Refer to the April Meeting Highlights blog post for information about the news from the April meeting. The April 2017 meeting began with a flurry of activity as members dropped off their challenge projects. Challenges, issued in September 2016, are optional projects with a particular theme where guild members showcase their individual creativity and imagination. This year there were 3 challenges: President's, Crayon, and Baby Quilt. The April deadline for the challenges was chosen so these projects could be displayed in our quilt show, the weekend following this meeting. Quilts in the challenges were displayed and identified by unique numbers so members could submit as their choices in a secret ballot. As shown in these photos, the quilts excelled in their creativity, imagination, and excellence of techniques. President's Challenge Participants were challenged by guild president Brigid Whitnall to make a red and white themed quilted item in honour of Canada's 150th birthday. ![]() Crayon Challenge Participants blindly chose a crayon from a paper bag and were challenged to make a project of that colour, and different shades of that colour. Black and white could be included for contrast. ![]() Baby Quilt Challenge Participants were each given a 10 inch square piece of this “ABC kid’s” fabric and were challenged to use all, or any portion of it, in a baby quilt of any size. And the Challenge Winners are... Prizes were awarded for 1st and 2nd place based on voting in a secret ballot by guild members.. There were ties for 2nd place in 2 of the challenges! President's Challenge Crayon Challenge Baby Quilt Challenge ![]() Our annual "garage sale" was a great way to start off this meeting with many interesting items to choose from to fill those inevitable gaps in our own stashes! Many members wore happy smiles as they loaded up on new goodies. Lana Dean gave us an update on the charming log cabin quilt with the creative farm scene on the back which she showed us at our February meeting. She made the quilt along with a number of other quilters for auction at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in mid March. It was sold for a whopping $7,600 which was all donated to CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.)
Barb shared many tips with us including:
Barb's son is fascinated by wolves as evidenced by these 2 quilts in her collection. Barb finished off her captivating show with her personal Canada 150 quilt project in which she included the crests of the 3 provinces in which she's lived: Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. Barb owns the Quilters Inn quilt shop in Cameron ON where she also teaches classes and does long arm quilting for others. See Barb's Facebook page for more information. www.facebook.com/QuiltrsInn Enjoy these many more photos of Barb's quilts and other items that she shared with us. What a fun night this was!
We all pitched in to construct quilt tops for the Canadian Quilters' Association (CQA) Big Quilt Bee. Our guild is joining guilds from across Canada to make quilts for Ronald McDonald House Charities, in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday. Our guild members have been busy constructing these 12 1/2 inch blocks which incorporate at least one piece of a special Canada fabric. Approximately 135 blocks were constructed at our very successful "slab block" workshop in early February, and many more were brought in by guild members. After an exciting evening of sorting the blocks, designing the layouts, pinning blocks, the whirring of several sewing machines, and activity at various ironing stations, our guild members assembled the blocks into 13 quilt tops! Way to go quilters! Refer to the CQA web site for more information, including instructions for the blocks using the “slab block pattern” compliments of Cheryl Arkison, and sample blocks. See the teams at work, and the final results in these photos. Our Canada 150 Quilt![]() Our guild's Canada 150 quilt has been completed! Designed by Brigid Whitnall, it features ideas submitted by our members - trilliums (Ontario's flower) in the centre, red and white log cabins and a connected diverse community of women. The blocks were made by guild members and it was beautifully quilted by Mary Stanton. This quilt will be featured at our quilt show on April 29-30, as part of an Eastern Ontario Interguild Canada 150 travelling quilt show. The collection of approximately 16 quilts will visit about a dozen area quilt shows, and at fall trunk shows. Tips and TricksTo kick off the new year our January meeting focused on tips and tricks for improving our quilting. We rotated through 5 demo stations manned by our own creative and talented guild members and came away with tremendous new ideas. Mary deVries showed us how to reduce bulk in our seam allowances, and how to use scraps while at the same time eliminating thread ends, saving time and thread. Joann Vlaming showed us a great method for accurately sizing half square triangle blocks, including a tip to trim them before pressing them. And there's a ruler that can help with this. Pat Campbell demonstrated a clever method for making continuous prairie points, and tips on attaching bindings. Chris Gordon showed us how to attach a 2 colour binding with a narrow flap of "faux piping". Chris provided these notes on this technique. This is a binding made with 2 colours – the faux piping colour is the wider width. One strip is 1 5/8 “ wide, the second is 1 3/8 “ wide. If the length is long make a full length of each colour before you combine the 2 colours. Stagger the joints.
