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
