Quilt Canada 2014 - Trend Tex picks for Slow Sunday Stitchers

Quilt Canada 2014 is now a memory. All the vendors and spenders, all the quilts and quilters, all the teachers and students, all the organizers and enjoyers... are back home.

My highlights of the conference include:
*meeting so many interesting people from all over the world. At the closing banquet there were quilters from Great Britain, Edmonton, and all over Ontario seated at my table of 8. In my class on Friday and Saturday there were quilters from Newfoundland, Texas, and B.C., and the teacher is from Alberta! 

*great merchant's mall with a wide variety of vendors. I didn't spend much money here since the conference was expensive enough, but I enjoyed seeing the new patterns and fabrics, and soaked up the energy of the excited quilters. Some were in a total buying frenzy and it was fun to watch!

*incredible quilts with a wide range of techniques and inspiration in the various shows.  We were not permitted to take photographs of the juried show, but the photos of the prize winners have been posted on the CQA website - click here to see them. 
We were allowed to take photos of the 139 Trend Tex challenge pieces. In this challenge everyone who enters makes a quilt with the same package of FQ's and the theme of "Modern Ways". For the enjoyment of my Slow Sunday Stitching friends, I will show some close ups of my top picks for best hand stitching. You can see the entire quilt by viewing the website here.

#33 Myra Tallman

1) I loved this hand quilting by Myra Tallman, and incidentally this quilt won the first prize from the challenge judges.

# 15 Karen Menzies

2) Look at the amazing hand stitching texture created by Karen Menzies.

#41 Mabel Russell

3) Hand quilting by Mabel Russell in lime green thread that was so precisely stitched that I had to double check to see if it was stitched by machine.

#35 Katie Pidgeon

4) incredible stitching and beading by Katie Pidgeon that created most of this quilt's design (and was also a judge's choice ribbon winner).