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!

The Twilight Quilters’ Guild has chosen four organizations in our community for which our talented and generous members may create and donate beautiful quilts on behalf of the Guild.

Indwell Dogwood Suites – Twin Bed Quilts. These quilts make living at Indwell a little more home-like. Coordinator: Diane L.

Long-term Care Homes—Wheelchair Lap Quilts provide residents with extra warmth over their knees. Coordinator: Heather D.

Ontario Provincial Police —Throw Quilts. These quilts are given to Norfolk children and adults experiencing trauma. They provide comfort in a time of emotional or physical need. Coordinator: Kathi C.

Mexico – Baby Quilts are taken and given to pregnant teens in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Coordinator: Marguerite J.

Quilts for donation will be gathered at the October and April Retreats or at other times of the year as required. As noted above, four guild members have agreed to coordinate the collection and distribution. If you have a question or wish to donate quilts at another time, please contact the relevant Coordinator or email TwilightSimcoe@gmail.com

For more information on the sizes needed, please check the “Donation Quilt” tab at the top of our website!

We have Twilight Quilters’s Guild labels for our quilt. Feel free to add another label with your name as maker!

We will get the unique perspective of how being a shop owner has helped her to encourage and enable quilters in their search for creativity. www.materialobsession.com.au

Monday June 10 at 7pm Eastern time, via zoom. Guest fees are $10 CAD. For more information please see our Fees page.

If you ever used one of Creative Grids 60° diamond rulers, you’ve been touched by Krista Moser. Krista designed that ruler, and she’s also designed and published more than 30 quilt patterns in the past 8 years. Join us on Monday May 13, when Krista will share her love of symmetry and clean lines with bold colours, as she presents her trunk show and lecture “Diamonds are a Quilter’s Best Friend”. If you’d like a little teaser, head on over to Krista’s website. http://www.kristamoser.com

Monday, May 13 at 7pm Eastern time over zoom.

Join us over zoom on Monday April 8 @ 7pm Eastern. Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page. You might even want to join our guild for $20 for the last 3 meetings of the year!

Our last note from Anita Z, our Star Hollow QAL leader! Thanks, Anita for inspiring us with this fun quilt!

“I hope that all who have joined the QAL have spent some enjoyable time revisiting their stash/hoard/collection, and have been able to “use what you have” to create something wonderful. I hope this project has enabled us to dip our toes into some very gentle improv with the free placement of the star triangles. And I hope that these stars have gotten us through a very gloomy winter.

Please consider sharing your quilts (tops or finished) with our Guild at twilightsimcoe@gmail.com And bring them for our Show and Tell at the April retreat!

Great news if you want to delve more into Jolene Klassen’s inimitable style. She has just self-published her first book, “A Year of Quilts.” Each page (144 of them) is a visual treat (she also journals and scrapbooks, which is evident). The fonts and saturation of black ink are perfect for anyone with visual issues. Included are nine patterns and loads of inspiration – close-up photos and insights into how she chooses fabric. Reading Jolene’s book was like meeting up with a good quilting friend over a cup of coffee in the kitchen. And extra special to connect with a Canadian quilter from Alberta.

You can order “A Year of Quilts” here. When ordering, please note that this is a print-to-order system – your book is only printed after your order is received (you do have 3 hours in which to cancel or change). Ensure you’re on the CAD page – flag in the upper right corner. My total came to $63.83 (which included shipping and tax).

Added March 7, 2024: A Year of Quilts is now available on Amazon Canada. Here is the link!

Thanks to Jolene for inspiring our winter quilts! You can follow her on Instagram: @blueelephantstitches or read her blog at: https://blueelephantstitches.com/

Today’s quilter has so many helpful tools, gadgets, and notions to choose from. Have you ever wondered which ones are worth buying? Rose Parr has done the research and will demonstrate the pros and cons of a variety of tools to help make your sewing as ergonomic and pain-free as possible. Rose will take the guesswork out of the decision-making and save us from making useless purchases. If you ever wanted to explore a specific tool or learn how to use the one you have, this is your chance! Monday *March 11* @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page. You might even want to join our guild for $20 for the remainder of the guild year (through June)!

The Star Hollow Quilt by Jolene Klassen of Blue Elephant Stitches is our informal winter quilt along, spearheaded by Anita Z. Here are Anita’s notes for February!

“Have you found some forgotten treasures while digging through your fabric collection? From the photos I’ve seen, it looks like most of you are making beautiful Star Hollow blocks without buying a thing! Don’t forget to share your photos with TwilightSimcoe@gmail.com for our meeting Show and Tell.

The late Gwen Marston showed us how to make these improv stars (and more!) in her 1996 book “Liberated Quiltmaking” and “Liberated Quiltmaking II” in 2010. As a starting point, she suggested cutting the base squares 3”. Then cutting the star point triangles from 3.5” – 4” squares. Working with oversized triangles provides flexibility in placement, and you are able to vary the star points in both angle and size.

Both books are no longer in print but are available on used book sites. However, American Quilter’s Society still offers Gwen’s on-demand Liberated Quiltmaking class. Almost 3 hours of video instruction for less than $50CAN.

I’ve also started a second version of Star Hollow, using setting #3 from the instructions – because I couldn’t resist the pull of my small bits of remaining 30’s fabrics. My 9 Patches are in the classic “mishmash” setting. But you could be more organized and use a traditional 4- or 5-placement position of matching fabrics in the 9 Patch that will give you a crisscross pattern throughout.

My size for this quilt was again determined by the amount of yellow background I had available. But you could also use various fabrics in one colour for a more scrappy background for your stars.

I hope you enjoy building these quilts – it’s like cooking with leftovers! And as encouragement, all completed flimsies and quilts shown at our March meeting will be entered into a draw for a $100 gift certificate for longarm services. Keep sewing!

Anita“

Is the actual quilting of your quilts, even the small ones, the part of the process you enjoy least? During the pandemic, Johanna Masko came up with a method that she says “revolutionized the way I quilted my quilts “. It’s not Quilt-As-You-Go! How does she do it? Find out at our February 12th meeting. Johanna will help you get your quilts- ALL the quilts- finished! Save money and time by using her practical modular quilting techniques to complete even very large quilts, on your own, at home.

Monday February 12 @ 7pm Eastern via zoom. Guests are welcome. Please see the guest section of our fees page. You might even want to join our guild for $20 for the remainder of the guild year (through June)!

And if you’d like to get the inside scoop on Johanna’s activities you can go to her website and sign up for her newsletter, and keep up to date on the new workshops and courses she has planned for 2024.