2012 Scotties... here we come!

Well, Team Galusha is now Team NWT/Yukon and we are off to the 2012 Scotties in Red Deer, Alberta. As Kerry's little girl Sydney would say, "We are going on the airplane today!". We have had a busy and successful curling season this year and we are very much hoping that this continues into Red Deer. There are many teams going to the Scotties that we have played this season already and we are hoping that we can have some good battles and close games with these teams.

The Yellowknife Curling Centre had a great send off party for us last night. The cake was super, yummy and Kerry did a great job thanking everyone who has helped us this year. We also received lots of send off presents from; Gail and Dan Daniels, Team Wendy Ondrak, Team Ann Gillis, Heather McCagg-Nystrom and Dawn 'Dawny Mo' Moses. Of course, Dawny gave us nail polish!!!

So now to get the show on the road. We head into Edmonton tonight and get the kids (Sydney and Kobe) settled. Then it is shopping tomorrow for our banquet outfits, a good team dinner altogether and then then to Red Deer in the early evening.

I am going to try to keep up with this Blog throughout the week... we'll see how dedicated I can stay! Plus, will try to post some behind the scenes photos also. We'll see how good I do this!

September always means fall time and a new set of Beginner Quilting courses in Inuvik. This year makes the 6th or 7th year I have done these. The first year we did a beginners course 22 people signed up! We didn't want to turn anyone away as it was the year we created the Guild. Over the year's we did start to limit the course size and have also experimented with different projects.

We have done wallhangings and table runners which I have proven to be good projects but I feel these are as much work as a larger project and does not give as much satisfaction in the finished project. After being inspired by a new quilter in our Guild who showed up later in the year and just jumped right in I decided this year to tackle a lap quilt project right from Day 1 for the new beginners.

I chose the Bento Box pattern and participants brought their own fat quarters for this. It is all worked out perfectly, although the original Bento Box pattern could use some updating and not waste so much fabric!!!! Participants were not scared of anything and except for the occational freak out that something was cut wrong. Everything turned out great.

We will do a follow up session so to teach layering, quilting and eventually binding. Here are some photos of our sweet success!

shona

Long Time No See...

Sew many things to comment on write about as I have not used this Blog for a very long time. I have decided to start it back up as I just received my copy of Canadian Quilter magazine and saw that it was posted in my Regional Representative biography! I continue to do tons of quilting in Inuvik, Yellowknife and elsewhere; along with continuing to curl as a competitive level. And I LOVE both!

As for quilting... let me start with a quick overview of some interesting projects that either me or the Inuvik Quilting Guild has been working on.

First, is our Inuvik Advent Calendar. Quilter Arlene Hansen adapted a pattern to make it unique to our community, even complete with our colourful rowhouses nicknamed "Smartie Box Houses". I managed to get it ready for December 1 but have decided to keep adding details to it each year.

Second, many babies arrived into my life in the past 2 years. Not mine of course, but those of friends and family. I am now an Auntie many times over and I take this job very seriously. Most proud of neice Sydney who can now talk to me on the phone and twin neices Kallelah Amour and Keauni Zen who will keep me busy as they get older!!! All I can saw is being an Auntie means more baby quilts and sewing projects!!!

Third, still doing lots of fabric dyeing and having as much fun with it as I did from the beginning. I was lucky enough to make it to Yellowknife in June 2010 to learn dyeing techniques from maven Carol Soderlund from New York.

Fourth, was a great trip to Calgary and Quilt Canada 2010 with Arlene Hansen and Carolyn Hunter. Lots of laughs and none stop quilting... a couple pictures from mine and Carolyn's time spent with Pamela Allen.

Enjoy and will continue to post updates more regularly and showing people a bit of quilting north of the Arctic Circle.

shona

Mystery Quilt Project Finished

It has been rainy and cold outside today so I have gotten quite a bit of sewing and quilting done today. I did mange to complete our Guild's Mystery Quilt project. We actually got the free pattern off the Internet but the website went down before we got all the clues! The layout is the best way I thought the blocks fit together.

I actually really like the final look of it all.

Shona

My NEW favorite quilt!

I have been continuing to work on "unfinished projects' and I am pleased to say I think I just finished my favorite quilt yet. I knew since last year that I wanted to do a pieced quilt with indigo sun prints. I even managed to find the perfect border fabric for it in Victoria, BC in February. Of course I used the log cabin piecing to frame the blocks as this is my favorite 'pattern'. I am going to get a lattice pattern quilted in the borders and frames but will do some free motion/thread painting work on the actual sun prints. I love it!

Shona

Experimenting with Tyvek

So I have been experimenting with Tyvek as part of an online class... here are some examples.

I tried it with a couple different paints and metallic (copper) gave a much better effect than matte paint. Also, the Shiva sticks (purple) actually worked... I was not sure this was going to work.

I used the red and green as I thought they could be cut up and sewn onto Christmas cards.

Where Have I Been...

Yes, I have still been finishing MANY unfinished projects. I spent the end of May at Quilt SK in Saskatoon and LOVED it. I will definately start making this a yearly trip (next year to Quilt Canada in Calgary). I attended two classes in Saskatoon (Journal Quilting and Beading on Fabric) and although I really enjoyed the classes a have decided I am NOT an art quilter and would much rather continue working on larged, traditional pieced projects.

June was filled with fabric dying projects and completing the quilted deck of cards. The Deck of Cards is ready to be displayed at the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik beginning July 10 and I am very excited for this. I did manage to finish one large piece which I will post photos of soon. Also, did 2 small baby quilts that were donated to Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre. Whew!

The photos above are of some sun printing that I had experimented with. The plants are picked locally, many people will be able to recognize the Fireweed and the wild roses.

Enjoy!

Shona