Quiltmom's Journey

Special days and colorwash....

2012-01-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

Do you like colorwash designs? It is not as popular a techique these days, as it was a few years ago. Recently, I had a friend say that she didn't enjoy creating colorwash and was not going to make anything ever again that required using two inch squares. I quite enjoyed this technique once I got the hang of it. At first, I had lots of trouble sorting values of fabric, which is the real trick to making a great colorwash. This particular pattern was also made easier, by using a fusible grid to lay out the squares, prior to sewing. The pieces stuck on the grid but were moveable prior to heat pressing them in place. This Colorwash quilt was made for my grandmother to celebrate her 85th birthday. The central medallion block has 30 X40 2 inch squares. The quilt resides in my home these days, as my grandmother passed away in the fall of 2003. Sometimes I wrap myself in it, when I want to feel close to her again. She loved the quilt just like she loved us all- all encompassing and unconditionally.

You may have noticed that Mars the cat likes to test out my quilts- She was not at all interested in the cat mats, that I posted about last post. We were quite surprised by that, as she is often the tester of all my quilts. Here she is on Elizabeth's quilt, before I finished binding it. Notice the perfect donut shape Mars made and how neatly she fits in the circle areas! This quilt for Elizabeth is now complete- including the label which I put on this afternoon.

Winter has arrived here in Alberta- Last week was very cold and we had indoor recesses for the whole week. The temperatures dropped and the wind came up - when those two combine, it means long days for everyone at school. We play lots of movement games, dance and use the smartboard to keep us busy during our break times. I was glad to see the mercury rise today and am hopeful that my kids can get outside to play.
This morning, Bruce saw this hare hopping about in our backyard. He is a big fellow and often likes to reside under our deck in the backyard. He is pretty hard to see but you can find him right under the post that is close to the bottom of the antennae. We live fairly close to a ravine and the river valley and often see hares hopping about the neighbourhood. There coats change with the season- white in winter and brown in summer. Mother Nature has some amazing tricks for helping keep animals safe from their predators.

When I was digging around in the scraps upstairs, I found these little treasures. Here is the first thing that I ever remember sewing, besides a half apron which I also still own. I made the kangaroo stuffed toy in Grade 7. One day when I was looking in some old patterns in a second hand place,I found this pattern and had to buy it. I doubt I will ever make the toy again but it was nice to have the pattern as a keepsake. I have no idea where the toy is - long gone for sure. The other patterns are some embroidery patterns that my mother liked to make, when I was a kid. She did beautiful hand embroidery and taught me a number of stitches like French knots and lazy daisy, as well as the necessary running stitch. I haven't embroidered for a long time but you do see lots of beautiful stitcheries in quilts these days. Perhaps I will do some embroidery yet. Hmmmm... The last pattern is my tree pattern that I started before Christmas, which I had misplaced. It is now with the rest of the quilt bits so I can continue when I get a chance.
When I was at my parents, I turned these two beads into pendants that now can be worn. I love the colors that the artist used to make them. I have left my camera at school, so I can't show you the finished project- Sometime soon, I will try and take a photograph of them. Beads are such a fun distraction when I don't have a lot of time to play. Quilting takes a block of dedicated time before you have finished product. Beading is a great alternative to feed my creative juices when I have less time and feel the need to make something.

Here is a link to an earlier post that I wrote about my beloved Gran I think of her often and miss her presence in my life. Just recently, one of the other bloggers posted about pink cake- I stayed with my grandparents many summers on their farm. While I was there, we regularly took food to my grandfather, who was working in the fields. My Gran was a fabulous cook who could make something delicious out of a few basic ingredients. One thing she often made was white cake with pink icing decorated with coconut. It looked so pretty and tasted pretty good too. Whenever I see pink cake I automatically think of Gran and her cake. Today would have been her 95th birthday...

Last evening,I was out to a Lunar New Year dinner. It was a fun evening that was a fundraiser for a local service group, the Rotarians. The money raised, was going to help women who were in need of a safe living place. For dinner there were 10 dishes. All were delicious with some interesting ones like shrimp with peaches, and a three seafood dish. They also had ginger beef and singapore noodles. Part of the event was a silent auction as well as a live auction. I did bid on a few items but was not the winning bid for any of the items this time. I went with some ladies from my school staff, great fun was had by all. Some of our students created some dragon pieces to be auctioned at this event. This lunar New Year is the Year of the Dragon. The Rotarians awarded some individual prizes to the various school students, as well as a donation to the participating schools. Their generosity is much appreciated.

Tomorrow we have a niece( she turns 30) and a nephew(turns 20) celebrate birthdays. Happy Birthday to both of them. How is it that I am old enough to have nieces and nephews that are in their early thirties... Yikes time does indeed fly by.. Next weekend we will go to our great niece's baptism.. January is full of special days it seems...

I have been having some trouble commenting on some blogs and finding that somewhat frustrating- not quite sure what blogger is doing or how to solve it. Does anyone have any idea what to do? In most cases I can get to the blog and read the post- I just can't leave a comment on their post... the screen is just white All suggestions gratefully appreciated..

Time for me to go and get finished some cutting for my new quilt project. I have had most of the quilt cut for a couple of months now and this project has risen to the top of my pile..Perhaps next time I will have begun to sew some of the pieces together...
Wishing you joy,
Regards,
Anna

A New Year - Wishing you Joy......

2012-01-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to write a new post all during the Christmas vacation. I can hardly believe that I have been back to work for almost a full week without a post written. The Christmas break was quiet but full. One of the surprises of this winter is that our winter, so far, has been mild(warm temperatures have set new records on a couple of occasions) and we have very little snow especially for January. We recently returned from a trip to my parents who live in Red Deer(100 miles south). This is a photo of the local community gold course. As you can see there really isn't much snow! The golf course is down in the river valley and the skyline is some highrise apartments that over look the river valley.
One of my favorite quilters is Ruth McDowell who I had the privilege of seeing a number of years ago in Calgary. She recently offered this book " Art and Inspirations" on her website for a very reasonable price, so I put it on my Christmas list of books. I was very happy when it showed up in yesterday's mail. I believe that it is out of print except from Ruth, and I am thrilled to own my own copy. Do you have quilter's that make you want to explore new techniques? get quilting? start a new project? What are your favorite quilt books? There are so many wonderful quilters that are inspiring. My favorites include Jinny Beyer,Paula Nadelstern, Carrie Nelson of Schnibbles patterns, Kaffe Fassett and Ricky Tims. There are many other talented quilters out there. Who inspires you?

You may recall that our son Kevin, and his girl, Roseanne moved to Charlottetown,PEI over the summer. As travelling across Canada is quite expensive (especially during the Christmas holidays) they were not able to be with us during the holiday season. On Christmas Day,we enjoyed some face time with Kevin on my husband's I phone, which was a particular hit with my parents. It can be quite mind boggling to see the technology at work. Kevin was able to assist my mother with a computer problem from 4000 miles away in the blink of an eye- but I digress.. During the holidays, Kevin built a cat tree for their cats, Freddy, Lucy and Lily. They sent me some fleece, batting and measurements and asked me to make some cat mats for the cat tree. You can see that Dusty approved of them. She reminded me of the Princess of Princess and the pea fame laying on top of the five mats. I wonder if his cats will be as fond of them?
You can see that Dusty leads a hard dog's life in our house! My dear friend, Lou made me some beautiful quilted things for Christmas. She gave us this pair of navy batik pillowcases that are perfect for our bed. Don't they match our quilt perfectly? The quilt pattern is a feathered star that I made many years ago now- Each block had 150 pieces in it. I altered the design so that it became a medallion quilt with a chain border. It seemed easier at the time LOL...

Lou also made me this fabulous thread catcher with a sunflower pincushion. She has been exploring free motion quilting and did a wonderful design on the bag in variegated thread.

Right before the break, I took this quilt for Elizabeth to school to spray baste. Once the holiday festivities were over, I had a number of days to play and visit with friends. During the vacation, I was a home body most of the time, and had some dedicated quilting time. In the close up, you can see that I made some spiral flowers in her quilt blocks.
I still need to bind the quilt but I am pleased with the way that it quilted up. I took it to my folks to show them my latest quilting project. Hopefully, it will get finished this weekend so that E can enjoy snuggling with it. It is a good double sized quilt in size.
A while back a local quilter was looking to trade some fabric so I ventured up into my scrap bin to find some things for Michelle. I have been quilting for quite awhile now( fairly steadily since 1996) and the scrap bin often gets over run with bits from various projects. I periodically play in those bags, and cut up strips for scrap quilt projects. but somehow the bags take on a life of their own... They remind of Strega Nona's pasta bowl that continues making more and more pasta until there is pasta everywhere
Michelle and I spent a lovely afternoon with her two little girls at Tim Hortons. Nothing more Canadian than going to Tims for coffee or tea and donuts.. The little girls were wonderful and it is always great to get together with another quilter. I hope that Michelle and I will get a chance to meet again. Do check out her blog and see some of the things that she is busy creating... You can find Michelle'sblog here.

