Local Winner at Quilt Canada!

Charlie Yetman, 12-year-old daughter of Twilight Quilters’  Guild member Sarah Yetman, won first prize in the Youth Challenge at Quilt Canada in Edmonton this week! Congratulations Charlie! Enjoy your Janome Skyline S5 prize! 

In Sarah’s words:

Charlie started piecing when she was about 7 years old. She has managed to complete a few quilts over the years. However, I always longarmed them for her. When we were introduced to the idea of the youth challenge last year, we thought it was a perfect opportunity for Charlie to learn some new skills and carve out some time for her on my “Spooled Rotten” business longarm.   

Each year, a piece of fabric is supplied for this JN Harper Challenge, and this year, the theme was “Explore.” The child must do 90% of the work. They can include any textile in the project they wish. CQA wants them to unleash their creativity. It’s free to enter. You just email the youth coordinator to let them know you want a piece of the challenge fabric. The youth will need a CQA member to help them submit their quilt.

Charlie used the iPad app “Procreate” in both years to develop her original quilt design. Last year, she did raw edge applique and stitched it all down using the longarm. That was her first attempt at using the machine so she picked organic shapes for her quilting. She loved using the longarm!

Charlie had been taking crochet lessons for quite a while this year and wanted to incorporate this into her quilt. She added a few crochet animals and some trees, buying the patterns from Etsy. She chose to turn her edges, another new skill. She also did some hand embroidery and some ruler work on the longarm. 

This year, there were 28 entrants in Charlie’s 10-14 age category, and the results from the children were amazing! If you know a child who would be interested, Quilt Canada is in Mississauga next year. They could see their quilt in the show! (You can check out all the entries here!)

Here is a link to Sarah’s Instagram post showing Charlie’s process. It goes quickly, but you can always stop an Instagram video by holding your finger or pointer on the centre of the screen. 

Great job Charlie! Maybe you can teach us how to use Procreate!