Ruth McDowell Workshop

I have just returned from Kalispell, Montana, where I took a week-long workshop with Ruth McDowell. This was my second workshop with her, and even more enjoyable than the first. Perhaps because I had a little more confidence going in to it. Ruth is such a generous and relaxed teacher, spending lots of time circulating around the classroom, and seeming to have unending patience in demonstrating the finer points of line drawings and section definition - the preparation that takes place before the quilts are pieced. We all started with a photo of our subject matter - everything from flowers to old family
photographs to landscapes. We began by making a tracing of the photograph, and then simplified this into lines and sections. Once that was completed - no quick and easy thing to do - we moved on to making fabric selections. While one person had her quilt top together by the end of the five days, most of us were still choosing fabrics, and some decided to do a second line drawing, rather than start sewing in the workshop. One thing I've learned about myself, is that I am a piecer. While I have dabbled in and quite enjoy many other methods of construction, it is piecing that I find most deeply satisfying. My goal in taking the workshop again, was to see if I enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first time (I did!), and then to commit myself to working in this method as much as possible over the next year. At the end of this time, I will evaluate how much I want to use Ruth's method in my ongoing work. I am so admiring of the flowers represented by people like Linda, the whimsical quilts, like Bonnie's Volkswagons, and the family photos interpreted in fabric, like Becky's piece. But the real draw for me is to landscapes,
particularly west coast landscapes. For now, I'll finish up the Yorkshire scene I worked on this time, and see where it leads me.

Whistler Quilt Show

Last weekend I put on my vendor's hat, and headed up the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler for their quilt show. It was terrific to see so many people I had met teaching at other spots along the coast, and even to see old friends from spots in the interior of BC. So much so that I've decided Kitambaa won't give up on doing show altogether, but choose two or three shows a year to attend, just to let everyone know that we're still alive and well, with new African fabrics coming all the time. Of course it was also fun to see the quilts on display. The first one - Over by the Pond, made by Rhonda Harvey - won the ribbon for Viewer's Choice. It really was marvellous.
Next is a quilt that is part of a travelling exhibit of quilts made by the Fabricators - a group of art quilters from the Okanagan. I felt drawn in and down the path by the view captured in Pacific Vista, made by Evelyn Schmaltz. Sabrina Perfitt is the quilter who made the next quilt - Random Squares - to give to good friends of hers. I like the simplicity of it, and its controlled randomness. Paula Bohan's 1930's Scrap Zigzag was also very pleasing. I couldn't help but wonder what it would look like made up with African fabrics. And then there was this amazing hooked Hit and Miss rug, made by Nairn Stewart, as part of a display of other handwork done in Whistler. I haven't space to show everything, but I was thrilled to see the Africa-inspired corner of the show, and an amazing display of antique quilts too. All in all a most enjoyable weekend. And now I'm packing up for a workshop with Ruth McDowell in Kalispell, Montana. I am so thrilled that I'm able to take another class with her, as I've admired a work for a very long time. And at heart, I'm a piecer, so her construction process fits very well with my preferred way of working. But can I learn the design process well enough to use it in my own work? That will be the challenge.

More Quilts from Czar

There were so many great quilts underway by the time I left Czar, that I thought you'd enjoy seeing a few more. All designing happens on the floor in Czar, so first there's Laura showing us her "work in progress". Then there are quilts from four other members, the last of whom is Dianne. She just sent me a photo of her completed quilt top, and I think it's just terrific. The one before that is Anita's. The other two? I'm hoping that the two of you will remind me of your names. I am utterly hopeless at remembering the names of everyone in any given class, although as soon as I see the fabrics, I can see your face and imagine exactly where you were sitting. This must say something about my priorities!

African Collage in Czar, Alberta

I have just returned home from a wonderful teaching trip to Czar, Alberta. Where is this you ask? Well, it's 2 1/2 hours drive southeast of Edmonton - a town of 200 with a Quilters' Guild that draws members from all sorts of nearby rural communities. This 75-member Guild was celebrating their 10th anniversary, and I was fortunate enough to be invited there for this event. I can't tell you how impressed I was with these women, most of whom are traditional quilters, but wanted to try something a little different. They opted for my African Collage class, and each and every one of them created thier own unique wallhanging. I'd like to introduce you to just a few of them in this post, with more to follow in a day or two. First is Vicki. She had to prepare breakfast and lunch for the men on the ranch, who were branding cattle this weekend, before coming to class and designing this beautifully balanced and colourful piece. Next shown is Elaine, who added touches of blue to the warm fabrics provided in her class kit. Just the right touch to cause the eye to travel around her collage, and totally unlike anything she'd
made before. Carole used a deep blue and rust colour combination, to set off her batiked and silk-screened animals and people. The beads she's auditioning are the final touch. Ann went from saying that she wasn't sure what she was doing, to adding a row of squares on point in just the right colours to bring all the elements of her piece together. And lastly there's Miriam's work, with the unexpected addition of blocks from another quilt entirely, a curved pieced border, and a village scene in which rounded roofs of the huts echo that curved border. I am always amazed in this class, how individual each wallhanging is, how the personality of each person comes through. Apart from being a brave group of quilters, willing to try something quite new to them, they're also a phenomenally strong group of women. No matter what's going on in their lives, as many as can make it meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month in the Czar Hall. Once a year, on the weekend before Halloween, they have a quilt show, which draws people from as far away as Moose Jaw and Red Deer and Edmonton. And there's an annual sleepover at the
hall, and an annual bus trip, although now that they're up to 75 members, it's harder to do that. And then there's the food - home made soups and salads and desserts to die for. I was introduced to Saskatoon berry crumble, and will remember what a treat that was for a long time to come. So thank you to all of you in Czar and surrounding communities. You gave me such a warm welcome. I hope our paths cross again one day. And for any of you who might be travelling through that part of the country at the end of October this year, be sure to stop in and enjoy their quilt show, which is a much-anticipated event for the whole community every year. You'll be in for a treat.