While I have not been commenting on many blogs lately, as the New Year arrived I was reading posts about words that would describe your hopes for this New year. I found this little quilt like Christmas card and loved it. The word Joy is a word that resonated with me. Living life with Joy, and finding joy in daily life, seems to me a great way to live.

Life can sometimes be very challenging. Recently, some dear friends both near and far, have been struggling to cope with the loss of loved ones. It is hard to find ways to live with joy during those difficult days. While there is no way to take away the pain of the loss of a loved one, my wish is that there will be things in one's daily life that can be a day brightener. To me, that is what living life with joy is about- finding the little things that helps to lift one's spirit even if only for a brief time. As we begin this New Year, may you find things that help celebrate the day.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Dear Santa

2011-12-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,
You know that I have tried to be a pretty good girl this year. I know that I should have written my Christmas list before this but somehow December has flown by and I haven't got around to thinking about anything that should go on the list. Well maybe one thing that I am dreaming about...
My friend Carolyn and I visited a local sewing shop a couple of weeks ago and I got to drive a Handi Sweet Sixteen quilting machine.. Oh my my.... if you were a little richer Santa, I would be adding this cool machine with the drop leaf table to the top of the list. It was one sweet machine to work on with a table set at the right height and the needle facing directly in front on me... I don't think it would fit under my little tree(shown in the photo here) I guess I will have to keep on dreaming about it...( In truth, I don't have anything on my Christmas list.. I feel fortunate to have so much when others are struggling to meet their daily needs.)
One of the things I did this past week was to take E.'s quilt to school to spray baste it. It sure makes it easier to quilt without having pins every few inches..

We had our Christmas concert on Wednesday. One of the students wore this beautiful medallion necklace- Just look at that great design - all those seed beads to wire into place...It was a very beautiful to look at and would have taken a long time to make....
A friend gave me this gorgeous Christmas poinsettia. I love Poinsettias because they were my wedding flowers. It is my husband and my wedding anniversary on Boxing Day(it is sort of a holiday here in Canada) I had silk poinsettias in my bouquet and we had poinsettias and white mums on our tables.
I think I mentioned in my last post that I would celebrate a birthday in a couple of days after the writing. I received this lovely wordle in a frame. It says such kind things about me - I was really touched by her gift.
A couple of friends had babies so I managed to get the binding on these two baby wraps. I loved the wild jungle print of the first one.
The second one was such a sweet looking fabric- I loved the pale green and with the pink minkee inside.
For most of this month we have had poinsettias sitting on our table. Can you see the beautiful Riley Blake jelly roll here in the photo. I won it from Kiera of Its sew Kiki..It is a pretty jelly roll and I am sure it will make something beautiful. Thank you so much Keira!
It has been a bit of struggle getting into the Christmas spirit this year but I did get this cute little handmade felted reindeer- He has such a handsome face and I love his ivy harness too
One of the things I have put up every year is our Christmas village. It is old fashioned looking, with houses of day's gone by, a church, some local stores and even a bus and a car stuck in the snow. It is quite pretty all lit up!

Today was the last day of school before the break. We made some Christmas decorations and had a popcorn and movie party in the afternoon. This past week was a busy one at school with many Christmas concert rehearsal and the busyness that comes with the final days before the break. My students were so excited when Santa came to visit. we have enjoyed lots of special events that deviated from the regular routine so it will be nice to return to the regular schedule in January.
I am not much of a baker- my mom and sister are much better bakers than I. I had not done any baking, so this evening I made a couple of squares and made some nuts and bolts. I will make a ham spread dip and one more square tomorrow before we head to our family gathering.
We will go to visit my parents and take some treats to share.. I still have some wrapping to do ... Christmas has kind of snuck up on us...
Wishing you and yours a wonderful festive season. Take time to enjoy the colors and sights of the season.
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Season of Birthdays...

2011-11-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend I have spent relaxing after a busy few weeks of writing report cards. They are now completed and in the hands of my principal, who also has read them. In between writing, I have tried to get a little quilting and blog reading done, not to mention playing that crazy game "Farmville" on Facebook.
I am not sure why I spend so much time trying to create a fake farm, but there it is...I know that it makes my mother laugh to see me farming my farm...
We all have things that we do that we find amusing/distracting or, are our so called" guilty pleasures". When I get up in the morning, I listen to a local radio station called CKUA . The early morning show is called "Rise and Shine" and is hosted by my favorite radio voice. Her name is Alison Brock. She asks people to send in request songs that she calls " Guilty pleasures".. The other morning she played "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. Do you have some guilty pleasure song that takes you away from your day to day life? one that makes you smile? or one that you want to get up and dance? I digress...
My sister in law, Margaret celebrated a birthday today- She has a few quilts that I have created for her and her husband. Here she is holding her " Trip around the World" quilt that resides in her summer home in Newfoundland. The one on the table is a mate to my sister in laws quilt.. It belongs to a friend of mine that lives in Manitoba.. Have you ever created more than one version of a quilt when you make a pattern? I could not decide on the color combinations so I made two..
I have enjoyed playing with the Ricky Tims convergence pattern. Last fall my sister in law and her husband celebrated a special anniversary so I thought they would enjoy this quilt...
My favorite of her quilts is from my quilt photograph vaults. This one is one that I called "the Secret Garden".
" The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my very favorite books as a child. I made this quilt for Margaret around 2003. She is a distinquished professor in the library school at the University of Alberta. I knew I had to make her this quilt. The pattern came from the Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine in the early 2000's.

This past week,our god daughter Elizabeth celebrated her 16th birthday. I really wanted to finish this 10 minute block quilt for her, but so far have only managed to get her top done. I still need to decide whether I will add some fancy quilting with variegated thread in the big spaces. The blocks are large (20 inch) in measurement so I am thinking they may need more intricate quilting... Hopefully over Christmas vacation I will get it quilted... I used two layer cakes (24 pieces each) from Connecting Threads for the blocks.
From a distance, it is hard to see the multicolored background on the black batik. I love batiks and I will have used every last scrap of this one to make the binding for this quilt. I am not sure what fabric I am going to put on the back of this quilt.

A friend of mine just celebrated a special number birthday. A few weeks ago when I went to the bead show, I found this lovely little thread bear. He is made of Thread Play on felt and was quite a handsome guy. Perhaps one day I will try making one myself. If only I could add more time to my day (and additional energy too)..

Yesterday I got some quilting done after my school work was completed- I finally added the borders to the tesselation quilt that has been hanging around all fall.
I finished this blanket wrap for a friend's nephew. There are so many bright and cheery fabrics to use for children and this one certainly fits that description..I love how soft the purple/blue minkee is on the inside. I hope that he will enjoy the bright colors while sleeping in the baby wrap.

Over the past 10 days there has been a wonderful Henry Glass blog Hop that shared some wonderful projects, as well some family traditions, recipes and information from the various designers who participated in the hop. While the hop is over- you still can access the projects as well as enter to win some fabulous prizes on the Henry Glass blog site. Check it out on this link for the Henry glass blog hop. You will need to collect all the special words from each post.
Victoria at Bumblebeans is giving a chance for a Baby Go.. I have been looking at that cool cutting tool for awhile now and trying to win one - I have been lucky a number of times these past few years so I can understand that it might not be my turn.. Whoever wins it, will love playing with the die cut designs. Victoria has a wonderful blog - do check it out..

Bruce and I had the opportunity to go out to the Art Gallery of Alberta. In the current exhibition, there are some lovely French landscapes that were painted prior to the Impressionist painters.
We also stopped in at a local pottery show on Saturday. There was some lovely Renaissance/Medieval music being played and some pretty pots to view. While I did not buy any pottery for our home, Bruce bought me a very handsome purse with flowers (an early birthday present as it is my birthday on Tuesday).
The weekend has been very pleasant - Time with loved ones, and time together, as well as time to quilt... Now if I could only get my laundry put away...
Have a great week - my week's projects- school paperwork, a haircut?, beading and perhaps quilting...Maybe I will bring out the Christmas village... Hmmmmmm...

To my American friends and family- a Very Happy Thanksgiving...
Warmest regards,
Anna

Amy's Fall Blogger Festival 2011

2011-10-30T12:48:00.001-07:00

Each spring and fall, Amy of Amy creative side blog hosts a quilt festival to coincide with Quilt Market and the Houston International Quilt show. I have entered this festival a few times, because there are so many quilts to view and its fun to meet other quilters who inspire me to keep quilting.
This year, my fall quilt offerings are two Christmas ones that I made some years ago.I have also included the beginnings of a new Christmas quilt project. The first one is a paper pieced poinsettia pattern by Eileen B. O'Sullivan that I made around 2001. My wedding flowers were poinsettias when I married 30 years ago last December- it soon will be 31. We were married the day after Christmas, which we refer to as Boxing Day here in Canada. It was the first paper pieced project that I tackled and I still love it. The original pattern was meant as a wall hanging but I used the flower as a center of the quilt and bordered it out to be a nice sized couch quilt. I have since collected more poinsettia fabrics and one day I will make another Christmas quilt with them.

