Quilts for Kids Inc.

Quilters are the most generous and loving people in the world.  Their creativity doesn’t stop once they’ve given quilts to all their family members and friends. But what do they do with the quilts they can’t seem to stop making?  

Quilts for Kids Inc., founded in 2000 in the USA, has the answer:  donate them to hospitalized children fighting a life battle with an illness or to children suffering from the affects of abuse or natural disasters. And now you can do this in Canada:  help children fighting a life battle with an illness - in your own back yard.

By working with the charity Quilts For Kids, Inc. you can make a difference in Canada just like the quilters all over the U.S. are doing.

QFK wants to work with quilters who would like to head up chapters of the charity throughout Canada. WHY? Because Northcott – a Canadian fabric company – has partnered with QFK and they have fabric to donate to groups wishing to be a part of the charity they hold near and dear to their hearts. If you have the talent, a sewing machine and friends, a church group or quilt guild who can help make these colorful works of art – QFK is interested in chatting with you.

All photos used with permission from QFK website

With the USA having 97 chapters of Quilts ForKids Inc. nationwide, these volunteers have made tens of thousands of crib sized colorful quilts in child-friendly prints, bringing a smile to the faces of children going through the worst that life has to offer. The quilts are approximately 40”x46”.

Now, thanks to the support of Northcott and other Canadian textile manufacturers, Canadians are able to start their own chapters.

Giving a child a quilt not only comforts the child, but also the whole family. They are so uplifted by the thought that a total stranger has made a quilt for a child they don’t even know.  Your quilt makes a difference in the lives of these children.

Founding President, Linda Arye, knows first-hand how it feels to wrap a quilt around a child who needs comfort.

“As a mom whose daughter was hospitalized I knew what it was like to spend long days in a stark hospital room.  My daughter, Mollie, wasn’t allowed her stuffed animal “Bear-Bear” due to allergen issues (he was sort of her version of a dust Bunny as she’d crawled around the floors with him for a long time). If she’d had a patchwork quilt that could be washed often the hospitals would have allowed her to have something to hold onto while going through frightening testing.”

Please visit www.quiltsforkids.org for more information on how to start a chapter, or email them at info@quiltsforkids.org for information. Remember to say you are interested in starting a chapter IN CANADA.

Here’s a documentary that will help you see what it is is the charity does first hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP6kbgc9jh8&feature=youtu.bes

by Linda Arye

Judy Kelly- Our President

As you all know, CQA/ACC is run by a whole gang of wonderful volunteers, from Sylvie, our French translator to Jo our youth ambassador, to our fun gang of regional representatives, to Jill our Artist in Residence and to you, our members who support and encourage quilting in Canada.

Among all these fantastic quilters there is a fabulous lady who simply adores quilters and wants to do all she can to promote quilting in our country.   This gal is none other than Judy Kelly, President of CQA/ACC.

If you know Judy, then you are blessed.   To hang with her and share in her hilarious sense of humour, or talk to her in her calm easygoing manner, or watch her at a vendor's market is pure pleasure.   That is our Judy.

If you don't know her then you simply have to meet her, whether it be at Quilt Canada or virtually by email.   She is someone that impacts your life, in all the right ways.

A WIP- Judy wants to be able to quilt faces better.

It seemed a good time for you to get to know her a bit better as she has took over the helm of our organization about two months ago.   The best way to do that is to delve into her quilting life.

What type of quilter are you?
I am an art quilter wannabe! I have done lots of traditional quilts, but I am easily bored with repetitive things. Art has always interested me, in one form or another. I recently joined SAQA, thinking it would put me in touch with art quilters in my area. Apparently I have the distinction of being the first Newfoundlander to ever join. So I will have to source out information online. Modern trends are starting to pique my interest, also.

'Girlfriends'  Judy is the one in the middle.

 Do you hand or machine quilt?
I do both. I use the machine for anything that it can do. With the resurgence of handstitching, sometimes I tend to use this technique to embellish pieces.I would have to say free motion is my favorite method. I like the  freedom and the fact that there are no rules! It’s like I can play all day with my sewing machine, using the needle as a pencil and the fabric as a sketchpad.

3D quilt for her granddaughter Amy

Lastly, what is your favourite food?
Cod is my favorite food. Cod Loins,  Cod Tongues, Cod Sounds, Cod Cheeks ,  Cod Heads, Cod Britches, Cod Cakes, Salt Cod,… anything Cod!!! I didn’t   eat it  until I  was 50 years old,  just because my mother told me I had to. Now I eat  it, in some form or another, everyday, to make up for lost time.