Silk-Screen Printing

Today Joan and I enjoyed a terrific "play day", even though it was a "work day". On the weekend, our friend Eileen Neill came up to Comox, and gave us some excellent instruction in silk screening. She'd made the screens from the drawings of African animals I had done, using a Thermofax machine. (The lino prints we used to be able to import from South Africa are no longer available to us, so we thought it was time we started to make our own.) Today we put her instruction into practice, and made somewhere between 80 and 90 prints.












The first thing you have to do, is to mix up the base with the pigment - in this case black. You position the fabric right side up on a slightly padded print surface, and then you spoon the black goop - it's consistency reminded me of honey - onto one end of the screen but inside the frame, using just enough to cover the screen area.









Then, using a bowl scraper or any other suitable spreader, you carefully pull the paint mixture across the screen at a bit of an angle. The trick is to exert equal pressure at all points on the screen so that the print comes out with even printing. (We got better at this bit as the day progressed.)









The screen is carefully lifted and then voila - the print is visible. After lying it flat and letting it dry, it is heat-set with an iron, and ready to trim and to use in any way your imagination suggests.











This shows you just a portion of the prints we made today, lying out on the cutting table to dry. The ironing and trimming will happen tomorrow. We were thrilled with how smoothly the printing went, and are already imagining ways that we can incorporate the prints into our work. At the end of this week some of them will be travelling with me to Czar, Alberta, where I'll be teaching my African Collage workshop. The weekend after that we'll be in Whistler for their quilt show, where Kitambaa will be a vendor, and have sets of all 7 animals for sale. Of course, they'll be available by mail too. Just send me an email if you'd like more information.

Africa-Inspired Quilts

One of the lovely things that frequently happens, as part of my life as a quilter and quilt teacher, is the arrival of photos of African-inspired (or Art Deco-inspired) quilts made by students and/or other quilters. Here are just a few recent pics. The first two are made by Margot Calvert from the Fraser Valley Quilt Guild in the Fraser Valley. Her rendition of African Sunshine is just terrific. Such a mixture of different and often unexpected fabrics. My eye travels around it, Surprising the viewer, using the unlikely, adds such richness to a quilt like this. I love the quilting lines too, how they give the whole piece such movement. Her second quilt is made from a Carol Piercy pattern. Again it's the choice of fabrics, and particularly the outer bordering fabric, that makes it so appealing. That may be one of the things that draws people to quiltering - that even if two quilts are made using the same pattern, each one is unique as each person chooses different fabrics to work with.























The next quilt is made by Joanne Colleaux from Kamloops. What's interesting in this African collage, besides the observation that many different elements can be successfully incorporated into one piece as long as there are unifying borders and fabrics in the rest of the work, is what a difference it made when Joanne added the outside border. She knew she wasn't finished with it yet, and wasn't truly happy until she added the piano key border around the entire outer edge. Ahhh! Perfect. Thanks to both of you for sharing.

Being Part of a Creative Community

I have been thinking back on the retreat I participated in, in early April, and find myself full of thankfulness that I am part of such a creative community. Some of us have known each other for fifteen or more years; others in the group are relative newcomers. But the thing we share, the thing that connects us, is our creativity. Some would call themselves artists, others would say they were quilters, but perhaps it's most true to say we're all ready to try just about anything that allows us to express ourselves in the work we do. There are informal teaching sessions that take place over the three days on which we meet, but another highlight of our time together is always "Show and Tell". I thought I'd share just a little from this spring with you. First is Dale MacEwan's collage of Market Square in Victoria. Constructed of her own photos, it captures the rich character of this part of town. Next is Hennie Aikman, with her bamboo piece. She tried out Anna Buzzalino's method of quilting fabric first (written up in a recent issue of Quilting Arts), then painting or silk-screening the surface.























Yvonne Turner's salmon is mounted on mosquito netting and a driftwood embellished wooden frame.
Carol Seeley spends a large part of each summer boating with her husband, and has become known for her hand appliqued landscape pieces. The last photo is of an African crazy quilt adaption that Trudy Thorne made for herself out of scraps left from her hours of cutting fabrics for Kitambaa Designs. This is just a small taste of the work being done by some of my creative friends in this part of the world. I am so admiring of each of them. You can see why I consider myself so fortunate. When we get together, the energy is almost palpable, the ideas flow, the possibilities are endless. I consider myself rich indeed to be part of such a community.