The second quilt that I wanted to share is double wedding ring quilt. I made it to honor my father's mother memory- her name was Olive and she was a quilter I am told. Unfortunately none of her work remains and I never knew her because she passed away before I was born. She was 43 years old. I chose the double wedding pattern because it was a traditional pattern that she might have made- though grandmother Olive's quilt would have been made with scraps and old clothing. My version was completed about 2003 and it does not have pieced rings like the original design.She would have traced her pieces on cardboard and cut it out with scissors. My center of the rings were not fussy cut. If I were to make one again with continuous rings, I would fussy cut the centers so that I could have had central flowers in them. It was one of the first template quilts I ever made- I used an acrylic template and a rotary cutter to cut the pieces.
Now, there is a wonderful machine called an Accuquilt Go Cutter. It has dies that would make the cutting of this quilt less challenging (and probably more accurate.) Perhaps one day I will own one of those machines...
I showed this wedding ring quilt in a local guild show a number of years ago. It is one of my smaller quilts - about a twin size and it graces our couch each Christmas.

This weekend I started a new Christmas quilt. On my last post I shared the pile of fabrics I collected to make my new quilt. On Thursday night I turned those piles of fabrics into 12X18 rectangles. The next step was to use Freezer paper and trace the design on to it. Once labeled, I then cut it into the various tree pieces. Yesterday, I shuffled the trees from one group to another set of 10 fabrics ( there are 10 red, 10green and 10 cream fabrics ) Once shuffled,one begins to sew them in the order given on the Pieces of the Heart pattern by Sandy Gervais.

The pattern's name is Tree's up- Lights on! When pieced together you end up with some wonky edges. I will later square up the blocks before putting them into a quilt. It will be awhile before this quilt gets completed as I have other projects to finish first. It was like making a jigsaw puzzle and one has to pay some attention to the shuffle order and the sewing sequence. It was fun and I will look forward to getting more of the blocks finished after I complete the fall school report cards and other school work.... One has to work in order to play you know...
If you like these kind of designs you can find more them by checking some of the Buggy Barn patterns as well as other designs by Sandy Gervais. The Buggy barn has a number of seasonal ones that include pumpkins, Santas and witches. Sandy has some fun hats and shoe patterns as well as other seasonal ones..

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my Christmas quilts. Click on the link and go and visit the other quilters who are participating in the blogging show. As always, there are some real beauties shown and some wonderful stories that go along with the quilts.

Thanks for dropping by- I hope you stop by for another visit..
Warmest regards,
Anna

A new project?

2011-10-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

Fall is the season for Mums and this spider like Mum currently graces our dining room table. My husband returned from a weekend trip to Jasper and commented on how much it had opened while he was gone. This bunch of flowers is over a week old and still going strong.. Do you have a favorite cut flower for your table? Sunflowers are my favorite flowers but they do not last as long as some others like carnations, alstroemeria, and these very pretty mums.. I don't have any new quilts to show you just now, so I thought I would share one of my earlier creations.. This very bold black, red and white double Irish chain belongs to my parents. It dates back to 2000. My parents use it in their guest room and the colors are still just as rich. I call it my art version of this design because of the bold colors.

One of my projects today was to go upstairs to find some fabrics in my stash for a new quilt. I was looking for traditional Christmas colors(red, green and cream) While I was searching, I found this old crazy quilting Christmas stocking project. I had begun to do the embroidery and added the embellishments- if I get some time, perhaps, I will add a few stitches to it, now that I have unearthed it from the boxes upstairs. Why was I looking for these Christmas fabrics? You see,I am going to a quilting workshop this weekend where we are going to make a very funky tree pattern. I needed to find 30 fat quarters of fabric (or equivalent). As you can see there are some cream fabrics but not near as many as the red and the green fabrics.I have a tendency to buy color and not very much neutral fabric.. I was lucky that I bought the fat quarters with some browns or I might have had to go and buy creams for this project LOL
Here are plenty of Christmas reds- There is more red fabrics in the boxes upstairs but I brought down the fabrics that did not have big bold prints on them as I don't think they would work for this project. There is a red piece that has red scottie dogs that is quite old.
It was a bit of a challenge to find Christmas green.. Some of the pieces from the stash are very old(the scottie dogs I used to make a baby bunting bag for my new born baby son who will be 24 at Christmas). What is the oldest piece of fabric in your stash? Like the reds, there are other greens but some had busy prints, and others were on the yellow end of the spectrum. Now, all I have to do is press the 30 + fabrics and have them ready for Friday night.
While Bruce was gone to Jasper, Carolyn and I ventured out to another little craft sale. This time is was to a hand made lampwork bead show. I brought some pieces to add to the bead treasure chest but, most of them are for Christmas gifts so they will have to stay hidden for awhile longer. I did buy this very fun fairy pendant and a pair of earrings that I admired. I added the pandora style Halloween beads to a bracelet chain. My school kids are going to love Frank, the monster.

Recently, I asked Carolyn if she would like to attend a local guild meeting. I had not attended one for quite awhile, and thought it might be fun to go. I must have had on my lucky shoes or something because I came home with the guest prize that was provided by one of the local quilt stores. I also had the lucky ticket from the book draw. I was happy to share my winnings with Carolyn. She is a talented quilter who is quite interested in art type quilts. The book was more about techniques that would be used to make art quilts- besides sharing ones winnings is always fun.

And some very fun Halloween things that came from Carolyn. The buttons are very fun and I know my kindergarten kids will love them when I get them sewn on my Halloween vest.
I entered a giveaway contest quite awhile back that was hosted by Oz Jane. It is a lovely Australian quilt address book (the book is from Homespun magazine)and I had been thinking that I need to put some of my addresses in one spot, instead of in a bunch of different places. It is a lovely book,Oz Jane, Thank you.

Since I posted last, my beloved celebrated his birthday and we went to see a 3 D Peter Gabriel concert movie. It was very cool- you felt like you were sitting in the orchestra pit. If I reached out, the 3 D glasses made you feel like you could almost touch the people on the stage.
Last week, I managed to get the fall cold that my students had, and have been busy with school projects. The fall is flying by and it soon will be report card time. Bruce has been away some, with work related things so I have been keeping our home fires burning.
I am still working on finishing the cutting for my fall quilt. Most of my current projects are bits and pieces of things that, hopefully, one day will be quilts for some special people in our lives. It is always tricky for me to balance work and play- I spent time with good friends this weekend (time well spent) and did school work too. I am off to do some more school work before this evening is over. I am facing some work deadlines so my quilting projects will have to wait a bit longer...

I hope that wherever you live in blogland, that you are having some good times with family and friends and still getting some time to feed your creative spirit.

Warmest regards,
Anna

A Journey to the country to visit a quilt store.....

2011-10-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Fall is probably my favorite season- the weather is often pleasant and the colors are rich. A little while back Bruce helped me dig out the fall decorations and I finally put away the spring rabbits. Somehow summer never made an appearance- at least as far as house decor. I am particularly fond of ceramic jugs and thought this scarecrow was one handsome guy.
A couple of weeks ago my friend Carolyn emailed me and asked if I wanted to go on a road trip with her to a little shop Behind the seams that is out in the country north of the city. After a little discussion we found a time that worked for both of us and off we went..( Do click on Carolyn's name and it will take you to her fabulous post about our fun road trip)
The drive was beautiful- it was a mild day by fall standards here in Alberta (about 12 degrees C). You can see the contrast of the big blue sky that I associate with the prairies. I am a fourth generation Albertan, a woman whose genealogy has connections with England and Sweden on my mother's side, and with the United States on my father's side. My great grandparents gave me agricultural roots even though I never lived on a farm myself. There is nothing more beautiful to me than the big blue prairie sky against the golden crops.

In the country one often sees barns (both old and new) that mark the landscape. I love this bright red one. We saw some weathered well turned barns as well but unfortunately I did not get a photo of them.
Take a look at this lovely old wooden fence that graces the hillside. There was lots of shades of gold to be viewed. Most of the crops were bailed waiting to be hauled away before the snow arrives.

We arrived in the town of Mayerthorpe sooner than we anticipated.(the town was established much earlier than the signage of this now defunct shop).We stopped to have something to eat in the local cafe before heading on to the quilt shop.
The shop is out on Shelley's farm about 6 1/2 miles north of town. Carolyn contacted her ahead of time, and Shelley graciously opened up her shop for Cheryl(another quilting friend of Carolyn's) Carolyn and myself. From the outside it looks like the shop is not large, but inside it is a virtual treasure trove. We found some beautiful fabrics to purchase for very reasonable prices.

Before I even went into the shop, the place felt familar to me. My grandparents lived on a farm all their lives. On their homestead there were many beautiful populars that graced the property. The golden leaves of the trees and the line of washing hanging on the clothesline flooded me with warm childhood memories. It was very tempting to go and smell the wash blowing in a gentle fall wind.

Here is just inside the door- some gorgeous yellow and orange to create something for the fall season..

