York Heritage Quilters Guild

In 2023, Royal City Quilters’ Guild joined with York Heritage Quilters Guild and Waterloo County Quilters Guild for a quiltalong to work on Tula Pink’s Butterfly Quilt 2.0. Participants  enjoyed working together on the project and made plans for another quiltalong for the 2023-2024 guild year. 

The project we have selected is Edyta Sitar’s Alaska quilt.  Please join us if you’d like to participate. See the FAQs below. 

When does the Alaska Quiltalong start and what is the schedule?

We plan to start the Alaska Quiltalong in October 2023. We will publish a more detailed schedule as the date approaches. In general, we will meet at 10 am (Eastern) on the second Saturday of the month beginning in the Fall. 

At our first meeting, we’ll discuss any questions you have about the quiltalong or quilting generally, including tips on getting organized for a sew-along. Anyone who is not already familiar with groups.io can take a tour of the service and we can give you suggestions about how to use it

How would you describe this project?

The Alaska Quilt uses three blocks: the traditional kaleidoscope block and two variations. The Alaska quilt pattern finishes at 71.5″ square. Quilters interested in making a larger quilt can explore a variety of border options to expand the quilt

What is the Alaska Quiltalong online community and how do I sign up?

• The Quiltalong organizers will use the online community to send Zoom invitations, tips, tricks, and other useful information to participants throughout the quiltalong. Participants can ask questions and share progress photos through the online community, too.  Membership in the Alaska Quiltalong online community is free. 
• To join, send an email message to AlaskaQAL+subscribe@rcqg.groups.io
• You will receive a confirmation request message from Groups.io. (If you do not receive it, please be sure to check your junk mail folder)
• You must respond to that confirmation request to complete your subscription and join the group. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

What are the requirements to participate

To participate, you must purchase your own copy of the Alaska Quilt pattern and be a member of one of the participating quilt guilds. You are not required to purchase a kit from our vendor partner. Feel free to pull from your own stash or source your fabric from a favourite local shop. 

How do I order my pattern and fabric?

All participants must have their own pattern. You can purchase yours separately or as part of a kit.  We recommend our vendor partner, Quilting By Design in New Hamburg, ON: https://www.quiltingbydesign.ca/ 

You have many options for fabric:

Fabrics:

Search the Internet for colourway ideas. Make yours scrappy; design your own colourway; or choose from available kits. If you join the AlaskaQAL mailing list, you can download a colouring sheet from the Files section.

• Quilting By Design is offering the Rainbow Colourway Kit. This is the same vendor we used last year for our Butterfly Kits. 
• Fabrics from Northcott Colorworks
• Fabric Only:  $100
• Fabric + pattern: $127
• Fabric + pattern + ruler: $167
• You can pre-order now from their website at https://www.quiltingbydesign.ca/shop/c/p/Alaska-Rainbow-Kit—Colorworks-Solids—Expected-arrival-September-1st-2023-x69614456.htm 

• Mad About Patchwork offers three options: 
• Colourways: Sunburst or Dusk using Alison Glass fabrics
• Fabric only: $175
• Fabric + pattern: $199.99
• Fabric + pattern + ruler: $224.99
• Rainbow Kit using Laundry Basket Quilts’ Century Solids fabric
• Fabric kit: $110
• Fabric + pattern: $124.99
• Fabric + pattern + ruler: $149.99
• Visit their website at https://www.madaboutpatchwork.com/ and enter Alaska into the Search box to see all the options

Is it too late to participate in the Alaska Quiltalong?

No, it’s not too late. You are more than welcome to join us when you are ready. Order your pattern; arrange for your fabric; and sign up to join our Alaska Quiltalong online community.

What skill level is recommended for this quilt?

With the support of our online community and virtual tutorials, this quilt is suitable for novice quilters who have completed one or two quilts. More experienced quilters may want to customize their quilt by using more advanced techniques, including fussy-cutting for a truly kaleidoscopic appearance.

Where can I find tips and tutorials to help me make this project?

Our monthly sew day sessions will be an excellent source for tips and tutorials. We’ve also collected advice from across the world wide web which we’re making available in our online community. And, of course, the Internet is a wealth of useful information. 

How/Where can I share my progress?

Anywhere and any way you’d like! Our online community lets you send messages to others who are working on the Alaska Quilt. You can upload photos to your own album and view photos others have submitted. You can also share progress on your social media accounts. 

How do I get help?

The monthly Saturday Sew Day sessions will be an excellent source of help and advice. The online community also includes an email distribution list that lets you reach out to others working on the project. Please exercise your best judgement about when you should reach out for emergency help and when you can wait for the next Saturday Sew Day to ask for help. 

