Heritage Park Festival of Quilts - Quilter of Distinction

Whoa boy!

This is a big honour here in Calgary. The Festival of Quilts is THE quilt show in town. Quilts take over the historical village, with displays on buildings, fence, in the trees, in the homes and buildings of the park. There are workshops (I taught last year) and dinners and a vendor mall. There is also a special Quilter of Distinction exhibit profiling a local quilter. Guess who gets her own show in the Opera Hall this year?

Seeing as I’ve been quilting for exactly half my life this doesn’t make me feel old at all…

Now I have the hard task of determining what quilts to share. What quilts represent me? What quilts tell my story?

For years I’ve said that I don’t really have a style. At least, I don’t think so. My willingness to experiment and play means that I am open to trying a lot of things. Clearly, improv plays a huge role, but I’m not a one trick pony. I like handwork too. While my first love is prints I do embrace solids more now. And I’ve never met a half square triangle I didn’t like. Just how many quilts will they let me cram into the Opera House?

This is a huge honour for me. I’ve been going to this quilt show for 18 years myself and long admired many of the quilters I’ve seen get this distinction. Yes, it makes me feel old. And does it mean I don’t have more work to share? There has to be a joke about getting a lifetime achievement award while you are still living and working.

Meh, at the end of the day I’m just going to keep making quilts. It’s what makes me happy. Thanks for noticing.

January Morning Make 2022

We’re coming up on 2 years at home. Everyone is tired, frustrated, and annoyed. Some lash out, some quietly move on. Most of us are just living our lives as best we can. I fall into the latter category and chose to use my Morning Make this past month as a moment of reflection.

Quilting as a professional author, speaker, and teacher has taken me to some pretty amazing places over the past decade. I’ve travelled all over Canada, hit a handful of US cities, and even went across the ocean to Australia. I really do hope to add travelling for quilting back on my schedule again down the line. This reflective process does have me truly appreciating even more that quilting has given me. That’s because it’s given me all the people in the places, the creativity and laughter in the room, the morning walks before the work begins, and the ability to share my love of play and fabric with so many.

The project actually began years ago. One day my oldest and I were talking about the places I’ve been and we decided to make a list. It was like the twenties version of former lovers, but this place name list is MUCH bigger. I kept adding to it too. Every now and then I would make one of the places on the list. Then, when I started teaching online during the pandemic I would pick one of these places when I was demonstrating techniques for my Make Words Not War class. Every time it was a moment of reflection and appreciation. Needing to extend those thoughts and feelings I decided to make these place names the focus for January Morning Make.

I won’t lie, I’d hoped to finish all of them. I can only get up so early and these days that isn’t very early at all. But I did get through 18 of the place names on the list. Only 11 more to go.

Frankly, I have no idea how or when this will come together. I do know it will be a massive quilt! Maybe I will make it double sided? All I do know is that it’s been fantastic to take daily trips back to these places. I’m recalling people or the weather or even specific projects from events. I’m in awe of the depth of this travel. For quilting? Yes, for quilting!

The Big Blue Blanket

While Improv may be my Love Language I have a kid who is all about physical touch. That means she loves anything soft and cozy. Fleece, yarn, or anything fuzzy. Sadly, quilts don’t make the grade. Despite having 2 giant robes, an Oodie, and two faux fur blankets she felt the need to make herself the blanket above.

With nine skeins of super thick acrylic yarn from the big box craft store and this short You Tube video she made herself a blanket in an afternoon. She loves it so.

This blanket would make an excellent gift, and she has done that for a friend. I strongly recommend finding all the coupons when buying the yarn though, the cost can add up.

This blanket provides an excellent amount of coziness. And it is a hug, truly. She is curled up with it currently as she deals with Covid and the subsequent quarantine this week. She’s double vaxxed and only experiencing symptoms like a bad cold, thankfully. We should all take comfort in anything we can these days. So if a big blanket of synthetic but soft yarn is the thing you need, then so be it. It also helps that Mama is delivering you treats on a tray every few hours.

Quilters' Playcation Adventure Sewalong 2022

The joys of insomnia. Seriously. When the brain won’t shut off at night I find it better to just get out of bed and let the thoughts out before I try to tuck myself back in. So there I was, one night over the holiday break with visions of quilt blocks swirling in my head. (Who even knows what sugarplums are anyway?) I got up, sketched them out, and developed the idea that was keeping me awake. Add a mug of warm, honeyed milk and I was able to return to bed with my creative burst satiated.

That’s how the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong for 2022 began.

Each week in 2022 I am going to offer you a free block tutorial via a live event on Instagram. That's right. Me, live on Instagram, demoing a unique improv block, 52 times this year. Tune in each Tuesday at 10 am Mountain, or watch the replay when it works for you. Sew right along with me or just watch and hang out.

This qualifies as an improv adventure in my books because I have no clue what it is all going to end up like! Sure, I've sketched out a couple of dozen blocks, but there is no specific plan for a quilt here. We're just going to sew and sew and sew and see what we come up with. You can make all the blocks, some, none, or even your favourite one over and over again. Then, in January 2023 we will get together and put them all together. Each quilt will be unique. Each quilt will be awesome. Each quilt will be full of fun.

I am actually making each block twice. Once in a group of solids, once in prints. I wanted to be able to share the possibilities of fabric changing and supporting the design. Not to mention, encourage everyone to play with their fabric choices too. This way I can make one block to build the tutorial then make another live to show how it comes together.

This middle of the night idea is taking off. Using the hashtags #qpadventuresewalong and #quiltersplaycation people are sharing their blocks. So much fabric play and twists on the designs. The excitement is there and it thrills me that is getting people to play. Think of me as the guide on this adventure, but you are going to make it work for you in the way that gets you going.