MOTH QUILT BLOCK CONTEST 2025

Quilting is a tradition rooted in storytelling, resourcefulness, community, and creativity. Quilting as we know it now is a domestic and decorative art form, and used as a means of telling a visual tale. Preserving personal histories or collections of memories through meaningful fabrics, patterns, and symbols. They can commemorate momentous events like births, weddings, deaths, as well as the seemingly banal, often overlooked snapshots into a persons own rich inner world.

Sewing circles have long been social events, where people work together on a textile to build something together, while building a personal bond. Some quilts are collaborative efforts, like friendship quilts or signature quilts, where many contribute a square to finished piece. We decided to honour this tradition with the first annual Community Quilt at 100% Silk Shop. At the heart of quilting is creativity, expressions through color, design, and texture.

The invitation to submit a square was extended to our community of artists, crafters designers, sewing novices, and those just plain curious to try something new. For the submissions we asked each to respond to the theme “MOTH” and the following text:

This winter we, along with all we know, are seeking light on the edge of the horizon. Drawing to the glowing warmth of the sun behind the clouds. Whether you feel cocooned, waiting, perhaps impatiently, for renewal, or are moving steadily toward your source of inspiration, MOTH is our message of transformation. (As all things metamorphasize, it is not lost on us the tiny irony of inspiring a cloth creation based on the creature that would most love to eat it)

Quilting requires immense patience and skill. At the same time, it’s constantly evolving with new materials and technologies. The submissions we received showcased an incredible variety of technique, ingenuity, and material exploration. Each stitch is placed with precision, often by hand, in a slow and intentional process that honours time and effort, like skills and stories passed down through generations.

We asked textile artists Jennifer Laflamme, Anni Spadifora, and Sarah Jean Culbreth to evaluate each submission with these things, and a few others in mind. How the theme was interpreted was taken into consideration, along with technique and material. Each submission was assessed by how the square stood on its own, as well as how it worked as a contribution to a larger piece of art.

The results are all overwhelmingly beautiful, and it is an honour to be able to showcase this work.

Submissions in alphabetical order: