As I was heading through Ottawa today to vend my hand-dyed fabrics at the Ottawa Valley Quilters' Guild's Festival of Quilts I noticed the apple blossoms are in season. I love this time of year. I took the above photo along Prince of Wales Drive at the Central Experimental Farm a few years ago.
It was nice to have a few blog readers leave comments to my last post. It has been rather quiet out there. So I want to ask: what sorts of things would you like to read about? Please feel free to share. Since there were few comments of late, I checked my blog statistics last night to make sure anyone was still reading. Even when things are quiet, it seems there are still at least 200 page views per day. The statistics also revealed a big surprise!!! We have a lot of readers in Germany (Wilkommen, Ich spreche Deutsch!). As expected, most readers of this blog are located in the United States, and that is no surprise since I have exibited my work a lot in the US, belong to an organization that is based in the US (SAQA) as well as been published in US books and magazines. I would have expected Canadians to fall into the second largest group, but it is actually Germans that come in second place, with Canadians in third! France comes in fourth. After that we are looking at UK, Russia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, and China. Where ever in the world you are located, I want to say WELCOME! One of the wonderful features of our modern cyber life is that we make connections with friends around the world. Please do remember, that I also will travel anywhere in the world to teach! I am really looking forward to my upcoming visit to Quilt en Sud in St. Jean de Luz France later this month.
Well, some of us are reading, Elaine :-) I have a semi burning question you may or may not want to discuss. Seeing Red Stool "for real" at the Grand National, I was very curious about how you managed to hang it so it stays upright and doesn't go flop! I have a way which I have shared but wondered what YOU do? Lots of odd shaped quilts are made and people have no idea what to do to hang them.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to that question Carolynn is "by the seat of my pants"! First I was going to let the top leaves flop, but then they bothered me, so just before I sent the piece off to the New Legacies show in Colorado last year, I added some boning (I guess that is what you would call it) behind the upper leaves. I took some strips of fabric and sewed them into tubes/channels, and attached them by hand to the back, and then inserted some very fine wooden slats into them. Then hand-sewed the top shut. Don't tell anyone, but I think the wooden slats were coffee stir sticks. One broke, but it still maintained it's erectness.
DeleteI'm still reading you, even though I don't comment a lot. I know how you feel -- I often check my stats when things seem slow and discover that I'm still getting a lot of traffic. Anyway, I enjoy all of your posts!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by to say hi Sherrie. Glad to hear you are still there.
DeleteHi, Elaine,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories. My late dear godmother Georgina, for whom I'm named (well, my first name, which I don't use) and after whom I named my daughter Gina, lived for many years at Hog's Back, and I have driven by and through the Experimental Farm many times in years past. The trees are delicious, aren't they?
I have several ornamentals but they are just budding now -- it'll be a bit till they blossom. Will try to post a photo to repay the favour.
Loved your photos of Santa Fe...I've been too busy acclimatizing to being home, doing yard work and trying to meet deadlines (2 pieces -- one large-for-me -- due at month end) to read anyone's posts much lately!
So I could really be calling you Georgie, couldn't I Margaret? Yes, I love that row of apple blossom trees along Prince of Wales in spring. Have you ever seen that great big oak, the one that inspired my most recent tree piece, that is at the Grand National? It is my fave!
DeleteLooks like a bit of winter is coming back today and tomorrow :-(
Good luck meeting all your deadlines!
I always read your blog, but don't always comment! From work, I have to sign out of my work email, and sign into another in order to comment and don't always feel like it or sometimes I just can't.
ReplyDeleteLaura, you comment more than many people. Thanks for dropping by again today!
DeleteI read your blog all the time, but like others, rarely comment. Sorry about that. Will try to do so more often. Enjoyed meeting you in Santa Fe.
ReplyDeleteJudy