Gail L. – Sampler Quilt

Back and front of sampler quilt – started with my summer sewing group- checkerboard blocks combined with sampler blocks. Flyer Geese Border inspired by a zoom lecture by Sherri Hisey last October.   Pieced back includes some leftover/ extra blocks.

Map Quilt

Small practice map created in Valerie Goodman workshop March 28th.
     Valerie encouraged the participants to concentrate on a small area of our chosen map. She also set up a page on a website called  “padlet” where we could all post our maps for sharing and comments. My map includes many of the techniques that she demonstrated: tracing onto a fabric base, creating the background using the sew and flip method, tracing and painting the roads, showing gradations of water, marking buildings, and writing a haiku( poem) to go with the map.
     She called my map my practice map- and says I’m ready to go ahead with this project.

Martha H.

Pladish

This pladish quilt top (65” x 65”) in blacks, browns and white was made following Jane Cramer’s demo at a fall Virtual Tuesday meeting.  It’s a study in value so I used up lots of scraps – no 2 blocks are the same and for the most part there are no repeated fabrics with a block.  I really like the end result and it went together quickly because the squares are 4 or 5 inches.

Peaceful Night Quilt Guild Donation

I made this quilt to donate to Pieceful Night Quilter’s Guild.  From my Mom’s stash, I had some large pieces but no yardage of a burgundy batik with splashes of green and blue in it and I found enough coordinating lighter batik FQs in my own stash to frame 5” burgundy squares. I alternated these with the blocks made in the reverse and  then used the leftover fabric to elongate the quilt by making piano key borders for both ends.  My objective was to use up stash and it was very successful with next to nothing left of any of the fabrics in this quilt.

Judy M.

Denim table runner, started in theSandra Johnson Zoom class with the guild in the spring of 2021 (finally finished). I made it reversible, with a chambray-like fabric on the back.

Scrappy “Leaders and Enders” quilt, from a Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville tutorial. The 4-patches are made from 2″ squares and the
HST finish at 3″. It will go to Community Quilts.

A little doll quilt that I made for my granddaughter, from Disney “Frozen” fabric purchased from CQ. I also made a fitted sheet, pillow and pillowcase to coordinate, as in the 5th
photo (just finished those today), on the doll bed.

Colour with a “U” and its companion exhibition Colour with a “U” Too are juried exhibitions art quilts on the theme of diversity and inclusion by Canadian members of Studio Art Quilt Associates.

“In Canada, we spell colour with a “u”. We care about the “u”, it makes us unique. We care about the “you”, it brings us together. SAQA artists have reflected on the theme of diversity and inclusion to give “colourful” representations of our Canadian cultural identity. Each offers an individual perspective on how we as Canadians see ourselves in our social, historical and physical landscape.”

Colour with a U was juried by Faith Hieblinger, Guest Curator, Homer Watson House & Gallery, Alan Syliboy, Mi’kmaq Artist, and Jayne Willoughby, Textile Artist. Colour with a U Too was juried by Dr. Debra Antoncic, Director/Curator of RiverBrink Art Museum.

Colour with a “U” and Colour with a “U” Too will be at Campbell House Museum from April 1 – June 3.

For more information about Studio Art Quilt Associates, visit: www.saqa.com

Saturday July 8 – Sunday July 9, 2023

Hello to all my fellow Quilt Guilds across Ontario!

After a five year hiatus the Prince Edward County Quilters’ Guild are pleased and excited to be holding our 19th Quilt Show this July 8 & 9, 2023.  Our show is at the Wellington and District Community Centre located in beautiful Prince Edward County.  Not only is Prince Edward County home to many wineries, distilleries, breweries, art galleries, restaurants, and the world famous Sandbanks Provincial Park, but less than 10km away from our show, on the same weekend, is a Lavender Festival!  So much to do, and see!

We fill the Community Centre’s Highline Hall with Vendors.  Click here often to check out who is coming. (the list is still in progress)

We fill the arena floor with quilts, invited guest booths and our Members’ Boutique.  Refer to our poster for more details.  We pretty much take over the whole arena complex!

Leclerc Mobile Sharpening Service will be set up outside the front entrance for both days.  Have your scissors, rotary blades, and more sharpened while you enjoy the show!   Click here to see a price list and for further details/instructions. 

We have kept our Admission fee at $8 per person.  However, bus groups are eligible for a 25% discount off our Admission fee!  Yes, that means $6 per person, but this must be prearranged and prepaid for by Friday June 30, 2023.  Please contact us at pecqguild@gmail.com for further details.

