Quilt Canada 2016 – a bit late…
Well, I’ve been back from Toronto and teaching at Quilt Canada for almost two weeks, and have been back in the swing of things. I still owed you some photos and comments on a great Conference and Quilt Show.
The International Centre where Quilt Canada was held in Toronto, a few minutes from the airport, was a dream come true. The space was great, the classes were large, and although there were some complaints from students about the space being tight on the tables … we had sewing machines! To me, it is a great advantage for events like this one. Janome did a fantastic job with the sewing machines, providing Janome Skyline S7’s for my classes.
When you teach Free-Motion Machine Quilting or even regular sewing classes on a sewing machine you’ve never used before, well … it takes some getting used to. I sew on a very old Bernina, missing all the bells and whistles that these new machines have. It was a very good sewing machine, although I have to recognize that some of the students had issues. The staff at Janome were great at being on hand and rushing in to help solve these issues as fast as they could. I, for one, am really happy that they were there. Issues aside, without companies like Janome, these conferences would be much different. So, thank you, Janome from the bottom of my heart!
We had four days of classes. I taught a Landscape class with Stitch and Paint, a Free-Motion quilting class, a New York Beauties Class and a Two-For-One class – TAP paper and Inktense pencils. Here are some group photos:
Thank you to all the ladies who came to class with enthusiasm and willing to try new things. As I always say … without you, I wouldn’t be there. So thank you once again for choosing my classes. I really had a nice time meeting you all. I hope to see you soon.
I cannot forget the Juried Quilt Show and the Invitational. There were some amazing quilts and I managed to find time to walk around and take some photos. Here are some of the highlights – a few quilts to give you a taste of some of my favorites:
Of course, we cannot forget the Vendor area. Very popular with everyone. There were lots of booths with tons of selections: fabrics galore!, notions, sewing machines, gadgets, more fabric, some more sewing machines, long-arm demos, more fabric … you get the idea.
We attended a lecture/trunk show/social by Jane Sassaman. I really enjoyed Jane’s lecture on the visual and philosophical ideas that have influenced both her life and her work.
The International Gathering of the Guilds with the presence of Paula Rafferty from Ireland was well attended. Paula is an active member of the Irish Patchwork Society and teaches many classes and workshops for European quilt shows, festivals and groups throughout the year. She is also the full-time art teacher with the Irish Prison Service!.
As you can see, we had a full schedule and lots of great times and memories. Of course, we also had time to go shopping, and below is a photo of my fabric purchases. I believe I acquired a piece of every fabric I saw with text on it, and there were quite a few! I could not resist some grey fabrics and some yellow/mustard to go into a new project I’m working on (which means that it’ll either get larger, or it will have blocks on the back … or there are going to be a few similar projects)! I also came home with a few rulers to try ruler work on my domestic sewing machine. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
I hope you enjoyed a brief summary of my time in Toronto.
Enjoy summer! and keep quilting and creating.
Ana
PS: I always love hearing from you, so feel free to leave a comment.
