About Mayflower

Our 2009 Teachers

  • Heather Stewart

    Well known for her colour workshops, Heather has taught for guilds and shops across Canada and throughout the U.S. Having quilted since childhood, today she works full-time preparing and giving workshops and lectures. Even her new hobby of beading creeps into the quilt studio from time to time and becomes part of an art quiltlet or fabric doll.

  • Kathy Higgins

    Kathy has taught workshops for many guilds and retreats (as well as at the Cotton Patch in Bedford, Nova Scotia), ranging from machine piecing and machine quilting to hand appliqué and hand quilting. Kathy is an organizer for the “The Quilt” project exhibit and auction and her quilts have been exhibited at Alderney Landing, Dartmouth, Comfort and Joy, Halifax, the Mary E. Black Gallery Halifax, the Kennebacasis Valley Quilt Show in Quispamsis, N.B., and the Sussex Vale Quilt Show in Sussex, N.B. and at the Kitchener-Waterloo Quilt Festival.
  • Joen Wolfrom

    In the early 1980s Joen began thinking about ways to create sophisticated landscapes in fabric. The whimsical, country-style appliqué she'd been doing didn't produce the artistic effects she sought. Determined to solve this technical problem, she began a trial-and-error process that eventually resulted in her strip-pieced landscape technique. Today, her method is widely used by textile artists and quiltmakers around the world.

Inspiration

Devastating Fire

As many of our regular Retreat quilters know there was a devasting forest fire in Halifax 2 weeks ago, the Purcell's Cove area, that destroyed 8 homes. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/05/01/ns-halifax-fire-evacuation.html As many of you know one of those houses was home to our own friend, quilter and Retreat supporter Anna Healy. She and her husband have lost everything. From treasured family heirlooms to quilts to her stash to pins and needles and rotary cutters. Now Anna has to make a list and show proof to the insurance company that these items were in her house. Do any of you have photos of Anna's quilts from past Retreat show and tells? Please check through what you have and if anything at all comes up please let Barb Robson know at robsonbh@eastlink.ca Anna is looking for pictures of her appliqued flowers quilt that she did through a Block of the Month class at the Hope Chest.

Silent Auction of Postcards, May 21, 2009

Scroll down to "Postcards 2009" to see pictures of the postcards - third from the bottom!

This will be our second Silent Auction of postcards made by members and friends of the Mayflower Quilters Guild. The postcards have all been donated to help raise funds to defray the costs of the retreat. We hope you will come to the Guild meeting on May 21 and bid on these beautiful cards. They make great gifts, can be sent in the mail or kept for you to admire!

Opening bids start at $8 with increments of $1. Winning bidders can pick up their postcards after the auction on the 21st.Thanks to everyone who donated postcards Fiona Oxford, Anne Morrell Robinson, Heather Stewart, Vicki Burke, Lenie MacAulay, Jeri Burke, Beth Sears, Marilyn Turner, Valerie Hearder, Jane Bryttan, Anne Cottenden, Vivien Worden, Diane Haggerty, Barb Robson, Donna Veinot, Margaret Sweete, Patsy Perkins, Cheryl Dollard and Katherine Gagne. Thanks so much to everyone.

Retreat News

The March 27th registration day has come and gone. I hope members of Mayflower QG and chapters have sent in their registration. Non-members can register by mail on April 10. be sure and have your envelope clearly stamped with the date.

The Avonport Scholarship Award for a young quilter was awarded to Krystal MacLaughlin of Halifax. Krystal is very excited to be coming to her first Retreat. We all know she will benefit a great deal from this opportunity. After the Retreat we will post Krystal's report about her experience.

And congratulations also to Beverley Drysdale of Riverport, NS. Bev has won the Retreat Raffle for the 2009 Retreat which gives her an all expense paid Retreat! Bev has been a regular at our Retreat. Bev is a member of the Mahone Bay Quilters Guild. Two other member os the Mahone Bay QG have also each won a $500 scholarship to attend the Retreat. Congratulations to Anna Davison and Donna Veinot. Both will be attending for the first time.

2009 Retreat Teachers and Workshops

Kathy Higgins, Fall River, NS, Canada

Kathy Higgins has had a 23-year passion for quilting.  While employed at the Cotton Patch in Bedford for the last 18 years, she was able to experience the joys of teaching both traditional and new quilting techniques to quilters of all skill levels. Her association with the Halifax quilting community and the Mayflower Quilters Guild has allowed her to travel throughout Nova Scotia and teach various workshops for other quilting guilds, including a Retreat at Keltic Lodge and at the Northumberland Quilt Guild Retreat.  While many of the classes she teaches are ‘machine’ projects and techniques, she enjoys hand quilting and hand appliqué.  She is a long time member and past President of the Mayflower Quilters Guild, and also a member of CQA and AQS.

