Fall Fair Quilt

IVERTON FALL FAIR QUILT 2026
“Home on the Farm”
Each year for the Tiverton Fall Fair, held on the first weekend of October,
Jane Kelley and Katherine Gowing come together to create a beautiful
queen-size quilt that becomes one of the fair’s highlights.
The quilt is made up of approximately 30 squares, with the fabric carefully
selected from Sanity Hill. Thirty fabric packages are then prepared,
complete with instructions explaining the fabric choices, colours, and
overall theme for the year.
Quilters are invited to participate through local connections and the
Quilters Guild, and each participant takes home a package to create their
block. This year, 29 talented women came together to help create the
quilt, showcasing incredible creativity, dedication, and craftsmanship.
As a small thank you for their time and talent, each quilter receives three
raffle tickets, giving them the opportunity to put their own name into the
draw to win the finished quilt.
It takes approximately 250 hours of combined volunteer time to complete
the quilt each year. Once all the blocks are finished, the quilt is assembled
and completed with the help of several talented women. Diane Clifford of
Ripley provides the machine quilting, Katherine Gowing completes the
binding, and Jane Kelley carefully does the hand stitching to finish the
quilt.
The tradition first began in the basement of the Presbyterian Church in
Tiverton. As the project grew over the years, it was eventually moved to
the basement of the Tiverton Park Manor to allow more space for
everyone working together.
Each year, Katherine prints approximately 1,200 raffle tickets for the quilt
draw. Interest in the quilts has been tremendous over the years. During
Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations, tickets completely sold out. The
same thing happened again last year with the 2025 bird-themed quilt,
when more than 1,000 tickets were sold out due to overwhelming support
from the community.
This quilt project has become a wonderful tradition that brings together
talented quilters, community spirit, and countless hours of volunteer work
— all helping make the Tiverton Fall Fair such a special event each year.