Here is Shelley with the treasures that we found in the shop. The pile in front of her, is Carolyn's finds. Mine is the one in the plastic bag to the left. I love the sewing machine border on the wall behind Shelley. The store services lots of quilters in the surrounding community. She and her mother have owned the store together for the past 17 years. There were lots of fun projects and seasonal things as well as buttons and notions to help quilters. It took us quite alot of time to explore the shop and we came out with some great purchases to use in future projects.

Just some more fall foliage to enjoy... We don't have the rich reds of Central and Eastern Canada because we don't have many maple trees in the west. We do get some oranges and browns though and many many shades of gold.

This is a view of the Pembina River as we travelled back towards the city.

Carolyn and I stopped in another Quilt store in Sherwood Park called Lori's. I have visited their store often and on this stop they had their annual birthday sale. I found some beautiful batiks there to add to my stash.

These are two views of the city center skyline- quite the contrast to the big open spaces we just visited. I live in the central part of the city and while we have lots of large buildings, we also have a green belt that runs along the river. There is a large parkland on either side of the river that divides the northern and southern part of Edmonton. This is a photograph of the skyline coming in from the east.

Bruce returned yesterday from a visit to the West coast. He and some friends drove to Victoria( about 1000 miles from home) and stopped overnight in a place called Thrums to visit a friend of one his travelling companions. Thrums,British Columbia has lots of rich farm and timber land. Bruce took this photo of the Sunflower for me to admire. They were very tall and very large sunflowers!

Last night we went to a concert to hear a group called The Strawbs. Bruce and I have listened to them forever - The main attraction of the evening was a band called The Zombies who were also a British band. If you do decide to google the Zombies - make sure you include British rock band in your search-. The Zombie band has existed since 1964 and while I didn't think I was familar with their music, I knew a surprising number of songs.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. We are cooking a nice dinner for the two of us- I got a small roasting chicken and have made a Japanese Coleslaw salad. I have stuffed the bird and Bruce will make some brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes and turnip to go with the meal. It will be a delicious and there will be some yummy leftovers for this week. To my Canadian friends, I hope you have spent a lovely day with your loved ones.

I have been quilting these days, but right now all I have to show is many pieces that are cut up into bits to be sewn together. Perhaps next time I will have some blocks to show you- that is if I don't get too busy doing other things.

Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna

Snippets of a quilt show...

2011-09-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hibicus are such gorgeous plants- doesn't it make you think of the tropics.. Bruce and I visited a local green house last weekend to attend a quilt show that was being held there. We really enjoyed viewing the different quilts that had been lovingly created by some local quilters. We also really appreciated that the door admission proceeds were going to support the diabetes association.
Check out the walls behind me-look at all those lovely pieces. What a sea of color and design to view, and enjoy in such great ambience.

On the way out of the greenhouse, we picked up this wonderful fall mum, which seems like the perfect compliment with some other fall decorations. If you look closely,you can see a wonderful hand quilted piece made my blogging friendEileen who sent it to me, a couple of years ago. I have not ever tried handquilting and sure admire those people that do quilt by hand.

Do you visit your local library? Going to the library is part of our regular routines and recently, I came home with a bag of books that held this collection of quilting related books. There is one missing- a children's book called "The Kindness Quilt". I often go on line and order from the library catalogue. The library is a great source for quilt patterns, stories and resources. Have you a favorite quilt story? I really like authors like Jennifer Chiaverini(The Elm Creek Quilts books) and Earlene Fowler( Benni Harper mysteries). If you haven't read their stories I encourage to check them out- I am sure you won't be disappointed!

My friend Pam from Passionate Purple quilter recently hosted a giveaway. I was one of three lucky winners. Look at this box of beautiful scraps that she included with a very lovely kit called Americana Rose by Shabby Fabrics. There are some beautiful fabrics in this box and I know that I am going to have fun playing with them. The kit is a beautiful kit with such pretty fabrics- it will be a fun project to make. Thanks so much Pam.

Have you ever wished that you owned some really good snips? Over the summer, I had been thinking that I should buy a pair. The Gingher scissors are such high quality. I recently discovered a new to me blogger named Randy from Barrister block. Not long after I began reading her blog, she found that she had a second pair of snips and decided to have a giveaway.Imagine my loud Wahoo, when she sent me a note saying that I was her lucky winner.( In case you are wondering, I am buying my lottery ticket this week :O)Thanks so much for those snips Randy- I will have no excuse for loose threads.

One of my favorite movies is " My Fair lady". It was one the first movies that I ever saw and my grandparents took me to see it. One of the songs includes the words " On the street where you live". This photograph was taken of the street where we live. The leaves on the trees are beginning to change. I hope to take a few more photos of it as the foliage changes this autumn. Hopefully the wind won't kick up too much fuss so that the leaves are all blown away, before they have created a gorgeous golden canopy over the neighbourhood's roads.

I thought I'd leave you with a photo of Mars the cat sleeping in our living room window( She has some favorite spots where she can lay in the sun. We can count on finding her there in the early morning as our windows face the east.

Thanks for stopping by.. if you feel so inclined do leave a comment. It is always nice to hear from my blogging friends.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Color wash and remembering.....

2011-09-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite flowers is alstroemeria- As a cut flower, the blossoms take a little while to open up in bloom. Once open they last for quite awhile. These beautiful purple ones, have been sitting on our table for the past two weeks. In the center is a statice like flower whose name I have forgotten.

Here in Alberta,the September weather has been mostly hot and warm outside for the past two weeks- It has made the classroom quite warm, but manageable. My students and I are settling in together. I have 27, four and five year olds, who keep my days full. It takes some time to get the classroom routines established, but we are working hard at getting those routines in place. This week we will have our annual corn roast to kick off the school year. Meanwhile, we are playing games to learn each other's names and enjoying painting, reading stories and being active in the gym.

At home, our kitchen window has some beautiful cacti and a solo blooming pink violet plant. People keep telling me that violets bloom better in pairs but this pink seems to be unaware of that particular rule of nature. The sunflower containers were a gift from our very talented family friend Sherry. Pretty aren't they? I plan to keep coffee and tea in them.

This posts edition of From my Quilt Vault:

One of the techniques that I have explored on my quilt journey, is making quilts using the colorwash technique. I saw this churndash quilt in a magazine and really loved the graduated color. I really like the churndash block. Do you have a favorite block? The quilt is a nice sized wall hanging and our cat, Mars, thinks its a lovely place to sleep in the sun. I made it around 2001.

This quilt's name is Gran's Garden and it was made to celebrate my grandmother's 85th year of life. It was made from a McCall's quilt magazine pattern. The central medallion has 30 X 40- 2 inch squares that were laid on a large iron on grid fabric. The outer border addition came from an Australian patchwork and quilting magazine in 2002. I have done very little applique in my quilts but I liked how the flowers worked out. Perhaps some day I will design my own quilt completely. This quilt comes the closest to being my own design. I combined elements from a couple of different sources. I know that my gran loved her quilt. It was returned to me after she passed away in 2003.

Our niece posted this very cute photo of her little one. It makes me smile just looking at these sweet eyes peeking through.. She will be a year at the end of this month... Where has this year gone?

My blog friend Michele recently had a blog contest for a quilt album program where I was her lucky winner. Michele wrote this lovely piece about all the things that one can do with the album. I was very touched by all her kind words too. The quilt album is very cool tool and I feel really fortunate to be her winner.

Do you keep photos of your quilts? Do you journal about them. I have a couple of quilt journals. I am looking forward to using this great tool. Do check out Michele's blog. She is an amazing lady who creates beautiful quilts to raise money for Alzheimer's research. She has lots of links to explore and some great free patterns too.

Do you have a favorite color? Another blogging friend Pam had a giveaway to celebrate her 200th post where she gave away some beautiful fabrics. She loves purple(so do I) but her blog is called passionate purple quilter. I had the good fortune to be one of her winners. Do go and visit her blog and see her wonderful quilts.

There is a Moda county fairblog hop going on right now Sandy from pieces from my heart blog was the first of a number of designers who are offering free patterns and some prizes through out the month of September. They are creating some fun little projects for the hop. It is always fun to see what the designers are making... Do go and visit the links and catch up

I want to leave you with a link that another blogger,Melinda posted about 9/11. It is a four part link on You tube. You can find the link here:

Melinda has written a beautiful post for 9/11. Like so many others, I do remember that tragic day. It was a day like many others, where I began teaching my little ones... One where a colleague found a link to CNN news and we watched in bits and pieces, the tragedy unfold... In the days following, I remember thinking how quiet our skies were because of the grounding of the planes even in a city that was 4000 miles from NYC. As a society, we were forever changed- less innocent and trusting and marked by the tragic events ten years ago..We pause to remember those people who perished in that senseless tragedy....

