness
Comprised of guild members who make and deliver quilts to those in need across Niagara region.
In our most recent effort, we donated 23 quilts to Harriett Tubman public school in St. Catharines. The principal and vice principal were thrilled to have them for their “Gift of Giving” program.
Our History
The Niagara Modern Quilt Guild was founded in May 2014 with fourteen members seeking to adopt a modern esthetic of quilt making. This collective of like-minded individuals created a supportive, welcoming and open community with Susan Bowslaugh, an accomplished modern quilter, as our inaugural President.
The first meetings were hosted at Modern Bee, a former quilt shop in Niagara-on-the Lake. Our fledgling guild announced its arrival by holding a concurrent exhibit at Quilt Canada in June 2014 right here in Niagara. As we grew in numbers meetings relocated to Stitch, a former local quilt shop in the town of Lincoln, and a short time later moved to a larger space at Bethany Community Church in St. Catharines. In 2022, after nearly two years of exclusively virtual gatherings, we resumed in-person meetings at a new location in the Meridian Community Centre in Fonthill, with nearly 70 members encompassing all twelve local municipalities in the Niagara Region. Some members regularly travel from Oakville and Burlington, while others participate virtually from significant distances including Pembroke, Elliot Lake and even Quebec. Our guild continues to attract new members, both locally and outside of Niagara, by offering educational and collaborative modern quilting content through Zoom.
We have members providing learning opportunities and encouraging the art of modern quilting by presenting trunk shows and teaching workshops, as well as quilt pattern designers with international sales.
Quilts made by our members have been exhibited and won awards at QuiltCon, the prestigious juried modern quilt show hosted annually by the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG) in the United States and at the Quilt Canada National Juried Show presented annually by the Canadian Quilters Association (CQA).
Charitable quilting is an important element of our guild program. Through “Quilting Kindness” our generous members make quilts for distribution to local agencies that provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and other supports for individuals and families in crisis. Many of our members support other charitable organizations including Project Linus, Project Noah, Project Smile, Quilts for Survivors, Quilts of Valour, Victoria’s Quilts, and many more. Donated quilts are also provided to fundraising raffles and auctions in support of local initiatives.
The Niagara Modern Quilt Guild is thrilled to be one of nearly 200 guilds and over 16,000 members worldwide affiliated with the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG). We are also a proud member guild of the Canadian Quilters Association (CQA). Members of these organizations have access to extensive resources relating to modern quilting. Learn more about these thriving communities by visiting www.themodernquiltguild.com and www.canadianquilter.com.
We look forward to welcoming you to Niagara and sharing the work of our talented creators!
What is Modern Quilting
Great question to which there are many different answers. The Modern Quilt Guild™, a world-wide association of modern quilters and guilds, of which the Niagara Modern Quilt Guild is a member defines modern quilting as:
“Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design. Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. “Modern traditionalism” or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.”
A question of Balance by Dorothy Holdenmeyer
Inspired by Terry Aske
At the Niagara Modern Quilt Expo you will see quilts that represent the full spectrum of modern quilting styles and techniques, including:
Improvisation
The majority of the piecing in the quilt top is done improvisationally, without the use of a defined pattern or templates.
Minimalist Design
The design of the quilt emphasizes extreme simplification of content and form to achieve maximum visual impact.
Use of Negative Space
Quilt design incorporates a creative use of negative space integrated into the composition of the quilt. Negative space uses large expanses of area in a single colour around other pieced or appliqued elements creating contrast, and is often heavily quilted.
Modern Traditionalism
The quilt design incorporates the use of an identifiable traditional block pattern and reimagines it by applying elements of modern design such as asymmetry, color, scale, etc.
Asymmetry
When the focal point of a quilt is off-centre or does not match on both sides.
Alternate Grid Work
Block layouts do not follow the predictable nature of standard grids moving the viewer’s eye around the quilt.
Graphic or Bold Colours
Modern quilters often use bold, bright colours and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid colour.
Lack of Borders and Sashing
Borders and sashing are infrequently used in modern quilts unless they are part of the negative space.