We've been having a heat wave here in my part of the world. It was so hot on Canada Day (July 1) that very few people showed up on Parliament Hill for Canada Day celebrations. I personally stayed in my air-conditioned house and was very productive. It cooled off for a bit on Friday, but now it is brutally hot and humid (it is the humidity that is the killer) again. I am dropping in with some news.

This week I am shipping Smoke & Mirrors 2 off to Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, England. It will be exhibited in the Art Quilt category. No I will not be at the show in August. I wish I could be though. 

Cascade 1 and 2 were both accepted to the Fibre Content show at the Art Gallery of Burlington. The show runs September 6-16, 2018. More info at More info: http://fibrations.org/. I probably will not make it to that show either. It is right during Fibrefest, and after a day of teaching and two days of vending I am not sure I will feel like making the six hour drive to Burlington. However, I am pleased to have my work there.

 

The rain we experienced after the heat wave provided a wonderful opportunity to shoot raindrops on the hosta leaves. I really am thrilled with the HDR setting on my Samsung Smart phone. I have been able to take better raindrop photos with it than my Canon Rebel with macro lens. Now that might have something to do with my own inexperience with the latter.

Dyeing continues in earnest. I am committed to working away at 30 or 40 meters each week to avoid a last-minute panic prior to Fibrefest. I dont handle panics so well anymore ;-)

Janet Kivisto sent me a photo of this wall of quilts at the Trent Valley Quilters Guild Show in Brighton, Ontario. In Spring 2017 I taught an In Full Bloom workshop to this group, and I think this group gets a medal for most pieces finished in shortest time (I understand there were a few more in the show). These were made using my Peony and Sunkissed Poppy patterns, and in many cases students purchased my kit of hand-dyed fabrics too. 

On Canada Day Weekend I spent a good amount of time on this. Two years ago I picked up a Mussel shell on the beach in New Brunswick. I did not keep the shell, nor did I even take a photo. I am using my memory of the shell as a jumping off point to produce this work. It will be called Mussel Memory.

Because I am working with two colourways (purple to blue and yellow-gold to orange) I am ending up with blocks in two colourways.

I am working with a variety of block sizes. Small rectangular blocks and small square blocks are completed. I still have to sew and add larger rectangular blocks and larger square blocks. Then it will be hard to get to bed at night while I play with these babies on the design wall!!

I am madly prepping for my class on Flowers, Foliage and Trees at the Haliburton School of Art + Design, the week of July 23. It is not too late to join us. There are still three spaces left. However, I am heading up to Haliburton on July 14 to take a class on Travelling with a Sketchbook. Lots to prepare and think of for staying in a cottage for two weeks, while also taking and teaching classes.

Last, but certainly not least, the couple who are commissioning work for their home have agreed to a design and I am just waiting for the signed contract. I will be blogging about the making of this triptych as it comes together. What an honour to make a piece that will have impact when visitors step into their home, and that they will hopefully enjoy each day themselves. It is kinda cool to be doing some new things and some things I havent done in a while. 

Autumn Sights

Last week and this week I've been in Newmarket, Ontario, teaching for the Region of York

Quilters' Guild and the Quilt Store. I am heading home tomorrow and will blog about my teaching adventures in the next few days. Prior to leaving for Newmarket, I started this blog post to share some inspiration. I am also sharing these photos because they were taken with my Samsung phone! Sometimes students tell me that they can't come to my "design your own" classes because they don't have a good phone and they aren't a photographer. I am here to tell you that the cameras on smart phones are getting better and better! More and more I am relying on my smart phone so I don't have to schlepp that heavy DSLR camera around everywhere.

I took these hosta photos outside a bakery a few kilometers from my home. 

Just look at the amazing curl in the drying leaves!!

 

The top edge of this one is dried and decaying and looks like lace folded over the still-vibrant part of the leaf.

