Toronto Modern Quilt Guild

Just wanted to post a good clear description of a challenge that I am planning for the meeting this month. I (Andrea Vander Kooij) will be hosting the April Meeting, and I want to have a Sow's Ear Swap/Challenge. I came up with the idea from looking at a lot of older quilts. I LOVE old quilts; their sense of design, the rhythm, the imperfections and inconsistencies which really show the evidence of the human hand in their making. One thing I noticed recently when looking at some old quilts was how much of the fabric was, well, kind of ugly. The Gees' Bend quilts are a good example. This one is by Sally Bennett Jones, and was made in 1966. Left over bits of this and that, dress making scraps of every possible hue and theme, with colours that may have been popular once but are cherished no longer. But despite the not-very-nice raw materials, it has all been put them together to make a thing of great beauty. (if you are not already familiar with the Quilts of Gees Bend, you c...

Our March meeting was led by the ever able Rebecca Burnett. We dealt with a lot of little business matters and Rebecca led us in an interesting Zentangle workshop. Zentangle is a style of intuitive doodling, which was very fun and relaxing. Rebecca's idea was that it could be helpful in generating new ideas for quilting patterns. We were very pleased to see a lot of new members and a few visitors as well. There was lot of exciting show and tell at this meeting. Valerie Prideaux brought in a beautiful little half-hexagon quilt top. I love the way the hexagons seem to float on the negative space.  Valerie also brought in a finished quilt. I believe this pattern is called Courthouse Steps.  Debbie De Santis brought in this lovely, simple little quilt. She'd purchase a cutting system (I can't remember which one) and this was her first quilt made using that new tool. Rebecca brought in a top that she'd quilted, but not yet bound. From afar it has a lovely...