The Cherry Tree Quilts Retreat in the Okanagan

I`m home recovering from a big bad cold. My husband caught it in Venice, and I came down with it two days after getting home. It wasn`t so bad the first few days, but things got worse near the end of the first week, just as I was heading off for a week of teaching in British Columbia.

I flew into Kelowna, British Columbia a week ago this past Sunday to teach for a week at the Cherry Tree Quilts retreat. This is the fourth consecutive year I have taught here.

I found the weather in the Okanagan Valley perfect. Warm, but not too warm, and sunny every day The leaves were beginning to turn, and that provided a beautiful and strong contrast to the very blue skies.

Once again I stayed with my friend Barb, who is the owner of Cherry Tree Quilts. Can you beat this view of vineyards and the lake? Barb wakes up to this every day.

Cherry Tree Quilts has expanded several times in its first five years of business. It is a well-stocked quilt shop with lots of beautiful fabric, on the Main St. in Summerland, British Columbia, Canada.

Keeping true to my tradition of sharing the cats and dogs I meet in my teaching travels, let me introduce you to `Bing` (yes, as in Bing Cherry).

We had a large, bright and spacious classroom at the local United Church, where 18 eager students gathered to get creative.

On the first day we dyed fabric to be used for the nature piece each student would be designing in the last three days of class. My voice made it through day one, but it was very sore.

On Day 2 I had no voice, so our only option was for me to use a whistle to get the group`s attention, and then whisper the instructions during my demo to one of my students (Joan, who used to be a school principal). Joan imparted my instructions to the class in an authoritative fashion ;-) We managed. The topic was Liberated Radial Piecing. Although I am aware that for many students the main event for them was the three-day design class coming thereafter, they embraced a bit of liberated piecing with great gusto, and it gave them something to work on when the going got tough with their nature designs. I think Judy was the first to complete her radial design.

These are only a few of the designs that developed. There were many others, but I was sick and just didn`t get photos of all of them. This is Ellen.

 Brenda,

For the next three days I managed to have enough voice to impart what I needed to over an hour or two of talking throughout the day, and then one-on-one consultations with students. I rested my voice in the evenings.

Designing your own nature quilt (my class is called `Inspired by Nature, Designed by You`) takes a lot or front end work to choose a composition and create a pattern. After that it is a slow and painstaking process of choosing the most appropriate fabric for each part. Some great pieces were started, and I look forward to receiving photos of them when they are finished.

Beth:

Judy

Brenda

 Debra

 `
Lynne

Alicia

 Ann

 Joan

Again, this is just a sampling of pieces started in class. 

Some students brought Show and Tell of their own work, and I have to say this is one of the most experienced and talented groups of students I have taught to date. I will have to get permission to share some of their own work on my blog.

Here`s the group! What a great group, and how patient they were with me in my less than optimal state. Thank you Enid, Alison, Judy, Joan, Lynne, Carole, Val, Dianne, Beth, Anne, Grovenore, Brenda, Debra, Doreen, Ellen, Rita, Ann, and Alicia!

I had one day to tour around on Saturday before flying home on Sunday. Barb took me to a couple of wineries. We ended up having lunch at Hillside Winery, where the remaining photos were taken. Did a little shopping and headed home for a late afternoon nap.

My cough is improving, but my voice is still hoarse. I`ll be resting it more this month as I am headed to the studio soon. Stay tuned!

Dye Happy, Part 4 & Student Work

Yesterday was Session 4 of my Dye Happy class at Wabi Sabi, so I'm sharing some photos. By the way, for those of you on the western side of Canada, I will be teaching this 5 day class at Cherry Tree Quilts, in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, August 18-22. My "Hosta Leaves 101" class has also been added for August 16.

This fabric was created by Ruth using black-eyed peas bound with elastic bands.

 

More flour paste resist 

and bomaki shibori

 and a value gradation by Bev.

 Folded fabric by Valerie.

Arashi shibori T-shirt by Bev.

Becky at the soy wax batik station, wearing her arashi shibori T-shirt.

Students took turns at the soy wax batik station, and at other times worked on whatever project they wanted. Becky decided to dye another colourwheel.

I treated myself to a couple of dyed tunics recently. These are actually dress blanks I purchased at Dharma Trading Company. They fall a couple of inches above the knee, and I think will look best with cropped leggings.

On to some student work. Judy took my "In Full Bloom" class several months ago, and made this poppy. She dyed the background fabrics in our Dye Happy class and brought the finished result to class yesterday. Love how the centre picks up the blue of the background and the diagonal value gradation in the background.

Barb Westfall took my In Full Bloom class in Winnipeg back in March and sent a photo of her finished piece. Her work also features a diagonally pieced background. Great job on the values.

This is my original quilt, "Kissing Joy". The poppy pattern that students are using comes from the bottom poppy on this quilt. This photo of Wendy Wood and I was taken at the Manitoba Prairie Quilters show and conference in March 2014. Thanks for the photo Wendy.

I heard a report that several students at the Huron-Perth Quilt Guild finished their poppies and had them displayed at their quilt show this spring. This one, by Thea Rijkhoff-Ramler, was shared on Facebook. I love the little red accents she has placed in the wonky background blocks.

This peony was made by Sylvia Young in my two-day (design your own) "In Full Bloom" class last year.

Heather Williams won a second place at the Common Thread Quilt Guild's show two weekends ago, for the piece she began in my Liberated Radial Piecing class.

Always a pleasure sharing student work :-))

The Okanagan Valley: Summerland Ornamental Gardens

Back from visiting family for Thanksgiving, and my sister is now visiting for a couple of days. I'm also packing for next week's Dyeing to Quilt class at the Haliburton School of the Arts.  In the mean time, I have not shared these photos, taken at the Ornamental Gardens in Summerland, British Columbia, on our last day there.  Enjoy the colour!