Two historic quilts dating from the late 19th and mid-20th centuries are featured on a pair of new Canadian stamps issued Sept. 10.
The Permanent domestic-rate stamps reproduce Northern Night, a 1956 quilt inspired by the aurora borealis, and a circa-1890s log cabin quilt made in New Brunswick. Both works are held in the permanent collection of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
Designer Shelby Guergis created the stamp issue using photographs supplied by the ROM. Rather than illustrating or reinterpreting the quilts, the designs place the textiles themselves at the centre of the stamps, allowing their patterns, colours and workmanship to carry the issue.
The first stamp features Northern Night, designed by Orillia, Ont., artist Ada Bruce Torrance in 1956.
Inspired by the northern sky and aurora borealis, the quilt incorporates the Big Dipper and North Star above a loon. Its imagery gives the work a distinctly Canadian character while demonstrating how traditional quilting could be used to create a pictorial scene rather than simply a repeating geometric pattern.
Members of the Simcoe County Arts and Crafts Association sewed the quilt for a competition sponsored by Star Weekly. It won the contest’s grand prize and was later presented to the ROM.
The second stamp reaches considerably further back in Canadian quilting history.
Frederica Matilda Tompkins of East Florenceville, N.B., now part of the District of Carleton North, created the cotton-and-wool quilt around the 1890s.
It uses the traditional log cabin construction technique in a barn-raising pattern. The arrangement builds outward in repeating geometric sections, producing the strong visual pattern reproduced on the stamp.
The quilt eventually entered the ROM collection as a gift from Audrey L. Livingstone.
The Official First Day Cover features a circa-1840-50 patchwork quilt connected to the Lingham family of Belleville, Ont. The historic quilt, now part of the Royal Ontario Museum collection, represents the elaborate “best quilts” women sometimes brought into a marriage to showcase their sewing and design skills. (Image courtesy of Canada Post)
Two additional historic quilts appear elsewhere in the issue.
The booklet cover features Wreath of Flowers, an appliqué quilt created by Catharine Gage Pettit in Fruitland, Ont., in 1865 as part of her trousseau for her marriage to William Ira Case Jones. Family and friends helped complete the historic quilt, now part of the Royal Ontario Museum collection. (Image courtesy of Canada Post)
The booklet cover features Wreath of Flowers, an appliqué quilt created by Catharine Gage Pettit in Fruitland, Ont., in 1865. Pettit made the quilt for her marriage to William Ira Case Jones as part of her trousseau, with family and friends helping complete the quilting.
An even earlier patchwork quilt, dating from about 1840-50, appears on the Official First Day Cover (OFDC). Connected to the Lingham family of Belleville, Ont., it represents the elaborate “best quilts” women sometimes brought into a marriage to demonstrate their sewing and design abilities.
All four textiles were included in the ROM’s Quilts: Made in Canada exhibition in 2024.
Guergis designed the issue using the ROM’s photography, with Lowe-Martin handling production.
The two designs are being sold in booklets of six Permanent domestic-rate stamps. An OFDC accompanies the issue, with Florenceville, N.B., selected as the cancellation site because of its connection to Tompkins and the log cabin quilt featured on one of the stamps.
The stamps were issued Sept. 10