Quilt Canada 2016

Winter Wool

I am at last coming near to the end of my January blah’s and getting excited about planning more interesting winter quilting activities and yes making some of my favourite things – plane reservations for the Spring, learning to use Skype and working on my Trend Tex challenge piece.
So first I want to say that part of my excitement is that I am fortunate enough to be one of the jurors for the Canadian Quilters Association National Juried Show to be held as part of Quilt Canada 2016, June 15 – 18 at the International Centre in Mississauga ON. This is a task that will I am sure spark my interest in working on my own pieces.
There are many interesting workshops to choose from this year and the new costing system in a definite plus.  I want to highlight one artist of particular interest.  Our Teacher of the Year for 2014 – Anna Hergert will be offering three exciting workshops.  It is a perk of being chosen Teacher of the Year that at the next major conference, two years down the road you are invited to teach.  I urge you to take advantage of this opportunity.
Anyone who has been luck enough to take a course with Anna will tell you that you not only get excellent value at the time of the workshop but that her enthusiasm and support of her students along with those excellent teaching skills will continue to enrich your quilting for a long time to come.
Anna is teaching three workshops.  The first is “Unlock the Vault”.  This two day course (at the end you will wish it was longer) has participants exploring the endless possibilities of the supplies in your studio and in your kitchen and in your tool box and likely other places as well.  I have been able to benefit from Anna’s creativity in using a large variety of materials and she pushes the envelope and you will certainly be surprised and delighted.
Anna’s second workshop is on hand work – Mola’s.  This form of reverse hand appliqué is practiced by the Cuna Indians of the San Blas Islands of Panama.  Their Mola’s tell stories of their lives and display hot colours.  This is how I first met Anna, taking this fun and relaxing class.  Be sure and take paper and pencil to record the inspirations that come to you during this class.
The last class is all about embellishments.  I call it bling in context.  When embellishments are added to quilts using elements and principles of design they really to add to the work and often a good piece becomes spectacular.
So prepare to be delighted. Check out Quilt Canada, the workshops and then Anna’s blog. Just the thing for a grey winter day to get the dreaming started.