Fall Shows #2, 3, and 4.

There are THREE quilt shows coming up next weekend! Yes, three! So, whichever direction you're headed in, there's likely a show to be found.  Keswick Ridge Quilters are holding their show in Burtt's Corner, Miramichi QG show is in Chatham, and Where Friends Gather QG show is in Charlo. See posters below...

September Meeting Coming Up!

Our September meeting is tomorrow night. The third Tuesday of the month is "our" night, and the date will always fall between the 15th and 21st. It will be great to see everyone again! Don't forget your nametag, your three fat quarters in fall colours for the exchange, any library books that you might still have out, your summer sewing projects for Show and Tell and a loonie or toonie for the fat quarter draw. Whew! You'll need your totebag! See you there.
New members welcome.

Fall Show #1....

We all look forward to the KVQG show each September... it opens Thursday at noon. See you there?

Updates, Fall Classes and Happy News...

How can it be the latter part of August already! Acckkkk! The summer is passing much too quickly. Before we know it we'll all be together again at our September meeting! I hope you've enjoyed this wonderful summer we've been having. Such lovely weather! The lawns and gardens are suffering from lack of rain, but otherwise, it's been beautiful. It's hard to find time to spend indoors sewing when that sun is shining!

Have you done any quilting-related travel? If you're looking for an easy day trip, you might want to visit the Kings County Museum in Hampton to see the restored 1864 Confederation Quilt. This spectacular crazy quilt was made from remnants of the gowns worn to the Charlottetown Conference balls. (There are approximately 2 dozen other quilts  on display as well.)  It's there until Sept. 2 so you still have time. Museum hours are 9-4:30 every Tues., Wed., Fri. and Sat. and12:30-8pm on Thursdays.

As always there is a list on the sidebar of upcoming quilt shows and events. Check it often so you don't miss out!

As your thoughts turn to fall, here are some learning opportunities you may wish to look into:

 


The NB College of Craft and Design has some fall courses which you may find of interest: Natural Dyeing with Plants and Weaving, among others. More info here.

  The10th Annual Nova Scotia Fibre Festival takes place in Amherst NS Oct. 10-14. With classes and workshops in quilting, knitting rughooking and more, four quilt shows plus a trunk show, a rug show, displays, vendors, Zonta Bazaar and more - there's something for everyone. Kathy Tidswell and Linda Hubbard are both teaching classes - registration is now open and classes are filling quickly. Don't wait too long if you're interested in signing up for a class or two.  Click here for more info. Brochures will be available at our September meeting or you can pick one up now at your local quilt shop, yarn shop or Fabricville.

Karen Henry is doing four workshops for  Marco Polo Quilters' Guild of Saint John, October 24-28, and spaces are still available:

Tuesday Oct. 24 - Pictorial Quilts for Beginners
Wednesday Oct. 25 - Jay Walkin'
Thursday Oct. 26, 6-9pm - Trunk Show and Reception
Friday Oct. 27 - Delightful Dragonflies
Saturday Oct. 28 - Pet Portraits
Contact Carolyn Wishart for more info. 506-652-7385 or carrie(at)bellaliant(dot)net


Linda Hubbard is teaching several "Machine Quilting 101" classes locally this fall, on Saturday Oct. 21 and Thursday October 26. A delicious lunch will be provided (included in class fee). Contact Linda at 455-1825 or lindakhubbard(at)gmail(dot)com

So.... have you done lots of sewing this summer? Created lots of scraps?  If you just can't wait for our September meeting and our awesome Show and Tell, here's a chance to view some spectacular Scrap Quilts. Maybe you'll get some ideas for using up your own scraps... Click here, here and here. 

Let's end with an update of happy news....In this post I told you of the Journeys Through Art group and their bridge quilts which were accepted into the AQS Show in Grand Rapids MI. Local quilter Sandi MacMillan is part of this group. I'm thrilled to tell you this group won FIRST PRIZE!!! Number ONE out of 14 group entries! Congrats! You can see the bridge quilts by clicking here.

Quilt Canada Update

Quilt Canada is well underway in Toronto. For all of us who cannot be in attendance, we'll have to content ourselves by clicking  here to view the NJS winners. The National Juried Show features the "cream of the crop" as they say. Click on the first image for a larger view, then hover your cursor over the upper right corner of the image to continue to view all other winners. Congrats to all the winners and indeed ALL the entrants -you are ALL winners!
You can view all the Trend-Tex Challenge pieces by clicking here.



