Catch Up To CQA/ACC

It's catch up time!   We took a little hiatus when the Olympics were on.  First it was the amazing colours of their patchwork quilt, then Canada was brought to its feet over and over in skiing, curling and of course hockey.

Now it is time to snuggle in for the rest of winter and quilt away.

First up is our largest fundraiser - the Trend-Tex Challenge!   We sold out of kits this year!   Thank you to everyone that purchased a kit.   That was the first step, now comes the fun, creative step - turning those 5 luscious fat quarters into a fantastic wearable/quilt under the theme 'Modern Ways'.  They are due March 22nd.

Our Youth Challenge closes at the end of this month.  It only takes a few hours to work with any youth to produce a small quilt to enter.

Our new member challenge 'Winter Wonders' is due March 25th, and did you see the prizes donated by Fabric Spot?  They are simply out of this world.

We are still Walking to Brock, or as Laine says, 'we may need to start running' so gals, get collecting those inches to get us there.  We still have 3 provinces to cross and time is ticking.  We need your inches, our deadline is June 11th!

Are you signed up for Quilt Canada 2014?   Now is the time!  The workshops are amazing with so much talent in all the instructors and so much creativity is going to flow out of them.   And the shows - the NJS, the Invitational, and the Trend-Tex, you simply must attend.

Let's go Canadian quilters, let's open up those sewing machines to full throttle and get 'er done!

Walk To Brock Update #5

Fort McMurray! How many of you have been here?

In 2011 Fort McMurray had a population of 61,374; a year later it was 72,944; and current estimates say 133,000 by 2028. In this boomtown, housing prices and rents are far higher than one would expect in such a remote area.

The chilly temperatures open the door to wonderful winter activities for the whole family, indoors and outdoors! Fishing, hunting, camping, hiking,  sledding, tubing, skiing, snowboarding, hockey, curling, swimming and exploring....the list goes on and the adventures are endless!

A visit to the Northern Lights Quilt Guild (a member guild) website provides a recipe for home made hand cream to soothe our dry hands - from the 1999 Spring issue of 'The Canadian Quilter'!

Thinking about continuing our Walk, I found that flights are booked to capacity because of the high transient worker population and people unwilling to drive on Highway 63 which goes to Edmonton. We are waitlisted for a flight.

Here is something fun one guild is doing. Victoria Quilters Guild has a concurrent Walk to Brock challenge: The quilter who guesses most closely the total number of inches the guild will amass by the end of March 2014, receives a  prize donated by Daphne Grieg.   Now that sounds like a fun competition, and knowing Daphne, a terrific prize!

Below is the map as to where we are at.  Not to scare anyone, but we still have to cross 3 provinces to get to Brock!   We may need to extend the deadline or start running to Brock to get there in time for Quilt Canada 2014.

Quilters, pull out those UFO's, get to the quilt store and buy fabric for a new quilt... we have to get quilting to get those inches. Go! Go! Go!

The Challenges of the Trend-Tex Challenge

Are you busy working on your Trend-Tex Challenge?  We sure hope so!   Some have already arrived.
While I was encouraging members to complete their Trend-Tex quilt because that is the second component of the fundraiser, our Director at Large, Laine Canivet facebooked some of her dilemmas with this challenge.

While it is not nice to laugh at others, Laine has made it so entertaining that you simply can't help but chuckle.

The conversation started with me asking the Regional Representatives how they were making out with their Trend-Tex Challenge.  Then Laine joined in.

• 

  Laine Canivet 

Funny you should ask. I have had nothing but trouble. I have ended up having to

 paint all the white fabric to cover up the stain after trying bleach, unsuccessfully. Then I 

had to paint all the pink fabric to hide the bleach stains that seeped into it when I tried to

 fix the white. The last coat of paint is drying, as we speak.

January 9 at 6:52pm · Like

• 
  
• 

  Laine Canivet Mine will be the only one where the white isn't really white.

  January 9 at 7:05pm · Like
• Laine Canivet and the pink isn't really pink
• January 9 at 7:06pm · Like
• 
  
• Laine Canivet I agree. - and I hope you have better luck than me. I just put my finished 
• piece on the wall to admire it - when I realized I forgot to use the blue fabric. Maybe I'll 
• just paint a spot blue and call it a day!

You can see the line of white paint does not quite touch the pink fabric.

The pink paint on some of the pink fabric so it matches the well-painted pink fabric (not shown) that got inadvertently bleached. 

I  doubt there will be anyone who has quite as many issues as Laine did with her Trend-

Tex Challenge! So please, if you have bought the fabric, whip up a creation and enter it in 

the Challenge.  There are 10 kits left and would love to sell out, so if you need one, let me know.

Winter Wonders - Member Challenge

Are you stuck inside with snow piled up to your window sill and hoping the power doesn't go out?

If so, why not cozy up to your sewing machine and whip up a quick creation to enter into our current challenge?

 All you have to do is show us something wonderful about winter. Your entry will get published either on our blog or in the magazine. Send us a digital image of your quilt, any shape and size based on the theme ‘Winter Wonders’.  Deadline to send a photo of your entry is March 25, 2014. 

Full challenge details here.

Oh, and great prizes, too. This challenge is sponsored by Fabric Spot, an online fabric store with the largest inventory of organic fabric in Canada. Visit their website and their blog.

  First prize is Diamonds in the Sky Quilt Kit Featuring Tula Pink's Acacia Collection (retail value $140).

Second prize is a 'Pretty In Pink'  Kona Fat Quarter Bundle (retail value $50)

Third prize is a $25 gift card.

Judy Martin - Simply Amazing

When CQA/ACC member Judy Martin puts her mind to something, she follows through. Even if it takes 4 years and hundreds of volunteers, countless hours of dedication and the utmost of patience and perseverance.

