David Owen Hastings is all about creativity and artistic expression. Well-known for making richly layered contemporary art and modern minimal quilt designs, David is a life-long knitter and sewist who now focuses exclusively on his work as a modern quilter, textile artist, speaker, and teacher. Paper, fabric, and thread are David’s primary tools, although he also creates some textiles through dyeing and painting.

In January, David will describe his process for developing simple graphic quilt designs, starting with stitched paper models, called maquettes. (Spoiler alert! Minimal ≠ Boring) He’ll show examples of how to translate an architectural photo into a quilt design; techniques that are also great for making unique modern quilt block designs. And before he’s done, David will talk about walking-foot quilting these quilts. Join us when David Owen Hastings helps us bridge the gap between modern art and modern quilting!

Monday January 12 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. Guests are welcome. See the guest section of our fees page for all the details. Also check out our lineup through June 2026. We’d love to have you join us for more amazing speakers and activities.

Our December speaker completed her first quilt in 2009 and realized she was hooked! After 6 years of quilting on a domestic sewing machine, Sarah Yetman took the leap and dove into the world of longarm quilting. You won’t be surprised to learn that Sarah doesn’t take a utilitarian or hasty approach to quilting. Her quilts feature dense, detailed, custom, eye-popping, hand-guided and digitized quilting.

In her presentation For the Love of Quilting, Sarah will share many of the quilts she has made, from early inspiration to current quilting projects, and will show us how she uses Procreate to plan and design her exquisite quilting patterns.

Monday December 8 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. Guests are welcome. See the guest section of our fees page for all the details. Also check out our meeting lineup through June 2026. We’d love to have you join us for more amazing speakers and activities.

In general, quilts make us think and feel. They spark our imagination, are warm and cozy (even the ugly ones), and provoke a reaction ranging from envy to dislike. Bill Stearman, the Queer artist, storyteller, and social activist, makes quilts expressly to challenge us to think, to react, and to have conversations. His motivation? To create work that changes the way people view the world, and thus to change the world. 

Bill experiments with alternate materials and techniques to tackle subjects that aren’t often connected with quilts —depression, death, abuse, Queer issues, and social justice. He wants his work to be seen as true and honest; something that matters; something that will make a difference. Since receiving a life-saving liver transplant in 2021, Bill has operated with a profound sense of purpose. He views his second chance at life as a gift with a mission: to be an agent of positive change.

On Monday November 10 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom, Bill will present “Queer Rights and Queer Issues: I will be Silent No More”, where he will focus on his activism through quilt making, and explain his Quilting the Progression of Queer Rights in Canada tour, and why it is so important.

Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page for all the details. And check out our lineup for the rest of the year. We’d love to have you join us for a year of amazing speakers and activities.

You know that feeling when you see a quilt and immediately think “Wow, that’s definitely an Émilie Trahan!”? Her work has that special something that makes it instantly recognizable. Whether it was her stunning Out of the Blue taking first place at Quilt Canada 2025 in SAQA’s Improvisation Category, or Blooming stealing the show at QuiltCon 2021 winning Best in Show, Émilie’s quilts have a way of stopping you in your tracks.

Finding inspiration in nature and other forms of art, Émilie works her magic with curves and repurposed fabrics. The result? Bold, vibrant quilts that feel both organic and perfectly balanced. Those flowing, curved cuts create shapes that seem to dance with her chosen colours, coming together in designs that just feel right.

“Improvisation is at the core of my work,” Émilie says, “and I believe improvisation is a great way to build resilience.” In a talk she calls “Quilt as You Grow”, Émilie will share what inspires her and walk us through her design process, in the hope of sparking our journey into quilt improvisation.

Monday October 20 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. Guests are welcome. See the guest section of our fees page for all the details. And check out our lineup for the rest of the year. We’d love to have you join us for a year of amazing speakers and activities.

In a talk titled Value Makes the Design, the textile designer, pattern designer, teacher, and quilter of almost 25 years, will talk about why she thinks value is one of the most important and essential design tools. There will be many pictures so we can clearly see how value plays a role in creating movement, tension, or flow in the design of a quilt. Tara will even leave us with a few exercises to take forward into our own quilt making.

This talk has a cost, just like workshops. Members can register for $15 through their guild. Registration for non-members is $30 through any of the three guilds. Registration has closed.

Our regular October meeting featuring Émilie Trahan will be on October 20, the third Monday of the month due to Thanksgiving falling on the second Monday.

