Heather Stewart of the Oxford Quilters’ Guild spoke to a full house at our last meeting. Members were thrilled to view her trunk show. Heather has been a member of the Oxford Quilters’ Guild since 1988 and has been involved with Quilt Canada since 1990 in various roles including Registrar and teacher.
This quilt, “Remembering the Past”, is a postage stamp quilt that was exhibited at the Teachers’ Exhibit in Quilt Canada 2008 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. She taught classes at Quilt Canada 1996 and 2004 as well. This piece contains 5319 pieces and, if you look closely, one maverick block, one block that is not quite like the others!
This “Spiral Bargello” is a quilt she designed to teach classes a technique developed by Chris Timmins. 
Heather belongs to a stashbusting group that created this patriotic quilt to donate to Canadian Comfort and Remembrance Project. This organization donates quilts to mourning families of fallen Canadian soldiers. With two children in the military, she knows the value of a comfort quilt. She told her own story of fear and sadness, when mistakenly she received “the call no mother wants to hear” and she believed her son missing. Fortunately, he was not, but it was her son’s quilt that gave her comfort during that time.
I visited the workshop this morning and all was quiet as everyone was gathered around listening to instruction. The key to this quilt and for that matter, any quilt that contains four-patch or nine-patch blocks, is in the quick piecing and cutting method that she teaches. Her philosophy is “I’d rather save time than fabric”. When you produce over 2o quilts a year, you don’t have a lot of time to waste!
Look at these proud cobblestones! 
The LFQG would like to thank Heather for her marvelous trunk show and workshop! You can see all the photos here.