JANUARY 3 – FEBRUARY 26
These vibrant, beautiful quilts and those who dedicate countless hours to their creation remind us of the qualities that continue to sustain us during these challenging times: our endless imagination, patience, resourcefulness and the desire to share skills, ideas and build community.
The Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild was established in December of 2012.
We are the official Saskatoon branch of The Modern Quilt Guild and proud to represent the art of modern quilting in the area.
Modern quilts are primarily functional and inspired by modern design.
Modern quilters work in different styles and define modern quilting in different ways, but several characteristics often appear which may help identify a modern quilt. These include, but are not limited to: the use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, expansive negative space, and alternate grid work. “Modern traditionalism” or the updating of classic quilt designs is also often seen in modern quilting.
(TheModernQuiltGuid.com)
Visit us online: https://saskatoonmqg.com/
Rise, a charity quilt designed by Bev Drew for Saskatoon MQG, and completed in 2019. Members contributed letters, Bev did the piecing,and Michelle Harris of Saskatoon Longarm Studio donated the quilting. The words were inspired by, and adapted from, an anonymous source on the internet. The quilt will be donated to a local mental health charity to provide hope to people struggling with mental health issues. The quilt measures 72” x 61”.
Checkmark is a bargello quilt using only 3 fabrics and was made by Barbara Peardon. This was quilted on her home sewing machine and incorporates plume feathers on the border and metallic thread on the checkmark. Barb is a retired teacher and this was her final ‘checkmark’, created during her retirement. The quilt measures 56” x 43.5”.
First Words was inspired by the quilter’s love of planes and her first flight in a little Cessna. Looking down at the ground below, the landscape appeared as a patchwork of little blocks of color. Many years later, outside with her two-year old grandson, as he looked up in the sky, he voiced his first words, ‘a plane.’ This is a simple quilt of 4-inch blocks with sashing pieced by the quilter, Margaret Phillips. The long-arm quilting was done by Deb Barlow. The quilt measures 44” x 37.5”.
Mining is Donna Beneteau’s COVID stress release quilt. The blocks on the left are inspired by the photo she took while supervising a drill at the Holloway Mine near Matheson, ON in 1995. Her friends interpreted the photo -upper block is by Donna Hudson-Ironside (direct interpretation) and lower is by Carmen Huggins (after mine decommissioning). At a mining conference in Saskatoon in 2017, there was an orange mini-dress on the silent auction table which was totally inappropriate. Donna wrote a poem and incorporated the dress to give the fabric a proper use. The quilt measures 30” x 37”
Improv Squares by Carol Schmold was also made using seven stacked fabrics. The fabrics were then cut and positions switched to made a bright, cheerful improv quilt by Sherry Andrews.The quilt measures 32” x 21”.
Pet Peeve was another quilt guild challenge. Guild member, Debbie Baumann is a jogger and again, can you tell what her “pet peeve” is? The piece incorporates fusible applique and some thread couching. The quilt measures 18” x 13.5”.
Pogo Stick was a block that Sherry Andrews found in a modern quilt book. It is made of various bright colours and grounded by the grey fabrics. Sherry finished this with free motion stitching. The quilt measures 41.5” x 41.5”.
Sweet Sixteen – pieced and quilted by Bev Drew. Inspired by a quilt called Winter Windows in the book Modern Crazy Piecing by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen. The quilt measures 38.5” x 40”.
Autumn Leaves by Dyanne Christensen is taken from a photograph through a window in Saskatoon. This is applique and free motion. The brick wall shows the power of thread as the variegation brings the wall to life. The quilt measures 24” x 18.5”.
Bullseye by Debbie Baumann is an improv quilt made before the current craze of this technique. It was sewn in the early 2000’s with solid colour kona cottons and she had to look outside Saskatoon to even find those. This was only recently long-armed quilted because it was hidden in a closet
The quilt measures 72.5” x 72.5”.
Little Charming was inspired by Denise Schmidt’s Big Charming and created by Bev Drew in 2021 The quilt measures 28.5” x 19.5”.
Carpenter’s Star by Sherry Andrews was a challenge done by the Saskatoon MQG. She drew two coloured crayons and was to use this as inspiration for the project. The pattern was found online and was free. The quilt measures 20” x 19.5”.
Improv Quarter Circles was the result of an improv class taught by Carol Schmold of Saskatchewan. The tula pink bird fabric was the starting point and the rest was from Sherry Andrews’ personal stash of fabric. The quilt measures 19” x 17”.
Spirals was a challenge created by the Saskatoon Quilters Guild. Debbie Baumann drew a shape (circle) and a colour (blue) out of a hat. She selected the improv technique to create random arcs in multiple shades of blue. The quilt was finished off with concentric circles and measures 20” x 20”.
Apples is a foundation pieced wall-hanging. Dyanne Christensen took advantage of the pattern in the batik fabric and the applique on green turns the centre block into a green apple. The apple seeds are thread painted. The quilt measures 30.5” x 6.25”.
Idiom was another quilt guild challenge. Can you tell what the saying is? Debbie Baumann went to her stash and the internet to invent a project. This is created with machine applique. The quilt measures 16” x 22”.
Northern Lights is a pattern by Susie Weaver. Debbie Baumann sewed this in Arizona while missing Canada. She attended a class in the store “3 Dudes Quilting”, which is now closed. The class sample had the same quilting and Pat Roche of Chandler, Arizona quilted this freehand. The quilt measures 51” x 42”.
Bullseye – An exploration of improv circles, pieced and quilted by Bev Drew.
The quilt measures 34.5” x 34.5”.