Back from the Road

I left almost two weeks ago. It was a wintry day, and got even more wintry the closer I got to Peterborough. However, the next morning, hints of spring were in the air and the temperatures stayed pretty much above 0 celsius for the entire trip!

I started with an early morning lecture for the Kawartha Quiltmakers Guild in Peterborough, Ontario.

Maureen brought all the pieces she finished after my Serendipity Strips and Curves class at the Haliburton School of the Arts two summers ago.

The next day I drove to, and through, Toronto to visit the Mississauga Quilters Guild.  This was my second visit to their guild, the last being about eight years ago. I found them much changed. Eight years ago I would have described them as a very traditional guild. This time I found a diversity of quilters: traditional, modern and art! You could feel excitement in the room and everyone seemed eager to learn new things. The guild meeting I spoke at was packed, or seemed so to me.

Another one of my past students showed her work. Wendy said she made this landscape-type piece after learning how to do free-form curved piecing in my Art Quilt class at Haliburton School of the Arts. I like that each block is different, each cut improvisationaly, and representing earth and sky.

I had a day off between lecture and workshop, so visited a friend and did some shopping. The next day I taught Liberated Radial Piecing to a group of about 18 eager students. I am not sure why, but this class is very popular right now.
Linda and Jane (my billet) discuss fabric choices here.

We had a fantastic bright and spacious classroom.

Thanks to Bonnie for recommending me to the Mississauga Quilters Guild. She is another of my past students from the Haliburton School of the Arts. She is using some of her hand-dyes from the Dyeing to Quilt class in 2013.

Here is Jane, my gracious and welcoming billet. I made myself at home in her house.

Here is Darlene sewing up a storm! She is co-organizer of the workshop and made sure we had snacks and refreshments.

Paul's creative juices were flowing and he began his own design journey.

This is a fabulous photo of Ruthie, the owner of Ruti's Needlebed in Mississauga. We have crossed paths before, including me taking a workshop with her about 12 years ago.

Here is another finished piece from a previous workshop. Maxine took my In Full Bloom class several years ago and brought her finished quilt top. It is so pretty and spring-like, and I can't wait to see it stitched to a background and quilted..

A couple of "Liberated Radial Piecing" pieces in progress:

I rested on Sunday while visiting family and Monday headed off to Lindsay to speak at the afternoon meeting of the Lindsay Creative Quilters Guild.

The next day, Tuesday, I taught Hosta Leaves 101.

Ruth and Melissa working at their hosta leaves.

Theresa:

Karen and her finished quilt top! Karen is also the Workshop Coordinator for the guild.

Olga's finished quilt top. .

Ruth

Theresa.

I met so many people in the last two weeks that I can't possible keep all names straight, and I have forgotten the name of the student who was working on this piece. I have sent an email request to find the name and will post as soon as I know.

After Lindsay, I headed back to Toronto to deliver a lecture to the Pieceful Nights Quilt Guild.

Here everyone is waiting for the meeting to start. I had met several people from this guild before, so it was great to catch up.

For example, I met up with Judy again, who showed me the quilt she made, which is a reproduction of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a very famous woodblock print by Hokusai from 18th century Japan. According to my research (you can check out the links I just provided) this is one of the most reproduced artworks in the world. With Hokusai long deceased. the design is probably now in the public domain.

Prior to the meeting I met up with Kiyomi, and Carol and Erica, and other friends that I know from a past visit to the York Heritage Quilt Guild. We enjoyed coffee in the afternoon, and then it was off to Andrea's house for dinner. Andrea was my billet while in Toronto. I was so distracted by meeting the beautiful gentle giant Farley (the dog) that I completely forget to get a photo of Andrea!! This is Kiyomi hugging Farley.

 Quinn was really curious about me, and came to my room several times, despite his shyness.

After four cities, unloading and reloading my full car 6 times (thanks to the many people who provided help), moving in and out of hotels and billets several times and sleeping in six different beds, it probably isn't surprising that I felt like I'd been run over by a truck by the time I left the last guild ;-)). However, the two days of down time was definitely a good idea! Getting to the gym and pool three times during the trip was also good. I get to do this again next month with three different groups. I better rest up!