Slow Sunday Stitching and Quilt Canada

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the art of hand stitching! We encourage you to pick up a needle and thread, and slowly taking some relaxing stitches today. 
I have hand stitching news to share with you from Quilt Canada. If you want to read my other posts you can click here for some of my highlights, here for machine quilting class, and here for improv class notes.
But first, please hop over to visit our friend Sandra who blogs over at Quilting at the Cro's Nest. Sandra is a regular linker at Slow Sunday Stitching and she has some great news to share with us. I won't spill the beans because it's her news to tell, but I'm so excited for her! I know you will want to send your congratulations to her so make sure to drop by.
And now onto the CQ hand stitching report. As you have probably noticed in your own area of the world, there are usually only a few hand stitched items entered into most shows. Most of the quilts are "art quilts" and most are machine quilted. But there were a couple of wonderful hand stitched quilts in the National Juried Show 2016. 

It's always fun to see a whole cloth quilt in person since they are as rare as hens teeth. The winner of the "Excellence in Hand Quilting" ribbon was given to a quilt called "Palmetto" made by Georgia Beale. This was her own design inspired by a tin ceiling in a general store. Inspiration is everywhere! This is a beautiful quilt, but my photographs did not do it justice. Here is just a small part of the quilt to show you a some of the exquisite quilting. 

This next quilt was easy to photograph. It is called "Not Now, Maybe Never" made by Joan Dorsay. It is such a fun quilt, with the red background and all the bright colours.  It won first place in the category for Bed/Wall quilts made from patterns.

And just look at all these perfectly constructed circles! There are hundreds of them on this quilt in the blocks, in the sashing and in the border. All hand appliqued and all hand quilted. I had my eyeballs right up to this quilt for quite a while.

So are you inspired now? I hope so! I hope you are already thinking of the next stitches to put into your beautiful project. I will be working on my embroidery project. The poor thing has not seen much progress in the last month, and I think I might have to redraw the pattern since the iron-on transfer seems to have faded. 
Please link up your blog post below and share the hand stitching project you are working on today.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Quilt Canada Class #2

My second Quilt Canada class was called "Modern Quilting With Feed Dogs Up" and the teacher was Melissa Marginet from Manitoba. Just look at all the designs on this sample quilt!
This class was a whole other ballgame from yesterday's class. It used a completely different part of my brain but thankfully I discovered that this part still works well enough to learn these techniques.

Many of these designs involved measuring and some minimal marking, and were fun to sew. It really was quite a different process than free motion quilting.

These are the machines we were using, which were even more computerized versions of the ones we used in class #1. This one had some nice features, such as the automatic foot lift and pivot function that engaged whenever you stopped sewing. 

However some of the students had a lot of challenges with their machines and made good use of the technician who spent most of the day in our classroom. The needle threaders were consistently problematic, and I just didn't even bother to use mine at all.

Here is one of the quilting designs we learned, but just look at the mess on the back of my block! Can you say tension issues?!? I tried to fix the problem and was periodically successful. 

Here are some of the sample sandwiches from the students.
This class gave me lots of great ideas for designs, and my mind was spinning with plans for quilting the various UFO's that are currently in the finishing queue.
I will write more about this project on Monday when I gather up all the samples and put them on the design wall.
And tomorrow I will share some wonderful hand stitching highlights from Quilt Canada.
Thanks for reading!

Quilt Canada Class #1

My first Quilt Canada class was on improvisational strip piecing and the teacher was Cinzia Alloca from Montreal. I must like improv piecing because last Quilt Canada, I took an improv class too (read about 2014's class here). Here is Cinzia showing some pieces that she is going to combine for a quilt she is working on. This is the first time I have ever worked with strip sets, and it's a whole other process than making improv quilt blocks. It's something I have never tried before.



For this class I started with the quarter log cabin blocks I made in a class I took with Bethany Garner last month. I wanted to combine these blocks with the strip sets from this improv class. I had to whip up another 2 blocks to make an even 12 blocks.

First we cut and strip pieced some sets of fabric to work with and started to play with possible layouts. It was so relaxing to piece these blocks and I loved the look of of the fabric piling up behind the needle. Don't you think it looks like ribbon candy?!? 

This is the beginning of adding strip sets to the sides, and we were encouraged to think about direction of the strips, and the widths. 

Here I am with Cinzia at my sewing machine. When she was making the rounds in the classroom and helping each student, I got a quick photo with her. 
I should also mention that even though I was worried about working with a sewing machine I didn't "know", I didn't have a single problem with this learning this Janome machine. It sewed really well for me all day and I ran it hard!

The next step was adding in the accent fabric, which for my project was lime green. But where should it go, and how much of it do you like, and do you want a strip or a small square?

