Monday, March 25, 2013

Challenges (The Good Kind)

The past couple of weeks have been full of Challenges. The fun, creative type of Challenge, so don't start worrying about things! For the last few years, I have been really into quilting challenge projects. The Challenges provide a basic set of rules or guidelines and then the rest is up to you to complete. The Inuvik Quilting Guild has launched an annual challenge each year and I am proud to say that 2013 is the 7th Annual New Year Creative Challenge. We continue to get a good contigent of new (and old) participants in this each year. Now that I think of it, it might be a good idea to a pan-territorial quilting challenge, rather than just with Inuvik Quilting Guild!

The first Challangee I worked on was for the 2013 Trend Tex Challenge, organized through the CQA. If you do not know about the CQA then check it out at: http://www.canadianquilter.com/. I really believe in having a national quilting organization and encourage people to purchase a membership or think about attending Quilt BC 2013 or Quilt Canada 2014.

2013 Trend Tex Challenge
Artist: Shona Barbour
Location: Inuvik, NT
Title: Summer 2005
 
This piece uses the goals of the Modern Quilt Movement. The theme was interpreted as a set of feelings, rather than an image. This took me back to a road trip to the Okanagan in Summer 2005. Ideas of the warmth from the sun, wind in our hair as we cruised with the convertible top down, the taste of sweet wine, clean rows of grape vines, and the pleasure of being with friends and family.

The next challenge I completed, again organized by the CQA was the Where Do You Read Your Canadian Quilter Magazine?. This idea came to me suddenly last week and I knew I had to complete a project for this.
 
'North of Sixty and North of the Arctic Circle'
12" x 12"
Hand dyed fabrics
Shona Barbour
Inuvik, NT
When thinking of where I read The Canadian Quilter it occurred to me that the magazine is usually my reading when I travel. North of Sixty refers to my frequent trips to Yellowknife (my home town), where I am usually curling, attending quilting classes with the Yellowknife Quilters or visiting with family and long time friends. North of the Arctic Circles refers to my travel associated with work. Although my office is located in Inuvik, NT, like most government offices, we services the most Northern region (Beaufort Delta Region) of the NWT. This means lots of time spent on the plane or in hotel rooms and lots of time for catching up with quilting activities from the Rest of Canada!
 
Only the land mass north of the sixtieth parallel has been included in this image; Alaska, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut, Northern Quebec, and Greenland.The lower red line indicates 60 degrees and the upper red line indicates the Arctic Circle. I completed it after Earth Hour on Saturday, March 23, 2013.

And so now I am left with only my Inuvik Quilting Guild challenge to complete. However, for now, I have no idea what I am going to do for this one but it will come to me at some point. Due July 1 so lots of time?!?!?!

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