Two Visits to Newmarket, Ontario

On Thursday night I returned from a week-long teaching trip that saw me visit Newmarket, Ontario twice, with a weekend off in between two separate bookings. I decided to head to Newmarket a day ahead of my booking, and had a chance to enjoy a walk around Fairy Lake Conservation Area on a beautiful fall day.

I also had an opportunity to explore the historic main street lined with charming shops and restaurants.

I stopped for coffee at this funky little coffee shop called Covernotes.

That night I gave a lecture/trunk show to the Region of York Quilters' Guild. Patti Carey (of Northcott Fabrics fame) was in the audience and kindly brought this quilt she designed with my first line of Northcott fabric, "Falling Leaves". 

The following day I gave a Hosta Leaves workshop to a group of quilters who seemed also to be gardeners and hosta lovers.

Evelyn was the first one finished.

After my workshop I headed to Waterloo, where I visited my sister, and had a chance to check up on my 93 year old father who has been living in long-term care for the last year and a half. Yes, I know I look so much like him! But I also look like my maternal grandmother too.

This is "Foxy", the cat that lives at his residence.

I spent the weekend in Waterloo, and then headed back to Newmarket on Monday, where I taught two workshops for The Quilt Store. This is Denise and I getting masked up before mixing our dyes on Day 1. It also happened to be Halloween, so we thought these masks would make a great Facebook post.

On Wednesday I taught my Liberated Radial Piecing workshop.

We had the pleasure of having Amy, a rescue German Shepherd in our class. Amy has a bit of a foot injury, so Heather thought bringing her to class might help with her depression. Sue, on the right was the only person who came to all three of my classes (at the guild as well as the store). She is also a member of the very organized and welcoming team that brought me to The Region of York Quilters' Guild.

Janet's piece.

Within minutes of arriving home on Thursday night Peekaboo was on my lap, and she has been there every opportunity she could find for the past few days.

Thank you Newmarket, both the Quilters' Guild and The Quilt Store, for your warm hospitality.

Last Week and This Week

Last week I had a great time teaching a private two-day free-motion quilting class for a group of 5 women in Almonte, Ontario. Great company with Kristi, Dana, Cathy, Angela, and Donna. A very relaxed and easy-going group of friends, great food, a lovely location, and frequent visits from the family's feline and canine members.

Fossil, the cat, was relentless at providing love.

One of two Boston Terriers spent a lot of time on my lap :-)

Beautiful Sian, now 14 years old, insisted on being with us, even though she needed help going back down the stairs :-)

Fossil posing again.

Lest you think I am having way too much fun, this week is full of preparations for the upcoming Quilt Canada Conference in St. Catharines, Ontario. 160 meters of fabric ripped up, with the help of my husband this time :-)

35 dyeing kits being assembled.

Several practice sandwiches put together to demo free-motion quilting.

It will be a very full and busy week! I'm teaching two free-motion quilting classes and two dyeing classes. Three of four classes have 20 students.

I am running an experiment this week to see how long a wet piece of fabric inside a plastic bag survives in my hot car before it starts to mold. This will dictate whether I will be rinsing and spinning all the fabric before leaving home, or finding laundry facilities in St. Catharines. I will be on the road 2 days before I get there, and have two days of workshops before the dyeing classes begin. 

I also have four brand new tires installed on my little Toyota, in preparation for all my summer travels.