A Journey to India

At our January meeting we were whisked away on a magical journey to India. Well... not quite, but almost! Jean S shared with us some tales of her journies to India and best of all, showed us many of the wonderful silks and other fabrics she has purchased there. She kindly passed many of them around, allowing us all to indulge our "quilter's desire" to fondle and pat, and enjoy the luxurious textures. She also showed her sari and explained how it is wrapped and worn.

Besides fabrics, Jean has also collected numerous pieces of Indian embroidery and needlework.
Of course different regions of the country have different styles and patterns. In the north, in Rajastan they are famous for their mirror work and Jean told us just about everything is decorated with shisha mirrors stitched into patterns.



























 Beading and sequins are an art form and are used in many ways, on beautiful ornaments, clothes,
wall hangings and of course saris.

























 Block printing seems to be popular in northern Maharashtra where Jean visited this time.  The art of block printing is quite labor intensive with colors printed over each other and some beautiful saris have individual block printing  and are one of a kind.








Wedding Saris are usually in red and gold and have 5,000 threads running across the width of the fabric which is 5 meters long.  Kamchapuram silks in Tamil Nadu are the finest and people travel from miles to buy there; this is where Jean's sari is from.

It's always exciting to see fabrics and needlework from another part of the world. Thank you Jean, for this inspiring textile journey to India. It was a very special evening and we will be anxious to see what you create with these beautiful fabrics.

By the way, if you haven't been in to Government House yet to see the wonderful display of hooked rugs by the Fredericton Heritage Rug Hooking Guild, you only have a few days left! The display finishes this Friday, Feb. 1 at 4p.m. Better hurry! You'll be sorry if you miss it.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! Our January meeting is only a few days away now - January 15th. It's a little early this month. I hope we will see you there. Have you been sewing lately? Now that winter is really here with its cold days and colder nights, I bet many of us are "hibernating" in our sewing areas... Bring along your Show and Tell to share with us. Don't forget to measure the perimeter of each piece for the Stitch Across Canada Challenge.
Speaking of challenges, have you started your Guild Challenge yet? Remember we've all been challenged to do something that's "out of the box" - in other words, out of our comfort zone... I have mine planned, but not yet started...
Many quilters start the New Year off with a tidying/sorting/cleaning of their sewing area. I came across a really interesting blog post the other day and thought you might like to see it too. It's from the Blog Sew Many Ways... She has a very well organized sewing and crafting room and I bet you will find more than a few ideas here you would like to try... Click here to read her blog post.  There are lots of photos and many great ideas! I bet you'll try at least one ...
See you Tuesday the 15th.

Christmas Meeting - 2012

Many thanks to our executive committee for organizing our Christmas Social.  We had special guests, heard stories of Christmas Past by two Lifetime Members, Joan W. and Helen S.  And our in-coming Coordinator told of unusual things from their family Christmases after moving to New Brunswick.

Marjorie Belzile, Director of Nursing from the White Rapids Manor
in Fredericton Junction  came to attend our Christmas Social.
She was so pleased to accept the beautiful bibs and placemats
made by our members for the use of the residents in the home.  

Marjorie told us how touched she was that we thought of her nursing home, when there were so many more local nursing homes. She told us how the residents, some quite young at heart, would love the patterns and whimsical fabrics.
She was so thankful and wished us all a very Merry Christmas

Each of the tables had delicious sweets with refreshments.  

Helen shared stories from her Christmas's past.
The memory of an unexpected gift from a neighbour friend,
will always have a special place in her heart.

Joan told us stories of hard times during the depression.
It wasn't only her family, all families made do with very little.
But they were all happy and small parcels from family from away always brought cheer.
But she remembers the warmth of her schoolroom during the holidays.
She loved that the teacher helped them make vegetable soup on the stove, while
the boys made sure to get wood to keep the stove going.  That was a very special treat.

Gail talked about their Christmases  in various parts of Canada and in England.
All very different but nice.  She also recalls putting bikes together and one year
shortly after moving to Fredericton, the weather was  unusually very warm on Christmas Eve.
After assembling bikes for the kids, she and her husband rode them home from a friend's house.
They love to recall the quirky things that surround their holidays.

And to top off our evening, we had a Christmas musical recital by a local ukelele orchestra.  

They invited us to sing along as they strummed and plucked out beautiful and fun Christmas songs.

                                                           Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas Social tonight!