Judy loves dyeing her own fabric.

She has even tried ice dyeing.

Pictured below is Judy teaching her beautiful granddaughter Amy how to quilt.   Good job promoting youth quilting Judy!

Here is a little secret about Judy that only her guild knows about.  She brings a little basket to every guild meeting and sets it at a table by the door.  Do you know what members put in that basket?

Selvedges, hundreds and hundreds of selvedges Judy has collected over the years.   Here are two of her projects that she has made with the selvedges.

Please say hi to Judy at president@canadianquilter.com!   She loves getting to know the members, and be sure to ask her what she is going to do with all those selvedges!



Jackie W.

Trend-Tex Challenge Teaser

Do you know what the Trend-Tex Challenge is?   If you are a new CQA/ACC member, you may not be aware.   In its 26th year, the fabulous people at Trend-Tex Fabrics donate bolts and bolts of 5 different fabrics for our annual fundraiser.  The CQA/ACC member purchases 5 fat quarters, and makes a small wall quilt based on the theme for that year.   The quilt is sent to the annual Quilt Canada conference and is purchased by lots of fun bidding during a silent auction.

As Vice President, I was the lucky gal who got to pick the theme and the fabric for the 2014 Trend-Tex Challenge.  And just for kickers added a new category!  All details will be inside your newsletter and also posted on our website on September 1st.

It might cause a bit of excitement if you got to see what the fabric, found out the new category and the theme a little ahead of time, right?  If you think so, then let's get this Trend-Tex party started!

You may have noticed a trend in modern quilting that has been cropping up everywhere.   I thought it might be fun to jump on the band wagon and have a theme titled 'Modern Ways'.   It is left to your interpretation, so if you are not into the modern quilting, then have a go at your own spin on the theme.  It is all about having a good time as a Canadian quilter!

Here is what arrived at my doorstep in June from Trend-Tex Fabrics.

35 luscious bolts of bright, beautiful fabric!   All mine for the cutting, and yours for the quilting.

Tell me you are not a little curious about that striped one?   Why did I choose that particular fabric to go with all those gorgeous solids?   I'll tell you, because there isn't one CQA/ACC quilter that I have met that doesn't have a little bit of craziness to them.   Not one!   So that piece is in there for YOU.

So you don't die of curiosity, here is a shot of the fat quarter opened up.

Are you as excited as I am?   And I haven't even told you the super fun part yet.   The part about the newly created category.   Here it is - a Quilted Wearable Category!   I can already hear your mind turning over the possibilities.   

Whether you have entered every Trend-Tex Challenge CQA/ACC has ever had, or never entered one before, this one is going to be a blast!   Looking forward to seeing your work of art.  

Start designing!

Jackie W.

Tutorials Galore with the Amazing Gail Fearon

Quilters are such a modest bunch.  I have been working with Regional Representative Gail Fearon from New Brunswick for well over a year and just by chance discovered she had a blog.  Well, not just a quilt blog but one filled with all sorts of interesting tidbits of quilting information!

She made an iron tote caddy after she found this tutorial online.

After perusing her blog for another minute, bam... another fantastic idea!  She learned this one at a Gathering of the Guilds.   It takes the curved sewing out of the Drunkard's Path block by using coffee filters.   Seriously, you have to go and check it out here.

Gail told me that she has two or three projects on the go…a BOM on Sindy Rodenmayer’s website, quilting a pinwheel baby quilt in a hoop, and piecing some tops for Victoria’s Quilts.  She prefers to work on scrappy quilts and  usually by hand.

Now look at this picture....

…they are bags of balsam fir tips.  Gail picks them early in June when they are lime green. She only picks the very tips of the balsam branches, brings them home and lets them dry to a very dark brown. Gail then places them in sewn muslin bags. Next she embroiders Christmas pictures  (or makes traditional blocks in Xmas fabric) for the outer bags.  She has sold many at quilt shows. Believe it or not, Gail has some sachets over 10 years old and they still smell as fresh as the day she made them.

Thanks Gail for sharing your blog and tips with us!

Anyone else want to share some fun quilting tidbits?  Email vicepresident@canadianquilter.com.

Jackie W.