January Meeting Highlights

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 Tricks

To 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. 

​Gwen Pennings showed us how to a attach a flange to a pillow or quilt with the tip to stitch it down on both sides for easier quilting afterwards. She also showed us how a simple piece of stiff paper can be used for attaching binding strips together with pins or drawing a stitching line.

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.

1. Join the 2 lengths.
2. Press the seam to the narrower colour side.
3. Press the binding wrong sides together.
4. Apply the binding to the wrong side of the quilt with the piping colour showing.
5. Fold the binding to the front of the quilt.
6. Sew the binding down by machine on the narrower colour, leaving the piping to stand free.

 
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.

Show & Tell featured tips and tricks from members.

Fidget Quilts

Fidget 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.