Sunday 20 May 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy's Creative Side

Thank you Amy for creating the Blogger's Quilt Festival.   This is the first time I've attempted
to link this blog onto the Festival so there may be some bumps along the way.

The quilt that is pictured below is the quilt I created for  Manitoba's  100th Anniversary "Manitoba Quilt Competition" in 2010.
This quilt was a great learning experience.    Sweat and tears and finally delight when I talked with Coreen Zerr from Nanaimo and learned that she and her Sister were designing a quilt for the Competition.  Once I knew that Coreen was creating a quilt for this competition,  I stopped worrying about my quilt as I knew the Coreen would win.    Coreen is an amazing Canadian Quilter.... and yes she and Phyllis did win the Competition.  Their quilt was displayed at Manitoba House during the Vancouver Olympics.  How awesome!

Some of the things I learned about this experience...
1.  Enjoy what you are creating!    The left side of the quilt represents our great farming industry.   The green Flying Geese represents our forests.   The blue Economy quilt blocks represent the Hudson's ay.   The Bear's Paws represents our rich First Nation heritage.  The Lone Star represents our willingness to sacrifice our lives for others.     The centre of the quilt is the outline of the Province of Manitoba.   The two men in the circles are Louis Riel  and Lord Strathcona... Fathers of our Province.    
2.  I made this quilt to reflect our Province's  rich heritage and history.... 

and did a lot of thread painting.    Because I am not clever at all when it comes to drawing, I
used heavy upholstery thread in the bobbin and created the scenes (such as this grouping of Crocus -  MB's provincial flower) by putting a drawing on paper and then sewing along the drawing lines from
the back of the quilt.  


3.  Use Tradition.  In the four corners of a Traditional Lone Star Ojibwa Give-Away Quilt pattern,  are four Manitoban Soldiers.     Sgt Tommy Prince,  Lt Allan McLeod,  PO Andrew Mynarski, Cpl Leo Clarke.  These men were amazing men in providing us with our freedom and peace today.   The Lone Star is created using the traditional Ojibw colours... white represents heaven, spirituality, and Elders...  yellow represents children,  red represents youth,  and black represents adults.

Throughout this quilt are metal bars sewn with words of inspiration of what it means to live and work in Manitoba.  

This was an awesome quilt to make.... and it was a blessing to meet the other quilters in this 2010 competition.  All of their quilts were simply amazing! 

Link here to view the other quilts in Amy's  Blogger's Quilt Festival: 
http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/


14 comments:

  1. Wow - what a story this quilt has to tell! Lovely.
    And btw, you commented on my "Hopscotch" quilt but I couldn't find your email to respond - so YES I'd definitely make another Hopscotch quilt, but more likely is using my 60-degree ruler for a new & different triangle quilt.

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    1. Thanks Debbie. I keep looking at the Hopscotch type patterns and think, "hummm". Seeing your quilt and photos of your construction has lead to more "I think I can"-ness.

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  2. Great story with your quilt. What a treasure of a quilt!

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    1. Thanks Pattilou for dropping by. And I stand in awe of your quilt. Wow!

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  3. That is something special! I'm from Saskatchewan so I really appreciate all the little messages and symbols that went into this...:-)

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    1. Yup, us Saskatchewan-ians and Manitobans really do special - memory quilts.... and involve friends in the process. :) Thanks for dropping by and viewing my quilt and story.

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  4. Wow - what an amazing quilt!!! And you put such thought and care into each stitch - that is obvious! Congratulations on a masterpiece :*) I love the things you listed that you learned while making it. I identified with each one, but probably the most with #1 - enjoy what you are creating! I certainly enjoyed reading your story =^..^=

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    1. Thank you Teresa for commenting on my quilt and story.

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  5. WOW! Great quilt and great story. That lonestar really pops! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Stephanie
      Thank you so much for your comment. I had a lot of fun creating the lonestar... I use Jan Krentz's "Lone Star Quilts" book to create the lonestar. It is an awesome way to create lonestars and sure beats cutting individual diamond shapes :)

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  6. I love that your quilt is so thoughtful and full of meaning! Very cool!

    You asked me where I got my pattern. It's called Single Girl by Denyse Schmidt. I think I bought mine off Etsy. Best to you!

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    1. Thanks Splendorfalls! I will be seeking out the Single Girl pattern. It is amazing.

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