Until next time,
Regards,
Anna

Fall is coming

2011-09-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Life has been a bit of a blur in the later part of August. My father is a wonderful gardener and on our last visit home I took this photo of his front flower garden. He has some beautiful verbena,phlox, snapdragons, portulaca and petunias growing in the front flower bed. This years flowers are particularly lovely. Recently I scanned some of my older quilts into my computer. In the coming weeks, I plan to share some of them. This golden leaves is one of my favorite quilts that I have made on my 15 year old quilting journey. The pattern was taken from an older issue of the Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I made it in 2002. It is made with template pieces and it can be found gracing our living room in the autumn.

It is a large quilt- queensized and has a maple leaf border that I added to the original design. The photograph below was taken in my grandmother's house- she has since passed away- It will be 8 years that she has been gone on the 10 of September. How she loved my quilts... and how I loved her...

The prairies are a beautiful place to live- One of the most striking characteristics is the huge big sky- On a clear day you can see for miles. The crops are starting to turn golden and they are a stunning contrast against the blue.Those large bales weigh about 1500lbs.

Over the summer, a friend's daughter gave birth to this beautiful baby boy, Sam. He sure looks cosy in this baby wrap.I loved the Golden Books fabric and thought it would be a great choice for the wrap.

One of the things every quilt should have is a label- Here is the one that is on the back of my father's nature quilt. I named it " Over the hills and through the woods". The fabric was the perfect backdrop for a label.

And finally this quilt graces a bed in my parent's house. I was very pleased the way the quilt quilted up. It is more densely quilted than some of my quilts. I tried to outline all the animals as well as adding clouds and waves in the background.

Just a bit closer look at the animals in the wild..

School has begun and this weekend I have been doing some school work and projects related to school. I sewed up 4 clothing bags for my students. A few years ago I made 25 cloth sacks for my students to store their belongings neatly on the coat hooks. I have more than 25 students right now( 27) so I needed some bags repaired as well as a few additional ones. I just have to add the cording around the top and we will have enough bags to start off the year.

This upcoming week my quilting group begins again. I would like to finish the top of the tesselation quilt tomorrow(see previous post for a look at the tesselation quilt). Monday is a holiday here in Canada called Labour Day. My current plan for the holiday is to do a little school work in the morning and then get quilting. The weather is pleasant and September will be full. One has to take the time to quilt when one can.

Wishing one and all some good quilting time,
Regards,
Anna

August has flown by...

2011-08-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

This summer has been one full summer ..The end of July was so hectic with our travels to British Columbia followed by our son and his girlfriend getting moved across country. Once they were on their way, I was sure things would slow down but that has not been true at all.
I went to visit my parents for a week and we had a busy time together. When I returned, Bruce brought home these red gladiolis. They are such an interesting flower and start opening from the lower part of the stem. We had some white with pink tipped ones earlier- They often are available in August and September and you grow them from a bulb. One of the things that I got accomplished while at my parents, was to square up these blocks that are a tesselating block.More about that later...
During my visit to my parents,my mother, a good friend named Sherry, and myself, went off to a little town in central Alberta called Olds.

This quilt pattern came from a general store called "Craigs". It reminded me of the old Kresge's or Fields Store, with a little bit of this and that, including fabric and patterns. I really liked this quilt pattern - especially because it has directions for more than one bed size in it. Craigs had the whole line of the Stonehenge fabrics that have recently come out. Stonehenge fabrics would look lovely made up into this quilt. However, I would like to make it out of batiks.

Olds also has a lovely quilt store called "The Quilting Bee". The staff were warm and welcoming. They had some lovely fabrics too. It is one of those places, that if you lived in the area, you would frequent it often.

I rarely buy pre cut fabrics, but I loved the color combo of these Tonga coffee cake. I have an idea in mind for them and found the two of them for a good price, on line early in the summer.I had hoped to use the star pattern but found that the strips are not large enough(they are jelly roll width) so I will have to find a different pattern to use with them.
You may remember seeing the 10 minute block pattern-( if not google it and there is a great "you tube" video produced by Missouri Star Quilt Co)
I thought I might try this multicolored batik fabric with the different batik layer cake squares. I am not sure if I am going to like the 10 inch squares, or would be happier using 5 inch charm squares with it. As I have yardage of the black multicolored fabric, I have only cut a few black squares to test it out. This is not my usual way- more often, I just start cutting blocks and then sew stacks of blocks together....

We live in a city that has a great number of festivals over the summer.
There are a variety of music festivals including a terrific folk festival.
For the past 10 days the 30th annual Fringe theatre festival was happening. This year, they had the best attendance ever. We had not been to Fringe for a number of years, but we saw a review of an Emily Carr one woman play and decided to take it in.

Part of the festival grounds, has a number of local artisans selling their work. I bought this beautiful bracelet from a young woman who happens to be a teacher as well. She makes all her own glass beads and uses pewter, silver and crystals between them. This one has gorgeous neutrals in it and it was a special treat for me. It is always nice to be able to support local artisans.

Here a couple of play bills of the shows that we attended. We enjoyed both of the plays- the weather was warm and the venues inviting- There is lots of outdoor shows that pass the hat after the performance. We saw a guy get himself in and out of a straight jacket and chains..

So here you can see what the tesselating block looks like put together- I made exactly 72 blocks and arranged it 8X9.Once together, I went looking for border fabrics. My first instinct was to use a plain black, but I didn't like how I looked.

I have not yet added this border but I think this will be the border fabrics for the quilt.
Bruce and I have had a number of opportunities to get out together. We went to a professional soccer game and had lunch out with my aunt and uncle last week. On Sunday, we visited the art gallery to see the closing of a large Andy Warhol exhibit. The exhibit had many of warhol's film clips as well as some of his famous hair pieces. I particularly liked the screen print images of Jacqueline Kennedy. He is not my favorite artist, but it was fun to broaden my horizons too. One of my quilting friends Carolyn joined us, and we were pleased to have her with us.
This last week of holidays, I have a few social engagements as well as some time at school. Today was spent beginning to set up the classroom for September. A big Thank you goes to my partner in the classroom, Peggy, for all her assistance today. Tomorrow some time with my dear friend Lou- we will try not to get into too much trouble in the quilt shops.
Wednesday I am off to see "The Help" with another good friend Val.(I loved the book so I am looking forward to seeing the movie.) Thursday I have an all day seminar and Friday is another opportunity to connect with a friend at lunch followed by visiting a new baby. Life is full and rich.... It is not always easy to get quilting/ blogging done but this summer I have done both while enjoying some great times with family and friends.
Next week I return to the classroom...I best start changing my bedtime ..
Hope you are enjoying the last days of summer..
Regards,
Anna

Where has our summer gone- well let's see...

2011-08-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you may already know that I love flowers- This is a bit of color that is growing in a flower bed around our house. They are a root of my grandmother's day lilies and somehow I have managed to keep it growing- it must be a testament to my grandmother's hearty plants rather than my gardening skills
If you follow my blog,you might be wondering where I have been this past month- This week I am enjoying some time visiting my parents in my home town which is 100 miles from where I live. This past month has been a blur- full of travels and events mixed in with some changes on the home front.
Here is my father's quilt which I have since quilted as well as completing the final step- the label. My dad's quilt was the last of four large queensized quilts that I have completed since the spring.Dusty the dog has come along to test out the quilt- usually it is Mars but it appears that Dusty does not want to be left out of the quilt process.
Dusty is usually so keen to participate in my quilting adventures but this time she decided to help me with the binding process after I had finished quilting the quilt. I am not sure having her weight on the quilt is of great assistance but she is certainly doesn't care.

This family photograph was taken the morning our son and his girlfriend completed their move to Charlottetown PEI. Charlottetown is on the eastern seaboard of Canada and we live in Western Alberta-about 4000 miles between the two places. Kevin will be going to school in Charlottetown. We sure are going to miss him and Roseanne and know that it was a difficult decision for him to make. My husband and I have truly become empty nesters with our cat and dog to keep us entertained.

Just prior to Kevin and Rose's departure, Bruce and I headed to Victoria, British Columbia to attend a family wedding. We decided to make the drive to the West Coast. Over the four day trip we travelled about 2600 kms. It is a beautiful drive through the mountains but it meant two long days of driving. At journey's end on the Friday, we stayed with a friend of mine from high school in Vancouver. It was lovely to spend time with Eileen. I had not seen her for probably 5 years, but it was like time had stopped and we picked up where we left off. Thank you, Eileen, for your warm and generous hospitality!
The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast( thanks Ron) and then headed off to the ferry to Vancouver island. It is a lovely boat ride - complete with views of the US shores and Mount Baker. The two days on the island were full of visits to see Bruce's mother, as well as connecting with his siblings, his uncle, and nieces and nephews. Of course the primary event was the wedding, but it was so nice to see so many of our family members.

After a hectic two days on the island we headed back across the ocean on the last ferry. Night time on the ferry is very different and quite beautiful in its own way.

I managed to complete the music quilt in time for the happy wedding couple. Both ladies love music and the quilt is entitled "Love is the Music of the Heart". It is always satisfying to see a quilt go to a home where it will be enjoyed and loved.
In this photograph I am spray basting the music quilt. It was a bit of a challenge to get it to lay flat. This Kaffe Fassett pattern is not complex but it is made with a number of pieces with bias edges.I found it tricky to get the right measurements for the last set of large triangles. I wasn't certain how it would quilt up but it quilted up beautifully- no tucks to be found.