So many decisions to make and it's all up to you!
I thought my project was looking way too pink, so the next strip sets I made with wider white strips and narrower pink ones.

Here is Cinzia helping me with the layout and making suggestions for improvements and additions. It was fascinating to hear her ideas and to learn how to "see" the process of building a quilt in a different way. 



Here are some of the other projects in development. It was challenging to work on layouts on the floor and I realize that a design wall is really essential when working on a quilt layout. There were some really amazing quilts being created here!

Quilt Canada Highlights

At the CQA booth

Quilt Canada 2016 has come and gone. It was such a well organized event, and I was able to easily find my way to every class, lecture, and quilt show. A huge thank you to the many volunteers who donated their time to help make everything run smoothly.  The whole experience was amazing and even though I was there for 4 days, there were many events that I didn't even get to participate in. There were lectures and demos, and well... you just can't do it all! I will share some of my highlights in a couple of blog posts.

1) Vendors Mall:

Don't judge me when I tell you that I didn't buy any fabric. I know!  I was concerned that I might be ill! But I was so busy with classes and seeing all the quilts, and visiting with friends, that I couldn't focus on buying anything at the vendor mall. Everything looked beautiful, but I couldn't even remember what quilts I was working on and what I might need.  So I don't have any purchases to show you, but I have other exciting things to show you.

2) Book Launch: 
My friend Maggie Vanderweit had a book launch at her CQA booth. I was on the program committee of my local quilt guild with Maggie about 20 years ago so we have known each other for a long time. She has written a book called "Stone Threads" and I can't wait to read it. Maggie has been such an inspiration to me and to so many quilters, and I was thrilled to celebrate this amazing accomplishment with her. Here she is signing a copy of her book for me. My head is still spinning with all the things we talked about!



3) Jane Sassaman:

Jane was the keynote speaker and her lecture was called "Under the Influence". She talked about the development of her quilting career, and the experiences, artists, and friendships that influenced her. It was thought provoking, humourous, and inspiring to all of us.

4) The Quilt Shows:

There were several quilt shows to enjoy including the Trend Tex challenge, the Modern Quilt Guild show, the Invitational show, the Fibre Art Network show (see those quilts here), and of course the National Juried Show. I attended a NJS tour with Jackie White which was really interesting. Here is my favourite pieced quilt called "Ancient Stars" by Joan Robinson which won the award for "Excellence in workmanship in piecing". 

Just look at these incredible borders... not a single point is cut off and that is hard to do on hundreds of HST and diamond blocks! And in spite of having so many complex borders, this quilt was completely flat!



This is another amazing machine quilted winner called "My Three Boys" by Kim Mullen. The entire design is quilted on a piece of black fabric. That's it... just black fabric and thread. The detail on this was amazing! It won the "Excellence for work by a first time exhibitor".

Okay, I want to tell you all about my classes too, but my kids need the computer to watch the soccer game. I'll be back later with more highlights... from the quilt show, not the soccer game!

Quilt Canada 2016

Too much fun.
Too much excitement.
Too much creative inspiration.
I'm full to overflowing and haven't had the time to blog about it yet.

Look who met me at the welcome desk! It's Christine who I met at a class at Quilt Canada in St. Catharines two years ago!

And then look who was in my class today... three of the quilters that were in one of the classes I took at the same Quilt Canada two years ago.
It's Ann, Jackie and Christine!
We just keep showing up together! It's such a small world sometimes.

And of course I have to mention that the food has been fantastic at the receptions! Quilters love fabric and food... in that order!
I will write more about my classes and the quilts tomorrow. Having a blast at QC!

Quilt Canada Prep - Worries of a conference attendee

I am attending Quilt Canada in Toronto, Ontario this week and am having a wee bit of pre-conference anxiety. If you have ever attended a large gathering of quilters you will understand how important it is to be prepared.

My first CQA conference was in another province and I took 4 days of classes and almost lost my mind! Seriously, it was very overwhelming! Now that I am a more experienced quilt conference participant I know how these events are for me (completely exhilarating and creatively overstimulating), and I have learned what I can handle and how to cope more effectively. 


Here are some of my tips that I am obsessing over reviewing:
1) Pace yourself: There is so much going on at the conference that you really have to make a plan of what you want to do the most. I am only taking two classes this year, so that I have enough time to do all the other things that I want to do, at a pace I can enjoy. I have scheduled a whole day to see the National Juried Show, the Invitational Show, the Trend Tex Challenge, and of course visit the merchants mall. My problem is that I don't look at quilts the way normal people do. I visit them. I have conversation with them and get to know them. It takes me a long time to take in all the detail. Hopefully I have planned enough time to see everything and not feel rushed. 

