Lollygagging - Final Leg

We have left the Okanagan (Penticton and heading towards Kelowna and Salmon Arm) on our way to Lethbridge.
Will we make it in time? 

We're headed back to Banff and then onto Calgary. 
Thanks to some of you who have been storing some inches (we've been getting some really big numbers) and all the other guilds who have regularly sent in their inches, we did it.

We're now able to head straight to Lethbridge. And with just a week to go!

YAHOO!
We can spend some time in Lethbridge checking out the venue, quilt shops, maybe even a guild meeting with the Lethbridge Quilters - that's if they have time in their busy schedule getting ready for Quilt Canada June 4-6th.

 In particular, I'd like to thank the following guilds for their phenominal numbers to help in our journey:

Victoria QG
Ocean Waves Society of Cape Breton (NS)
Huron Perth QG (ON)
Vernon Silver Star Quilters
Nanaimo QG
Abbotsford QG
Cactus Rose QG (Medicine Hat)
Cochrane QG
Sudbury & District Quilting & Stitchery Guild
Quilted Mouse Guild of Calgary

Lollygagging to Lethbridge --5

It’s time for the next report on our trip to Quilt Canada in Lethbridge, AB for June 4-6, 2015. Our last stop was in Medicine Hat, AB. It seems that we are getting closer to our destination and leaving some of the cold behind too. This part of the country has been bragging of their spring/summer-like weather for awhile.

We are heading up the Trans-Canada Highway towards Calgary where there seems be a fair number of guilds and quilt shops to visit.  Several of these guilds have been supplying lots of inches to help with this trek. Calgary Silver Thimbles and

Piecemakers Guild of Calgary have had great Show & Tells - if the number of inches is anything to go by. Battle River Quilters’ Guild and Cochrane Quilters’ have also been gathering inches for us to get on the way.

While in Calgary, we stopped at Along Came Quilting . We saw a neat idea for that little someone -  Burrito Baby Wrap. This cute little pattern was available there.
We made another stop - this time to Quilting from the Heart in Camrose for their shop hop on National Quilting Day and to check out all the kits and fabric too (Judy Niemeyer quilts and patterns seem to be popular here). Then onto Addie’s Creative Fabrics of Cochrane, AB. They're preparing for their booth in Lethbridge merchant mall (QC2015).

I’d like to thank Chatham Kent Quilters for their large contribution of inches this month - They had a blitz on making Cuddle Quilts this month - way to go!!
As well, notable inches came from the Abbotsford Quilters (BC), Nanaimo Quilters (BC) and Huron Perth Quilters’ Guild (ON). Thanks to everyone who have sent in their guild’s inches each month.

We have enough inches to get us into British Columbia, but not as far as Salmon Arm for this section of the trip. So we’ll stop off in Banff, AB or maybe Lake Louise to see some of the sights there before we move on... Hopefully we’ll make it to Penticton for our next stop and then back to Lethbridge in time for QC2015.
Don’t forget to keep those inches coming in to the Director at Large (diratlarge@canadianquilter.com).

Lollygagging to Lethbridge - 4

It’s time for the next report on our trip to Quilt Canada in Lethbridge, AB for June 4-6, 2015. We left Brandon, Manitoba in the “coldest” of cold winters and headed into Saskatchewan and right to Regina where there are several shops and a couple of guilds to visit as we lollygag on our way.

"Herbie"

Cindy-rella’s Sewing and Craft Place was our first stop in Regina. They offer a wide variety of sewing machines for purchase, furniture and of course, classes galore - quilting and knitting/crocheting for everyone from beginner to advanced. We would have loved to stay longer here as the “It’s Time for Colour” travelling quilt show was going to be on display from Feb. 14-23rd. We’ve had such rave reviews from our Regional Reps who have travelled with the show. One rep has even named the suitcase that carries the quilts “Herbie” (we’ll have to wait for another blog to find out more about this name).
 
We stopped by Stitchn Be Artisan Boutique  (of course to check out their fabrics and make a purchase or two) before we headed to the Prairie Piecemakers Quilt Guild  for their monthly meeting held on the 1st Tuesday of the month at 7pm. The Prairie Piecemakers have been a great contributor to collecting our inches as well - boy are they an active group - Mystery Quilt and lots of quilting and Show and Tell. They just announced a visit by Ricky Tims to their area!
 
Thought we might take a detour to Moose Jaw (of course, weather permitting) to visit The Quilt Place quilt shop and the Moose Jaw Prairie Quilters.

sample of tablet bags that have been made

Then on again heading for the Alberta border where we’ll stop at Medicine Hat, AB. Haven’t found a quilt shop or guild here yet. But no matter, maybe we can catch a break in the weather and also catch up on our sewing. We were hoping to make a “tablet bag” for Quilt Canada 2015 - maybe this stopover is a good time to get that done and sent on the committee for the final banquet.




Stay tuned for our next leg of the trip - hoping to get to Penticton and back to Lethbridge in time for the conference. Don’t forget to keep those inches coming in to the Director at Large (diratlarge@canadianquilter.com). Of course, we might have to wait for some of our “snowbirds” to help us get those extra Show & Share/Tell inches.

Lollygagging to Lethbridge - 3

Well, to get back to our trip this month (I think I got a little side-tracked with Christmas and the holidays).

On the road again - we just left Dryden, ON and are heading down the TransCanada Highway on to Kenora where the Lake of the Woods Quilters’ Guild meets. Their small group just had a quilt show at the local museum featuring 60 quilts from their members.

Keeping to the TransCanada Highway in this “wilderness” area of the province, we got to see some wildlife and lots and lots of trees.

Now we are travelling through the coldest part of Canada - I shudder to think of these cold days, with the wind blowing across the prairies - I sure hope we've got lots of quilts to keep us warm at night! BRRR!!!

Crossing the border into Manitoba, we checked CQA/ACC’s guild membership list to find many guilds that could be visited:
Winnipeg has the Manitoba Prairie Quilters with over 300 members from all over the province and workshops that focus on member interest - their latest being “People in Nature” in Dec.
Barnswallow Quilters in Morden meets every week on Wednesday afternoons and quilt on Monday evenings. They first started meeting in a barn - bet that was a little cool in the winter months.
While in Morden (which is about 1 ½ km sw of Winnipeg), we visited the Quilters’ Den to check out all the neat fabric they have (how could we quilters go by a quilt shop without checking out fabric?)
Country Lane Quilters meet in Portage la Prairie, MB on the 3rd Monday of the month.
Nifty Needlers (Brandon) are also a busy group, meeting every other Wednesday, fall to spring.

Although there were other guilds and shops to stop at in Manitoba, we have to keep moving - we’re just a little over a third of the way to Lethbridge. We received quite a few inches this past week, which has helped get us this far. More than we thought, as many guilds don’t meet in December or just meet for a “Christmas Party” (with lots of good food, of course).
So keep sending those inches to diratlarge@canadianquilter.com. We have a little over 5 months of sewing and sharing to get us to Lethbridge in time for Quilt Canada 2015 on June 4-6, 2015.