Quilt Canada recap – 2022.06.29

Posted on June 29, 2022 by TerryAske

Earlier this month, I spent 4 fun-filled days at Quilt Canada 2022 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.   An awards ceremony, followed by 3 days of workshops, lectures, shopping and hundreds of spectacular quilts! This was the first large live event I have attended since 2019, and I loved it. The extra bonus was I didn’t have to fly to get there, as I live very near to Vancouver.

On Wednesday evening, I attended the Awards Ceremony, and was happy to cheer as many of my friends won awards.  The National Juried Show award winning quilts can be seen here.

I was thrilled to receive the 3rd place award in the Abstract and Improvisational category for my piece X’s and O’s.

  • X’s and O’s 3rd in Abstract and Improvisational category

My quilts were well represented in a number of exhibits.

  • The Magical Colours of Autumn, in the NJS Landscapes and Still Life category.
  • NYC Library Lions, in the Fibre Art Network Chromatopia exhibit
  • Floating in the World Wide Whispers exhibit
  • Air of Elegance in the Teachers Lecturers Invitational exhibit

  • Magical Colours of Autumn in Landscapes and Still Life category

  • NYC Library Lions in the FAN Chromatopia exhibit

  • Floating in World Wide Whispers exhibit

  • Air of Elegance in the Teacher Lecturer Invitational exhibit

On Friday morning, I presented a lecture about my evolution as an art quilter. (Thanks to my sister Joan for the photos.) It was a fun lecture to present, and it was very well received.

On Saturday afternoon, I helped take down the national juried show quilts.  It was fun to be a part of the behind-the-scenes action.

Now I’m looking forward to Quilt Canada 2023, which will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Modern quilts, Quilt shows | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

‘Sunflower on Blue’ for SAQA annual auction – 2022.05.26

Posted on May 26, 2022 by TerryAske

Each year, SAQA invites each of its members to create a small 12 x 12 inch piece of art and donate it to the annual SAQA Benefit Auction.  The auction has a dual purpose – to increase the recognition of quilts as art and quilters as artists, and to raise funds to support SAQA’s exhibition programs and education outreach activities.

The 2022 Benefit Auction will take place online from September 9 through October 2.

This is my entry for this year – ‘Sunflower on Blue’.

The pink shading was a sudden last-minute impulse. I added add some dark pink shading with an Inktense pencil. I think it adds a lot of depth and dimension. Read on for some information about my construction process.

This piece is based on the same photo I used last year for the SAQA trunk show, and I employed similar techniques.

I traced the photo onto semi-transparent stabilizer, and used that to position the petals on a piece of dark pink boiled wool. After fusing them in place, I outline-stitched the petals with dark pink thread.


I trimmed the boiled wool close to the fused fabrics to create a very narrow outline. I followed the same process for the stem and bracts. Then I fused the pieces to the background and quilted just around the edges of each piece.

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This is my tenth SAQA auction quilt! Below are the nine previous ones. As you can see, I like to mix it up and use a variety of techniques.

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I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Mini quilts, Quilt shows | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Monthly decluttering and organization post – 2022.04.29

Posted on April 29, 2022 by TerryAske

I didn’t get a lot done this month on the decluttering and organization project. But I did get this little utility cart put together. It’s the RASKOG cart from IKEA.

I’ve been thinking of this for a long time, and I finally did it. And I love it!

I positioned the cart to the right of my sewing machine and for a couple of weeks now, I’ve been slowly filling it with things I reach for while sewing. There is still room for more notions and tools.

This is going to help me keep my adjacent ironing area much more tidy.

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I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Declutter and organize | Tagged | 2 Comments

Duet – a new art quilt – 2022.03.31

Posted on March 31, 2022 by TerryAske

I haven’t posted for almost 3 weeks, but that’s because I have been busy designing and creating a new art quilt.

At the beginning of March, I decided to enter the Sacred Threads / Broadway Gallery exhibit – Harmony. I had an idea that combined the concept of musical harmony with color harmonies.

I have been a visual artist for many years. However, I had very little exposure to the art of music, until my musically talented sister Harmonious Joan introduced me to the ukulele.

I decided to go for the 24″ x 24″ size option. I took a photo of my ukulele then printed two full-size images and pinned them on my design wall.

My initial fabric pull was more representative of cacophony than harmony, so I removed the very busy print from the mix.

