A Potpourri of News - now just where I have I been lately?

 I don't even know where to begin, as the past 6 weeks have flown by. These last weeks have been filled with many things - some which were tied to the end of the school year.
 Here are the current flowers on our dining room table -some pretty pink and white carnations.
This lovely lady is my friend Brenda, who started her official retirement from our school district after over 35 years of teaching yesterday. Our friendship goes back to when I was a relatively new teacher ( my second school) We have maintained a friendship for over 30 years and I was delighted to be invited to her retirement. I am sure she is going to enjoy some great times with family and friends as well as exploring her passion for cooking, gardening and scrapbooking. Happy Retirement, my friend!
Here is a photograph of the lovely wallhanging that I received from Sharon (Vrooman's quilts) in the post awhile back. The photos do not do this beautiful wall hanging justice. There is some fabulous bead work on the crossstitched feathers. It is a really beautiful gift that I am honored to be its caretaker.

In the early part of June ( right in the middle of report card writing LOL) my local guild held their biannual quilt show. It was held in a seniors center that has some spectacular glass works hanging from the ceiling. I have included a smattering of the quilts that we saw-( we only had a couple of hours at the show so we missed some of the quilts, but what we did see was a wonderful collection of local talent) I loved this collection of musical notes - I think that they must play some beautiful melody - they sure look pretty together don't you think. Music of the heart  could be their title..




This Judy Niemeyer pattern is stunning and the young woman that made the quilt did a spectacular job of it. I believe that it was long arm quilted by one of our local long arm quilters named Matt Sparrow.

 He and his wife Bradie have a long arm quilting studio here in Edmonton, and do fantastic work. Perhaps one day I might try out long arm quilting but for now I am content to quilt on my Babylock quilting machine.
The Sparrow family are also very generous people- Tomorrow, they have invited quilters to come and use the long arm machines at the studio to make quilts for our friends who have been wiped out by the floods  in Southern Alberta.

 Recently our sister city of Calgary  and the surrounding areas ( High River, Canmore, Bragg Creek and Siksika Indian Nation) experienced some horrendous flooding.The central core of the city of Calgary was immersed in water in the as well as many housing districts along the Bow river. They evacuated many areas  of the city. The big hockey arena ( the Saddledome) and home to the Calgary Stampede grounds were saturated with flooding. There is also a wonderful Zoo there, that faced many challenges trying to keep all the animals safe. At one point, there was some concerns that the hippos might end up swimming down the river. Back to the quilt show...

I found this very fun quilting lady wall hanging utterly charming. I loved the details the quilter added to her quilt. I especially loved her red boa and the cat lying at her feet. She also has a fabulous earring in her ear.  
 Here are some very special men in my life- One of the things I did for Father's Day, was make a small collection of family photos in an album on my facebook page. The one on the left is our son, Kevin, when he was about 3 months old. The other one was taken this spring when he was home visiting. The photos were taken 25 years apart. I have always loved this baby photo- it always brings me joy looking at the two of them together.
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June has been a particularly rainy month here in Edmonton. We recently had lunch with some friends in a wonderful restaurant, Le Ronde, that rotates and gives some spectacular views of our fair city. You can see that the North Saskatchewan River is pretty high as well. It recently crested and the levels have now dropped. You can see on the right hand side that there are four pyramids that are a local plant conservatory.
In case you are wondering whether I  have abandoned quilting , I did finish these two sideline quilts.( I also got 9 baby wraps bound so they are ready for the next babies.
 This Pueblo pots quilt was given to this wonderful couple Ian and Charlotte to celebrate their relatively recently acquired home. ( it is only about a year late - LOL)
 I hope that they enjoy many happy years together in their lovely home.

 One of the fun things we brought to our school grounds was this bouncing castle, as part of our year end fun day . My school kids loved bouncing and crawling through the obstacle course.
We had a couple of heavy rains and a severe thunderstorm the night before my school kids were finished. One thunderstorm knocked out a transformer and left us without power for part of the last day of school.

I also finished the other Sideliner quilt that I called Floral Retreat. It was made for my friend, Deloris, who also retired. I know that she is going to enjoy lots of time travelling to visit her family in Louisana, Michigan and California. She is passionate about books and I will miss her friendship and our conversations about children's literature.

So there you have it - Life has indeed been full- I am looking forward to summer vacation- it is such a change of pace after the busyness of school. I plan to get some things done around the house ( I began cleaning the stove today-) As well I have some quilts to create. I will begin working on the signature block quilt tomorrow.
 We had intended to go to Banff later in the summer but with the flooding in that area of the Rockies, it may make road travel a little complicated. We think instead we will head to Jasper for a few days, which is another beautiful part of the Canadian Rockies but is farther north. I love the mountains- there is something very restful about going to stay there...

 Today was a lovely day- a visit to a couple of my favorite quilt shops and a wonderful second hand shop.(Needless to say, my fabric stash didn't get any smaller LOL... One of the things I love about summer, is the opportunity to connect and reconnect with my friends and family.
 My dear friend, Lou, came in from her lake cottage for the day. We had such a nice time together exploring our favorite haunts as well as having lunch together. I also spend some time on the phone with my dear friend, Val just catching up with one another. I even had some time with my spouse watching some of the tennis at Wimbledon.
Bruce began his summertime shifts as a public interpreter at the local observatory today.
 This evening I managed to finally put all the spring bunnies away and will take out some summer decor for the sideboard..
And so the summer begins- Hopefully I will return sooner and more regularly to any of you who are my blog friends. I have been quite neglectful of my blog this year. Thanks to you all, who continue to visit.  I have added a bloglovin link should you wish to follow my ramblings :O)
 Until next time, be well,
 Warmest regards,
 Anna