A Day At QUILT CANADA 2022: RECONNECTED

I have always loved textiles and what can be created from them. The stories, the creative communities and the Art, all reasons why I was drawn to this 3 day event, June 15-18 at Vancouver Convention Centre. But, can I sew or quilt? No, but my friend Bobbie Yoshihara, has been a life long crafter and made a special quilt, when she volunteered at My Sister's Closet Thrift Boutique, supporting women and violence prevention. Here is the quilt she made of donated fabric.

As the first day, June 15th was the grand set up day for the many Quilt Exhibits, Merchant Mall, Demonstration Booth and Bistro, Exhibit Halls A & B, I attended on Thursday, June 16th. There were 5 Demos: Bag Making by Tara Sinclair, Quilts for Survivors by Vanessa Genier, Scrap Happy Modern Quilts by Carola Russell, 2 Fabric Applique Fabric Preparation by Connie Johnson Sayer, Janome Circular Attachment by Michael Smith and Creative Quilting Using Your Serger, by Adrienne Gallagher. Although I was not in any of these classes, I passed by some, on my way to two lectures, and heard a lot of animated conversation and saw an 'all hands on deck' atmosphere in the work spaces. The entire Conference was filled with Quilters, excited to learn new techniques, to share photos and samples of recent creations and travels to share them, make them in new places and expand their creative communities. I definitely want to attend the Gala, next time, to find out more about the National Juried Show Trendtex Challenge and Viewers' Choice Categories: National Juried Show, JN Harper Youth Challenge, CQA/ACC Individual Member Quilt Challenge, and CQA/ACC Member Guild Quilt Challenge. But you know that after going to two lectures and lunching with fellow attendees, I spent the rest of the day being immersed in the fantastic world of Quilts. When I left the Convention Centre, the whole world became patterns: container ships with layers blocks of color, the ocean shades from light to dark blues, greens, and dark purple and black, the deeper down I looked. Every setting could be divided into a quilt story, for sure. And, I looked at what people were wearing because so many Quilters had dressed for this conference. Even in the warmer weather, there were many quilted bags, jackets, skirts, hats, umbrellas and more.

The first lecture I was intrigued by was by Sandy Sandvik: Zero Waste; The Art of Up-Cycled Quilting, Mix Media and Textiles. She brought beautiful Quilts and many photos From very Northern B.C., close to the Yukon Border, Sandy said, "Stop Shopping"; use the materials you already have and swap fabric and avoid the plastics and polys, although these can be purposefully recycled for Art pieces. Men's shirts and old sheets are great fabrics and patterns, too. I chatted with Sandy about our 8 seasons of ECO Fashion Week, here in Vancouver, thanks to Myriam Laroche and shared with her, this blog about the reuse and upcycling of hotel sheets, here. Sandy listed so many resources: "Why We Quilt" by Thomas Knauer. "Cultural Fusion Quilts" by Sujata Shah, and "Unconventional and Unexpected American Quilts Below the Radar" by Roderick Kiracofe are 3 books that appeal to me. I like that quilts are made by women and men and I like quilts that are without a frame, out of the ordinary, in terms of pattern and shape, tell a story and feature explosions of color. A video Sandy showed featured Artists Margaret Fabrizio and Joe Cunningham in discussion about Margaret's Kawandi. This can be viewed on YouTube and is inspirational. She highly recommended that we visit our local store: Our Social Fabric deadstock fabric store, that we listen to Suzanne Tick: Ted XNavesink Talk: "Weaving Trash into Treasure" and look at this link. Where do you start in your Zero Waste Practice? She recommends: Use what you have, source your supplies (local, thrifted, swapped) analyze fabric - organic or not?, use every inch of fabric and leave no waste. Sandy is a great teacher and lecturer and Quilter, of course. See her on instagram: Sandy Sandvik.

So surprised to see Ivan Sayers, Consultant, Curator, and Collector of Canada's largest Clothing Collection 17th-20th Century, giving two lectures: Figured Fabrics 1800-1900 and Figured Fabrics 20th CENTURY. I went to the first one. Ivan says he has "the prettiest dresses in the country". but he also brought quits and fabrics for us to (yikes) touch and circulate. WOW! He also says, "I will tell you about my opinions but I don't know everything." If he doesn't know, he will tell you how to find out. He talked about how technology, for example the Spinning Jenny, changed the slow by hand movement and how the industry became more about making money. People were able to print fabric designs rather than weave them so uniformity and speed became the methods. He talked about how wars and revolutions greatly changed craft and clothing. There has always been constant revival and reuse and he showed how style trends like the big sleeve and pointed shoulder are back. Natural dyes became chemical dyes and small prints became huge blocks of color. Japanese women gave up the kimono for European dress. And now the Kimono can be seen in every shape and form. In fact, there were 4 Japanese Designers at Vancouver Fashion Week, this past season. And many of us wore Japanese styles from Terry Sasaki. Ivan has so much knowledge and so many stories that each lecture is not to be missed. He is in his element at Quilt Canada 2022, and I could not resist a capture of his enthusiasm and of the mannequins before and after. You can see more about Ivan Sayers on this blog as well as at smoc.ca. More about QUILT CANADA on Facebook Canadian Quilters, Pinterest: cqaacc, Twitter: cqaquiltcanada, Instagram: Canadian Quilters. Should you, on your travels or here at home, see anything to do with Quilting, go and be amazed. Oh, and have a look at what you can find around you.

Here are just a small sample of the fabulous array of Quilts on exhibit.