Member Approach - 4

Lezley Zwaal continues to work on her Trend Tex Challenge quilt....

Tracing, Tracing and more Tracing
It’s amazing how much time one will spend on a project that is close to your heart.  HOURS whiz by – dear hubby has long since gone to bed.  Here I am tracing, re-drawing a little, tracing over those lines with a dark marker so I can see through the backside of the fabric.  Yes, it’s late.  Some of the tracing was done during the day, when I can use the window.  Oh, I know there are those great light boxes – but my windows are bigger.
After making the backwards copy of the outlines, I trace the backwards copy of the individual pieces that will be appliquéd, adding room for “under” lap onto the paper side of the fusible web. 

back of Wonder Under

These pieces are numbered so that they can be placed properly on the background fabric, with the “behind” pieces going down first (not pressed yet), and the foreground pieces on top, with a bit of overlapping the under pieces so no space shows between sections of the kite. 

piece layout

The next step is to determine which fabrics will be used for the pieces – and sometimes they are re-traced for a different fabric if the first chosen really doesn’t work well.  The traced fusible web paper pieces are cut beyond the edges of the actual pieces and laid out on the side of the desired fabric.  The batik/bali fabrics are great because you can be very fussy where you choose colours or pattern to aid a 3D look.  The pieces are then fused to the backside of the desired fabric with a dry heat press (big difference between pressing and ironing) and ready to cut on the line.

ensure stick down

You must be sure the fused pattern piece are entirely fused to the fabric. The fabric is easier to cut with the larger-than-needed fused paper left on outside the lines.
The backing paper is left on so I can remember what piece is what.  

Magic on one of my oqn quilts

Oh – and if little Magic decides to help scatter the pieces, I have a chance of putting them back correctly. 

using large scissors

 Something I have found after doing many appliqué style quilts, is that the tiny scissors hurt my hands.  I use the really large scissors–and turn the fabric rather than turn the cutting hand.  I have much better control cutting deep slices and points such as these.


You are then ready to cut out the pieces.




In order to place the pieces onto the background as per the pattern – more tracing is needed!
Lezley


Coming next is the final edition of the work in progess from Lezley and just in time to get it to the Vice President by the deadline of Mar. 31, 2015.

Member's Approach to the Trend-Tex Challenge-2

Lezley Zwaal is sharing her path and thoughts as she prepares her quilt for the 2015 Trend-Tex challenge with the theme "Blowing in the Wind”. In our last episode, we left her searching for an old family photograph. Her story continues....
                                           
I found the photo, and now have my sister’s permission to use it!

see note below

The picture? Not yet my quilt. However, a picture can tell you a story: My dad flew kites. As a young girl in Regina (windy prairies – open skies) dad made “box” kites - and they went waaaaay up high! I loved to watch him work on them, and get them soaring high! I don’t recall ever trying to fly them – I think he valued his hobby too much.
Then as time passed, life happens and dad’s kites no longer flew. Then I moved to Edmonton. It was a lonely first Christmas there – my hubby and I didn’t know anyone – and I missed my family. I wondered what to get the parents for Christmas that would be easy to send back home! I found a kite store when I was Christmas shopping! Memories flooded back – and I HAD to buy him a kite – maybe in his retirement he would be able to find time to fly them again!
He loved it and his hobby was renewed!!
Super fast-forward to 2014 when I open the website for the CQA/ACC in Lethbridge and see the BLOWN AWAY logo! Again – memories flood back! Now – to turn this into the challenge piece.
The kites he is flying!!! Does this not say “Trend-Tex Challenge colours?”

Lezley


please note: this photo is a very old family photo!

Member's Approach to the Trend Tex Challenge - 1

Lezley Zwaal shares her story about designing and making her quilt entry for the Trend-Tex challenge. These are her thought processes - presented in several instalments. Watch this space for the next instalment!