Attached below is our Quilt Show Poster in both jpg and pdf format.  If allowed please share our poster/information with your Guild Members, on your social media, and in your Newsletter.

I hope to see you at our show!

Thank you so very much.  

Janet Reader Day

PECQG 2023 Quilt Show Chair & Advertising Chair

The Evolution of a Curve- A talk by Jenny Haynes of Papper, Sax, Sten 

Jenny gives shape to curvy quilts and this is a fittingly meandering journey about Jenny’s development as a maker. Her life started in a 70s Sweden with rag rugs and hand-painted bark baskets, via London and a fashion industry that demands that you step on the orange, to a Yorkshire full of Drunkard’s Path quilts with holes and dowels.

It is also a story about the evolution of the curve and how this simple shape is picked up, experimented with and then either discarded (natural selection) or survives to become a building block for something (if Jenny has her way) more elaborate perhaps.

Jenny would say the curve evolves independently and is taking her on a journey rather than the other way around.

After this talk, you can judge for yourselves. 

Job Descriptions for Volunteers for the Quilt Show

Receiving Quilts
Quilt intake and registration:
Sit-down position
Document the quilt(s) received and provide receipt for the quilt
Quilt delivery to hanging area:
Fold the quilt and walk it to the hanging area

Hanging Quilts
Volunteers will be separated in groups of 4. Two people to hang the quilts from the ladder, and two people to hand the quilts to the people hanging the quilts.

Facilities & Vendors
The coordinator(s) will measure off and tape the vendor booth spaces the day before the show opens.
The volunteers on set-up day will be provided with a scheduled of expected arrival times of vendors, their locations, those who need to use the elevator, wifi passwords, carts that fit into the elevators, supervise elevator use (and assist so doors aren’t jammed).  Volunteers will accompany vendors to their assigned areas and ensure that the taped boundaries are respected and that their booths do not interfere with another vendor’s area.  Volunteers don’t move vendor’s equipment or assist in booth set-up.
The volunteers on show days, do regular rounds of vendors to provide bathroom breaks and (short) food breaks.  Volunteers will not be helping to sell merchandise or provide long breaks.

Featured Artists:
These volunteers should be outgoing and be able to greet audience members and help get them seated and they may be called on to introduce the speakers and help with Q & A  after. They may also be asked to help with white glove duties and straightening up the chairs at the end of the session.  
Volunteer Desk Assistant:
One hour positions to check in the volunteers and provide them with instructions.

Front Door and Ticket Sales
Greet visitors as they come to the show.  Take advance tickets or collect payment for entry.  Give out show programs and viewers’ choice ballots.  Ensure proof of parking is given to customers and provide instructions to place on dash. This is a sit-down job!

Gift Shop
Assist in keeping displays tidy and stocked
Assist customers and answer questions
Operate square payment device (if trained to do so)
Assist shop co-ordinator to process sales by collecting inventory tag and bagging the merchandise

Toonie Sale
This is a sit-down position, behind a small table.
Need to be comfortable in handling cash and square (will be trained) for debit and credit.
Will distributing the tickets and record the purchaser’s information.
May be asked to help change prize lots on tables.
May be asked to hep pick winning numbers and list on white board.
Be prepared to wear a mask during your entire shift.

White Gloves Hosts
White gloves are picked-up at Volunteer Check-In desk. You are to circulate in the show and offer to show people the back of a quilt or hold it up so someone can inspect it closely and monitor the room. Please discourage handling quilts without gloves, as only the White Gloves Hosts will have gloves. One White Glove Host will be at the door at all times to monitor hand stamps and to remind people not to touch the quilts. 🙂

Floater
An extra person on hand who is willing to fill in where needed during the time of their shift. Must be flexible to do stand up, walking or sit down jobs.

Quilt Take Down
When the quilts are taken down at 5:00 they are taken to designated tables so that they can be returned to the members. In teams of 4, two people will be on ladders, and two will be folding quilts and carrying them to the dispersal table.

Quilt Dispersal
Seated position. Ensure quilts are properly folded, and carefully checking against the receipt, return the quilt to the correct guild member.

Quilter’s Journey Passport:
The purpose of the passports is to have attendees go to all the areas of the show, get stamps on their passports and then enter the completed passport into a drum/box for one or two daily draws depending on how many we receive from vendors/donation. These daily draws will replace Door Prizes.
The volunteers who will be stamping the passports at 7 different locations, and can also act as ambassadors, giving directions to various locations and events.

September 13th – 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

This first meeting will be fairly informal with time to catch up on what we did on our summer holidays. We’d like the Show and Share portion of the evening to be a spectacular show with a special focus on projects (in progress or finished) inspired by presentations from last year’s meetings. But please share whatever you’ve been working on since we last met. Even if you plan to take your project to the in-person guild meeting, show it here for those who may not attend the regular guild meeting. 