Here is Judy's explanation of her wonderful creations of 4 quilts over 4 years:

This exhibition will highlight the amazing four year long Manitoulin Circle Project.  Every Thursday between October 2009 and August 2013, regular and drop-in stitchers met in the United Church hall in Little Current,  Manitoulin Island ON and worked  together all day at hand stitching.  In total, 144 participants.  

Four large meditation panels are the result.  The eventual location of these panels will be in the sanctuary of the Little Current United Church, Little Current, ON.

  

Earth Ark

Recycled linen damask, new silk and cotton, vintage handkerchiefs, hand and machine pieced by Judy Martin with community assistance, 2011, 90" x 90"

Earth Ark detail

I designed the panels, taught the techniques to the participants and enjoyed working with them to create these pieces.  Two of the panels are completely stitched together by hand.   The main fabric was donated recycled linen damask table cloths.  

Mended World

recycled linen damask, new silk and cotton, hand and machine pieced, hand quilted by Judy Martin with community assistance, 2012, 96" x 96"

Mended World detail

Precious Water
recycled linen damask, new silk, completely worked by hand.  Hand applique, hand piecing, hand quilted.
2013, 86" x 86"

Precious Water detail

Layers of Time

Re-purposed vintage wool blankets, vintage lace doilies, linen damask table linens, and new silk.  Completely worked by hand with hand embroidery, layering methods, and hand quilted.  2013, 92" x 92"

Layers of Time detail

The titles of the four panels refer to the nurturing of our environment and memory.  The vintage fabrics in all of the panels refer to domestic ritual.

The panels are intended to be hung in the sanctuary of the Little Current United Church in 2014.  They are united by the circle in square imagery and by the use of white, a celebratory liturgical colour.

Installed on the second floor of the gallery will be my monumental stitch journal that I kept during the same time as the Manitoulin Circle Project.  The art gallery has used this journal piece on the invitation.

As you can see Judy has once again stunned the quilting world with not only her dedication to this lengthy project, but to the beauty of the quilts she has created.   

The opening reception of the Mended World exhibition at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, ON January 18, 2014 at 2 pm. The exhibition will remain on view until March 2, 2014.

All photos done by Klaus Rossler.

Walk To Brock #4

I thought we would collect a HUGE number of inches in December while everyone hurried to finish gifts. Alas, I think we all slowed down and enjoyed the holidays.   Now let's add another resolution to stitch extra hard in January.

Considering it is the dead of winter and there isn’t much choice for travelers like us, leaving Inuvik and heading to Brock, we hopped on a plane and flew in a bee-line to Yellowknife.  Plus there is no road anyway.

In January the average high in Yellowknife is -20°C and the low is -27°C. 

Yellowknife, on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and on the edge of the Arctic Circle, is famous for spectacular wilderness. We are enjoying the dark winter skies lit up by aurora borealis, dog sledding, cross-country skiing and backpacking. If that sounds too cold, let’s visit the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Look at the 'Online "Exhibit under 'Staff Picks', the 'Tremain Collection' with extraordinary embroidery and beading on clothing dating from the early 1900s.

I’m sure we will get a warm reception when we visit our member guild, the Yellowknife Quilters Guild, who contributed almost 18 thousand inches to help get us here.  

The Penticton Quilters Guild reported over 43 thousand inches this month, mostly from one quilter who stitched almost half a mile (I don’t think she sleeps).

And from the Timmins Guild when they sent me their inches: “at our last meeting, the sister of one of our members came as a guest. I was quite excited to see she brought a "show and tell" - a few more inches for our coffers! However, when I snuck out my measuring tape and mumbled "Walk to Brock" she was immediately on to my mission...and the inches were saved to be reported by her own guild in Thunder Bay. We enjoyed viewing her quilt nevertheless!”  

Now that's the competitive spirit=)

Looking forward to seeing how far we get next month.  Keep it up quilters!

Guild Charity Knows No Bounds

It is simply amazing when you look around at Canadian quilters and see what they do with their talents and resources.   You only have to look at your nearest guild to see the charity work they do with quiltmaking.   Here are just a few unique samples of how our guilds give back.

The Kennebecasis Valley QG in Quispamsis, NB, ( near Saint John) is one such guild that believes in charity.  From making tiny quilts for the Neonatal unit at the Saint John Regional Hospital, to making quilts for one of the local nursing homes each year, donating quilts to be used as raffle quilts for worthy causes, when possible giving quilts to people in need, and also supporting Victoria's quilts (a national organization which gives quilts to people with cancer.

Pictured below are some from the latest Victoria Quilt Day.  

The Sudbury & District Quilting and Stitchery Guild “adopted” a family in need of some holiday cheering in 2013.  The family was identified by the local Lion’s Club.  The parents and each of their four children will be  warm this winter with the new quilts lovingly made by the members.  Other gifts from the guild included Christmas stockings for everyone that are overflowing with goodies including mitts and hats; wrapped toys and jammies  for under the tree; a gift certificate for Cineplex; food enough for their Christmas dinner and more, plus a gift certificate at a local Grocery store.  

The London Friendship QG had a Place Mat Colour Challenge. They used lovely greeting cards from J.Lee Cards and Photography in St Thomas, ON. Those who entered the challenge picked a card (sight unseen) and then made a place mat using as many of the colours in the photo card as possible. The place mats were all donated to Meals on Wheels.

by Megan Griffith - 1st place

by Lorna Martin - 2nd place

by Edith Ward

by Cathy Shephard

by Tiny Campbell

It is so inspirational, not only reading about what charity the guilds do, but the creative ways they go about making it fun and interesting to their members.

If you have something fun to share, please drop me a line at vicepresident@canadianquilter.com.

Jackie W.