Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Some pictures of a lovely local quilt show....

Summertime is coming and I thought it was time for a new look LOL !

June continues to be a busy time for me but a week from today my school kids will begin summer holidays and the following day, so will I. Two weeks ago we moved back to our individual classrooms after a two month hiatus in the gym while they completely renovated our classrooms. Since our return, we have continued to move things around the classroom, emptied boxes and tried to keep the students engaged in some learning activities.
After hours, I have written reports, filled out forms and sorted things. On occasion, I have worked on my quilting project and made a few bead bracelets. We have visited a conservatory for plants called Muttart's that are located in four glass pyramids.

As you can see in this picture, I have quilted my life is a trip quilt. I need to get it bound and a label placed on it this upcoming weekend. This past weekend we went on a short journey as all my school paperwork was completed. There was a quilt show in a small town called Wetaskwin, about an hour's drive from home. The show called "Quilting by the Lake" was held in a lovely building that overlooked a ravine and water. The 20 women group showed some beautiful quilts. They had a lovely wall hanging of their guild members to identify all the talented quilters.
Here you can see some of the beautiful view from the balcony ( which had some lovely curved spaces in its design too. I love quilts that have circles and use batiks, so this quilt was my favorite in the show. The person used some gorgeous batik fabrics. This quilt was hung in a corner spot that was a sea of color - Since I am a huge fan of color I really enjoyed this particular area of the show.

There is some cool variations of Bento box patterns and the one on the right was a design like that. I wish our camera could really capture the rich colors of some of these quilts. They were so pretty and the colors quite vibrant.
Caryl Bryer Fallert has created some amazing designs and this wallhanging is one of her patterns. If you look at the folds you can see one side is a bright color and the other side black. The quilter did a fabulous job on their interpretation of the pattern.

Some of the ladies in the group decided to have a 9 patch exchange and then created a challenge with it. There were some really interesting ways they used the blocks that they had traded with each other. The photo shows a design variation that was really appealing to me, because of the color gradations and the on point arrangement. It made me want to get out my scrap box and start quilting.
Here is a view from another direction on the balcony. One of my favorite kinds of patterns are quilts that use star fabrics and star blocks. Isn't the funky star quilt fun? I think the star fabrics in some of these quilts are glorious. The quilts on the balcony had been shown in some previous shows and remain stunning. They have the show every two years and I certainly will look forward to seeing their show again. Thank you ladies for a grand afternoon of beautiful quilts that were inspiring to me. We had such a nice time looking at the quilts. There were also some interesting bags, tablerunners and clothing. There was over 100 pieces to view and to touch, if you wore the white gloves:D One person had created a laptop bag and another had made a table runner with cording shaped in a spiral design to add texture to it.

There were a few vendors that had some patterns and fabric for sale. I did a buy one piece of fabric with blue poinsettias on it. It was a great price and how can one resist a piece of fabric with poinsettias!!

When we left the show we journeyed on to my parents in Red Deer where we stayed over night. It was lovely to have dinner with them and then spend some time catching up with one another. I was particularly glad to spend time with my dad to celebrate Father's Day. We went out to breakfast and had some more family time before heading home in the early evening.
My mother and sister found this wonderful quilted heart picture that they gifted to me.
It says:Mothers are like quilts, lives pieced together, stitched with smiles and tears, bound with love and memories that last throughout the years. They thought that I would love it and they were right- I especially like the hand painted matting that was made just for me. A friend of the family's is a marvelous painter and she added the very pretty floral border on it. I still haven't decided where I am going to hang it, but probably it will go up in my sewing area.

I received some very pretty thimbles in the mail this past week from Australia.
Naomi sent me a set of wonderful decorative thimbles (7) that had belonged to her mother. They are all so pretty and I think every quilter's area should have some quilting decorations in them. I plan to display them in my quilt room too. Thank you so much for your generous gift Naomi.

Hope you enjoyed the little quilt tour-

Some areas south of me are struggling with flooding just now. We will hope that the sun comes out soon.

Happy summer to all my northern counterparts. I hope that winter's arrival in the south is not too chilly.

Warmest regards,
Anna

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Life is a trip .....


This trip around the world pattern is from Bonnie K Hunter. Bonnie is a wonderful quilter who has a number of free patterns on her website. She also has written two books and is currently working on another one. Do check out her website.. My version of her trip around the world is at the top of the list to be quilted. I hope to get it quilted this weekend. Pedal to the metal...

June is a month that flies by when you are a teacher- at least here in Western Canada. This is the last month of school for my kindergarten students. To say that this particular year end is full, is an understatement. My teaching partner and I had been teaching in the gym for the past eight weeks while they gave our classrooms a face lift ( perhaps it should have been me that they gave one too as well LOL) Together we had 48 students in the gym. It was a busy happening place every day. On Monday we moved back to our own classrooms. We are now busy trying to sort our way through the sea of boxes and unpacking the materials into new cupboards and a new floor space. One thing that you learn is how much stuff you collect over the years- some of it good and other items that is a multiple that you will never ever use up!!! In between the sorting, we are still trying to teach our students- School finishes on June 29.. This past weekend I finished writing report cards( still need to edit) and got started on some other paperwork.... You got to love June :)

The last couple of weeks since I posted have been filled with some social things too. My son's girlfriend Rose, had a birthday so we went out to dinner to celebrate..
We also took a trip to the Art Gallery to have a last look at La Petite Danser. It was a terrific exhibition and we are looking forward to seeing the new one that is coming in the summer that has Looney Tunes cartoons as well as MC Escher. My husband is a big fan of Escher - His perspective drawings are fascinating - pictures that use tessellations or optical illusions that have no beginning and no end.

I have often thought about making a tessellation quilt- Jinny Beyer has a wonderful book about them that I have borrowed a number of times from our local public library. Do you have a list of quilts that you think about making? One of the things I find about the blogs, is that there are so many wonderful quilters making amazing quilts out there. My list keeps growing with new techniques and patterns- now if I could just put that inspiration into creating some new quilts! Summer time is coming very soon...

Thanks to all of you who visited during the Virtual Blogging festival. I received so many lovely comments on my bargello quilt- It really is a fun technique and there are some stunning bargello designs out there. I have only worked my way through about half of the quilts but I know that Amy leaves the link open so you can still visit the quilt show long after the posting of new quilts stops. Just click on the button on the top right hand side of my blog.
Amy is giving away one of those Go cutters with three die cutters - They look pretty amazing and a few of my blogging friends have been blogging about them. Go and visit Amy's blog - you might just win the cutter..

Now I will finish with a few other giveaways that are out there just now:
Michele is a new quilt blog to me and it is always fun to discover a new blog.
Melinda has the most beautiful hand made necklace she is giving away- As well she is has some other lovely things that she is parting with..I really enjoy seeing all her use of vintage items combined with some new things. Go quickly she soon will draw her name..
Jane is having a week long giveaway with new items every day- There are some lovely fabrics to admire and perhaps win- Take a chance and stop by..
Christine of Once upon a quilt is giving away a quilt top she bought off Ebay.. She is celebrating 200 followers what a nice accomplishment Christine- She has a lovely blog and etsy shop..
Riel is a fellow Canadian with a fun and fancy giveaway

and last but not least my friend Rosa is giving away some Chunkettes.. Rosa makes me laugh- she has the greatest sayings.. She and husband Gilbert have just bought a longarm quilting machine- She is from Eastern Canada- from the province in New Brunswick
Go and Check out the Chunkettes...

Until next time, happy creating..
Regards,
Anna