Quilt Canada 2010 in Calgary

I was fortunate to be able to attend Quilt Canada 2010 in Calgary Alberta last month. It was an inspiring week and a wonderful experience- all except for the snowstorm which I could have done without. (I was SO glad that, in preparation for my trip, I had had a pedicure and packed my sandals! lol) Although I didn't register as a Full Conference delegate, I did spend two full days taking in the Shows (13 in total!) and yes I did manage to wander through the large Merchants Mall more than once.

I had a lovely chat with Pippa Moore and she asked me to say Hello to all her FQG friends. My buddy Sue had a chat with Gail Hunt and I'm sure she too would want to be remembered to all her former students at FQG.

If you would like to read more about Quilt Canada 2010 and see a sampling of the many wonderful quilts from several of the Shows, you can skip over to my personal Blog and see them here, here, here, here and here. Photography was not allowed in the National Juried Show but you can view the NJS Winners on the CQA website by clicking here. (You can click on each image there for a larger view.)

Next year's conference will be in London Ontario and the following year, Quilt Canada 2012 is coming east! It will be held at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Woohooooo!! This is an opportunity every Maritime quilter should take advantage of! It is not to be missed! Start planning now to attend - the dates are May 28-June 2, 2012.

Pot Luck Favorite

At our recent pot luck meeting, I was restricted to eating soft foods only because of some dental work I had the day before. I was browsing the great buffet and saw this beautiful pan of soft-looking cornbread. It was very moist, almost pudding like in consistency, but it was cornbread with a lovely flavor. I went back for seconds and smacked my lips the whole time I ate the second piece too. It was so good.

I asked around, and it was super-cook Gail Butts who brought it. The Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread recipe comes from the food networks Ina Garten - the Barefoot Contessa. I should have known. She is such a good cook and I regularly use her cookbooks.

Want to give it a try? The recipe from the Food Network can be found here.

Did you have a favorite food at the Pot Luck? Let us know, and we'll see if we can get you the recipe.

Final FQG Show and Tell of the year

Have a look at many of the spectacular quilts at our final meeting of the year. I didn't get photos of all the quilts, but I got a good representation. We'll try to get other pictures from the Show and Tell from some of the other cameras that were in the room. We'll add them to the members gallery on the sidebar.
Marieke made this quilt with her grandmother Sally L. and came to the pot luck to show us her work. Everyone gave her a big round of applause. What a great job she did and we're so pleased that she came to show it. (Our apologies- we've had trouble with the formatting of this post. The spacing between photos and text seems to want to "do it's own thing"; I've tried several times to edit and fix it but it seems to have a mind of it's own. Our apologies for the gaps... LH.)

Dawn S. made this wallhanging from a kit. That single piece of fabric in the center just sparkles with all those complimentary colours around it.


















Lois made this little quilt from a picture of a larger quilt. Those little houses that were paper pieced, are lit up so nicely and the stars are twinkling in the night sky. It's so sweet Lois!















Paula M. made these bags and some of the materials were recycled. The green bag was made using a charm square pattern, but used regular non-cut fabric instead. Great work.
















Charlotte M's is wowing us this year with all the work she's been doing. This is her shuffle style quilt. It is a tall quilt, but not quite as tall as Charlotte who you see peeking over the top.
















LaVerne's granddaughter Rian is the lucky girl who will get this custom creation. The Sunflower has dimensional leaves.
















This quilt by Robyn A. is mostly done from left over fabrics from other projects. If you look closely you can see the beautiful feathers that were quilted in the side setting triangles. Isn't it beautiful!













Joan Whelpley, one of our members who was awarded a lifetime membership for her contributions to the community, is amazing. She comes to guild each month with a collection of childrens quilts that she has made. Here are three that she brought with her this month.





Lee and the Friday girls took a challenge earlier this year. She practiced various machine quilting styles and this finished challenge was quite impressive.
















Linda G. and Jean K. made these bags in the February workshop. Linda shows it closed and Jean is showing it open. It's a really neat bag that you can flip over your arms and wear backpack style or carry over your shoulder like a regular purse. Great job girls.

Marijke H. confessed that she didn't like doing prarie

points, but didn't she do a great job on this sweet little quilt.

Sandy Mac. made this Karen Henry inspired dragonfly wallhanging. It was made using non-traditional quilting fabrics like organza so that parts of it are "see-through".

It was stunning.

Doesn't Tracy H's bali batik Strip Cocktail quilt look stunning? Love those batiks!

Valerie M. finished this lovely landscape with dimensional leaves.

Stay tuned for more Show and Tell quilts!

Reminder - Pot Luck and AGM - Tues May 18

The May meeting is our Annual General Meeting (and Election of Officers) and also a Pot Luck dinner - Tuesday May 18th.

The Pot Luck will be held at the Johnson Avenue Senior Center starting at 6:30 PM SHARP. Please bring foods ready to serve-Hot foods Hot and Cold foods Cold! (to save the dishwashing committee some work, please bring your own plate, utencils and cutlery. You can bring them home with your casserole dishes and wash them at home)

Spring Themed Blocks - Remember, all members interested in participating in the "Spring-themed" block draw, bring them along. Make an 8 ½ “(finished 8”) spring themed block on a cream background. Every block will give you a ballot for the draw(s) depending on the number of entries. Are you looking for a little inspiration. Go here to Quilters Cache and scroll through the 8" block section. Be sure to check the measurements to ensure it is an 8.5" block that finishes to 8".