Do I or don’t I?
Each year I look at my schedule that appears to be free and clear for working on the challenge for the CQA/ACC conference.   2015 looks no different – and so, the fabrics are ordered!  Life gets busy and a little time passes. Finally a package arrives in the mail!  

Trend-Tex Challenge Fabrics 2015

OH!  I forgot I ordered the challenge fabric!
 
I clear my desk and the package is quickly opened….
My first thought is “Oh my goodness – what am I going to do with this?”

OK – a cup of tea needed.
 

First in the process - Ideas
 
Photography is a hobby – and this year alone I have some spectacular subjects – from home in Edmonton, to Tofino on Vancouver Island to 4 weeks in Europe – Holland and France.  I should be able to find something!  Beach winter sunset, spring flowers, birds, windmills and rural Holland, Rotterdam – the city awakes, 24 hours of Le Mans auto race, Juno Beach and remembering WWII, Vimy Ridge and remembering WWI. 
I start scanning the files for photos that may speak to those colours….What am I going to do with that fabric that looks like kernels of corn still on the cob?
Oh – I should note that at this time I have not read the entire instruction set, nor gone back onto the website.  My search is with those colours in mind.
I have a difficult time with abstract.  I need to have a product that people cannot interpret the design as I envision it. So I start with a real photo, and then use the artistic licence to remove an item not needed, or add something to get the “feeling”.
But first – I have to choose the photo. There are just too many pictures, but finally I cull down.
 

starfish at Tofino, BC

prairie train trestle

Of course, now I read the specifications – and see the kite logo for “blown away”.  

I think there’s a photo that I have of my dad flying his kites!  But I didn’t take it – one of my sisters did.  
Now I’m on a hunt to find that picture. 
 

Continued in next installment - finding that special photo...

Trend-Tex Challenge 2015

2015 CQA/ACC Trend-Tex Challenge is almost here.  We’re getting excited! 

But do you know what the "Trend-Tex Challenge" is? If you are a new member, you may not know that the people at Trend-Tex Fabrics Inc. donate bolts and bolts of 5 different fabrics (that Linda S gets to choose). A CQA/ACC member purchases 5 fat quarters, and makes a small wall quilt based on the theme for the year.   The quilt is sent to the Vice President who puts them on display at the annual Quilt Canada conference. Bidding through a silent auction allows visitors to purchase a quilt or two for their own.

This year’s theme is “Blowing in the Wind”.   

This year's fabrics, that we’ve chosen have arrived, been quickly unpacked, photographed, and then cut into fat 1/4s. We even had a team of cutters from the Penticton Quilters’ Guild  (thanks gals!) to help with this mammoth task. The fabrics are now in kits and packaged, waiting for your order. 
 
 

The boxes of fabric have arrived.

Folding the fabric

Penticton Quilters cutting the fabric.

 Order your kit online beginning on Oct. 1st if you are a CQA/ACC member and Nov. 1st if you are a non-member.

The fabric all in neat piles ready to be put in packages.

And when your kit arrives, you will need some ideas for what is “Blowing in the Wind”. Thinking of Lethbridge, AB, where Quilt Canada 2015 will be held on June 4-6, 2015, you might include such things as wind, kites, clouds, wind turbines, leaves, grain fields, dust and then let your imagination extend even further - the sky’s the limit.







 


All these works of art will be sent to Linda Schmidt (Vice President) to get ready for the Silent Auction in Lethbridge.
Linda is very excited about this challenge and hopes you are too! She can’t wait to receive your entryies to see how you interpret our theme “Blowing in the Wind”.

A GREAT BIG “THANK YOU” to Trend-Tex Fabrics Inc. for sponsoring this exciting challenge!!  And for 27 years too!!!   
Thank you Trend-Tex Fabrics Inc.!

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.

Things I Can't Live Without-Member Challenge

Join the fun with our current challenge! All you have to do is show us that special thing you can’t live without. Your entry will get published either on our blog or in 'The Canadian Quilter' magazine. Take a couple of hours and create a quilt, any shape, any size 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. 

Of course there are great prizes too!

