Katina Chapman had a relatively late start when it comes to quilting.
But she apparently has quite a knack for the art form.
The former Estevan resident, who moved to Halifax in 2011 with her husband Rick, has had her quilt, Sea and Sand, selected to be part of the World Quilt Competition that will take place later this year and early next year.
Chapman said a friend of hers, Anna Hergert, who lives outside of Moose Jaw, promoted the competition through her blog a year ago. Chapman dismissed the opportunity initially, but after Hergert posted it again this year, Chapman decided to enter.
“I checked it out online, and asked a few questions, and I thought ‘Well, what have I got to lose?’” said Chapman. “So I had to write an artist’s statement, and send two pictures of the quilt to a lady in Vernon, B.C., who is the co-ordinator for the Canadian quilts.”
Chapman found out in early June that she was a Canadian finalist. The quilt has been sent to B.C., and then it will be forwarded to New Hampshire, where it will be exhibited for the first time in Manchester.
Chapman’s work will also be displayed at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in greater Philadelphia in September, the Quilt Fest Oasis in Palm Springs in October, the Pacific International Quilt Festival in San Francisco, and the World Quilt Florida in Orlando next January.
“It’s going to do some travelling, and then it will come back to me,” said Chapman. “If there are enough quilts – each country has to have at least 10 quilts represented –then one of them will be judged as the best from that country.”
Chapman knows of a couple of people from Estevan who go to Palm Springs each year at the same time her quilt will be on display, and she hopes they will see her quilt.
She’s not sure how many quilts were accepted from Canada. It was finished last year, and was inspired by a quilter from the U.S. That quilter created a mailing list called the Splendid Sampler, and each Thursday and Sunday would send a pattern with 80 designers who contributed different quilt blocks for a year.
“I did them in ocean colours, and I put 60 together to make this quilt,” said Chapman. “Each of them is six inches in size … and each one is different, and each one was designed by somebody different in the world.”
They include applique, hand embroidery and other types of quilting techniques, and represented something that the creator likes to do, or where they’re from. In Chapman’s quilt, people can see the beach and flip-flops in one picture, and a robin in another.
Chapman also incorporated houses and birds into some of her blocks.
“And then I set the blocks with some squares in between to set it off to make the quilt,” said Chapman.
She then took the quilt to a professional quilter in Bedford, N.S., with TLC Quilts because of its size.
“It represents, to me, the sea and the sand, which, when we go to the ocean, that’s what we see.”
The quilt took a lot of work. The blocks are 6 1/2 inches, and some of them had 35 pieces in them, which can take three or four hours to complete.
“There were two a week for a year, so it was a commitment,” said Chapman.
Chapman didn’t start quilting until 2002, thanks to a friend of hers, Irene Roy. Chapman approached Roy about making a wall hanging for each of her kids as a Christmas gift.
She noted that Roy still makes quilts that are “amazing.”
“She inspires me and I inspire her, and it’s been quite a ride,” said Chapman.
Chapman wasn’t a sewer when she approached Roy with the idea. But she picked up the craft, and has continued with it.
When the Chapmans moved to Halifax seven ago, she was insistent that their new home have an area that could be her “quilting room.”
After all, it’s an addictive art form, and she can’t wait for the next project. She has 10 other quilts that she wants to get done, and when she sees something she likes, she wants to try it. Once the project is finished, she enjoys sending it to someone.
Her work has at least prominent fan, as Gail Bowen, the renowned Saskatchewan mystery writer, saw one of Chapman’s quilts and marvelled at it That particular quilt was done to resemble a library with books on a shelf, and Chapman put her favourite books and authors on the books binds. Bowen was among the authors.
Bowen acquired the quilt, and Chapman became a character in one of Bowen’s books.
“I became a silver-haired, mid-40s lawyer,” said Chapman. “The next book comes out this August. I didn’t die in the last book, so I get to be in the next book … which is called The Darkness of the Heart.”
Chapman isn’t resting now that she has had a quilt selected for the international stage. She has signed up for Splendid Sampler 2, which will start on June 14, and she expects she will work on some of the ideas sent to her, but not all of them.
“It’s a pretty thrilling thing to start quilting many years ago, when sewing machines and I never got along in my life, and to come to this journey where I get to be in a book, and one of my quilts gets to go in a world competition,” said Chapman.