2) Be prepared for your activities: It's really important especially if you are taking a class to bring everything you might need. I know what it's like to be the teacher when students don't bring what is on the supply list and come unprepared thinking they probably won't need this or that. I don't want to be that student! If the class supply list says you need something - bring it! And of course we all know that the perfect fabric you need will be the one that you left at home. I predict it will happen and I will just have to deal with it!

3) Be rested: If you are affected by crowds of people, and/or you are really revved up by amazing beauty and creative overload, you will be exhausted by the end of a day at Quilt Canada. Take time for short rests during the day, and get a good sleep at night (ie ... don't talk to your quilting friends all night long about what you saw, bought, and learned at the quilt show!)

4) Be organized: It's a long long walk from the parking lot to find the classrooms, and you will be hauling your class supplies all that way. I have a rolling suitcase that can easily hold all my class supplies, plus water and snacks for the day. 

5) Be relaxed: One of the challenging parts of taking a class at a huge venue like this is having to sew on a sewing machine you've never used before. This concern is based on a workshop experience at my first Quilt Canada (read about it here). I worry about being able to adapt to sewing on a new machine quickly enough to keep up with the class instructions. 

I have lots of experience with different kinds of vintage sewing machines, but am not very good with anything computerized. 
I really want to just chill out, and enjoy the whole experience, so I will try to remember all of the above tips! Wish me luck!
I will blog throughout the week as time and internet connections allow. 

Quilt Canada 2016 is Coming!

Quilt Canada

Have you registered to attend Quilt Canada yet? It is being held June 15 -18 in Toronto, Ontario. I am so excited that it is only about an hour drive for me, so I can go to events and classes every day and sleep at home.

Adding to my excitement is that I am teaching a hand beading class! There are a ton of long arm classes and machine quilting classes on the list of classes, but only 2 hand stitching classes, which are unfortunately both scheduled for the same day. If you want to take a class from me to learn "Intuitive Hand Beading" it is scheduled for Saturday June 18th. I would love to meet you, so take the day off and come to Toronto to learn about hand work! Check out the class listing here.

One of the highlights for me will be attending a lecture by Jane Sassaman. 
It's called "Quilter's Nite Out"! Hope to see you there!

Quilt Canada 2016

CQA

I am so excited that Quilt Canada is going to be in Toronto, Ontario next year! I have attended these national conferences before, but am doubly excited this time, since I will also be teaching a class on Intuitive Beading.

There are just so many wonderful components to this event and I just hope I don't get too overwhelmed by all the fun. What a great problem to have!
There are 44 workshops and 9 lectures (including Jane Sassaman, who I am totally pumped to see!) This blog post is a "heads up" for anyone interested in taking classes at Quilt Canada. On line registration starts tomorrow for members of CQA. You can review the amazing list of classes on line here. Sign up asap so you can get into the classes you want. Registration will be open to non-members of CQA in November.

Kits are available if you'd like to make a quilt to donate for the Trend Tex Challenge - click here for more information.
And of course, if you'd like to enter one of your quilts in the National Juried Show, click here to find the details. Entries have to be in by the beginning of February, so get quilting and let's make this the best Quilt Canada ever. No pressure!

Design Wall Monday - Improv

On the design wall today are my blocks from the 2 day class I took with Cheryl Arkison at Quilt Canada. I did not purchase any fabric at all for my classes - just took my batik scraps and sewed up the leftovers.

The 12" blocks are in the order they were made. The two wonky log cabins were first. Great block, easy to make, and eats up lots of scraps! I plan to make more of those for sure....maybe a whole quilt of them!
The second row on the left is a slab block. That might be my favorite one to make. It uses up a lot of tiny little pieces.
On the right is a criss-cross block. I don't love it, and might add another few criss-crosses to cut down on the pinkness.
Then the letter Q surrounding the heart... that block is going to have some major reconstruction to reduce the pinkness or maybe it's going to be the quilt label on the back!
The wonky curve blocks were easier to sew than I had thought they would be. The hardest part was deciding on a layout for the 9 blocks.
On the bottom left is another slab block. It was made primarily from fabric scraps that were left for me in the bathroom in the residence with a note that said "these are for you - I know you love scraps!" I called that block the "Bathroom Fabric Fairy Block". 
On the bottom right is two 6" star blocks - one light star on darks, and one dark star on lights. They might become the centers for log cabin blocks.
So that's a lot of pieces used up from my scrap box! I am inspired to keep sewing more blocks and have lots of ideas for blocks that I didn't have time to sew in class. So fun!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

One Last Quilt Canada Post

I have already treated my Dad to a special meal for Father's Day, and now I'm watching PGA and FIFA while editing my Quilt Canada photos. Are you tired of hearing about the conference yet?!? As soon as I'm off the computer, I'll be back to some relaxing hand stitching. But for now... one more post about my conference experience.
I took a 2 day class on Improv Piecing with Cheryl Arkison,

Cheryl shows the quilt in her book that my
friend Barb is sewing in brown scraps!

author of A Month of Sundays. If you read my blog regularly you might remember, I won a draw for an autographed copy of her new book last year (read about it here). At that time I had just finished sewing a quilt from her first book Sunday Morning Quilts. 
I love both of these books, so it was great fun to meet Cheryl in person and learn from her for two days about improve piecing.










