May Update

Last Saturday I had a lovely day teaching my Intro Dyeing class. It was hosted by the Out of the Box Fibre Artists group. I was so engrossed in the class that I completely forgot to take photos, so this earthy colourwheel will have to do.

Seventeen years ago when I was a new member to this group, I was stricken with my passion for dyeing fabric after a presentation by Hilary Perrot, another member of the group. I hope that I can inspire someone else and continue the circle.

I am sad to tell you that my "design your own" class this weekend at Inspired Getaways was cancelled. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to hold it on Mother's Day Weekend, and also the same weekend as the local quilt show by the Common Thread Quilt Guild? 

Because I had four classes scheduled at the upcoming Salon 2018, Quebec's provincial Quilt Show, I had started playing with hand-dyed threads again. I was preparing to give a class there. Unfortunately there have been a number of class cancellations there, including three of the four classes I was scheduled to teach. I will still be teaching an Intro to Fabric Dyeing, but my Hand-dyed Threads class is cancelled. This is a shame really because dyeing thread is so much fun, but a difficult class to fill. I plan to have fun with it anyway, and as I go through the process I will take photos to share on this blog.

Here's an example of what these threads look like. More information to follow.

If I have been quiet here, it is because I have been occupied. I spent considerable time in the last weeks altering some of my favorite clothes. Due to a lifestyle change and commitment to my health I have dropped some pounds, and needed to adjust some clothing. I've been learning how to knit, and finally achieved even tension by learning how to hold the yarn. I haven't knit anything yet, just practicing until it becomes automatic. I'm also taking an on-line Sketchbook course with Sketchbook Skool. I must be doing something right because I seem to have enough time in my schedule to do some stuff for me :-)

The studio is cleaned up and ready to work in after the alterations.

My sketchbook supplies

One needs pretty knitting needles, right?

The appearance of better weather, including more sunlight, made me really appreciate the garlic bulbs that have been sitting on the kitchen windowsill. Yes I am in love with garlic bulbs! Just look at the lines and shapes, and the shadows and hi-lights!!!    All these photos were taken using the HDR setting on my Smart Phone.

I've already dyed 12 meters of fabric, in a variety of values, that will hopefully be useful in the quilt inspired by garlic. I am about to dig through my stash and see what else I might find there.

I'm also replenishing the blue fabrics in my store. I was almost completely out. I have 35 new meters waiting to be ironed.

Nicer weather, means more time spent outdoors. Nice to get out to Mer Bleue Conservation area and take a walk on the boardwalk.

I am in discussions about doing a commission quilt. The timing is very good as I've lost a significant chunk of my year's income with so many classes cancelled. I am at the "entertaining ideas" stage. Work will begin in June, and I hope for it to be finished by the end of the year. Stay tuned. I can't say more than that for now.

Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Heading to Spain

It's been a busy time preparing for my exhibition and workshops in Spain. Finally the day has come when we are all packed and ready to go. I've packed 20 kits and patterns for my Hosta Leaves class.

and 20 kits and patterns for my Collage Tree class.

It took a while to plan and undertake the dyeing, ironing, cutting and bundling. In between I was working on new work. I am taking a total of 15 quilts for my exhibition. The newest ones are quilted, and photos appear below. I would have liked to make two more new quilts, but I simply ran out of time. I hope to keep the momentum going when I arrive back home so I can apply for a solo show here in my own city. I spent a day photographing and labelling all these works.

Smoke & Mirrors 1

Smoke and Mirrors 2. Now it was a huge challenge for me to get all three parts of this triptych the same length!!

Cascade 1

Cascade 2

I was working on Prairie Sun right up to the last minute. I finished putting the facing and label on last night, only to discover that it wasn't hanging straight. Went back at it this morning and I am happy with it now.

Our bags are packed, and I mean PACKED, and we fly out tomorrow. I spent the day getting the house ready for the house and petsitter who will be living here while we are away. 

I'm also happy to report that "Rise", my hosta bud quilt (photo shared two posts ago) was juried into the National Juried Show of the Canadian Quilters' Association,. to be held end of May in Vancouver. I haven't entered in a couple of years, but since I had new work available I figured why not? You'll find information here. I won't be able to attend the show as I am teaching at Salon 2018, the provincial quilt show in Quebec.

Preparations for Spain

I've been a bit quiet on my blog in 2018. I've spent the last weeks with my nose to the grindstone. The days until my show in Sitges, Spain are passing quickly. I just received photos from the International Patchwork Festival, hosted by the Spanish Patchwork Association, of the space where my work will be exhibited. It has been a while since I had my own solo show and I'm excited to see it all come together. It will be held as the Espai Cultural Pere Stampfli, photos below.

There will be exhibitions all around the town during the four-day Festival. This is what the inside of the space looks like. The works in these photos of a past exhibit look like that of Libby Lehman.

I have measurements of the space now and am happy that my calculations confirm I have more than enough work to fill the space.

In addition to making new work (some photos later in this post), I'm teaching the pattern below for the first time. It is difficult work trying to make the pattern understandable to others. This is always a challenge for someone like me who tends to fly by the seat of her pants and "fudges" a lot. I am also providing kits, so right now I'm dyeing and ironing. When I'm happy with the value steps I will cut all the fabrics. Any fabrics that don't work will go in my travelling "store".

These are the Collage Tree kits soaking in the washing machine after dyeing.

I'm told the registration numbers are very healthy, and that the Collage Tree class is full. One thing I've learned is that the further a quilt instructor is from home, the better her classes fill. 

I've been working this week on machine quilting my pieces inspired by Antelope Canyon. I'm sending a list of works to be exhibited to the organization this weekend, so that is my deadline to come up with a name for the series. Yesterday I discovered that I had left my feed dogs up while machine quilting for the last few days. I wondered why it was such a struggle? Some folks like to quilt with the feed dogs up, and that is fine if it works for them. I like to quilt with them down, and am happy the struggle has become easier now that they are down.

I finished building the yellow flower. I took liberties with the colour. You can see the photo below the quilt. I recently found out that this flower is a member of the Rudbekia family, known as either "Gloriosa Daisy" or "Prairie Sun". I really love the name Prairie Sun and would like to use it, but I met the flower on Vancouver Island in the gardens at Royal Roads University. I've set up a production schedule so I can focus on all the tasks I need to complete before we leave for Spain. It is very helpful in letting me focus on one task at a time and not jump around from one to another. This quilt is scheduled to be quilted in the coming week.

There are a lot of variations of this flower. You will see that at this link: https://garden.org/plants/photo/408953/

Last weekend I finished quilting Smoke & Mirrors 2. Now it is hanging on my design wall until it tells me how it wants the edges finished. I hope it makes up its mind soon :-)

I shared my hosta bud quilt in my last blog post. A couple of people wrote to me asking if I had turned my attentions to vegetables. LOL  One of the reasons you might not recognize this as a hosta bud is because it is a very small bud and plant. I macro photographed it, and brought it up close and personal. Photo of the bud below, looking more bud-like and less vegetable-like.

  

And here's the quilt.

Heading back to the studio now. I will report back again as things progress. Enjoy your weekend!

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.