And... an exciting update on the Big Quilt Bee.. as of yesterday they had easily surpassed their goal of 1000 quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada with 1500 quilts!!! Isn't that fantastic?!! Wow! Quilters are THE BEST!
I wonder what the final tally will be?

EDIT June 17. The final tally of completed quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada is 2614!!!  Isn't that fantastic?

It's National Sewing Machine Day!

Today, June 13, is National Sewing Machine Day! It's a day to honour and celebrate the invention of the sewing machine. It was on this day that Thomas Saint, a skilled cabinet maker and British inventor received the first patent for a sewing machine design, back in 1790! While some of us enjoy hand work, most of us are every thankful for our machines. Have you shown your machine some love today? What do you like best about your machine? Do you have more than one machine? Do you have an interesting sewing machine story to share with us?

Check These Out!

July 1st will be here before we know it, and with it all the big celebrations for Canada's 150th birthday! Are you working on a special project for Canada 150? If you have been looking for a pattern for the Canada 150 logo, here it is! Click here for the pattern.







 Former member Sandi MacMillan has been busy with a "Fredericton-related" project... She is part of an art quilt group in Florida where she lives for the winter.  Journeys Thru Art has eight very talented members and each year they challenge themselves to do art quilts on a theme. This past year the theme was "bridges." I know you will recognize Sandi's bridge.  You can see all eight bridge quilts by clicking here.  These eight pieces have been submitted for jurying into the August AQS Show in Grand Rapids, MI. Not being one to take the easy route, Sandi's bridge is totally constructed of leather, and contains hundreds of tiny rivets... the photo really does not do it justice!
EDIT June 7th: The group received word today that their bridges have been accepted to AQS Grand Rapids show, August 16-19.
Their next challenge is "spirals" and once again, Sandi's piece will have a tie to our city. Can you guess what it might be?

May Meeting and Potluck Dinner

Just a reminder about our May meeting and to clarify the times as there has been a little confusion. Please arrive around 6pm, with your potluck dish- hot foods hot and cold foods cold, ready to serve. Please bring a serving utensil (labelled with your name if possible.) Don't forget your plate and cutlery. Also remember your flower challenge piece and any other Show and Tell. Dinner will be served at 6:30pm.
If you are available to come a little early (5:30) to help with set up, that would be appreciated too. See you there!

Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!

March is National Quilting Month and today is Worldwide Quilting Day! I hope you are doing something quilty to celebrate!  Finishing up a project? Shopping for some new fabric? (Support our local shops!!) Working on your guild challenge piece? Whatever you're doing, I hope you're having fun. If you have some time on your hands, here's a suggestion... The Quilt Show is offering all of their shows from the first seventeen series FREE for the entire weekend. Click here to start watching. Click on "Watch" at the top left to get a list of shows or do a search for a particular technique or artist. Have fun, but don't blame me if you don't get your vacuuming done!

Community Projects Donation Quilts.

At our February meeting last night, attendees got to see the finished quilt to be donated to Portage Atlantic, the New Brunswick Youth Drug Addiction Treatment Centre. It is a scrappy Disappearing Four Patch, measuring 65" x 88".
The pattern is called Disappearing Four Patch, as you start with a four patch, make a few cuts through the block, rearrange the pieces and re-sew it together. Quick and easy. Many thanks to Kathleen D for piecing the top and some extra blocks, to Jean K for adding one more row to bring it up to single bed

size and for preparing the binding, to Sue R for donating the nice cozy flannel backing, to Gwenda M for doing the quilting and to the Nashwaaksis Lions Club for covering  the cost of the quilting, batting and thread. It was my pleasure to add the final stitches by doing the binding on this quilt. Such a great community project! I know it will be gratefully received.
UPDATE, Feb.26: the goal of 50 quilts for Portage Atlantic has been surpassed!!






Also shown last night was another donation quilt which will be given to Family Enrichment and Counselling to be raffled. I sure hope Tracey brings in some tickets for us to purchase!