A website with a tutorial is www.littlemissshabby.com/2013/11/scrappy-faux-piped-binding-tutorial. Her binding is 1/8 “ wider in each colour, but the technique is the same. Fidget QuiltsFidget quilts are small lap quilts that provides sensory and tactile stimulation for the restless or "fidgety" hands of someone with Alzheimer's or related dementias. They provide sensory or tactile stimulation through the use of fabric colors, textures, and the use of accents or simple accessories such as pockets, laces, trims, appliques, buttons, secured beads, ribbons, braids etc.
Sue Shute invited us to help make "fidget quilts" for local residents afflicted with Alzheimers disease. She's hosting drop in hands on quilting sessions on the last Tuesday of every month from 10 AM to 2 PM at Quilting Quarters in Almonte. Quilts will be distributed in the Arnprior and Almonte areas.
Christmas Stockings
CQA Big Quilt Bee Pieces of the Canada 150 fabrics were distributed for making the slab blocks for the Canadian Quilters' Associations Big Quilt Bee quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada. This project is in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. Refer to the CQA web site for more information, including photos of sample blocks and instructions for the blocks using a “slab block pattern” compliments of Cheryl Arkison. Nancy Jossinet Trunk Show Our meeting began with special guest Trish McEachern, a registered nurse in the Rich Little Special Care Nursery at the Ottawa Hospital, presenting our guild with a plaque recognizing our support of their unit. For several years our guild has been making and donating little 24 inch square "preemie quilts" to the unit. Each baby who is cared for in the nursery receives a quilt and last year we donated over 150 of these little quilts to the nursery. Trish explained how meaningful these little quilts are to the families of the babies, and she thanked us for our time, energy and talent in making these quilts. She also showed us several photos of the little babies with their little quilts. For more information about our preemie quilt initiatives, see the Charity page.
Canada's Big Quilt Bee
Sherida Giddings Trunk Show Our guest speaker was Sherida Giddings, a certified teacher of Judy Niemeyer, and an expert in paper and curved piecing. She shared highlights of her quilting journey with us and she described the extensive and demanding 2 year certification process with Judy.
Prior to the meeting, Sherida conducted a workshop in Arnprior on the Desert Sky paper pieced pattern. At the meeting's Show and Tell, Gwen Pennings showed the block she pieced at the workshop, pictured here.. Here are some of the quilts Sherida included in her trunk show. Click on a photo to enlarge it. More photos of Sherida's quilts can be found on Sherida's Web site and on her Quiltworx Bio page. ![]() We kicked off our 2016-2017 guild season on Wednesday September 29 with a great turn out to hear about the programs and challenges, to share what we've been making over the summer, and to enjoy a fascinating trunk show. The striking blue quilt that we'll be raffling off at our quilt show in April 2017 is now complete and was on display. The pattern was custom designed by Brigid Whitnall, blocks were pieced over the summer by Penny Carruthers, Chris Gordon, and Janet Brownlee, and it was assembled by Chris. Mary Stanton did an awesome job of quilting it and she also provided the thread and the perfectly coordinating backing from her stash. Thank you Mary for your very generous contributions. Show and tell was, as always, very inspiring and well received. You can see photos of all of the projects in OUR QUILTS. Paul Leger Trunk Show Our program featured guest quilter Paul Leger who presented a very entertaining and interesting trunk show. We believe that Paul brought 2 "firsts" to our guild - a male guest speaker, and a selfie! ![]() Paul started quilting 26 years ago when he was stationed with the Canadian Armed Forces in Victoria BC. He took his first course 4 years after starting to quilt. Until that point Paul instructed himself to quilt (with a little help from his mother.) Over the years Paul's quilting skills and styles have changed. He still likes traditional quilting but is now dabbling in the modern. Now Paul teaches, designs and gives presentations and is an active participant in the international quilting community. Paul's trunk show charted his quilting journey over the years. Starting from his first quilt, which was made from his shirts, we saw his unique and varied designs. Paul's thirst for new ideas and learning was evident throughout his show. He's always looking for something new and avoids repeating the same thing over and over. He also has a slight aversion to the "A" thing (applique!) Paul donated a quilt to the University of Moncton's Acadian Museum, which honours the families who founded l'Acadie and includes the names of 305 of the 800 founding families. You can see a photo of this quilt on Paul's web site. Here are some of the quilts that Paul included in his trunk show. Click on a photo to enlarge it. More photos of his fascinating quilts can be found on Paul's web site. -- Janet Brownlee
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