Potluck Reminder and 2014 Trend Tex Challenge

The days and weeks seem to be flying by and here we are just a few days from our final meeting, and the ever anticipated Potluck dinner! Please note the earlier start time for this May meeting - 6 p.m. Remember to bring your hot dishes hot and ready to serve and your cold dishes chilled. There is no time or space for reheating or refrigerating. If you are a new member and you are wondering what to bring - anything goes! There is always a nice variety of main dishes, salads, breads/rolls and desserts so don't worry- anything you contribute will be gratefully received and consumed! Each person also brings their own plate, cup and cutlery - this makes cleanup quick and easy. One last thing- we have one member with a significant nut allergy so if your dish contains nuts or nut oils, please label it.
This meeting will also see the unveiling of the Recycle Challenge, so remember to bring those pieces as well.

Lee sent me the following writeup on this year's Trend Tex Challenge this morning, and although I had included a link on a previous post, she had missed it so I thought others may have missed it also. So here it is again. The pieces in this Challenge are always interesting and varied so they are fun to view...
 
Every year the Canadian Quilters' Association puts out a call for entries to their major fundraiser, the Trend-Tex Challenge, which is sponsored by Trend-Tex Fabrics Inc.  The theme this year was "Modern
Ways" with five bright fabrics chosen to inspire people to create and donate their works for the silent auction held at Quilt Canada. This year's event is being held in St. Catharines, Ontario from June 11-14.

I love seeing how people's minds work and to see all the interpretations of the theme and how the fabric spoke to people - so interesting!  The requirement was that the quilted piece have a perimeter no larger than 120 inches and that all five fabrics must be visible on the front with three other fabrics allowed to be added.  There were 137 wonderful creations submitted by the deadline .  As we recently had a program on modern quilting, I thought people might enjoy grabbing a cup of their favourite beverage and browsing these works at
http://www.canadianquilter.com/photo-gallery/trend-tex-quilters-challenge.php?year=2014

Enjoy!  Lee

Quilt BC 2013 Winners

Each year the Canadian Quilters' Association hosts a national conference and this year's was in Penticton B.C. Quite a distance for our local quilters to travel, so if we cannot attend, it's nice that we can at least enjoy photos from some of the Shows.
Click here to see the 2013 winners from the National Juried Show. You can click on each image for a closer look. This show features "the best of the best" in Canada. A jury panel selects the NJS entries from a large number of submissions so just to be accepted into the Show is quite an honour! There are a number of categories ranging from traditional to contemporary, and most entries must be original. There is one category which accepts quilts from patterns or books, these are judged on workmanship only, and are not eligible for Best Of Show Awards.
Click here to see the 2013 Trend Tex Challenge entries and winners. Each year Trend Tex Fabrics donates the fabrics for this challenge. Five of their fabrics are selected, and a theme is chosen; the theme this year was "Sunshine and Vines". Participants purchase a kit of the five fabrics (5 fat quarters) - every one gets the same five. (Of course you can use both sides of the fabric, so I suppose you could say you have 10....)  Two additional fabrics can be added if you choose. The idea is for each participant to make a quilted piece on their interpretation of the theme and donate it back to CQA/ACC. The  quilts are sold by auction at the conference and the money raised helps support CQA/ACC. It's always inspiring to see how different all the pieces are. Some quilters are so creative!! I'm sure you'll enjoy looking over this year's entries and winners.
If I come across any photos from other shows at the conference, I will add links here.

Trend Tex Challenge Winners!

This year's CQA conference, Quilt Ontario, in London, is now over. One of the most interesting shows during each conference is the Trend Tex Challenge. Four of this year's winners are Maritimers! Wow!! Kim Larracy of Moncton won an Honourable Mention, as did Karen Neary of Amherst whose quilt you see pictured above. Kate Madeloso won second place and Carolyn Hudson won a Judge's Choice, both also from Nova Scotia. You can view all the Trend Tex Challenge quilts and the winners by clicking here.
London is known as "Forest City" and the theme for the Challenge was "Quilting in the Forest".

Trend-Tex Challenge 2010

Many of the quilts submitted for this year's Trend-Tex Challenge have just been posted on the CQA website. You can view them by clicking here. If you click on the first quilt, you can view a larger image; then if you hover your cursor over the top right hand corner of the photo, you 'll be able to click on "Next" and view the entire collection.
If you are not familiar with this Challenge, this is how it works: Each summer/fall, the Vice President of CQA/ACC visits Trend-Tex Fabrics and chooses five fabrics for the Challenge and chooses the Theme. These fabrics are then cut into fat quarters and made up into kits. The kit can be purchased for $20.00. Each entrant is encouraged to use the 5 fabrics to make a piece on the chosen theme and return it to CQA. All five fabrics must be visible on the front of the quilt. (Up to 3 additional fabrics may be added). The pieces are displayed in a Show at the annual Conference and they are auctioned off (most by Silent Auction) as a fundraiser. The pieces that are returned by the deadline are judged, and prizes are announced and awarded at the Conference. Besides 1st, 2nd and 3rd, there is also the Trend Tex Award for best use of fabric (to be eligible for this award, only the 5 provided fabrics may be used on the front of the quilt.) The Trend Tex Award winner is not auctioned, but given to Trend Tex Fabrics as a thank you for their generous donation of the fabric. Honourable Mentions and Judge's Choice awards may also be given and a Viewer's Choice Award is announced at the Closing Banquet.
This year's theme was "The Sky's the Limit". I hope you enjoy viewing this amazing collection of wallquilts.