Tonight is our Christmas Social! Just a reminder of the new location - remember it will be held at the Stepping Stones Centre on Saunders Street, across from the old YMCA. Start time is 6:30p.m. Although there is sufficient  parking, please consider car-pooling. Don't forget your Christmas projects to show us during Show and Tell and remember to add up your perimeter inches for the Quilt Across Canada Challenge. Also please bring along the Christmas  placemats you have made for Meals on Wheels.  Join in the fun tonight and enjoy some Christmas music, treats and fellowship with your FQG friends.

Fall Activities

Lois MacDonald and Postage Stamp quilt

How can it be the end of November already? The months are flying by! Back in October, a number of members had a tour of the Collections Centre at Kings Landing Historical Settlement. After Lois MacDonald spoke to us last spring and shared a number of quilts from their collection (you can read about that here), there was a good deal of interest in seeing more! So on a beautiful fall day in late October we ventured upriver for a two hour tour. I think for most of us it certainly exceeded our expectations. Not only did we see the quilts, table linens, coverlets, hooked mats and other textiles, we also viewed stitched samplers and other needlework, original clothing from the 1800's, furniture and household artifacts, dishes, glassware, and more. We learned how the quilts and other household linens are stored for the winter once they are removed from the "village" onsite. The freezing process was explained to us and we viewed the huge freezer that is used to get rid of any insects or larvae that might be in the textiles after the summer onsite. Many of us were amazed at the intricate documentation system used for every single

Donna examining the hand quilting

artifact in the Collections Centre. Kings Landing is very fortunate to have such knowledgeable experienced staff in their Collections Centre, as Lois MacDonald, Evelyn Fidler and Rhona Hoyt. Our thanks to them for a most enjoyable morning. Below are a number of photos from that visit.

Look at the fine hand quilting!

Beautiful!!

Red and white quilts- an old NB tradition

Quilts are rolled and tied for crease-free storage

More quilts!

An old Crazy Quilt- look at that hand done Feather stitch

Woven  coverlets

Postage Stamp quilts- all stitched by hand

Who doesn't love a Log Cabin quilt?

An old Signature quilt

Our Nov. workshop on Machine Quilting with Gail Mitchell is now past as well. I hear it was a great success. If anyone has photos from that day, I'd be happy to post them.

Next up is our Christmas Social. Remember it's Tues. Dec. 4th at 6:30pm, at the Stepping Stones Centre on Saunders St. Come and enjoy some Christmas music, treats, fellowship and don't forget to bring your Show and Tell items. Also we'll be collecting the Christmas placemats for Meals on Wheels. Come and join the fun!

Quilt For Sale

Several of our FQG members are involved with the local chapter of Grandmothers Helping Grandmothers. This group raises funds, builds awareness and fosters solidarity with destitute African grandmothers struggling to care for millions of grandchildren orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The Fredericton group has already contributed considerable funds through a variety of initiatives including the sale of cookbooks and notepaper, bridge luncheons, garage sales, dinners, our annual Christmas wreath sales, and more. Profits are directed equally to: Stephen Lewis Foundation [SLF] and Help Lesotho, two Canadian organizations working at the grassroots level in sub‐Saharan Africa.
A current fundraiser is the sale of this double sized quilt. Measuring 71" by 87", it features hand appliquéd blocks and was professionally quilted by Gwenda Mattinson of Gwenda Quilts.   The asking price is $600.00. If you know of anyone who is looking for a beautiful quilt, please pass this information on. If you would like more info, or to speak with someone in the group about purchasing this quilt, leave a comment here and I will put you in touch with the proper person.  It would make a very special gift for a special person in your life...

Off to a Great Start!

We are off to a great start for another exciting year at FQG! Welcome to our new members, we hope you will get involved in some way- attend a workshop or workday, offer to help on a committee, use our library, bring items for Show and Tell. Getting involved is the easiest and quickest way to get to know fellow members! We look forward to getting to know YOU!

 Our first two meeting programs have been wonderful- who doesn't love a Trunk Show? In September we saw quilts from four generations in one family of quilters. Alice and daughter Joyce shared their own quilts as well as Alice's mother's and Joyce's daughter's. We were amazed at their collection, as well as the memories and details of these works. All four are  ribbon winners - looks like it must run in their veins! Thank you Alice and Joyce! Here are a few more photos of the wonderful quilts they shared with us...

 

 

 

 In October, Juliet Nowlan of Quispamsis brought us a Trunk Show of her original wall quilts. Juliet is  well known in these parts; she is a ribbon winner many times over, and has had pieces juried into CQA's National Juried Show four times. Juliet loves trying new techniques and "came to quilting" after being a rug-hooker. She enjoys working with color and particularly loves hand dyeing. A world traveller, her pieces usually are designed from a photo she has taken, often on one of her trips. We  were delighted to see so many of her original quilts. Thank you Juliet, your visit was inspiring!