WORKSHOP: BORDERS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
The class project is a Medallion Sampler. Border print fabrics will be used in a variety of designs to produce a stunning wall hanging.  Border prints are simple and fun. Take the challenge and see what magic happens when the fabric is cut into different shapes and designs. A technique I call Border Print Appliqué will also be used and demonstrated during the workshop.  The project may be machine or hand pieced.  Each “Medallion” will be unique.

Higgins Border Sampler
Border Sampler
- Kathy Higgins

Higgins Borders Without Boundaries
Borders Without Boundaries - Kathy Higgins

Joen Wolfrom, Fox Island, Washington, USA

Joen Wolfrom began quiltmaking in the early 70s after she left her career in the educational field to become a homemaker and stay-at-home mom.  Her interest in color and design surfaced in the early 1980s.  She has taught and lectured in the quilting field, both nationally and internationally since 1981. Her international engagements include working in the U.K., Canada, Europe, the Far East and South Africa.  Joen has created commissions for many private clients and corporations, and is in collections throughout the world.  Joen is the author of eleven books: Visual Coloring, Color Play, The Visual Dance, The Magical Effects of Color, Landscapes & Illusions, Make Any Block Any Size, Patchwork Persuasion, A Garden Party of Quilts, and she designed the 3-in-1 Color Tool.  Joen is the owner of JWD Publishing, a company that publishes patterns of quilts and other quilt-related projects by leading quiltmakers and designers.

WORKSHOP: SUMMER BLOOMS and NORTHERN LIGHTS
For two days create a happy, blooming flower quilt, using Joen’s curved-piecing, freezer paper technique. Besides helpful curved-piecing hints, you will be presented with many ideas for creating beautifully curved-pieced flower designs. You will design your quilt in class, as well as make a practice piece to learn the techniques. You will begin working on your flower design in class, and progress as time allows.  
On the third day you will have fun creating your own Northern Lights, a radiant quilt filled with lustrous color magic. This is a simple design that vibrates with exciting color movement, due to subtle value changes. The construction is ever so simple. You can select from four sizes: wall quilt, lap quilt, coverlet, or twin-/double-bed quilt.

Joen's flower
Summer Blooms - Joen Wolfrom

Northern Lights 

Northern Lights - Joen Wolfrom

Heather Stewart, Arva, ON

Heather Stewart has taught for guilds and shops in all Canadian provinces and several states.  She has a wealth of experience in teaching quilting to all levels of quilters. Many of her workshops, such as Colour for Quilters, focus on teaching skills which will be useful throughout a quilter’s life.  Even in her project-based workshops she helps the students discover new techniques and options through colour and pattern variations.  Heather began quilting as a child and has taken her hobby and turned it into a profession. She works full time preparing and giving workshops and lectures. Even her new hobby of beading creeps into the quilt studio from time to time and becomes part of an art quiltlet or fabric doll.

WORKSHOP: LOG CABIN CHEVRON
The Log Cabin Chevron quilt made in this workshop is a replica of a quilt made in the late 1800’s.  The original quilt was made with silks but we will be using a variety of reproduction cotton fabrics to get a similar look.  Students will be taught to select fabrics for the construction of the log cabin blocks and then to make the chevrons from the leftover strips. If you want to leave some of your fabrics uncut, we can age them in the class.  Colour theory for antique reproduction quilts will be discussed as well as demonstrations of aging f
abrics for reproductions quilts through tea-dyeing, discharging and painting. The workshop will include fabric aging demonstrations.

Stewart Log Cabin Chevron
Log Cabin Chevron (Traditional) - Heather Stewart

Stewart Log Cabin Chevron Batik
Log Cabin Chevron (contemporary) - Heather Stewart

The Avonport Scholarship Award for a Young Quilter

Thanks to the generosity of Faye Palmeter and Avonport Discount Fabrics in Avonport, Nova Scotia, we are thrilled to announce that a full scholarship will be awarded to a young quilter to attend the Quilters Retreat at Pictou Lodge next September (2009). To qualify you must be a Nova Scotia resident since 2006 and be between the ages of 19 and 40. For more information and the application brochure please send an email to Barb Robson at robsonbh@eastlink.ca The application must be postmarked by January 16, 2009.

Destinations