While reviewing the winning quilts from QuiltCon 2018 last spring, I was quite taken with a quilt in the youth category, which placed second. I became excited when I read the maker Kyla Farquharson lived in Canada, in a little town called Saltcoats, SK. Kyla designed and made the piece, which was then quilted by her mother, Hanna Farquharson. Seeing Kyla’s award-winning quilt Family brought questions to mind, which Kyla was kind enough to answer. Enjoy getting to know Kyla!
It was August 2017 when Kyla first began to quilt. Family is her first quilt. The inspiration for this piece came from a drawing she made at eight years old (Kyla is now almost twelve). Her favourite part of the process was putting colours together for the project, but she found the zigzag stitching the most tedious. Though Hanna did most of the quilting, Kyla reassures me she tried quilting as well, “Mom was very strict about instructions,” she reflects.
Though Kyla felt both surprised and happy to win at QuiltCon, quilting is not assured in her future; during our conversation she hadn’t decided yet. Kyla is a busy gal, actively involved in guitar lessons, volleyball, curling, archery and the school debate team, plus, she still likes to draw! Another exciting development is that the drawings from Family are printed on a variety of products, such as socks, cups and blankets and available online at Teespring.
When asked what advice Kyla could pass on to fellow youth quilters across Canada, she leaves us with this great attitude: “Work hard and have fun!”
Artist Statement, November 2017
I am ten years old now. I started designing this quilt when I was eight years old. The quilt I made is called Family, since it is based on my real family. The little, small, grey cat is called Whiskers. The wolves and cats are real family. I have a mom and dad and three brothers and I’m the only daughter. I really hope that you will like my quilt since it took a lot of hard work and patience to make it.