The Bali Pop was donated by Sue R, the top was pieced by Lois M and the quilting was done by Jean K. The block design is Half  Log Cabin.

What a beauty! Well done, ladies!

Slab Blocks for Canada's Big Quilt Bee

Layout of 12 blocks for a small quilt

A small group gathered a week ago to make slab blocks which will be assembled into tops for CQA's project of supplying 1000 quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada. (See the previous post here to read about the project.) We had a great day and accomplished a good amount of work. (Of course we enjoyed some yummy treats too...) A number of blocks were made and several tops were assembled that day, others will be assembled as more blocks come in. If you didn't have the chance to join us on Jan. 28, you can still take part. Jeanne Kaye has lots of Canada 150 fabrics, just give her a call to pick some up and make a slab block or two to contribute. They really are fun to do, and a great way to use up some  leftover strips or scraps. It's a win-win project! Don't miss out!

Here are a few of the blocks that were made.

And one more quilt laid out, ready for assembly...

                                                                  Layout of 20 blocks for a larger quilt

 

EDIT, June 6: 800 quilts have now been completed!!! It is expected that the other 200 will be completed during the Big Quilt Bee at Quilt Canada 2017.

Jan. 28th Workday

Further to the discussion at our meeting this week, here's an explanation of what is planned for the January 28th workday. Our primary purpose is to make slab blocks to be assembled into quilts as per the recent request from CQA/ACC (Canadian Quilters' Association.)

The blocks/tops will be sent off to CQA and some will be quilted at Canada's Big Quilt Bee during the annual conference, Quilt Canada, in Toronto in June. Any locally finished quilts will be collected in Moncton. All quilts will be donated to Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada,of which there are 14, with a total of 469 family rooms. These rooms are full all year and there are actually waiting lists for residency while children are treated in hospital. The goal is for 1000 quilts. So that's a brief explanation of the project. Now, back to our work day... 

What is a "slab block?" Cheryl Arkison of Calgary designed the slab block a few years back when the call went out across Canada for quilts for Alberta flood victims. Here's a photo of one of the 2013 flood quilts. 

Now the slab block is being used again for this special Canada 150 project. It is a "free form" block that measures 12.5", to finish at 12" square. As you can see, it is made from scraps of various sizes - squares, rectangles, strips, all of one colour family- sewn together to make a block large enough to be trimmed to 12.5". Whereas the quilt above has one piece of white in each block, for this project each block must contain at least one piece of Canada 150 fabric. Several fabric manufacturers have put out lines of special fabric for Canada 150: Discover Canada by JN Harper, Stonehenge OH CANADA by Northcott and Sesquicentennial fabric by Northcott,  Trend-Tex Fabrics With Glowing Hearts by Moda, and Cantik Batiks. Click on each collection name to see the fabrics. If you have any of these fabrics, please bring them with you to the workday on the 28th. Some will be provided as well. One of our local shops, The Christmas Crab Quiltery at 158 Brunswick St. carries the Oh Canada line by Northcott if you wish to purchase any. Obviously you will need to bring other fabrics for the blocks as well; bring a number of scraps or small pieces in one or several colour families. The blocks can be done as above with all pieces "straight and square" or if a little wonky is more your style, they can be done as these below:

You can read a further explanation, with diagrams, on how the blocks are made here, scroll down to the second and third pages. Or click here to watch a video. 

We hope you'll join us on Saturday Jan. 28th. We're going to have a fun day making slab blocks!! As well, Lee will demo EQ7 software, and if you wish to come and work on a project of your own, that's fine too!   :)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season and you feel rested and rejuvenated.  We're already halfway through January! Our first meeting of 2017 is just a few days away, hope we'll see YOU there!

A few days ago, an FQG member called me to discuss ideas re. a signature quilt. She has a niece getting married and the couple want a signature quilt at their wedding for all guests to sign. We discussed design ideas, the use of freezer paper to make signing easier, permanent ink pens, etc. Later after doing a little internet search for "signature quilts" I came across an article on permanent ink pens which has some good info and results of testing.  Click here to read it, you might find it useful.

If like me, you dislike the cold temperatures and shorter days of winter, perhaps a look at some quilts will warm you up. Click here to enjoy the warm tones of these "southwestern" quilts.

See you Tuesday night!