Membership Renewal: You will be able to renew your membership at the potluck. Be sure to complete the form that was delivered in your April Newsletter. Dues are $30.00 for regular members; $15.00 for associate members.

Embroidery Floss - Pippa Moore is collecting un-wanted embroidery flosses again this year for her teaching trip to Africa next winter. If you have any flosses that you would like to donate to Pippa, please pass them on to Gail Mitchell. She will be sending them to Pippa in October.

Show and Tell - Bring show and tell, be it new or old. Let's get new inspiration, even from older projects. The more the merrier.

Have you had your first feed yet?

Of fiddleheads that is. Sometimes in the excitement of the first fiddleheads of the year, one might cook too many. Why not use up those leftovers in this delicious Fiddlehead Soup.


This recipe comes from Monica Washburn when she submitted it to our Guild's year 2000 cookbook, "Put This on Your Dresden Plate" Too. This recipe book was a sequel to our first cookbook "Put This on Your Dresden Plate".


Fiddlehead Soup

1/2 cup chopped cooked fiddleheads
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp chopped onion
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 cups milk
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp salt.

Cook and chop fiddleheads. Dissolve chicken cubes in boiling water. Melt butter and saute onions until tender. Blend in flour, paprika, mustard and salt. Gradually stir in milk and chicken bouillon water and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Add fiddleheads. You can also add a cubed potato to the soup.


Leave us a comment if you try it. We know you'll love it. We'll forward all comments to Monica.

PS: Did you know that the word fiddlehead is not in the blogger's dictionary?

Quilt Show Change of Venue

Quilt ShowFor anyone planning to attend the Keswick Ridge Quilters Quilt Show this weekend, please note there is a change of venue. It will NOT be held at the United Church as previously planned due to a church emergency. The new location is the Keswick Baptist Church at Mouth of Keswick. The address is 59 Route 104, just up from Keswick Landing, at the turn off to Burtts Corner. This is pretty much at the juncture of Routes 104 and 105. Please spread the word of this change...

New items on the FQG Blog

We have added some information from the Gathering of the Guilds.. We have added links to other New Brunswick Quilters' Guilds on our sidebar. Check it out. We have also updated the Events links with many quilt shows that are scheduled in 2010.

Stay tuned. When Linda Hubbard returns from Quilt Canada, I'm sure she'll have lots of pictures to show us.

Guild Ideas from the Gathering of the Guilds Conference - Part 2

Here are more great ideas from Barb's notes.

• Hobo Lunch Challenge where each participant was required to provide fabrics inspired by the “recipe” and then ties them to a stick in a bundle. Fabric bundles were exchanged and projects were made from only those fabrics.
• Jelly Bean Draw where members are asked to bring a fabric strip 2.5 inches wide, each month being a different colour scheme. One person who has participated by bringing fabric in goes home with the jellyroll made from the strips. They also have a draw for a bag of jelly beans.
• Another challenge was a Christmas challenge where the challenge coordinator handed out fabric with instructions to create a strip with a Christmas theme. It could be one fabric and you add other fabric, or it could be two or more pieces. These are brought back at the Christmas party and judged as best in show, or drawn for by those who participated.
• Out of the Box Challenge, where in the fall box tops were distributed to members and they were challenged to make a quilt, the size could range from 18 inches square to a bed quilt. At least three colours from the box top had to be used with one additional colour added by the participant. The judging categories included most creative use of colour, most attractive, best quilting (hand or machine), most creative interpretation of package, most literal or representational design of package and favorite/best in show.
• Tickets by the arm, every meeting the guild sells tickets on a quilting prize such as charm packs, layer cakes, and jelly rolls. Tickets are one for twenty five cents, five for a loony or an “arm length” for a toonie. The advice was to have your arm lengths pre-cut because they go fast.
• Christmas “Money Tree” which is a small Christmas tree decorated with 50 scratch tickets, and they sell tickets on the tree.
• Brown Bag exchange early in the fall where there is usually a fat quarter and it is crafted into an inspired gift and returned at the December meeting. This guild have also used the Brown Bag to provide required items needed by local community organization such as the SPCA, soup kitchen, women’s shelter etc.
• Silent auction at Christmas with the proceeds going to a charity.
• “Ripped off” challenge where each member brings a brown bag with a piece of materiel in it and the bags are exchanged like musical chairs, then they start to rip the material till you have a certain size (predetermined) and keeping one piece you pass the bags around. The challenge is to make something with all the material you end up with.
• “Pizza Box project” where those that wanted to take part made a block for the box which they took home for a month. Each box had a different theme and some theme material to use in the block. The box was traded each month. At the end of the year a draw was held for those who had participated to get the various boxes.
• Round Robins, such as doing one involving borders, where the owner made the centre block and the next four borders made by different individuals using a specific theme.
• Fabric shuffle where members are challenged to make something out of the fabric they receive.
• Theme exchange where members were challenged to make blocks of a specified size and colour, and then they are either raffled or drawn for.
• Game of name the block contest.

Now all this is great stuff to start planning for next year's guild activities. Happy Stitching and Happy Planning!!