There’s nothing quite like that feeling when you put the final stitches into your quilt top. And just when you think all that’s left is to quilt and bind it, you remember you still need a backing. Ugh.

Monday September 8 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. If you haven’t already renewed your membership, please do. Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page. The zoom link will be sent to current members and guests at least 48 hours before the meeting. You can also check out our line up for the rest of the year. We’d love to have you as part of our guild.

We have an exciting lineup of Zoom speakers for the upcoming year! In addition, we will host two in-person retreats at the Vittoria Community Centre and a Snow and Sew Virtual Retreat in January!

To learn more about each speaker, simply click the blue link, as they are all linked!

**Correction for Tara Faughnan’s talk.** It is Tuesday, October 7 @ 8pm Eastern

For a Printable PDF, click here!

All monthly meetings are on Zoom! Membership registration is now open! For more information about membership and guest attendance, please see our Fees page.

The John Race MakerSpace at the Simcoe Branch of the Norfolk County Public Library is a fantastic resource for quilters! Over the past few years, the collection of AccuQuilt dies has grown significantly—and now, thanks to some expert organizing (the librarian way, of course!), everything is easy to find and ready to use.

All the Qube and traditional Geometic dies are in the black cupboard. With the Electric cutter and a second, hand-cranked cutter on the lower shelf. The mats are also there, on an upper shelf.

The tall 24″ Strip, Alphabet and Block on Board dies are all standing on the counter. To find the location of the dies you want, check the large listing, also located on the counter.

For the most complete and up-to-date listings of dies, check the top of our website,Twilight Quilt Guild. Click ‘Resources’ and then ‘AccuQuilt’. On the 2-page listing, the Die Names in Blue link to the company’s webpage, which contains all the die information.  And free patterns. Click “Details” to see the sizes you need to precut for each block! There is often an instructional video on each die page!

To take advantage of this amazing resource, all you need is a Norfolk County Public Library card. If you belong to a different library system, just check in with the front desk—they’ll help you get started. Head to the front desk at the Simcoe Branch and ask for access to the MakerSpace. You’ll find everything you need for fabric cutting, including wool pressing mats, an iron, and a variety of cutting rulers. For many dies, it’s helpful to precut your fabric or scraps at home to make the most of your time. Need a bit of guidance? Check out this Simple AccuQuilt 6” Half Square Triangle Quilt tutorial. It walks you through using the GO! Big Electric cutter and how to prep your materials for a quick and productive visit to the library.

Great news! The MakerSpace at the Simcoe Branch of the Norfolk County Public Library has added many new AccuQuilt Dies!

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🧵 Newly Added 12″ Finished Dies:

• Dresden Plate
• Double Wedding Ring
• Mariner’s Compass
• Flowering Snowball
• Cleopatra’s Fan
• Arkansas Traveller

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🧵 Also New—9″ Dies:

• Grandmother’s Fan
• Pieced Schoolhouse
• Pieced Butterfly

These 12″ and 9″ dies are Block on Board or (BOB) dies include all the shapes needed to cut an entire quilt block on one die board. That means faster cutting and easier piecing—often for fairly complex blocks.

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🧺 New Finished Object Dies:

• Mini Bowl Cozy
• Large Bowl Cozy
• Mini Oven Mitt

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✨ And One More!

• 6″ Tumbler Die – perfect for using up scraps and creating fun layouts.

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🔍 Need More Info?

For the most complete and up-to-date listings of dies, check the top of our website, Twilight Quilt Guild. Click ‘Resources’ and then ‘AccuQuilt’. On the 2-page listing, the Die Names in Blue link to the company’s webpage, which contains all the die information.  And free patterns. Click “Details” to see the sizes you need to pre-cut for each block! There is often an instructional video on each die page!

Many of the new dies were added because of suggestions from quilters and sewers. If you have a die you’d love to see in the collection, let the front desk know!

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For some of us the COVID lockdown was a struggle. For Valerie Prideaux, it was an opportunity. Stuck at home with her creativity, not to mention fabric stash, Valerie was able to indulge her curiosity and explore a single shape. The tumbler block. The outcome was 25 quilts, many of which are featured in her book Tumbler Quilts: Just One Shape, Endless Possibilities; Play with Color (sic) & Design, released in 2023.

Join us via zoom June 9 @ 7pm Eastern daylight time. Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page.