Walk To Brock-Update #3

There was an amazing number of inches reported this month – probably because everyone is pushing to get their Christmas quilting done. Can you believe it – we made it to Inuvik! We are going to stay here over Christmas. This is the closest I have been to the North Pole and Santa! 

We came by way of the Dempster Highway and is Canada’s only public highway that crosses the Arctic Circle. 

Dempster Highway

While we are here, we should visit Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church also known as “The Igloo Church”, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Inuvik.

"Igloo" Church

And for all you gardeners, I think we should visit the Inuvik Community Greenhouse which is the most northern greenhouse in North America and the only one of its kind in the world - converted from an old arena. 

When reporting their inches, the Norfolk QG in Jarvis ON mentioned their “team UFO completion competition” which made a big difference in reducing personal piles of UFOs and increasing their inch count.

Timmins QG says that members are encouraging others members to bring their quilts for show and tell so they can add up their Walk To Brock inches.

At the Manitoba Prairie Quilters one woman brought 34 hand appliquéd baby quilts.

Tunbridge Wells Quilters, from the UK is our only international Guild participating in  this challenge. The group formed in 1985 when Faye joined CQA/ACC to go to the conference in Victoria, BC. She has been to six conferences so far, does the Trend-Tex challenge and plans to come to St. Catharines, ON next year. The 15 member group makes several charity quilts a year including 24” square baby quilts for the preemie unit at the local hospital.

A few of the ladies from the Tunbridge Wells Quilters, UK

Looking forward to seeing how far we get next month.   Keep up the great stitching quilters!

Things I Can't Live Without - Member Challenge

Christmas is coming so why not make a gift that keeps on giving? Create a quilt for that special someone showing something you know they can’t live without, that way they get a great gift and you get an entry into our challenge!

It can be serious (clean air, bumble bees) or humorous (your tooth brush)  - what ever it takes to keep you going!

Join the fun with our current challenge. Your entry will get published either on our blog or in the newsletter. Take a couple of hours and create a quilt, any shape, based on the theme ‘Things I Can’t Live Without”. You can use any embellishments you want. Deadline to send a photo of your entry is December 5, 2013. Full challenge details here.

Oh, there are prizes!

Three great  prizes sponsored by: Sew Sisters Quilt Shop:  

1st Prize

2nd Prize

3rd Prize

Be sure to check out Sew Sisters at the various links below! 

Website  

Blog

Facebook 

We had lots of fun with our previous member challenges. Look at some of the entries we received for them: These Boots Are Made for Walking, Through a Bug’s Eye, Where do you Read the Canadian Quilter and Pincushions.

Walk To Brock Update #2

Great inch collecting everyone! We didn’t quite make it to Whitehorse in the Yukon, but we are close enough that I think we should stay there rather than freezing on the road in the middle of nowhere. Google says the number one tourist attraction is Miles Canyon which was originally called the Grand Canyon. The Yukon River squeezes through the narrow chute creating a ferocious foam of water – where many gold rushers lost their boats and their precious supplies. Let’s grab a ticket for the boat cruise and experience the mighty Yukon River for ourselves! And while we are here, let’s send warm greetings to our member guild, The Kluane Quilters Guild.

The Timmins Guild included inches for 60 lap quilts they made for the residents of their local nursing home who must move to a brand new facility. These thoughtful quilters want the quilts to provide comfort during this stressful transition.  Way to go Timmins QG!

Looking forward to seeing all the inches next month as we all start quilting our Christmas presents!

A Creative Guild Challenge

The creativity in guilds is mind boggling sometimes.   When Catherine Henderson, our BC Interior Regional Representative sent an email  describing a unique challenge that member guild Castlegar Quilters' did to incorporate ric rac into a quilt, it was definitely going to require showcasing!

'Something Geologic' is an art quilt wallhanging made by Heather Meyers, being held up by Val Dingwall.

Quilted Lunch Bag made by Sandy Lamont. She fell in love with the rainbow coloured ric rac and put it to good use.

 'Ric Rac and All That', this fabric had the ric rac design printed right on it, then huge black ric rac was added (binding not finished) by Ruth Sommers.

'Crazy Patch Pumpkin' using ric rac for the trim by Linda Cassidy.

Sharon Drew holding up her stacked plant pots wallhanging. The flower stem was bright lime green ric rac. Sharon stated the hanging was going in the garbage right after the meeting, and another of the members said, "Oh no it's not", and rescued the wallhanging.

Linda Chmielewski with her 3:30 pm start coffee mug rug, the meeting was at 6:30 pm. In that short space of time, Linda completed the mug rug and "bedazzled" it with sparkles. She is quite the gal!

Susan D'Andrea finished her silk ribbon embroidery vest (adding ric rac)....it was an ongoing project that took about 4 years to complete.

'Mr. Scream' is created by Verna Chernoff. Note the variety of ric rac used for the hair, some of it flying loose, and most was purchased at CQA/ACC Quilt Canada 2013.     The earrings are bits of copper pan scrub, the face was stuffed, and there's trapunto work to add three dimension to it.

 New Bonnet and dress for 'Cassandra', by Val Dingwall. The hat is quilted, using fancy machine stitches, and trimmed with ric rac flowers. She used an old Simplicity pattern dated 1966 and thought making the flowers would be easy. It took all of the latest James Bond movie to make one flower.

Well done Castlegar Quilters'!
Are any of you participating in a fun challenge?  Drop us an email and tell us all about it at vicepresident@canadianquilter.com.



Jackie W.