Color harmonies are part of color theory – established color compositions interact with each other based on their relative positions on the color wheel. I used analogous, complementary and monochromatic harmonies in my composition.

The ukuleles, in chartreuse fabrics, are an example of an analogous harmony. They are bordered with red-violet, the complement of chartreuse, to create a high-contrast vibrant effect. 

Musical symbols dance subtly across the dark violet monochromatic background.

‘Duet’ by Terry Aske

I called it ‘Duet’ which relates to the two ukuleles, as well as the concept of harmony in both music and color.

P.S. I got nothing new done on the Decluttering front this month. But I did manage to keep my work area fairly organized throughout this project.

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I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, On my design wall | Tagged | 3 Comments

Lecture at Quilt Canada in June – 2022.03.11

Posted on March 11, 2022 by TerryAske

I’m really looking forward to Quilt Canada in Vancouver in June.

Quilt Canada will include the National Juried Show, the Concurrent Quilt Shows, the Merchant Mall, Demonstration Booth, plus a wide selection of workshops and lectures. Registration opens on March 15 for CQA members, and March 29 for non-members.

If you’ve been browsing the website looking at information about workshops and lectures, you may have noticed my smiling face in the list of teachers and lecturers, also in the list of workshops and lectures.

I will be doing a presentation on Friday, June 17 at 11:00 am.

Here are some topics I will include in my lecture:

  • my quilting background
  • progression of my work over 20+ years
  • design inspirations
  • favourite techniques
  • entering juried exhibits
  • my quilt studio
  • my favourite organization ideas
  • first quilts
  • favourite quilts
  • most recent quilts

If there are any other topics you would be interested in hearing about, I’d love it if you leave me a comment below.

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I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

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Square Foot Show – Flash sale to benefit Ukraine – 2022.03.04

Posted on March 4, 2022 by TerryAske

Attention art collectors! Square Foot Show is having flash sale THIS WEEKEND to benefit the Ukraine!

Artists are donating their artworks, and all proceeds are going to support the Ukrainian people in their time of devastation. Proceeds will go to World Vision. World Vision is working with refugees on Ukraine’s border in Romania, and working closely with partners in Ukraine. They are engaging closely with the U.N. and other partners to closely monitor the unfolding crisis and its potential humanitarian demands.

The sale is online, and will start on Saturday at noon EST To shop, visit Shop.SquareFootShow.com All pieces are 12″ by 12″ and will be selling for $300.

I am donating this piece, titled ‘Angular Heart‘.

It’s cotton fabric, pieced, quilted and mounted on a 12” x 12” x .5” frame, with black fabric wrapped around the sides to the back.

I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

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Monthly decluttering post – finished quilts – 2022.02.25

Posted on February 25, 2022 by TerryAske

In my January 16th post, I said that I will post about my decluttering activities at least once a month. I hope that by the end of the year, I will have accomplished a lot.

I have done a lot of decluttering in the past month, but mostly in other parts of my home other than my studio. I’m happy to say that in my studio, I have maintained the decluttering I did in January. I’m much better at putting things away after each project.

Lesson to be learned – I just spent an hour searching through the cupboards and drawers in my studio looking for a small quilt I finished in January. Eventually I found it in a stack of shipping envelopes. I’m pretty sure that happened when I was decluttering! So the lesson is to be careful when moving things around during a decluttering session.

That reminded me of a big project I did last year and did not post about. If I recall, it all started because I was looking for a quilt and couldn’t find it. I had been thinking about this project for some time, but had been putting it off because I know it would take a long time. I started in March 2021 and I think it took a couple of months to complete.

The project was to organize where all my quilts were stored – and make a record! – so I could find them easily in the future.

I pulled all my quilts out of their various storage places, and sorted them by size. There were about 90 of them. It took me a few days to do this, but I’m really happy with the result. I sorted them into 3 categories – small, medium and large.

Small-sized – 15″ x 15″ or smaller – these are in a green cloth bag. There are 33 of these, and room for more in the bag.

  • small quilts – 33 piled on green bag
  • small quilts in the green bag – room for lots more

Medium-sized – 16″ to 20″ wide – I stored these in a 22″ x 50″ cloth garment bag and stored these under the bed. (The garment bag is lying on a large piece of cardboard, so I can easily slide it on the carpet. There are 27 quilts in the bag. It’s pretty full, so if I add more, I will have to start another bag.

