Stitch Across Canada #6

WE DID IT!!!  
We stitched right across Canada, from  Newfoundland to  the 'Mile 0' sign in Victoria, BC.   
Thank you to everyone who participated, from quilting a placemat to a king sized quilt... every inch counted.   Give yourself and your guild a pat on the back because you guys are awesome!

The distance across the country was 307,929,600 inches. From the start you went gangbusters.   As we drew close to the end, quilters really got on board.   Emails from the inch collectors would come in stating totals, then a day later another email from the same inch collector would come in saying someone just finished a quilt and sent in their inches, please add it to the total!  How awesome and dedicated you all were to give us every last inch you created.

Do you want to know what the final inch tally was?   Hold on to your needles.... it was 307, 929, 687.5 inches!   Love those guilds that even count that 1/2"!

Now it should be mentioned that almost every single one of you that emailed asked for another challenge that involved the members and guilds across the country.   We have heard you loud and clear, so are working on another great scheme!   

In the meantime, we encourage, cheer you, and motivate you to participate in our newest challenge for our members.  It is 'Where Do You Read The Canadian Quilter?'

How does a jelly roll of '2WENTY_THR3E' by Eric & Julie Comstock sound as a terrific first prize?  Do you know how much fun jelly rolls are to work with?  

The quilt is only a 12" x 12" and you just have to email us a picture!  Grab a friend and create the challenge.   Deadline is March 25th!  Don't miss out on fun prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Challenge sponsored by The Intrepid Thread

Stitch Across Canada #5

Get stitching your inches!  We are going to need every last one this next month to get us right to Victoria, BC.   We only have one more month to go and we just passed Calgary.

Check out what the Georgina Pins and Needles guild had to say when they sent in their monthly inches.

 Gaile Statkus writes:

Our first planning meeting was held August 11, 2008 with 9 persons involved.  We did not have a budget for speakers or workshop leaders so the Executive and members volunteered to share their knowledge with the group. 

 Lone Star quilt by Elizabeth Robinson

  

The first year was very exciting.   Some members had no experience quilting, but were interested in learning. Our first workshop, with three members attending, was held in September.

Each year membership has grown to our current membership of 34 very talented individuals.  

3D Butterfly Garden by Gaile Statkus

Maple Leaf Charity quilt by Alice-Faye Vandermeer

Charity projects have always been an important part of the guild, with shopping bags, preemie blankets, quilts and more being donated by our generous members.  Library displays, and school projects with the children has helped the guild grow.

Houses by Karin Boecker

Little Fat Cat by Lenka Kovachis

This is it Canadian quilters, one more month and a whole lot of km's to cover. Let's finish this challenge one inch at a time!

'

Stitch Across Canada #4

Here you have it!  Fresh in from the New Year, and we have the results in our Stitch Across Canada Challenge for last month.   It seems that Canadian quilters took a much needed break in the month of December as we didn't get quite as far as we would have liked.  We have stopped just before Regina, Saskatchewan for the month. Let's make it our New Year's resolution to ramp up our stitches.  We only have 2 months left to meet our challenge of going right across the country and we are going to need every stitch we can get.  Let's go quilters!

Here are members Arlene Johns, Hazel Mark, and Donna Gonek measuring Arlene's quilt from the High River and District Handicrafts Guild.

Donna Schweda  from Quilting Corners in Alliston writes,"We're a busy guild with 54 members who make regular contributions to our local charities. Twice a year we have a presentation of comfort quilts to My Sister's Place. In December we also present stockings for their holiday efforts. At our December meeting, we were happy to offer 40 comfort Quilts and 43 Christmas stockings. As you can see, it makes quite a display !'

One fantastic way to make some stitches count is join in our Youth Challenge - with the theme of  'Your Favourite Food'.   What better way to  have fun quilting then to do it with a younger person.   It can be the size of a postcard, placemat, or wallhanging,  size doesn't matter!  Northcott is sponsoring this wonderful challenge and that means fabulous fabric!  Check out the details and get stitching, as it ends February 28, 2013, the same time as our Stitch Across Canada Challenge.

Stitch Across Canada #3

Who needs the NHL, when we are in an all out race to get to BC in six months!   We are at the third month in our Stitch Across Canada Challenge.   Pull out the party hats as we are almost half way across our country!  Last month we grabbed one last poutine and said 'au revoir' to Quebec and started making our way through Ontario.   Our stop this month is Dryden.  It is the smallest community in the province of Ontario designated as a city.

