Local Courthouse Colourplay Workshop

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild invites non-members to join us for my Courthouse Colourplay class on Sunday, April 28th at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver from 10 am to 5 pm. All of the info is here. The price for non-members is $80.

Explore the possibilities of colour expression and free-cutting without rulers while you create this wonky, nested Courthouse Step quilt (reminiscent of paper lanterns) in your own personal colour story.

I made this wallhanging for the MQG miniquilt swap at QuiltCon2018

We’ll work intuitively from the center out, creating a dynamic quilt with loads of personality. There will be no squaring up with this one — instead I'll show you how to “build out”, finding the fit between adjacent blocks and using up all of your scraps in the process.

This one is a baby or small lap quilt with 25 blocks.

As in all of my workshops, I'll share loads of tips while encouraging all students to find confidence in new techniques.  Put your patchwork and rotary cutting skills to work and explore improvisational design and piecing in a fun, supportive environment!  The supply list includes ideas, resources and tips for selecting your colours. Make a wall-hanging with F8's or a lap quilt with FQ's or 12" WOF cuts.  A layer cake of solids or tone on tones like grunge could even work with some prudent cutting ; ) 

This one, Emerald Court, has 16 blocks with slightly wider strips. It's about 40" square. It's made entirely of Northcott solids that I loved working with! No fraying and a lovely hand.  I'm currently hand-quilting it with Aurifil 12 wt and Aurifloss. 

To register, please email workshops@vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca 

VMQG Modern Quilt Showcase COMING SOON!

A Chat with Pat (the Where's Poppyprint? edition)

Earlier this week I had another opportunity to chat with the one and only Pat Sloan on her weekly podcast. This is the third time that I've been a guest on Pat's show. She is such a supportive force in the quilting industry, always interested in what everyone is doing and sharing, sharing, sharing. I love that!

 2018 is whizzing by and I've hardly been home to tell you about it. You've likely noticed that I've seriously lost my blogging rhythm. I'm not sure I'll get it back anytime soon as it really takes discipline and hours of time at the computer (which are rare for me these days). If you want to hear a bit about what I've been doing in the first 4 months of the year as well as some upcoming excitement, tune in and listen to the my interview with Pat here.

A quick calculation tells me that I've been out of town 50 days since the first of the year.  This actually suits me just fine because I love to travel, do fun stuff and meet nice people. There was a once in a lifetime back country ski trip in the deep, deep bottomless powder of western Japan followed by a day at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival:

That's me! You can't see it, but there's a massive grin on my face, like this one (below)

If you listen to the podcast, this is what I was talking about! Elbows out!

After Japan, I flew down to Pasadena for QuiltCon, which was busy, fun and exciting. I didn't take any workshops this time as I delayed registration for too long and missed out, but I caught some great lectures, thoroughly enjoyed the show, volunteered 1 day, visited the Getty, the Arboretum and caught up with an old high school friend and many quilting buddies.

Having fun with Lorena Uriarte (as usual)!

All in all, I've taught 14 workshops and delivered 5 trunk shows in various places including Vancouver Island, North Vancouver, Edmonton and 5 locations in Scotland and England.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have these experiences and I don't take any of these opportunities for granted, but I do kind of miss my sewing machine (and my own bed...ok, and my husband) at times.

Somewhere in all of that, I was able to actually TAKE a workshop! I love spending the day with my guild-mates and trying new things. I made this quilt that I call Sakura Towers with teacher Barb Mortell in her "Door Jam" workshop.

Next up, a break from teaching and focus on volunteer activities for my 3 guilds. First, the Canadian Quilters Association is holding the National Juried Show right here in Vancouver (my quilt Pop Stars, pictured above in Pat's advert, is a finalist in the Modern category) on May 31 - June 2 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The following weekend (June 8-9), my  Lions Gate Quilter's Guild will present our bi-annual show at Capilano University Sportsplex. I just love this show because the talent in my guild is off the charts (traditional, contemporary, art and modern quilting style will all be very well-represented!). Plus, I coordinate our member's boutique, which is always beautifully stocked with fabulous handmade quilts and sewn items for sale.  Then finally at the end of summer, I'm coordinating the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's second Modern Quilt Showcase, again featuring modern quilts in an industrial setting of a restored shipbuilding warehouse on the harbour in North Vancouver. Phew!  I'm starting to think it's time to take a little step back from all of this volunteering, but I do really enjoy being involved, especially when it involves sharing quilts with the public.

