Quilt of Belonging: The Invitation ProjectA cultural milestone. Canada is home to immigrants from every nation in the world. Quilting artist Esther Bryan wanted to celebrate this fact, to promote a sense of greater belonging among these diverse groups. A quilt would be a collaborative, community-based project to celebrate cultural diversity. Each cultural group contributed one 11-inch square pieced into a giant quilt named the Quilt of Belonging. The quilt is approximately 120 feet long by 10 feet high (36 m by 3.5 m). It consists of 263 squares representing 71 Aboriginal groups and 192 immigrant nationalities found in Canada. The quilt includes fabric that has been appliqued, beaded, cross-stitched, embroidered, and hand-woven. The many cultural decorations include:
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Aboriginal African ancient artist Atikamekw beads beadwork beautiful became Beothuk border called Canada Canadian caribou carved celebrate centre century church clothing colours costumes cotton country's crafts created creative cross-stitch culture dance daughter decorated dreams dress embroidered embroidery ethnic explains fabric father feel festival fish flowers friends gift Gitxsan gold grandmother Haisla heart Heiltsuk heritage homeland honour husband immigrants important Innu Inuit Inuvialuit island Ktunaxa land language laughs learned linen live Maliseet Mary memoriam memories Métis Montréal mother mountain Native needlework Nisga'a Nunavik Odawa Ojibwe Ontario Ottawa painting passion patterns peace piece pride Quilt of Belonging represent rich says sewing share silk sister skills South Slavey spirit stitched stories symbol tapa cloth teaching textiles thread Tlingit Today traditional tree Tsilhqot'in Tuvalu village wear weaving women wool woven Wuikinuxv Yellowknives young yurt