Now what really shows dedication, is those guilds that actually record .5 of an inch.   Way to go Quilted Mouse of Calgary and Cochrane Quilters.   It would be remiss of me not to mention the guild that recorded .25 of an inch at the end of their total.  Love the enthusiasm Near North QG in North Bay!

This month, Faye Martin from Queen's Quilters, NS wrote:

Queen's Quilters of Queen's County joined the Stitch across Canada last month with a small number of inches.This month,  we bumped the numbers way up. Show and Tell  for November included 2 of our charity initiatives of the year. Our 14 "Love Quilts" measuring 40"x 60" go to Family and Children Services and 2 larger quilts go to Queen's Manor. We also provide placemats to the VON to give out with Meals on Wheels Christmas deliveries.

Way to go Queen's Quilters for racking up those inches for such worthwhile causes!

Let's relax,  grab a cup of java... and go visit Dryden's official mascot - Max the Moose.  

courtesy of Dryden Chamber of Commerce

Although we are halfway in terms of when the challenge ends, we are not quite halfway on the map, so we need to make up some inches in December to get back on track.  

We will see you next month, keep on stitching those inches!

Stitch Across Canada - Month #2

Canadian  quilters across the country are putting in an effort that has never been seen before in the history of quilting!  With determination and thread they are trying to get from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and if last month was any indication of their perseverance, they are going to do it!

Let's pop in a few statistics.   In September, 39 guilds entered their inches, in October 61 came out and tallied their totals!  Way to go quilters.

The total inches doubled from September to October.  Here we are all the way to almost Val D'or Quebec.   (The black and white quilt block is marking our progress each month.) We are making a stop here till next month, so everybody better practice saying this:

Ou se trouve le plus proche magasin de la courtepointe?  (Where is the nearest quilt store?)

This guild demonstrated the caring and compassion of Canadian quilters.   Anne Marie Pearle writes:

Our guild, Paradise Village Quilters in  Nova Scotia, is adding our inches to the challenge of Quilt Across Canada.  To date, we have 10,878 inches.   We have been very busy the past couple months.  One of our main contributors to this are all the baby/children quilts we are making for the IWK Children’s Hospital in Halifax.  I think this is also motivating to many of our guild members to finish some of those UFOs so we can add up more inches.  We  are so very pleased to be able to add this big a number for such a small group (30 members).   

Can you believe the dedication of this little group?   You guys have spirit!

Keep racking up those inches quilters, and we will see where we go next month!

Stitch Across Canada - First Update

This is so exciting!  Our first month of our challenge to stitch right across Canada one inch of stitch at a time is completed.   We did fantastic, we started at Newfoundland and managed to get right through that wonderful province and are just on the tip of Nova Scotia.  It is amazing to see the participation from our member guilds.  Way to go!
The top 5 guilds were:
1. Nanaimo QG
2. Sudbury and District Quilting and Stitchery Guild
3. Waterloo County QG
4. Norfolk County QG
5. Parksville Quilthouse QG

Now what the Waterloo County QG does to inspire members to count their inches is pretty fun.   At each meeting the quilter with the most inches wins a prize.   A tape measure!  Is your guild doing anything to inspire members to get quilting?

See the black and white quilt block on the coast of Nova Scotia?   We have left Newfoundland and are heading west.  We have just got our oil changed, filled up our tanks, packed our snacks, and the convoy of quilters is ready to roll!

So Canada, get quilting this month so we can wrack up the kilometres on our highway and let's head  out to British Columbia by the end of February!   

How Far Can You Stitch Challenge!

Did you know that there are 307,929,600 inches across Canada via the Trans Canada Highway?  This is from St. John’s Newfoundland to Victoria British Columbia.

Why would I tell you that in inches, when I could just say it is 7821 km from one end of Canada to the other?

It is because we are quilters, and we know our inches!   Especially if we are being challenged to measure the perimeter of all our finished quilts from September 1, 2012 until February 28, 2012.   

We are asking all our member guilds and individual members to join us and see if we can quilt enough inches in six months to get us right across Canada.   

For details on specifics and where to send your inches to, please go to our website. 

CQA/ACC will be keeping you informed on exactly where we are on that highway of quilting!   You can check back here for regular updates.