  • medium quilts piled on top of bed
  • medium quilts in garment bag under bed

Large-sized – wider than 20″ – I rolled these on pool noodles, about 5-8 quilts per roll, tied with cloth strips (selvedges). There are 5 pool noodles with a total of 30 quilts. These are stored on a closet shelf. I numbered each roll.

  • large quilts rolled on pool noodles
  • large quilt rolls stored in closet

It was a big job to separate the quilts and store them. What took even more time was recording which group each quilt was stored in. Fortunately I already had an inventory spreadsheet listing all my quilts. (I’m a bit of a spreadsheet geek).

It has the following columns, and I use the Filter feature to sort the list in various ways.

  • date made (yyyy.mm)
  • name or description of the quilt
  • binder (I file paperwork, sketches, notes in page protectors and file those in binders)
  • size (width, height and square inches)
  • stored (this new column tells me where to look for the quilt)
  • location (if a quilt is at a show, has been donated or sold)

A few months later, I consider this a very successful project. When I need to locate a quilt, I find it on my spreadsheet, which tells me exactly where to find the physical quilt.

I hope this gives you some ideas of how to organize and inventory your quilts. If you have any suggestions for organizing finished quilts, please leave a comment below

I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

New art quilt ‘Variegated Spring’ – 2022.02.18

Posted on February 18, 2022 by TerryAske

On February 12, I pulled some strips of variegated green fabrics from my stash and sewed them together to create a background for my quilt. I drew a quick sketch of my concept – a grid of strips and squares. I knew I had to work fast, because the entry deadline was February 15.

I pulled out my pink, green and yellow scraps and started building a grid. I backed each scrap with fusible web, then cut them to size.

I decided the strips should be skinnier. They were already backed with fusible web, so were easy to cut to 1/4′ widths.

When I finished positioning the green strips, I added the brightly coloured squares and rectangles. Once satisfied with the layout, I fused everything in place. Then I quilted an irregular grid with variegated green thread. I really like how the thread disappears and reappears against the background. I finished the edges with facings.

I called it ‘Variegated Spring’. It is 12.5 by 20 inches.

I got it finished in time to take photos and submit my entry by the Feb 15 deadline. Check back in a few days, and I’ll tell you if it is accepted into the exhibit.

I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Art quilts, Modern quilts, On my design wall | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Studio decluttering and organization project – 2022.01.16

Posted on January 16, 2022 by TerryAske

I have cleared the clutter off all my working surfaces – Sewing Machine Area, Cutting Table and Ironing Area. See my post of 2022.01.08 for all the Before photos and the After photos of my Sewing Machine Area.

Here are the photos of the decluttering of my Cutting Table. This took about 20 minutes to clear off and put everything where it belongs. (In the background you can see my scrap organization system which I described in a blog post of 2017.02.23.)

Here is a close up of the little stick-on pen holders I added last year. I was constantly losing track of my scissors, pens, pencils, etc. under the fabric and patterns on the table. These worked really well to solve that problem.

The declutter of my Ironing Area took about 30 minutes. I still need to remove some of the stuff at the back of the counter, but will leave that for a later date.

This photo is another problem area I found – under the cutting table. I’ve been hoarding containers rather than using them! I will also leave that for a later date.

I’ve decided to make decluttering a monthly project. In past years, when I’ve signed up for a 21-day or 30-day declutter challenge, I have not had time to get to the hidden clutter – under the table, in the cupboards, etc. This year, I’m going post at least once a month about my decluttering activities. I hope that by the end of the year, I will have accomplished a lot.

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I’ll be linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.

Posted in Declutter and organize, Quilt studio | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

New SAQA virtual gallery: Street Art – 2022.01.09

Posted on January 9, 2022 by TerryAske

Last October, SAQA announced a call for a new virtual online gallery: Street Art. “Born in controversy and the dark of night, this exhibition invites you to explore and create your own version of a now vibrant and respected art form: Street Art.”

I submitted ‘The Writing is on the Wall’ and I’m thrilled to say it was accepted.

The Street Art online gallery (thumbnails below) can be seen here on the SAQA website. You can click on any square image to launch the slideshow. Be sure to click See Details under each image to find out more about each piece, including additional images and artist statements.

“The selected pieces offer a great variety of artistic expressions from graffiti to tags, from frescos to optical illusion, political and controversial pieces, and even some stencil paintings.“

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Posted in Art quilts, Quilt shows | Tagged , , | 3 Comments