Just before I left for Newmarket, the sumac leaves were flaming red! This is one of my favorite sights in autumn, especially when the leaves are back-lit, as these area. Again, taken with my cell phone camera

Two weeks ago I enjoyed a beautiful autumn day in Gatineau Park. This tree photo seems to express, to me, the joy I felt on being in the woods that day. Is this not a happy looking tree?

 

During the walk in the woods, I found more curled leaves. I wonder if this look could be recreated in a quilt?

Hostaholic

Yesterday my copy of The Hosta Journal arrived in the mail. This is a quarterly Journal published by The American Hosta Society. I'm very honoured to be in this publication with my article "Hostaholic". 

A big thank you to quilter and hosta lover, Cheryl Clark, who drew my work to the attention of Editor Bob Olson. Thanks to Janet Mills for the design and layout of the article. I have uploaded the article in pdf format to my website, and you can read it by clicking on this link. Be patient, it may take a minute to load.

Meet Robert C. Olson, Editor of The Hosta Journal and the Hosta Named After Him

Today I am making a very special post that is a little different from my usual. As you know from my February 23 post, Hostaholic, I have just written an article for The Hosta Journal. In the last couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of meeting (on-line), and working with, three people involved with The American Hosta Society. It was the Editor of their Journal, Dr. Robert Olson, that contacted me about the possibility of an article. Cheryl Clark, a member of the Society who is also a quilter and hosta lover, passed along my Quilting Arts article to Dr. Olson. Thank you Cheryl (who, by the way, is a reader of my blog!).  I had the pleasure of working with Bob (Dr. Olson) and Janet Mills on the article. Dr. Olson and I have had some pleasant and educational (to me) chats about a variety of topics, including how one gets a hosta plant named after them. 

Dr. Olson wanted to leave a comment on my blog, but he wanted to be sure that all my readers would see it. That might not happen with a comment left at the end of my post. So he asked me to pass along the very kind and gracious message to my readers.

We at the Hosta Journal are delighted that Elaine consented to write a piece for us. Over the years we’ve displayed works by Botanical Art Schools and had photo contests, but this art form will open a whole new world to many members. We’ve seldom had an artist so adept at both photography and writing which makes her article all the more enjoyable. We look forward to sharing it with you.

And if some of you have some questions about hostas, or problems with them, please feel free to contact me. Elaine will provide you with my contact information.

Bob Olson, Editor The Hosta Journal

I thought I would give you the pleasure today of seeing Dr. Olson's garden, especially the hosta plant named after him. He says that his hosta garden "is small by collector standards".

Here is a photo of the hosta, 'Dr. Bob', "emerging and unfolding in the spring, a time of year that we all love to admire them."

This next photo is of the 'Dr Bob' hosta "in mid summer when a wild geranium chose to intertwine itself with the hosta. A concession to Nature in an otherwise rather formal garden."

I asked Dr. Olson to provide a bit of information about himself for readers. Here is a list of his accomplishments and a bio with his story about his involvement with hostas.

Robert C. Olson, MD

Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Gastroenterology 
University of Minnesota Medical School.
Past President American Hosta Society
Editor The Hosta Journal

Bob began gardening with his mother as a young boy, but didn’t return to it until he returned from service in Vietnam with the US Navy. Friends at the Minneapolis Garden Club introduced him to hostas, and it was love at first sight. At one point he had over 500 varieties of hostas, but began downsizing when his wife said the garden was looking like a “stamp collection”. She was right, hostas like other perennials look best when properly displayed. 

In 1995 he led a group of hosta aficionados to Japan (almost all hostas come from mutations or hybridization of a few species from Japan); there they hired plant hunters to take them into the rugged mountains and remote islands to search for species hostas growing in the wilds. They successfully found and brought back scores of native plants.

Now retired he enjoys his garden and corresponding with hosta lovers all over the globe as the editor of the AHS Journal.

Thank you Dr. Olson (Bob) for being a guest on my blog today. It is an honour having an article in  the spring issue of The Hosta Journal.