We had a great day with Terry Aske in September, and learned how to make precise but very creative circles! Very cool techniques. See all the great pictures earlier in the newsletter.

Our May speaker, Jane Cannon, brought such energy to the room that I forgot to be intimidated by the idea of applying serious math to the making of quilts. My personal favourites were her colourful pentominoes quilts featuring simple shapes made up of unique arrangements of five squares. I also would love to use complex tessellations as free-motion quilting patterns as she did.

For those who have already forgotten, from wiki: “A pentomino is a plane geometric figure formed by joining five equal squares edge to edge…. There are twelve pentominoes, not counting rotations and reflections as distinct. They are used chiefly in recreational mathematics for puzzles and problems.”

Laurel Hickey
Programs Coordinator

For our April meeting, we welcomed Judy Villett. I thought her talk beautifully paced and entertaining, and with a clear theme of ‘place’ carrying through in her work. She had me with the first quilt shown, from when she lived in Edmonton: tire and boot tracks over the kind of dirty end-of-winter snow I remember so well from living in Calgary. Even some of her colour theory quilts showed geographic-like stratification, and were playful besides – in tubes and narrow panels and uneven edged rainbows. Her move to Vancouver – after Hawaii – gave us a brutally honest first west coast quilt showing the street she moved to and the dreariness of our winter rain and grey days. Spring brought cherry blossom quilts though and amazing colour-wash flower gardens and flags, and as the last quilt, a rainbow of Vancouver seasons in narrow panels. From Judy: “I really enjoyed the crowd and the evening!”

One of many rainbow and colour theory quilts – Judy used the pillow method of backing to allow for the uneven edges at the bottom, and a hammer to flatten the seams

Vancouver seasons – when hung, the panels can turn corners

Just one of the many colour wash quilts that included flower garden Canadian flags that would be perfect for Canada’s 150th birthday next year

Vancouver in the winter – a shock to a prairie girl

In other news, Jane Andrew and I attended the Guild Gathering a few weekends ago. Among the topics of discussion was the importance of community-building both for members and the community at large, and of mentoring through sharing our skills and encouraging new members and new quilters. Ideas on how we can accomplish these goals are welcome. Also mentioned was that Canada is celebrating the big 150 next year – we’ll be looking at ways our guild can participate, including any funding that might be available.

Laurel Hickey
Programs Coordinator

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If you have a story behind your Show and Tell quilts that you’d like to share with everyone, please email me at newsletter@lionsgatequiltersguild.com or grab me at the meeting.

Jelly Long John quilts (from jelly rolls) were the focus of our Winter Extravaganza—most everyone was making them.

A work in progress

Taking advantage of a full day of quilting and feasting to get a head start on some flying geese for a third show quilt

Attack of the rare zombie quilting virus. Or stretches to loosen up our stressed joints

Sample quilts showing just two of the various ways of assembling the core block

Photos by Bena Luxton and Jane Andrew

If you have a story behind your Show and Tell quilts that you’d like to share with everyone, please email me at newsletter@lionsgatequiltersguild.com or grab me at the meeting.

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