Sunday, April 26, 2009

Rocks and Stars = Rock Star


A friend sent me this newsclipping of my husband,Bruce who appeared in a local newspaper with a headline "Rock Star". We have been together for over 30 years and he has had many titles over that time, but Rock Star was a new one :0) He has many passions in his life besides me that include astronomy, hockey, music and math.

Bruce has enjoyed sharing his love of astronomy with people of all ages.
Recently He has been busy speaking to school children and local libraries as part of some programs celebrating " The International Year of Astronomy". His current presentations have included some information about meteorites because of a meteorite fall last November in Saskatchewan (our neighbouring province). If you're interested, Bruce has set up a website with some wonderful photographs of the Buzzard Coulee Meteorites. It is amazing to see the beauty of the meteorites when a slice is taken and shown under a microscope - there are some beautiful colors. It looks like bits in a stain glass window. Isn't it amazing how you can find colors in so many different places!



A few years ago, I entered a small quilt that I made for Bruce in a guild show. Bruce's Churndash is the wall hanging quilt on the bottom left. It is made using a colorwash technique. I love the wash effect where the colors blend together to form an overall design.

Don't you love Bruce's coat- it was bought at a local artisan fair that had clothing from Africa. The jacket's cuffs are pretty worn now but he did love that jacket. It was the perfect coat to wear to a quilt show.

Speaking of quilt shows- My compliments to Amy Ellis for hosting the Virtual Quilt Show. In the end, there was around 575 quilters that shared there talents and beautiful quilts. I loved visiting all the blogs and seeing the wonderful works of talented women and men. The stories behind those quilts were always interesting and often moving. Quilting is a powerful venue to express one's creative energies. As I read the stories, it was evident that the quilts were made with love and caring meant for the recipients to feel wrapped in the warmth of those loving relationships. After many days of interesting reading, I have finally been to everyone's blog on quilt show's list. As a participant, I was visited by many bloggers this week. I have added some new names to my blog list and plan to continue to visit many of my new quilting friends. I will look forward to participating in the next virtual Quilt Show in October.

There was some prizes awarded at the Virtual Quilt Show. I was one of the fortunate ones who won one of the those prizes- I will receive 2 yards of Amy Butler fabric. A big thank you to the sponsor of this lovely prize.


I made this coin quilt for Bruce to celebrate a special birthday. I think of it as all the colors of our love. We often have a conversation about the color of stars, which I manage to only identify correctly occasionally. My color sense escapes me when it comes to the night sky ( though I do see Mars as red)LOL. However the batiks in this quilt are rich and reflect many of the colors seen in the natural environment. I wrote about some coin quilts in one of my earlier posts- they are lots of fun to make - you only need scraps of different fabrics to make a fabulous looking quilt. The bar sashing looks a bit complicated but is really quite simple to make. It is from a book called "Quilt Africa".

Spring continues to elude us in Alberta - the days are cool with the occasional flurries... Meanwhile my hyacinth bulbs have sprouted leaves and the robins and squirrels think Spring has arrived... Hopefully these spring signs mean that the warmth is not far behind.
Until next week, be well..
Regards,
Anna

13 comments:

Cathi said...

Wow -- thanks for posting the link to the site with those pictures of the meteorite slices. They're absolutely amazing!

Susan said...

your quilts are lovely I found your blog fromt he quilt festival Amy had. I must say the quilt on your blog header is postiviely beautiful. IS that the Pinwheel Star from Fon and Porter. I just started one for myself. I hope some day I can quilt like you
Hugs
Susan

Beth said...

Congrats on the win from the quilt festival! 2 yards of fabric woo hoo!!!! :) who would turn that down!!! Love your beautiful coin quilt, I have one of those on my 'to do' list :) This quilt festival was great wasn't it, really enjoyable looking at all those beautiful quilts and connecting with other bloggers! I still haven't seen them all! I'm north of Edm.

Pam said...

It was amazing how many blog links there were in the quilt festival. I went around to a few although I didn't participate. Congratulations for making the rounds to all of them!

I am sorry to hear that your weather is not great yet. It certainly has not been a fun winter!

Micki said...

That was a great story about your DH and I love your quilts!
Micki

imquilternity said...

I love your coin quilt. GREAT colors! Thanks for your very nice comment on my blog and congratulations on winning the Amy Butler fabric. I'm still not finished visiting all the wonderful blogs and seeing the gorgeous quilts"!

Wanda said...

The Birthday quilt is definitely my taste as well. So beautiful and..real. The colors are amazing. Also...Bruce's website is fascinating. And you're right...the slices are incredible. I got a great laugh out of the "rock star" caption. I collect rocks and go a couple times a year to larger rock shows in Europe. But people never get what my "rock show" is! It's all good though. Thank you so much for sharing

Michele Bilyeu said...

What a fabulous post, Anna! And I not only love Bruce's rock star quality, but his tshirt and his beautiful quilt in his honor...not to mention your lovely, lovely wording on that piece! My husband and kids are all astronomy fanatics and I've been to shown so many stars and constellations by now that I should know them all, but I don't! Must be the Alaskan in me...we only see a fraction of them and in all of the wrong places up there;)

Sand and Sunshine said...

Congrats on being a winner! I read through the winner's list but didn't make the connection. Enjoy your new fabric, as I'm certain you'll find a good use for it.

You're right that is exactly the right jacket to wear to a quilt show.

Your coin quilt is beautiful! Making one is on my someday list. LOL!

Unknown said...

Just wanted to check in. Have time this morning fo visit some of my favorite blogs. You do have a great "Rock Star"

Anonymous said...

Does that make you a rock star groupie? :)

Orcsmom said...

Nice to meet ya! Yes we do have several common factors! 1 son, almost the same age, 1 hubby, Jane Austin and quilting! I do make some Cannuck jokes, all in fun, due to my favorite mother in law being a Cannuck! She is from Regina, Skatch., but she has been in the states since she was 18, and well, she is really old, so needless to say, that is a lo-o-ong time! I actually have know her longer than my husband, and it took her 2 years to introduce me to my hubby, so what does that tell you?! And yes, I do have dirt on her, but I keep it neatly in my back pocket as my get our of jail free card! But seriuously, she is an awsome lady, who probably knows me better than my BFF or hubby for that matter, and I consider myself very, very lucky! I also have a great mom myself. Well that is enough for know, have a great week-end and looking forward to blogging with ya!

Pam

Vicki said...

What a lovely birthday present for Bruce. I love the colours in the coin quilt, they are so vibrant. I'll have to check out the book you mentioned "Quilt Africa" sounds very interesting.

Also thanks for posting the link to Bruce's site on the meteorites, very interesting.