Click on any of the links in the above paragraph for more show information! I hope to see you at one or all 3 of the shows.

Modern Quilts: THE BOOK!

First things first: Happy New Year!

Although my copy is still in transit and I haven't actually seen the ink on the page, I am very excited to finally share with you that one of my quilts appears in this first (I say first, because I am hopeful that there will be more) hardcover volume documenting some of the best work of over 200 Modern Quilt Guild members.

Longtime modern quilt curator and MQG Director of Marketing & Programming Heather Grant, MQG founder and Executive Director Alissa Haight-Carleton and MQG Communication Manager Riane Menardi co-wrote this volume. I plan to keep it close at hand on my coffee table along with my treasured Gees Bend books so that I'm ready to show interested friends and visitors just what Modern Quilting is, what modern quilts look like and how some of my work fits in and some of it doesn't.

A regrettable lack of confidence kept me from submitting any of my quilts for consideration. Then one day I received an email from the MQG asking if they could include Chess on the Steps and I was absolutely thrilled to be involved. Creating this quilt as one of the first MQG "free pattern of the month" in 2014 really began my continued participation in the guild and the broader community outside of my local Vancouver MQG. The quilt went on to hang as part of an invitational exhibit at QuiltCon2015 and it appeared in that year's QuiltCon and Simply Moderne magazines.  After it was published, I received some wonderful teaching and trunk show invitations both at home and abroad and then the MQG asked me to design a beginner improv pattern for Simply Moderne magazine to accompany their ongoing monthly article on the modern aesthetic (resulting in my Variegated Threads quilt).  This quilt really has brought a lot of joy and excitement to my life!

What makes Chess on the Steps even more special to me, and I think a wonderful inclusion in Modern Quilts, is that it honours the traditions of quilting and a make-do style that I so respect, admire and ultimately, aspire to. The layout of a giant Courthouse Steps block was inspired by a vintage quilt I saw displayed in a museum exhibit  American Quilts: The Democratic Art in the fall of 2012. The original quilt (by an unknown maker) contrasted suiting wools in neutral tones with more colourful shirting and dressmaking fabrics. I thought about this quilt for many months and was delighted when a friend finally located a photo in Roderick Kiracofe's book Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000 shortly after I made my version.

Here they are side by side: contemporary inspiration and modern interpretation.

The more I considered it, the more I wanted to recreate the design using a limited colour palette of solids.  Eventually, I came to develop my Improv Under the Influence piecing technique for this quilt and many others that followed  (it became my most popular workshop over the past 3 years). I was incredibly fortunate that Oakshott Fabrics sponsored this quilt; it is made exclusively with their colourshott shot cottons. These fabrics give the quilt a luminescence that flat cottons just can't replicate. You can still purchase a kit to make your very own Chess on the Steps quilt from Oakshott Fabrics right here or purchase the pattern from my Craftsy shop here.

I cannot wait to savour this book and enjoy the work of many friends, acquaintances and quilters that I admire. There are many talented Canadians included in the book, which makes it extra sweet for me.

Thank you to the authors and the MQG (and of course my local VancouverMQG chapter) for the many opportunities made available to members to share our work with a growing audience through regular magazine articles in international publications, QuiltCon (the annual juried show), the annual QuiltCon traveling exhibit, member webinars and patterns, this gorgeous book and a new venture starting later in 2018: a traveling museum collection of quilts from Modern Quilts. Chess on the Steps will be a part of this traveling exhibit, having already made trips to Inuvik, Sweden, Alaska, Birmingham UK, Austin TX and an appearance in Canada's national juried show. It truly is the quilt that keeps on giving.....and getting around!