Three great fabric prizes sponsored by Sew Sisters Quilt Shop.

Visit their website  and their blog  and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Or visit the store in person 3961 Chesswood Drive, Toronto, ON.

This is what the 1st prize winner will receive.

2nd Prize

3rd Prize

If you want a bit of inspiration, take a look at the entries from our last challenge.     Get those creative juices flowing and enter our fun challenge.

These Boots Are Made For Walking Challenge

This was a fun challenge organized by our Director at Large, Laine Canivet.   The theme was “These Boots are Made for Walking” to help get us to Brock University in St. Catharines ON where the next big Quilt Canada 2014 conference will be held. 

 Twelve CQA/ACC members used their creativity and produced some wonderful quilts for our viewing pleasure.   The three prize winners will be published in the winter edition of ‘The Canadian Quilter’.  

A special thank you goes out to Fridays Off Fabric Shop for sponsoring this challenge.

The quilts were judged by Beverley Chorney an apprentice judge in our Quilt Judge Certification Programme (QJCP).

By Shirley Tracy which received an Honourable Mention

This is a photo of my interpretation of one of Van Gogh's paintings of shoes.  I drew it on fabric, then thread painted it with Glide thread and painted it with Fantastik paint sticks.

Judge Beverley gave this entry an ‘honourable mention’. She felt the variations in the mottled fabric were used very effectively to represent the different parts of each boot and the machine quilting enhanced each part.

Made by Laura McEachern

The focus of this little quilt is the boot, complete with leather lacing, with a silk high heeled shoe appliquéd to the side of the boot. Hence, walking in comfort but not without high style. The addition of some thread-painted grass, cobblestone quilting and a “paved” highway are suggestions of the many types of ground this boot will have to travel to “Walk to Brock”.

By Karen Menzies

If I were bananas enough to walk to QC 2014 in St. Catharines, I would do it in style (and pain), wearing my stilettos.”  This is original work, inspired by my guru, Pamela Allen of Kingston ON.

By Gail Fearon

When I first read about this little project I wondered how I could enter…I really don’t have that many boots to depict and then I remembered my old winter boots-the ugly green ones that I use in the winter , of course, to walk around the property with my two Shelties. The boots are old and as you can see downright ugly but they are comfortable and they keep out the snow…what more could you ask for.  So. I took a picture, drew them on parchment paper and hand appliquéd  them (my favourite technique is backstitch appliqué and that is what I used here). I won’t tell you how many years I’ve owned these boot but I will tell you they have done a lot of walking.

By Nancy Sachro ‘Blue Suede Shoes’

Fabrics, cottons, velvet, upholstery. Techniques- raw edge appliqué, fusing, hand embellished, machine sewn and quilted. Elvis head from copyright free internet site.

By Nancy MacIntosh

My Theme is 'Walk Softly on this Earth' so I have chosen bare feet.  The feet are digitized embroidery with outline and cross hatch quilting.  Embellishments are embroidery or beads.  The foot designs are based on free clip art.  Drawing and creation are mine.  

By Susan Scott

This is Herk - he is ready to hit the trail!

By Betty Johnson

I'm a new member of the CQA/ACC, this is my first challenge.  I live in Langley, BC so I would not be able to WALK to Brock; I would have to fly.  My interpretation of the theme is an eagle flying across the Canadian skies, carrying my boots, dangling from a string, in his beak. I designed the paper-pieced Eagle in EQ7 and created boots that I could appliqué  onto my sky fabric.  Once I had finished the eagle, I couched the trim (rope) onto my sky fabric before appliquéing  the boots.  The piece measures 12"x12" and is machine and hand quilted.

By Jaynie Himsl, ‘Before Michael Jackson’

Surely these are the most famous boots ever. No other single step has ever been so significant. Method -fused applique, thread sketching and Inktense pencil shading.

                     

By Jackie White

This quilt was made by using my hand dyed fabric to imitate the look of sand.   Dye was thickened and painted onto my son’s shoe and then stamped onto the fabric.   Free motion quilting was done throughout.

