Buckhorn & Area Quilters' Guild in the Kawartha Lakes

This past week I had a lovely little trip to visit the Buckhorn and Area Quilters' Guild in Buckhorn, Ontario, a small town in the Kawartha Lakes area of Ontario. My drive was undertaken in dreary weather, which made for great reflections on the lake.

We woke to some snow showers on Tuesday morning, the morning of the workshop. But just look at the beautiful view outside the window of our classroom at Lakehurst Hall.

Twenty students registered to make collage trees. We had a bright and very spacious classroom. Oh, and my hand-dyes were a hit!

I had a couple of quiet and restful evenings at my Bed and Breakfast (Shambhala Bed and Breakfast). Thank you to the Buckhorn Guild for providing this. I've had a lot of friends and acquaintances tell me that they could never stay in private homes while teaching. Despite meeting some great people and having some wonderful billets, unfortunately not all billets are suitable. Spending so many weeks of the year in strangers' homes is a challenge, and sometimes groups expect you to accept a billet 40 km away. Once a year would be no big deal, but in any given year I can have bookings with 15-20 groups. Fortunately a number of them do involve hotel rooms, which are a better option for me. No stairs to schlepp the luggage on, no icy sidewalks to negotiate, a standard of bed and pillow comfort, luggage racks, peace and quiet at the end of the day, and no one talking to me before I have my coffee. Because I'm a very independent person, the hardest trips for me to take are the ones where I am being housed in a home for several days without a car (when I'm flying). I have to depend on others for everything and that is hard for me. I am really pushing for hotel rooms for future bookings. 

The woods were just outside my room's patio door.

During breakfast I enjoyed watching the crowds of gold finches feeding outside the dining room window.

The next morning I gave my lecture, and was happy to see that one student had finished her tree! The trees are built on a muslin foundation, and now that it is finished, can be cut out and appliqued to a suitable background.

What a difference a day makes! The sun came out and the skies turned blue!

 

We are in the thick of spring teaching now, so this week I'm off to the Prairie Piecemakers Guild in Regina. I will be the featured speaker at their show and will teach a workshop the next day. But while I'm home for a few days, I am back in my dyeing dungeon. My husband is doing a really good job of helping with the ironing.