Chess on the Steps beside an igloo in Canada's arctic, near Inuvik, NWT.

It is my hope that the traveling exhibit will make it to some Canadian locations (I've suggested a few!) and if that happens I will definitely let you know.  Details of the tour locations will be posted at modernquilts.com as they become available, with the first exhibit opening April 1st, 2018 at the Dairy Barn Arts Center in Ohio. In the meantime, you can see many of the other quilts included in the book and read about their maker's stories on this extensive bloghop (details at this link).  Would you like to have this beautiful book in your quilting library or know someone who would? Purchase your own copy directly from the registered non-profit MQG right here where 100% of royalties will support guild programming and member services.

New Work for Workshops

This weekend I'll be teaching in Nanaimo, B.C. for the brand new Nanaimo Modern Quilt Guild ! On Saturday (Feb.25), we're going to have some fun with Speed Date with Improv and on Sunday (Feb.26) it'll be time to play with my Quarter Round block and create some fun secondary patterning. There are still a few spots available in both workshops if you are on Vancouver Island and fancy a day in Nanaimo hanging out with modern quilting enthusiasts learning new skills playing with colour, shape and pattern. Contact & workshop info is on their blog.

Here are my latest creations using the versatile Quarter Round block. In the green pillow, I really changed things up by substituting electric lime green and green for the 'background' strips and ombre grey in the main strips. It turned out a little different from the the digital drawing I initially posted here due to mixing up my greens during cutting.  You can see that half square triangles are used instead of a solid corner square and I rotated the blocks so each half square triangle is in the centre, creating a pinwheel. This gives the composition a concentric square effect with the green background strips meeting along the central vertical and horizontal seams.

I used up my strippy scraps to make an improv backing for this pillow and quilted both the front and back with parallel lime green lines using Aurifil 40 wt. thread.

I installed an invisible zip along one edge of the pillow. You can see that even though this was a 20 1/2" block sewn together with a 3/8" seam allowance, a 20" commercial pillow form isn't quite enough to puff out the entire pillow cover. Before gifting this, I'll stuff a handful of polyfil into each corner of the pillow.

And this is my attempt at an abstract rose. Yes, this is the same block! In my Round Peg, Square Hole pattern (link to my Craftsy shop at the top of my right sidebar), this is referred to as the "Basic ombre Block". In this 20" mini quilt, I constructed 4 identical blocks, however 2 have reversed ombre strips. In this one, you can see that the blocks are rotated so that each corner square of "background" white fabric is on an outside corner of the quilt top and all of the widest strips meet along the central vertical and horizontal seams.

I taught this workshop for the first time last weekend for my traditional guild and it is so fun to see how people work with colours and prints in this pattern. I can't wait to see some quilts come together!

Nerdy 9-Patch

Here's a quick little post about my The 9-Patch Equation quilt I made for an APQ-sponsored QuiltCon2017 challenge. The quilt wasn't selected for the show, but I had fun making it!

My idea was to piece the smallest 9-patch possible by machine (it finishes at 3/4", so each of the 9 patches is finished at 1/4"). That 9-patch would form the middle square of the next 9-patch, which would form the middle square of the next 9-patch and so on. When I have an idea, I like to just start making instead of obsessing over detailed sketches...and sometimes this approach leads me to the conclusion that a sketch and calculations might have actually helped in the beginning ; )

The 9-patches got pretty boring, pretty fast. Once the middle block reached about 8" square, the large fields of black and white just didn't serve the composition. I cut down the inner blocks to make them asymmetrical, so the final quilt is still nine 9-patches each with increasingly smaller 9-patch centres. There's math in here somewhere.

Straight-line quilted with Auriful 40wt. The backing is a large-scale Lotte Jansdotter print, binding is the perfect black and white + print from Cotton & Steel and I used white cotton blend batting.