Show and Share Deadline – If you have photos of any work in progress or finished items to share, please send them to yhqg.virtualtuesday@gmail.com no later than Friday, September 9, 2022. You also have the option of holding your work up in front of your camera while the spotlight is on you at the meeting. If you are uncomfortable speaking about your work at the meeting, please send a note about it and one of us will read it for you.

New Email Address – All guild members will receive email reminders of Virtual Tuesday meeting times and Zoom links each month and everyone is welcome to attend at any time. If you’d like to receive any follow-up emails with pictures, links and other resources after the Virtual Tuesday meeting or pre-meeting preparation instructions, please send an “I’m In” emailto yhqg.virtualtuesday@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list. 

Contact Us – If you have any questions, suggestions and especially offers of help, please email us at yhqg.virtualtuesday@gmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you in September.

The club is on the south side of the street directly across Cosburn from the ball diamond adjacent to Stan’s.

Parking: is free in the parking lot east of EYCC. Enter the club via what appears to be the side door. Go up 8 steps to the door to the lounge where we will meet. 

TTC: via the 87A or C bus from either Broadview or Main Station. Disembark at Cedarvale Ave. (East York Arena} and walk east. 

Alternative Entrance: Elevator on the west side of EYCC. There is one spot for accessibility parking and/or room to park while unloading.

What the lounge has:

• plenty of outlets for our group
• round tables for sewing with the possibility of someone (not us) moving two 6 foot tables from Stan’s for layering
• good overhead lighting with some natural light from north facing windows
• plenty of space to spread out

What to bring:

• power bar if you have one 
• extension cord
• lunch and beverage
• any sewing or cutting supplies you might require

Leslie will bring a kettle for making hot drinks. Please, bring your own supplies.

The iron and ironing board from Stan’s will be moved to this location. There will be a lock to secure the iron in one of the lockers. Everyone in attendance will be made aware of the combination.

This list may change over time. Stay tuned.

The Scraps and Scrappy Special Interest Group will have its last session on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 from 7-9 PM. Stay tuned for the Zoom notice which will come by email to all guild members a few days before the meeting.

For the technique portion of the meeting, I will be sharing an overview of Quilt-As-You-Go techniques and how to use some of those techniques to create a simple tote bag.

If you have photos for the Scrapbook (the group’s version of show and share), please send them to Lucy at yhqg.scrapgroup@gmail.com. Photos of finished quilts, scrappy gift items or works in progress are encouraged. If it was made with scraps, we want to see it.

On a personal note, it has been a privilege to host the group during what, at times, felt like a never ending lockdown. The group would not have been possible without Heather, Chriss and Anne helping to keep the meetings on track, the presenters who shared their knowledge so freely and the members who attended every month. Thank you all. 

Lucy G.

Mini Mod Swap for York Heritage Quilters Guild

The deadline for sign up is May 15th! Follow the link below to sign up for this fun challenge. You will need for each set of 30 mini mod blocks 1/3 of a yard (or about .4 metres of your background fabric) and scraps of solids in the colour wave chosen.

Key dates are:
Sign up Deadline: May 15, 2022
Emails with group information & the pattern will go out: May 18, 2022 Mail your blocks to members of your group deadline: July 30, 2022. Show & Share: September 20, 2022
Please direct any question to Irena H. Click your sign up link to participate

Please note: a paper piecing demo date will be forwarded to all participants

General information:

In this block swap, you’ll be using either white, grey or black as a background colour, and either warm, cool, or neutral colours as the highlight of the block. See the palette choices below. This block swap uses solid colours only, no prints or batiks.

Once signup is completed, you will receive an email with information about the colour preferences of people in your group of five, as well as their names and addresses so you know where to send your blocks. You’ll also receive the foundation paper-piecing patterns, and links to videos showing other ways to make the blocks with strip piecing.

Each participant will make 30 mini blocks, either foundation paper-pieced or using strip piecing techniques, and will be part of a group of five people. Each person in the group will keep 6, and then send 6 blocks to each other person in the group, so you’ll send 24 blocks and receive 24 blocks. This is a nice opportunity to send a card to a new friend, so tuck your blocks into a happy card and add a friendly note. What fun to receive mail from other members of the guild!

The designer of this block swap, Berene C., has given this program to guilds for free, but asks that each participant make a small donation ($3 – $5) to a bursary she has set up at Ryerson for black, indigenous, and LGBTQ students.

Donations of $10 or more will receive a tax
receipt. Read a bit more about the bursary here: