Saskatoon Classes

Whew, well I taught a dyeing class yesterday, just a few days after returning from my week in Saskatoon. During my five days with the Saskatoon Quilters Guild, I taught 6 classes and delivered a lecture/trunk show on one of those evenings. 

We had a fantastic, large, and well-lit classroom on the third floor of a community centre. So nice to be able to spread everything out and not be short of space, and even have an extra set of chairs for students to gather in front of my demo table. We even had a ramp and elevator so it was easy to transport things to the classroom.

We dyed fabric the first day. These are Eileen's. She also decided to dye some thread.

We built hosta leaves. These are Linda B's.

Louise chose a deep blue background for her hostas.

The other Linda made major progress on her blue poppy! I have always wanted to do a blue poppy but she beat me to it, and what a great job she did. There is a photo later in this post of the finished work. I decided to share this one too because I love how her tunic coordinates with her poppy.

We also built liberated radial designs. Really cool to see them all looking so different on the design wall.

We cut and pieced free-form curves. I find this piece by Mae to be a really elegant design.

Dorothy's design is reminiscent of a waterfall, or a still life of bottles.

Gillian's piece reminds me of the female form.

We also did a little bit of liberated applique. Here is Eileen's piece in progress. By the way, Eileen is the President of the Saskatoon Quilters Guild.

At my lecture and trunk show on the last evening, students brought show and tell from the five days of classes. 

Berna's little wash line of hand-dyed fabric is really attractive, with coordinating clothespins.

More of the results of the dyeing class with Mae, Bev, and Linda:

Hosta leaves

Flowers finished and in progress. Jean on left and Brenda, the Workshop Coordinator, on right.

Here is Linda's finished poppy. Isn't it stunning?  It still needs to be appliqued to a background.

Liberated Radial Piecing in progress.

Judith:

Brenda:

Glorious colours with Bev, Diane, and Patsy.

The background of Mary Lou's piece (at left) runs from turquoise through green, and then to yellow and really showcases the almost sherbert colours she has used. On right are Bev and Diane

Free-form Curves and Liberated Applique by Laurie.

 Today I received a photo of this rose by Cathy via email. It is finished and what a fantastic job!

A big thank you to the Saskatoon Quilters Guild for their warm hospitality and friendliness. What an open-minded. innovative, and experienced group! 

Saskatchewan: People, Flora and Fauna

Meet Dorothy, my wonderful billet while I taught in the city of Saskatoon. Dorothy is a retired veterinary pathologist, who also has a love of gardens and art quilts, so we had much to share. Dorothy's husband Stuart is also a great cook and so I had nutritious dinners every day.

We had our own "welcoming committee" when we got home from class each night. This is Rufus on the left and Remus on the right.

Pixie welcomed us too in her own shy and coy way.

Remus loves to sit on the roof outside the kitchen window and watch people cook. Very handsome fellow, isn't he?

The paper birch trees looked to be peaking upon my arrival. This photo is taken in late afternoon.

This is what they looked like in morning light. Almost like shimmering coins.

After a few days a lot of the leaves fell off and I noticed this wonderful textured bark.

A walk around Dorothy's garden revealed a lot of interesting flora. This clematis seed pod was particularly intriguing and I took many photos.

I also came home with a seedling of a Mountain Ash tree. This is what the leaves and berries look like up close. Good thing I wasn't crossing national borders with a tree in my carry on!!

In my next post I will share photos of the classes I taught and student work.

Saskatchewan: Big Sky Country

Just before flying home from my teaching trip in Saskatoon this week, I had half a day for a bit of sightseeing. These photos were taken just outside the city of Saskatoon. Big sky country!

Dye Another Day!

I just returned from a week-long teaching trip to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I will be sharing photos shortly. In the mean time, I am preparing for an Intro to Dyeing class I'm teaching for the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild tomorrow, Saturday. Just wanted to let you know that I have a follow-up class at Textile Traditions of Almonte next weekend, Saturday, November 1. In this class we really get into the nitty gritty of how I use colour and different methods I use for different results. You can expect to dye fabrics that look like these:

You will also have an opportunity to dye a Textile Temptation pack (each fibre uses the same dye bath but each takes the colour differently. We'll be dyeing cotton, silk-rayon velvet, silk dupioni, silk organza, and cheesecloth. Here are some colour options.

Oh, and by the way, Textile Traditions of Almonte also carries my full line of Northcott fabric. They have it beautifully displayed in their store window.