The final dimensions of this little quilt are 34" x 42". As soon as I got the word that it wasn't going to be in the show, I put it up for sale for $300 on IG (still available!), thinking this would be the ultimate baby quilt to gift some Big Bang-loving, math-nerd new parents. Babies are very visually stimulated by the stark contrast of black and white! Do you know someone who'd love The 9-Patch Equation? Let me know!

In happy news, both my Round Peg, Square Hole and Ice Road quilts were juried into the show, so they will be winging their way to Savannah, GA in the new year. I won't be accompanying them due to so much other travel in 2017, but I am very excited to share these quilts with QuiltCon2017 show-goers and I thank the jury for the opportunity.

VMQG Modern Quilt Showcase - the inside story

Amazing.
Remarkable.
Stunning.
Well-hung (teehee, best quilt show compliment ever).
Totally modern.
Incredible.
Beautiful.

These are just some of the wonderful compliments we received at our recent quilt show. Not only was it the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's first show, it was also the first quilt show in the Lower Mainland (Vancouver area) totally devoted to modern quilts. We all feel very proud.  I've been involved as a volunteer for several traditional shows, but this was my first attempt at leading a show committee into unknown territory! The fact that this show came together in 5 months is nothing short of remarkable and a testament to our determined show committee and trusting guild members. Many lessons were learned and we are already excited about implementing ideas and suggestions to make our next show even better! Plus, we have 2 years to prepare for the next one. Phew!

Ellen, by Matthew Wheeler

Much of the KAPOW element of the visual impact of our show had to do with the incredible venue we secured: the historic Pipe Shop Building at the former North Vancouver Shipyards. That's partly why the show happened so quickly, the venue was only available one weekend in 2016 and at the time of booking, the fate of the building was unknown so the management could not allow bookings beyond 2016. The show committee felt it was too perfect to miss out, so we went for it!!  The industrial beams, heritage wooden posts and concrete floor were the perfect backdrop for our modern quilts to shine (in natural light!).

Top L-R: Mix Tape by Lysa Mair, MonoGlamatic Clams by Dianne Semark, Round and Round We Go by Terry Aske

Bottom L-R: Noon Window by Gigi Hamer, Spider's Web by Shannon MacLachlan

You can see that we chose a minimalist hanging layout using post and pipe (but no drape) in the centre of the space and tensioned wires with silver binder clips between the wooden posts.  We kept costs down by buying wire and hardware in bulk and having my husband and brother make the wire sections based on measurements we took in advance of the show. The majority of quilt backs were visible, much to the delight of visitors to the show. Having the quilts free in space with air and light all around them was gorgeous. Janet Archibald and Terry Aske did an incredible job planning the layout over many, many hours. They used colour photographs of all of the quilts to determine which ones would look best adjacent to each other considering size, colour and subject matter. This is a massive job that included mapping out the aisles and wires in the space for best traffic flow, labelling all of the quilts and creating a detailed map so that volunteers could hang the show.

L-R beginning with Holly Broadland's Rainbow Girl circle on white, Berene Campbell's Rainbow Mashup and  Delhi Dreams by Megan Hanna. 

On the far right is a bit of Andrea Bamberg's Rainbow Coin

Our entire show was something unique in the local quilt show scene, but I think something extra special was our Modern Mini Showcase Wall. The venue happened to have a free-standing white wall at one end that was the perfect surface to display a collection of mini quilts our members made for inclusion in a traditional show in the fall of 2015. Our idea was to create a gallery display for educational purposes - we'd asked members to make minis (less than 80" perimeter) using only solid fabrics, that demonstrated one or more of the MQG design aesthetics of modern quilting (for example: improvisational piecing, alternate grid construction, use of negative space). This vision was realised by the talented Dianne Semark, a guild member who is also a professional graphic designer. It was a revelation for many of our visitors!

Here I am hamming it up with someone you've read about from time to time here, my fabulous SIL, by my Quarter Round quilt.

