What a beautiful day for an open air quilt show!
We were greeted by clear blue skies at Heritage Park where Festival of Quilts was almost ready…
Busy volunteers were hanging quilts on special racks.
An ingenious system made displaying quilts over the balcony of the Wainwright Hotel a fairly straight forward job.
No time to sit but can you spot the mountains on the horizon?
My place for the morning was in the Chautauqua Tent for the Iron Quilters Challenge.
We had three teams signed up and ready to go.
The Material Girls, complete with matching aprons and Minnie Mouse bows.
Team Akribestatos, (Greek for the most straight of all) all smiles in co-ordinating hand embellished shirts and delightful red hats!
And last but not least, the heavily (temporary) tattooed Modern Mavens from Calgary Modern Quilt Guild.
They definitely got the t-shirts?
Everyone had the same pattern, two hours and a closed brown bag with four fabrics in it donated by the Calgary branch of Victoria’s Quilts.
At precisely 10.30 we counted down and and the fun started. It took a few minutes for the teams to get organized but then stitching commenced.
The Material Girls were a serious bunch.
Muriel was waiting for her first pieces on the Greek team.
Meanwhile our Modern team had plenty of drinks to make sure they stayed hydrated…
I was responsible for stirring up trouble and making the sure the crowd stayed apprised of events on the stage.
Blocks began to appear on each team’s design wall.
The red hats didn’t appear to get in the way!
The rules stated that if only one team was finished within the allotted time span then they would be the winners, but if nobody completed the top everybody would get another half hour and all teams finishing before extra time was up would be considered for victory.
The Material Girls were a couple of strips away from having their borders when two hours elapsed so everyone got another thirty minutes…
It didn’t take long before we had our first top made.
Two borders on the Material Girl’s blue, cream and gold quilt.
Shades of red, with off white and black for the greek ladies
and a rather un-modern finish from the Mavens.
It was all too much fun. We had a few problems with the electric when the lights went out but the sewing machines kept running. My microphone stopped working for a short while too but I think people appreciated the peace at that point?
Now judging was in the hands of a panel of peers and it was time to explore some more.
The Wainwright Hotel looked splendid with a full compliment of quilts hanging from the railings.
Every year a Quilter of Distinction is chosen from the Calgary area to be honored at the Festival. This year it was Margaret Jessop. I couldn’t find a link for Margaret so here’s what it said in the Festival brochure,
“Margaret is an acclaimed quilter, winning awards from International, National, Provincial and Municipal quilt groups. Some of these awards have been presented by the Canadian Quilt Association and International Quilt Festival. Along with her amazing talent, Margaret also gives much of her time and talent to charities. Her quilts have been auctioned off for charitable causes and she has volunteered with the Heritage Park Festival of Quilts and Quilt Canada. With this year’s theme of Hearth, Home and Community, there is no one better than Margaret to showcase the importance of all three. Margaret has had to overcome obstacles such as losing her studio to the 2013 oods and the losses of her daughter and mother in 2014. Through all of that, her artistic self remained steadfast and she has continued to create beautiful pieces of art.
Margaret’s journey into the fabric art/quilting world began over 30 years ago. Her first quilt was for her four-year-old daughter. Margaret took a course from Dianne Sutton and made the quilt. From there she was hooked. Now she has close to 250 quilts to her credit, most of which are art quilts. It is evident when looking at her work that she is inspired by personal experience, and she leans toward familiar subjects, people and surroundings. Some of her most memorable pieces include portraits of her children, and the landscapes of her favourite places. Moving forward, Margaret says her challenges are to create original fabric work influenced by art and craft knowledge, and to continue working full time in her home studio.
Margaret has successfully been the student, teacher, wife, mother and inspirational artist to those in the quilting community. She has fully committed herself to her art form, which is evident with her involvement with four different guilds, becoming an ACAD graduate, quilting in her own studio and still nding time to quilt for charity. In her own words, “My work makes me happy and I’m sure I will spend the rest of my life exploring new techniques and ideas.” ”
If you Google Margaret you will find lots of images of her work and there was a great display in the Opera House for everybody to enjoy. She is a really lovely lady.
Here I am with Margaret in the middle and Ana Buzzolino on the end.
There was a brief shower while I was admiring Margaret’s quilts but it was all done by the time I emerged from the exhibit. There was some action out in the street.
I’m not quite sure what was going on but it was sufficient to draw a crowd!
The tent sides had been brought down during the rain…
but once all danger was past up they came, for another look at the treasures within!
Time for some winners!
I was told that voting was very close but the winners were (drumroll please)… the Material Girls. They each received a large basket of goodies from My Sewing Room,
bragging rights and a very fine trophy which I forgot to hand over in all the excitement!!
There are no losers in quilting and the runners up all posed for a group picture on the other side of the stage.
Good times!
There was still a little while to wander the park some more.
These quilts were displayed in the Prince House.
This Canadian Forest Friends quilt caught my eye outside.
So cute!
Just a few minutes to enjoy an ice cream and a short sit down before I needed to get ready for the evening. I was booked for the gala dinner where I was to present my lecture Lessons Learned While Quilting.
Dinner, sponsored by Along Came Quilting, was excellent. The Alberta beef was so tasty and the dessert plate… yum! I was hoping everybody would stay awake?
Here is part of the crowd that greeted me…
I didn’t spot many closed eyes and we did just fine!
Thank you Kelly for inviting me. 
I don’t think you knew exactly what you were getting when you sent the e-mail… I hope our paths cross again soon.
I packed my bags and flew home Sunday evening.
I’ve been catching up since then. Steve had milk in the fridge for me, and some tomatoes and a few peaches… he’d done his laundry too. I’m working on book edits, I’ve visited the dentist and the orthodontist. Jonathan and Lauren are coming into town tomorrow and I’m headed out again on Sunday lunchtime. Yes, that’s less than a full seven days since my return. Be careful what you wish for people. Sometimes it comes true!
We had so much fun with you at the Heritage Park Festival of Quilts. Please think of coming again. I also had a lovely dinner with you and your other dinner presentation was very well received.