Mars always has to check out my quilts. At one point in July, our living room was quite full of the kid's things waiting to be transported to PEI. Mars loves boxes and this pile was just too hard for her to resist.

I thought you might enjoy a close up view of some of the music fabrics- I hesitated to use the red binding but it seemed like the perfect balance to finish off the quilt.

On Sunday prior to the wedding ceremony( it was held in the couple's backyard and was officiated by my husband's uncle) we took a drive around Victoria. Victoria is a beautiful city- everywhere is lush and green with gorgeous vistas and views of the sea. We found a little park that was a few blocks from the house and took a quick walk through the flowers. Victoria is the home of Butchart Gardens which is an extraordinary place. Unfortunately we did not have more time in Victoria to take in some of the lovely places to walk on this trip.
There were beautiful birds as well- even the lowly seagull looks majestic on the island. We did not see any herons or eagles that are often present there.

My last summer quilt was a queen sized quilt that we took to give to Bruce's brother Earle. The Wonky rail ties pattern is available on Mary Johnson's website "Making quilts from the stash". My brother in law lives in Newfoundland and it was a belated birthday present.

This summer has passed so quickly and I have been away from my computer for chunks of time.
There are a couple of giveaways going on that you may want to check out- one is for a Go Baby on the loveaffair with my brother blog. I keep trying to win one of those nifty machines but so far no luck. Perhaps you will get lucky, if don't!
The other giveaway is Kim who has written a wonderful post about Moms and is sharing a gorgeous heart shaped necklace with the word "quilts" in it. The jewelery designer has created some wonderful pendants with beautiful words in them.

As for me well the summer has passed by so very quickly. I would like to get some more quilting done, but we shall have to see whether I can get my new projects up and going. I plan to spend a bit of time at my school next week, in order to get the classroom set up. I know that the painters have finally come and painted my book shelves so I will be able to get the books back into the shelves. Wahoo is all I can say about that...
Thanks for dropping by - I promise to post a little sooner..
Warmest regards,
Anna

What makes Life Awesome?

2011-07-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Some little vignettes of things that were Awesome in our life this past week.
Pink and White Snapdragons
Snapdragons do have a delicious fragrance- Their smell was the first thing that I noticed when Bruce found this bouquet at the grocery store. A funny story about the price of them: You could buy one bundle for 7.99 or get two bundles for 7.98 It truly was cheaper by one cent to buy two bundles rather than one. LOL
A Sleeping baby in a quilt:
Our niece sent us this photograph of Anni all wrapped up in her baby wrap. Doesn't she look cozy in it? The wrap design does work well in a stroller and a car seat.

Some quilt progress:
The music quilt continues to progress- albeit slowly. I am to the next border and not sure what fabric to use- Unfortunately, I do not have any more of the dark black multicolored musical notes left- I can find the same fabric line in lots of other colors (pink, blue, green and yellow but not black- I am going to make one last stab at it tomorrow, and see if I can find it at one of the quilt stores- if not, I am going to use one of the ones shown and hope for the best..

Lots of musical fabrics:
Of my current choices, I think I may use the black one with the gold musical notes or the black and red one- One thing that crossed my mind was to take the strips apart to use the one black fabric with the instruments but that would not be my first choice.

Having two beautiful god daughters who are like daughters to me:
My god daughters, A. and E. came along with their wonderful parents to have a barbecue the other evening. We were celebrating a few of their family birthdays.

A just because kind of gift:
E is showing off a bracelet that I made earlier this summer. This was the one she chose- She is partial to the color green and it looks lovely on her wrist. Before school was out, I made about 15 bracelets out of glass beads, stones and silver. E's bracelet is lentil shaped beads with gold foil in them combined with square black beads. Playing with beads is fun and a good alternative to times not spent quilting..

A silver locket:
On another note entirely,this lovely young woman is my other god daughter A. She just had a special birthday and I was thrilled to be able to gift her this vintage silver locket found on Ebay. It was the first time I had ever bought anything off e-bay and I was very pleased with the result.(It was kind of exciting to win the bid VBG) My parents gave me a heart shaped silver locket for that same age birthday and I still have it - though, mine is a little less shiny than this lovely one. I thought it was a nice tradition to start with these special girls in my life.

Buying something that contributes to a worthy cause:

Isn't this a beautiful piece of quilting? It is a piece that I bought from a local quilt store. It could hang on the wall or be used on our sideboard this fall. It is a batik applique and the money that I paid for it, will all go to the Alberta chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society. I do not do much applique quilting. I love pieces that have leaves and fall themes. One hopes that these charities, through their fundraising efforts, will help provide the monies necessary for the researchers to find better treatments for all forms of cancer.
A friend's memorial celebration:
We attended a friend's memorial celebration on Friday afternoon. Our lovely friend Sue was 51 years old and lost her battle to a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. Each time I go to a memorial celebration, I am reminded of the importance of making the time to spend with our friends and loved ones.
Memorial thoughts:
Some thoughts: Let the important people in your life know how much you love them. These events act as a reminder to treasure one's relationships and the special gifts that each one of us brings to the world around them. At the celebration, we saw friends that we hadn't seen for a long time. I sometimes, wonder where all our time goes. How is it that we only find time to go celebrate someone's life after the fact, rather than celebrating the person's life when they are still with us? Our friend Sue, was a quiet gentle person who contributed much to the lives of people with whom she crossed paths. May we all leave such a legacy. My last thought that afternoon was that life does seem especially fleeting and much too short...

Some final this and that:
Summer is moving right along- I am slowly finding my form and getting a few things done. I have met for coffee with two lovely quilt friends this past week, besides co- hosting a barbecue. It was so much fun talking about fabric,learning of new techniques but, more importantly, getting to know some new friends that have a passion for creating things. I never cease to be awed by the many talents that people are blessed with, and all the different crafts that one can explore if one has the time.
Summer reading:
I have been reading a few books- This weeks offerings are " Sarah's Key" and " The Postmistress." They are both a good read and take place during the second World War. Sarah's Key goes between the Second world war and current time. The other book that I discovered is" The Book of Awesome". I am not a big fan of short stories, but these little vignettes help one reflect on one's daily blessings, and celebrate the little joys of life. There is now a second book by the same author that is entitled something like "even more Awesome". If you need something to uplift you, you may enjoy these little readings.

I hope you have some " Awesomeness " in your life 'til we meet again.

Warmest regards,
Anna

I've started .....

2011-07-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

It is windy and raining outside today. We have already completed the first week of my summer break. I don't have much to show for my week. I have spent my time searching the magazines,patterns and books for a quilt pattern to make a quilt. After much deliberation and scouring stacks of patterns I checked out this book off my book shelf:
This book was a gift from my brother in law a few years ago. I love looking at Kaffe's books just so that I can drool over all the beautiful fabrics. Inside I found this pattern called ""Mossy Radiation and thought it work quite well with my group of fabrics:
Earlier today I started pressing all the fabrics that I have, that were music related fabrics. It took awhile but if a girl wants to accurately cut the fabrics then one better press the fabrics. Some of the these fabrics came together in a bundle that I bought when Carolyn and I went to the guild show recently. They had a nice little market mall with the show. (Check out Carolyn's blog if you want to see some of the things she found when we went to the Guild garage sale. After a bit of playing and auditioning fabrics, I made the center block followed by a bold musical print for a border.( I wish I had a little more of those bright musical notes)

Next step was for me to cut many strips and lay them out in a sequence. Now I have to decide whether I want to add red and blue strips or to use just the neutral prints and only have the bright colors in the borders....

You can see that there are lots of black, grey, cream and white combinations in the strips and only a couple with colored backgrounds. In the original design Kaffe Fassett used gradations of color but added a couple of zingers in it..What would you do? add color or just go with neutrals and then have more colorful borders ?

I do have a bit of color to add to it but I haven't decided whether it the bright print will only appear on the back or if it will put in an appearance on the front.

In the meantime, I have been trying to stay dry as the rain has pelleted down today. The weatherman is predicting more rain this weekend. In between times, it has been very hot and unfortunately very buggy ( swarms of mosquitoes- you need bug spray just to get to and from your car) Bruce and I went out to a local restaurant with some friends last night but decided not sit on the patio because of them) The mosquitoes do like to exact a donation of blood - biting little critters that they are...

I have read a couple of books this past week- "The 19th wife" and " The Sky is Everywhere " by Jandy Nelson. I just got " A Vintage Affair " as well as Sarah's Key from the Library. I also got a few books from Amazon but they are mostly professional books with the exception of a book called "The Help". I highly recommend reading it, if you haven't already. The movie is suppose to come out next month. Kathryn Stockett is the author of the book " The Help."

