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.

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.

Clearing Up and Cleaning Up

Do you ever get so involved in something you love that you sometimes forget that those around you might need a little explanation of what exactly you are doing?

The Board of Directors at CQA/ACC, meaning Judy, Gayle, Laine, Lynn, Lauren and Jackie are sometimes  at fault for that.   We love what we do and try to do our best at it for CQA/ACC, but occasionally we need to take a breather and tell you what it is we are doing!

This blog post will clear up a few things and bring you up to speed on what we are up to.

First is the new wearables category for the Trend-Tex Challenge.   A few of you have asked some really good questions.  For example, how will it be measured?  Is a lining considered similar to the back of a quilt?   Is a purse a wearable?   

We introduced this new category to give another option to those  participating in the challenge for the past 26 years and who wanted to try something new.   We left things open on purpose as well.  We want to challenge you, in a fun and creative way.   But we realize that we need to help you a bit as well.

The perimeter of a wearable will be measured the same way as  an odd shaped quilt, by going around the outside and taking that measurement.  A lining is considered to be the equivalent of the back of a quilt.  What do we mean by wearable?   It is anything that you would wear.   

Next up, is  at the last National Juried Show, one of our Board members had two quilts hanging in the show.   What you didn't know is that a motion had been passed in 2012 allowing Board members to enter the National Juried Show, but they are not eligible to win Viewers' Choice.

They must disclose to the Board when they make the decision to enter,and remove themselves from all Board matters dealing with the NJS.  This motion was passed because we have found that recruiting members to the Board can sometimes be difficult, and one game breaker was the ability to enter the NJS should they wish.

Next is finding your way around registering for a Quilt Canada conference.  If you are a new member and want to attend, it may be a little daunting trying to figure things out.   Rest assured, if you get a little overwhelmed, you can email our amazing Administrative Assistant Jackie Philpott to help you.   

Here is how things work for the Quilt Canada 2014 conference. 

If you are going to be a Full Delegate or Full Delegate Plus which means you are there for the full conference, taking three or four days of workshops and staying on site, you can register now.

If you just want to take one or two workshops or attend one lecture, you are considered a Day Student and you register on January 15th, 2014.   If you are a non-member and want to take a workshop or lecture, the January 15th date applies to you as well.

One more thing, CQA/ACC has a Quilt Judge Certification Programme (QJCP) which is described as:

The program was created to ensure that those wishing to judge quilt competitions are qualified to do so. Successful completion of this programme leads to a professional designation, CQA/ACC Certified Quilt Judge.

This is a three part program that takes place over a maximum of five years.  The next opening for Part I will be  June 2015.   What is important to mention is that CQA/ACC has a list of certified and apprentice judges on our website that our guilds can contact for your next quilt show.

While we may not have cleared up all your questions, we hope this helps!  And we are always available via email and love hearing from our members.

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.