The painter-and-quilter duo of Marleen Vermeulen and Nancy McMurdo earned the audience choice award in the first-ever cross-disciplinary challenge during the 14th biennial Sunshine Coast Quilters’ Guild show last weekend.
“It was a landslide,” said show committee chair Bernardine Somogyi. The challenge paired 11 visual artists with members of the guild. The results — like Morocco Memories, in which Gibsons fibre artist Marian Williamson interpreted the acrylic camel portrait Sahara Glamping by Roberts Creek painter Kandice Keith — attracted far-flung attention.
“We had visitors up from Seattle and carpooling down from Powell River,” said quilter Moira Sarling. “People traveled over from Texada Island to see the show. And there is so much interest from other guilds about the creative collaboration category, which no one else has done before.”
The audience choice award is named for the Canadian Quilters Association.
“Nancy asked me to collaborate on a nest painting....and really — she did all the heavy lifting!” wrote Vermeulen of her collaboration with McMurdo. “What she created was beyond anything I could have expected.”
The judging committee awarded a blue ribbon to another duo: artist Christy Sverre and quilter Janey Marshall, whose mutually-inspired From the Jetty depicts an opalescent flotilla at the Changi Sailing Club in Singapore.
The arena at the Gibsons Community Centre was garlanded with scores of quilts during the two-day event. A group of student contributors from Chatelech Secondary School, under the direction of teacher Maggie Marsh, contributed quilted bags made from upcycled materials. Sahara Brown embroidered a patchwork guitar onto the face of her shoulder bag; Trinity Proust created a fabric homage to her big sister, with blossoms bursting from a brocade fringe.
“We experienced a huge surge in attendance this year,” said Phyllis Argyle, whose submissions included a quilt inspired by her surname: Argyle by Argyle. “I was looking for my next hexagon project when I realized the natural 60-degree angle was perfect for the Argyle look,” she said.
Guild president McMurdo observed first-time attendees who visited the event after spotting signage at the Langdale ferry terminal. “There was one man who came grudgingly, telling his wife he would be much happier at an axe-throwing contest,” chuckled McMurdo, “but once they walked through the door he was amazed, and said: this isn’t a quilt show, it’s an art show.”
McMuro earned the top award in three other categories: Art Quilts (Boss’s Honda Goldwing), Pictorial Quilts (A man with no name), and Quilt Creations (My funky little shop).
Helen Desjarlais earned top spot for miniature quilts with her Water Garden Butterflies.
In the category of Novice Quilts, Lori Lemay collected both first and second prizes (for Runway and Leaves respectively).
The President’s Challenge — a perennial throwdown whose criteria are defined by the guild’s top brass — was won by Sue Lowell for Moody Blues, which embodied sustainable quilting techniques.
The first-place prize for two-person collaboration was presented to Janet Flumerfelt and Wildflower for their creation Stardance.
Many original quilt designs rendered Sunshine Coast landscapes through thread and fabric, like the driftwood-strewn Soames Beach by Lisa Devries, or Moss by Janis Magnusson, which shows an evergreen-lined trail at Porpoise Bay Provincial Park.
Other quilters integrated nostalgia into their works, as in John’s Piano by Eileen Evans (a tribute to her musical grandson; the quilt’s photo netted her 8,000 likes on Facebook) and With Glowing Hearts by Carol Dunsford — a maple leaf-infused piece that includes photos of her son’s service in the Canadian armed forces.
Literary influences shaped a number of quilted blankets, such as Postcard by Rojean Trent (with quilt top contributions from 12 guild members) that features verse by William Wordsworth. Heather Miller transformed Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven into a cotton-and-velvet cover.
The Sunshine Coast Quilters’ Guild is the umbrella organization for five local community quilt groups, with a combined membership of more than 120. Its next members’ resource day takes place this Saturday, June 7, focusing on a roundup of the 2025 quilt show. (Details online at scquiltersguild.com.)