On Tuesday, my friend Lou(no blog) came in from her cottage on the lake. Off we went on a local shop hop. I found a few things but mostly we enjoyed some time catching up with one another. Don't you love spending time with good friends - its one of life's special gifts!
In blogland, some blogging friends are off to Sisters Oregon to see the annual quilt show. What fun those quilters will have seeing the Gee Bend quilters and viewing some great quilts from around the US. Watch for posts about the show - Valori Wells will share her photos from the Sister's show that she and her mother Jean have worked together to put on for many years now. Perhaps some day I will get there- They bring in such wonderful quilters to share their passion for quilting.. It would be a great place to find inspiration..

Do you dream about attending an internationally known show or festival like the one's held in Paducah, Houston or Sister's? What makes a great show for you?

Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna

Summer Plans... or ....

2011-07-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

School is out for the summer and I have just begun to switch gears.. The last couple of weeks of school is full of finishing things up. The kids are excited and ready to be done and one races around getting this and that completed for the deadlines. Then you stop - suddenly it is over and the summer begins.

My husband is an amateur astronomer and he loves to watch all sorts of sky phenomena. These noctilucent clouds(commonly referred to as NLC) occur near the summer solstice or the early part of our summer. They make the coolest designs in the night sky and can only be seen at more northly latitudes.
So what does a girl do when she first begins summer break- first she sleeps a little, and reads and ponders what to do to get some things done in her time off. This pile of patterns were only a fraction of ones that I have gone through lately in search of the new project. I have fabrics chosen but not the pattern- My usual process is the opposite.. It has a bit of a time crunch so I better pick something soon and get making it..

Here in Canada, our postal workers were on strike recently but have now returned to work. On the first day we received mail, this great envelope of scraps came from Kate Spain who had hosted a giveaway of some of her latest cutoffs. I was one of the lucky ten who won a large envelope of strips. These are all from her line called Terrain. Thanks so much Kate for sharing your talents and your scraps.

Not long ago I went shopping on line- not intentionally but I saw the New Very Series of Eric Carle fabrics and it was a very good price - too good to pass up. I love his books and want to make the quilts for my classroom. His classic is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". The shop- The Fat Quarter Shop is in Texas. Their prices are good and the fabric always comes protected and wrapped up so nicely. Their blog is the Jolly Jabber and often offers a giveaway of some sort. While I was there I added a few more Kaffe Fabrics to my collection and another piece of Sock Monkey fabric because it is perfect for a baby wrap. Do you have a favorite on line shop that you buy fabrics or do you just buy fabric locally? I have to say my preference is to buy locally for lots of reasons but I do buy some on line because of the prices and the variety that is available that I can't find locally.

A very kind lady Terry from her blog Aviya Glass sent me note and awarding me this Versatile blogger award.

Thank you Terry for your kind gesture and thoughtfulness. I am not very good at awards and I read so many fantastic blogs so I can not choose 7 bloggers. There are just too many deserving blogs that I enjoy reading.

However I will tell you 7 random things about me:
I am left handed and do not like left handed scissors- I can't make them work.
I have no middle name- my proper name is Anna Marie but rarely use it.
I am a prairie girl through and through and sometimes wish I could live in the country.
I hate making lists and do so only when I am feeling like I need to remember all the things I need to get done.
I have pockets of things that I organize but my filing system would be confusing to others.
I love children's books, soft toys like bears and jewelery.
My mother is a fabulous cook - she bakes, cans, makes jam and once upon a time made homemade fudge and donuts. I can cook but I am hopeless at most baked things and I long ago gave up on canning- I did not get her cooking gene. I would rather be quilting. LOL

Last week, before I finished school, I laid out my dad's quilt to spray baste it. See how it filled all my kids tables! I had a pair of great assistants(aka as fellow teachers) who helped me, and together, we got it and another quilt spray basted.

Now I best get to work on some other projects today..
I want to cut some charm squares to experiment with two block possibilities for my next project and finish my current book and..... do some laundry...
What about you - what are your summer plans?
Happy Fourth of July to my American friends and family,
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Golden Celebration.....

2011-06-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

I just checked the date of my last post.. Wowser it has been awhile - much longer than I intended.... Life just has been on warp speed I guess.. Since I last wrote I finished this quilt for my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. Their two daughters and families hosted an afternoon party for them in the community hall in their farming community yesterday. Bruce and I spent a very nice Father's Day celebrating this special occasion.

I wasn't sure if I was going to get the quilt finished as their anniversary was in the middle of my report card writing season. However with three days to go I put my pedal to the metal..On Thursday I spray basted the queen sized quilt after I finished the final read of the report cards. On Friday night I made the binding and on Saturday I free motion quilted it and bound it. I finished the last stitching of the label as we drove towards their farm on Sunday around lunch time.... Nothing like pushing it to the last minute...VBG
I think that they will enjoy it and I was very happy to give it to two special people in my life..

I auditioned a few border fabrics before I found one that worked for me. The winning border choice was strong enough to hold it without being too floral or busy... I named the quilt "Golden Ways". The pattern is from Bonnie K. Hunter's quiltville website and she calls it "Twisted Strips." The scrap quilt has lots of different memory fabrics in it- some that come from the beginning of my quilting journey.

Now I must apologize to two lovely ladies who sent me two wonderful prizes just before the mail strike happened here in Canada.(There is some talk of the post office being legislated back to work this week)
I want to give a big thank you to Kelly from Bluebird Sews blog. She sent me these very fun Red and black fabrics. I love them and am sure that I will find a project to use these terrific paisley and print fabrics. She also included a nifty pin cushion and little pouch that she made. Thank you so much Kelly.. Do go and visit her blog- I know that you will enjoy reading her posts.

Nina Lise is a lovely Norwegian lady who sent me a wonderful handmade wallhanging along with some beautiful blue fabrics. I love the little panel that she also included. Nina Lise is a quilt pattern designer too and does some very interesting art quilt pieces. Do check out her link.
My mother is of Swedish descent but she has connections to some lovely Norwegian ladies so I know my mom is going to love seeing the special things that Nina Lise sent in her parcel. Thank you so very much.

Summer solstice is tomorrow and school will finish next week for summer break. It will be nice to slow down a little and get a few things done around our home. The summer will bring change as our son and his girlfriend are moving to Charlottetown PEI which is on the eastern coast of Canada in early August. There will be much to do before then including some new quilt projects to complete.

Last weekend a quilting friend Carolyn
ventured out to a the local guild quilt show. It was a wonderful show with a very nice sized market mall. We found a few treasures to bring home to add to the stash. I look forward to more adventures with Carolyn.
With summer here another dear friend ,Lou will come back from her home in Calgary to a lake house close by. I am sure that we will also have some fun quilting adventures too. Time with some good friends is a special part of my summer vacation.
I will leave you with two photos of two important men in my life. I was very happy to have the opportunity to spend time with my dad yesterday. Here is the sight I came upon as we arrived at my parent's home after the party.

When I think of my father, the images in my mind usually include ones of him with my mom or with his dog,Tammy(or both). My dad loves to garden.. It was nice to spend time with him on Father's Day.

This is the other man in my life- my spouse, Bruce of 30 years. Here he is with his great niece Anni.
I hope that both men know how much I love them and treasure the gifts they bring to my life. Belated Happy Father's Day!
Next time - perhaps I will have a new quilt on the go or other quilty things to share.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Spring has sprung - the dandelions doth rise...

2011-05-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our grass is growing and so are the dandelions right now- they are a bloody nuisance that I will be very happy to be rid of... Dandelions do have a pretty yellow flower - not as gorgeous as these yellow sunflowers that are currently residing on my table. My school children often like to bring in bundles of them from the school field. Perhaps I should bring them to my house as field trip and we can pick my backyard clean..

June is just around the corner and I am trying to keep up with things at home and school.. At present I feel just a little overwhelmed by it all..Good thing that I have some nice sunflowers to admire- they do make me smile...

Recently, I made a list of school things to do and then started to feel my blood pressure grow- I stopped to take a deep breath.... Does that ever happen to you- everything is happening at once and your not sure where to begin or what is the most important thing to get done first...
However, this weekend I tackled two kinds of reports that needed to be completed so that feels like progress...

This lovely collection of things come from a blogging friend's giveaway that I won last month. Terry of Aviya Glass sent me this gorgeous handmade pendant along with this collection of beading pieces ( two black hearts, a double glass heart pendant and some more toggles to bead with)It was a treasure trove of lovely things. Thank you ever so much Terry- you do beautiful work!

A couple of weekends ago I went to a quilt retreat and started working on this quilt. It is now a queen sized body (121 blocks worth) and I have the borders fabrics chosen. Ideally I would like to get it spray basted and quilted in the next couple of weeks but I am not too hopeful. I wish that I had magical powers to do it all, but right now the report cards have to come before my quilts.. The pattern of this quilt" Twisted Strips" is from Bonnie Hunter's website. She has a number of free patterns on her site. As well, she has published three books. Do check out quiltville if you are not familiar with her website- She has a great blog- hers was one of the first blogs I ever read. She spends a lot of her time these days traveling the United States, to share her talents and love of quilting with others.

You may remember me talking about making some baby wraps. Here are two that I have completed. The one above was given to one of my colleagues at work who had a beautiful little boy in late February. We had the baby shower last Thursday.

