We are pleased to host a ZOOM talk with Céleste Compion from Meerkat Shweshwe Fabrics on Thursday April 8th.  Virtual doors open at 6.45 pm, and the meeting will start at 7 pm.

Céleste’s Bio

Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, I come from a family of sewing and knitting enthusiasts. I started learning needlecrafts from the age of 5 and was introduced to quilting in 1985, when I joined a small weekly quilting group and by 1999 I started a quilting group of my own. I taught quilting and patchwork in my home and in a sewing store in Cape Town.

In 2001, we moved to Canada. Since our arrival, we have lived in beautiful Elora, on the edge of Mennonite country, and my first Canadian friends were quilters from local guilds in our region. For several years, all needlecraft took a back seat to the demands of settling and making a new life as an immigrant, but now I am immersing myself in the world of textiles and creativity as never before.

Driven by my passion for the beautiful creativity of South Africa, I aim to teach more people about it, by importing and distributing Shweshwe to North America. Shweshwe, often called the tartan of South Africa, is a heritage fabric with a fascinating story. My presentation, “The Bolt and the Beautiful: The Shweshwe Saga” is all about that story.