This is Cheryl's sampler quilt that inspired us to get sewing our scraps and try out some of the techniques of improve quilting.

Improve class Log Cabin blocks

We started with wonky log cabin blocks and that was fun. It was a good place to start since most quilters have sewn a regular log cabin block or two in their quilting history, so making an improve version was comfortable for everyone.

Improve class criss-cross blocks

Then we moved on to criss-cross blocks. 
It's funny how the electrical cord hung down the middle of the photo like another line across the blocks!

Improve class slab blocks

Then we started sewing my favorite block... "slabs". 
I have sewn these before  (click here and here to see them) and I really love this method for using up scraps. I have called it crumb piecing since I love to use up tiny little crumbs of scraps.
We also made free hand curves, stars, and anything else we were inspired to try.

One possible "down" side to improve work ... your sewing table becomes a real big mess in a hurry! There were times when I wondered what I was doing with all this mess! But then I'd look around and see that all the other quilters had the same kind of mess on their table. There is no way around it with this technique! It was a fun class with many interesting blocks sewn and a ton of creative inspiration! 
Thanks Cheryl! And thanks to your family for sharing you with the quilting world!
I will unpack my suitcases and put my blocks up on the design wall... check back tomorrow to see them.

Quilt Canada 2014 - Trend Tex picks for Slow Sunday Stitchers

Quilt Canada 2014 is now a memory. All the vendors and spenders, all the quilts and quilters, all the teachers and students, all the organizers and enjoyers... are back home.

My highlights of the conference include:
*meeting so many interesting people from all over the world. At the closing banquet there were quilters from Great Britain, Edmonton, and all over Ontario seated at my table of 8. In my class on Friday and Saturday there were quilters from Newfoundland, Texas, and B.C., and the teacher is from Alberta! 

*great merchant's mall with a wide variety of vendors. I didn't spend much money here since the conference was expensive enough, but I enjoyed seeing the new patterns and fabrics, and soaked up the energy of the excited quilters. Some were in a total buying frenzy and it was fun to watch!

*incredible quilts with a wide range of techniques and inspiration in the various shows.  We were not permitted to take photographs of the juried show, but the photos of the prize winners have been posted on the CQA website - click here to see them. 
We were allowed to take photos of the 139 Trend Tex challenge pieces. In this challenge everyone who enters makes a quilt with the same package of FQ's and the theme of "Modern Ways". For the enjoyment of my Slow Sunday Stitching friends, I will show some close ups of my top picks for best hand stitching. You can see the entire quilt by viewing the website here.

#33 Myra Tallman

1) I loved this hand quilting by Myra Tallman, and incidentally this quilt won the first prize from the challenge judges.

# 15 Karen Menzies

2) Look at the amazing hand stitching texture created by Karen Menzies.

#41 Mabel Russell

3) Hand quilting by Mabel Russell in lime green thread that was so precisely stitched that I had to double check to see if it was stitched by machine.

#35 Katie Pidgeon

4) incredible stitching and beading by Katie Pidgeon that created most of this quilt's design (and was also a judge's choice ribbon winner).

Quilt Canada 2014

Another great day at Quilt Canada yesterday! 
I took a class with Cheryl Arkison and I will write more about that later when I get better photos of the class blocks in the second day of the class today.
The most annoying thing to me about Quilt Canada is that you can't take any photos at the Juried Show. It is really hard for me, and I missed my camera as an extension of myself while experiencing the quilts. Does that sound weird? I saw amazing techniques, and great colour combinations, and incredible quilts, but most of that information is already lost in my fading memory. They want you to buy a show catalogue, but what I want to remember is the details of the quilting and the techniques. I saw some amazing thread work and wish I could remember it to try it at home.
We were permitted to take photos at the F.A.N. exhibit, so I will show you my favorite quilt there.
Everyone, meet Izzie...

This is a quilt by Donna Bray-Zakreski called "Strong, Calm and Fearless". I love the description of the quilt, the use of colour, and mostly I love the texture created by the dense machine quilting.


Here is a close up photo:

I have never quilted anything so densely but I just love the effect!
Last night I attended a lecture from Judy Coates Perez, which was very inspiring on a personal and professional level. Her work is visually amazing from a distance, but up close it is unbelievable. You just can't not touch her quilts...and she lets you!! 
Okay... I'm off to my last day of classes and hope to be able to post another update tonight!