In front of this wall, we set up two long tables covered in solid fabric scraps, card stock and glue sticks. We invited visitors to create their own modern mini "quilts" using those on the wall for inspiration. Volunteers helped out and this activity was an overwhelming success with children and adults alike. One unanticipated outcome was that several people left their creations behind - we taped them up to the beams and they became integral to the display over the weekend. Result!

Doesn't it look amazing? 

Here she is again, having fun with a friend at the activity table!

I'll just share a few more shots with you. If you're interested in seeing photos of all of the 138 quilts on display, check out the amazing photos by Sonja Callaghan in this flickr group

I'm rather partial to this little threesome. From L-R:  Selfie by Felicity Ronaghan, my Round Peg, Square Hole  and Fire and Water by Susan Chaffe (one of my favourite quilts made in the very first Temperature Check workshop I taught).

Here's a shot of one of the three fabulous Viewer's Choice ribbons made by guild member Berene Campbell, pinned on a winning quilt made by Paul Krampitz called 1001 Knights

That's my Light Of May quilt just in front of the 3 people and to the left of it is Janet Archibald's Shadow Box 

Not including all of the children under 12 who entered the show for free, we had 754 visitors. If we include all of the guild member volunteers and kids, there were definitely over 800 people who came over two days. We're thrilled, considering it is our first show and it took place on an August weekend. Our venue is not in the city, but it is located adjacent to a very convenient Seabus that travels between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver every 15 minutes. Many of our visitors actually made the effort to take public transit and travelled on the boat for the very first time. So cool.

There's so much more I could share, but I think I'll stop here. My life has been pretty saturated with quilt show stuff for the past few months (including the 33 hours I spent at the venue over the show weekend along with Terry, Janet and Felicity). It is time for me to move on and get back to sewing.

ETA: I've been asked about the quilts that appeared in the show and how we 'chose' them. Well, none of us on the committee were interested in jurying the work of our fellow members, nor was our show judged. We discussed the space and estimated how many quilts we could hang compared to the number of members we have (about 120). We decided to guarantee every member that their 1st choice quilt would have a place in our show and encouraged them to enter a quilt that they felt would best exemplify the modern aesthetic and help us introduce modern quilting to the community at large. In the end, we had enough space to hang all entrant's 1st and 2nd choice quilts! There wasn't enough room for all 3rd choice ones, so we stopped there. Quilts on the modern mini wall were "free" and not included in the choices for general display. The bottom line: we trusted our membership and our collective desire to put on a truly modern quilt show. Nailed it!

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of our show and some of the behind the scenes planning details!

VMQG Showcase This Weekend!

Please join us as we showcase the fabulous work of our members! Families welcome! This incredible renovated shipyard warehouse will be a gorgeous industrial backdrop for our work - this'll be a brand new quilt show like you've never seen in the Lower Mainland.

We'll have over 100 modern quilts on display from wall hanging to large bed-sized quilts. Some will be for sale (visa & mastercard accepted). In addition, learn about the modern design aesthetic at our Modern Mini Quilt Showcase wall and try your hand at designing  your own mini quilt composition. Volunteer guild members will be there to guide you.

We also have a gorgeous raffle quilt! Tickets are only $2/ea and 100% of proceeds will support Vancouver's Mom to Mom Poverty Iniative

ADMISSION ONLY $5, children < 12 free

On Saturday evening there is a free community concert adjacent to our venue along with many exciting food trucks to 10:00 p.m. It's going to be a party!

This event is wheelchair accessible with level building entries, standard doors and a ramp off the Lonsdale Ave. sidewalk. An accessible washroom with ramp access is located outside the venue, on the east side.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE

Sweden - The Northern Bit

Continuing on from this post.....

After the meeting and my workshops near Stockholm finished up, I was back to Arlanda airport on Monday morning where I met up with Louise in the departure lounge. We were both headed up to the town of Luleå where Stina (person responsible for this entire trip happening in the first place) was waiting to pick us up and drive us 50 km to her town of Piteå.  Stina had already warned me that we would be stopping for lunch at the world's ONLY "Palticeria". Good thing I had abandoned gluten free for this trip, because I was about to chow down on two giant dumplings of potato, wheat and barley flour, smothered in butter and lingonberry jam. I do like to try new things when I travel (however I draw the line at red meat because it makes me feel pretty awful, so I never eat it) and this was a dish I enjoyed, but wouldn't eat on a regular basis! Stina assured me that not many people do.