Our next member challenge is ‘Things I Can't Live Without’.  Get creative and send us an interpretation of your “essential something’.   Details are here.

These Boots are Made for Walking - Member Challenge

Get Published! Show us boots, shoes, feet – whatever it takes to get walking!

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 ‘These Boots are Made for Walking”. You can use any embellishments you want.  Deadline to send a photo of your entry is September 25, 2013. Full challenge details here.

Oh, and did I mention prizes?

Three great fabric prizes sponsored by: Fridays Off Fabric Shop.

Website  

Facebook 

Twitter 

Pinterest 

1st prize is 5 fat quarters of Valeri Wells-Wrenly Christmas.

2nd prize is 5 fat quarters of Little Red and Lady Bug Garden.

3rd prize is 5 fat quarters is by Anna Marie Horner-Field Study.

Through The Eyes of a Bug Challenge

Our challenge ended and boy did we have some fantastic entries!   

They all deserved to win, but our awesome judge Brandy Lynn Maslowski narrowed it down to three winners which will be featured in our Fall Newsletter.

Here are the fantastic entries submitted.   

by Fay Blanchard

Everything is exploded in size in a bug's eyes.

by Carole Thornton

As an avid gardener I am sure a bug looks at my flowers and sees meals.  From this idea I designed a quilt to depict how I think a bug views my flowers. The flower is constructed of silk dupioni, cottons and thread painting.  The petals have been left un-stitched and stiffened to give a three dimensional effect.  

by Thelma (Bureyko) Newbury

This morning I went out into the garden to see what kind of inspiration I could find for “Through the Eye of a Bug”.  Sparkling in the sunlight was a broken spider web amidst a patch of Queen Ann’s Lace. 

by Lisette Leveille

I always think bug sees what they would like to see.  Since bees produce honey, then flower pollens must taste sweet, like a bowl of fruit.

by Lauren MacDonald

Since I’ve been bitten by the ‘quilt bug’, I thought that that point of view made sense.  I met two women in Penticton who were really appreciating Quilt BC and asked if they would mind if I took their photo for this challenge.  They agreed and here’s the photo I took.

by Laine Canivet

I stencilled the bird, dandelion and butterfly on fabric which I dyed by wrapping it in wet tissue paper. Embellishments such as old earrings, a bead I made from a plastic page protector and silk flowers create this scene as viewed by a bug.

by Shona Barbour

by Susan Scott

This is our cat "Ashman"  peering at a bug & considering weather or not to consume it.

by Maureen Roach

I used pencil crayons on fabric, with free motion stitching and fused piecing.

by Christine Reid

At this time of year, I have been finding spiders coming into the house.  I can envision a spider on the wall looking down and seeing the love we have in our home as we share with our family and friends.

by Beth Michailidis

My quilt depicts elements in nature including the butterfly and flower.  I also created the sensation of wind and sunshine by my choice of shapes, colour, and machine quilting techniques.

by Cindy Simpson

This quilt is an original from a photo I took last winter when I was in Port Macquarie Australia. The fabric was hand drawn with sharpie markers and treated with rubbing alcohol, the method was inspired by Laine Canivet. It is machine quilted using rayon threads.

by Mia Peterson

I have never done paper piecing and thought this picture would do well to go with the theme as well as to learn a new skill.

The paperpieced pattern was from Two Thimbles Quilt Shop, in Bellingham, Washington. It was there design for the Tri-County shop-hop.

I bought the fabrics while there, adding the worm as my bug being the lunch.

by Heather Myers

In our lives, everything revolves around the dog – so when we thought of a bug’s eye view, that’s what popped into our minds.  Sort of a big-game safari from a bug’s perspective. 

Please note that a wonderful quilt came in from Paula Perri, but due to technical difficulties, was unable to post.

If you have the urge to enter and you really should, as it is a total blast, check out our latest challenge - 'These Boots Are Made For Walking.'