The typical Palt is a ball filled with ham/bacon. They specially made two veggie ones for me, but still served the ham on the side ; ) and yes, that yellow triangle is BUTTER!

I survived the Palt!

On the way to the cabin, Stina took us through the historic Öjebyn village adjacent to the oldest church in northern Sweden.  She explained that in the 1800's attendance at church was compulsory, so farming families would travel great distances weekly for services and stay in these small houses around the church. 

The low, afternoon winter sun made for some dramatic shadows. We are at the 65th northern parallel here.

Apparently it wasn't all faith and purity...Stina also showed us the 'secret' carvings in some of the shutters that indicated a house where someone might find some extra warm company for the evening. Nudge, nudge, wink,wink.  These days the houses are summer cottages for people and many will be decorated for winter celebrations.

Everything is rather crooked. The homes are all wood-frame construction and balanced on boulders to keep them up off the frozen ground.

A view into the church graveyard.

After a brief visit to Stina's beautiful home (where she has a gorgeous upstairs quilting studio!), we picked up a few things at the shop and headed out to the cabin that would be our home for the next four days, along with another friend Marica. I loved that they organized a mini-retreat just for my workshop!  The cabin is on the shores of the Pite Alve (the Pitea river), only 6 km from town. Through various conversations during my visit, it became obvious to me that Swedes are totally into cabin life - some families have a cabin for summer relaxing, another for winter skiing and a third for hunting!  The owners of this cabin bicycle to work in town during the summer months. How idyllic.  I seriously felt like I was living in an IKEA catalogue.

In front of the cabin sits this charming greenhouse, complete with dining table, heater and comfy reading chairs. Here you can see one of the 4 outbuildings also on the property - extra sleeping cabins  for guests and a sauna on the beach.

Lingonberries everywhere!

Here's the plank pathway from the sauna into the icy waters of the river. Across the river you can just make out a ski resort. At night we could see the lights of a windfarm on the hills there.

Our first dinner by candlelight - a delicious curry prepared by Stina,on the right. Marica and Louise sit on the left. The cabin is just for summer use, so there isn't much need for electric lighting (it is light 20 hours/day in the height of summer). I loved the candlelight we enjoyed each evening.

After our meal we exchanged gifts with one another because this was such a special, long-anticipated meeting. I was overwhelmed when the girls presented me with a QUILT! No one (except my mom) has ever made a quilt for me. It is so beautiful and I adore everything about it.

Look at this sweet quilt!! Marica, Louise and Stina hold the Plus Friends quilt that they made for me. Stina quilted the Pite Alve into the straight line quilting and added some extra special pieces of fabric, just for me. I have show and telled my quilt at all of my guilds and it hangs proudly in my home. I love it so much. 

These gals are all members of the Scandi-bee and had previously exchanged larger sized plus blocks. Stina put her quilt top together and brought it to share with us all:

The women who attended my class gifted me the unique braided pewter and caribou leather wrap bracelet. This is a traditional Sami handcraft from Lapland which you can read about here. The gorgeous bling bracelets are from Louise - they are made by the company "SNO of Sweden" that has a factory in Louise's town.

Stina had been very busy making projects from Make It, Take It (I gifted all of them with scissor keepers from the book, hoping that Stina hadn't already made them!!).  Here she is (below) modelling her new down parka and matching Ultimate Equipment Tote and large Patchwork Tote.  Stina is not shy about her favourite colour.  If you'd like to see the special thank you gift I made for Stina, you can read her post here.

I'll leave you with a couple more photos from the cabin. I've only got one last post to write, and that is about my workshops and the amazing quilts that were made! Almost there....

Hej dag!