These two beauties are our niece Beth and her daughter Anni. They were here visiting a couple of weeks ago and I was able to see Anni all wrapped up in it.

There is lots going on in blogland these days -Quilters do have big hearts and are busy trying to help all those who find themselves affected by the natural disaster in Joplin.
Judy Laquidara of Patchwork times is raffling a quilt for donations to the Red Cross for the Joplin Tornado victims. Mary is also having her own raffle quilt to raise money for Joplin folk. Do check out these ladies sites and help out if you can.
In my home province of Alberta, there were some terrible wild fires at Slave Lake which decimated the area. Over 400 people lost their homes. The Red Cross is accepting donations to help these families. One of our local quilt stores Sew Divine accepted quilts as well, but I do not know if they are still accepting them or not.

Summer is coming and there will be time for other things. In the meantime, I best get back to the reports and the dandelions- not sure which are causing me the most stress right now.....
Warmest regards,
Anna

Amy's Blogger Festival May 2011

2011-05-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Bargello is one of my favorite techniques. This quilt is called the Long and Winding Road and the pattern was in a magazine called "The Quilter" around 2003. I love how the design moves across the face of the quilt. This quilt is a queen sized quilt that is machine pieced and machine quilted. I usually meander quilt my quilts and these bargello quilts are no exception. I have a very nice Babylock quilting machine that is one size bigger than the standard domestic sewing machine. The bigger aperture and extended table gives enough space to quilt even a large quilt.

Often when I am choosing the fabrics for a quilt I have a difficult time limiting my choice to one color variation. I liked this design so much that I made two versions- The pink version is owned by my sister in law and the blue was used to help in a fund raiser for my son's Boy Scouts group. So which do you like the better - pink or blue? I still can't decide- Pink???
Blue?????

Recently my husband Bruce, was writing an article for an astronomical journal- He used this Long and Winding road quilt to illustrate the slight variations of an Eclipse Saros cycle. The length of the 18 year cycle is slightly variable,stretching in some places and compressing in others.

There are so many beautiful bargello designs- Some designers you might want to check out include Chris Timmins of Australia who has some marvelous Twisted Bargello patterns and Derek Lockwood of the USA. Derek's patterns are gorgeous too- I have not made any of his yet but, I do own a couple of his wonderful creations.
Another designer is Heidi K. Farmer, who designed an absolutely stunning Bargello heart pattern that I made as a wedding gift for a dear friend a few years ago.

Amy of Amy's Creative side is hosting her Spring Blogger's Festival. There are many stunning quilts to view and interesting quilt stories to read.
I hope you enjoyed reading about bargello quilts and will return again.
Enjoy the Festival
Regards,
Anna

Happy Mother's Day - Life is busy these day.....

2011-05-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all who are the caregivers in a family- some of you might be both mother and father, others might be grandmothers or aunties, that provide hearth and home to your loved ones. Whatever name you go by, I honor and celebrate the things that you do for the children around the world to provide them safe loving homes.

Here is a picture of my mother and me taken last fall. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you will know that my life has been rich with the love of some very special women. I do not know if I can describe my mother in words. She is the most kind and thoughtful person I know - generous with her time, and giving to all that come within her sphere. One could not wish for a better role model or a more loving Mom.
I'm sorry I have been away so long from my blog- I don't know where April went- well I do sort of (quilting, working visiting friends,catching up on some reading and family), April just seemed to have melted away like the snow on my front lawn. I am happy to say that the spring flowers are beginning to bloom and the snow has finally disappeared. Bruce brought home these beautiful little tea roses(I think that is what they are called). In the background, you can see my father's quilt- I have made more progress on it.
I laid the quilt on our bed to check and make sure that it will fit my folks bed- Wahoo its a fit(even Dusty the dog approves). Now to get the quilt pressed and spray basted so that I can quilt it!

Here is a close up of the borders that I added- I did not have enough of the original green so I added a different green and brown border to the outside but I am quite happy with the way it looks. One of my blog commenters, Needlewings suggested that I quilt some trees in the border. This fabric would be a good background for such a quilting design. I hope to finish it for Father's Day, but we shall see- I have a few projects going on right now- One thing is for sure is that before summer's end, I plan to have it completed.
In this photo you can see a better view of the additional borders- the light brown one has bears all over it, so it is very fun, and works so nicely with the central motif. I am not sure how I am going to bind it, as I do not have any of the green left- but I do have more brown bears or I may make a combined binding of the different fabrics in the quilt. I try to have the binding made ahead a time.

I have been busy quilting this past month and I did get 6 baby wraps made(5 of the 6 are actually quilted too) One of our nieces had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and so did a friend at work - Now they need to be bound. I want to get them off to the babies before the babies are too large and the blanket no longer useful.

These bindings are all bias bindings because of the curves on the baby wraps-It sometimes is a bit tricky to get enough binding out of the meter of fabric that matches the fabric in the quilt. I have made lots of these baby wraps over the past 25 years. When I first made them, I tied them and they had lace or eyelet around the outside. Now I use minkee on the inside of the quilt, so it is hard to quilt without puckers if you envelop sew them together(you sew them with the right sides together and then pull them through the space left before you quilt). I think they stay better by being meander quilted together. I like how soft they feel with the minkee. The shape works great in a baby's car seat.

Above you see a collection of 2.5 inch strips. I am taking a workshop next weekend and the quilt requires 2.5 inch strips.(84 DARK AND 84 LIGHT for a queen size quilt) I made all these strips just out of the scrap box- no new yardage. It feels like a found quilt when you do that.
I may cut one large piece of yardage of lights because I always have more color in my collection than I have neutrals.
Today I need to get some of these strips put together into the strip unit. I am not able to go to the workshop on Friday as some former staff members and I, are off to help a colleague celebrate her retirement.
For the last few weeks, I have had a few social things going on- A colleague had a Pampered Chef party (fancy cooking tools). It was fun- the food was delicious and there were lots of interesting tools for making cooking easier- a pineapple corer, apple wedger, a mango peeler, shredders, cutters etc. My sister in law gave us some Pampered chef stoneware pieces a few years ago now. They are quite lovely to use though I find them heavy now. I am not really into cooking but I can see how having the right tools makes it easier- just like quilting. Do you have a favorite quilting tool?
I have been reading other blogs and commenting this month- I won a very nice giveaway from Terry of Aviya Glass. She is a beautiful bead maker and I got to choose which piece I might want. Making such a decision was not easy I can tell you. When it arrives I will post a photo.
A picture of Mom and me taken recently(not long after I had a haircut_ LOL)

Happy Mother's Day Mom- I love you!

This spring has been a busy one- hopefully I will return next weekend after the workshop to show you how I progressed with the strips. We are off to the art gallery this afternoon and then I plan to quilt. Plans sometimes get changed though. I hope that you get a chance to spend some time with loved ones. Happy Mother's Day one and all!
Warmest regards,
Anna

It's still not finished...the Journey Continues...

2011-04-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

When I posted last I was still struggling with how to put together the body of animal panel quilt for my father's 80th Birthday.. Well its not finished and dad's birthday came and went last week ( more about that shortly) but here we are having a look at the quilt in its current state...( The miniature Collie is my parent's pride and joy- her name is Tammy and she is a lovely dog.)I could have chosen different animal panels for my dad- horses and dogs would have been equally appropriate as the ones that I chose.

My dad is a real outdoors man. He has been a hunter and fisherman all of his life. I can remember him teaching me about the names of some of the birds like pheasants, and ptarmigan. I did not find either of those birds in panels, but there are some beautiful eagles on it. Each fall he and some friends would go hunting for wild game and we ate deer, elk and moose in the winter time that they brought home to fill the freezer. Summer time was spent camping in the west country in tents. The Alberta Rockies are absolutely stunning. The vistas glorious and the lakes a gorgeous green. I was pleased to find that mountain background for his quilt.
When I think of camping in the mountains, I think of clear cold water, the occasional surprise snow storm and my dad bringing home some trout to cook.
There is nothing better than fresh brook trout cooked in butter in a cast iron frying pan over a fire.. Yummy it makes my mouth water just thinking about it...

My father was quite pleased with the quilt even without the quilting. After some discussion it was decided that my parents would like it for a bed quilt rather than a couch throw or something to hang on their wall. I now need to add some more borders for it to fit their queen sized bed. Its current size is about 75 inches X 72 inches so its a bit tricky. I think that I will add some more of the rusty brown next followed by a larger border of the brown bears. The first three borders are about 7 inches in total so I don't want to overwhelm the quilt with a really wide border of bears. I am sure that there is a rule of proportion but I am guessing that the second bear border should not be wider than 5 inches. I don't have anymore of the olive greenish fabric but it would be possible to order a little more from Connecting Threads.LOL I do have enough of the bear fabric that I could bind it with it.

Here I thought that the top was complete- oh well its lots closer than the last posted photo- Do you remember that I was not sure how to put it together last time?- well instead of cutting the background into strips, I machine appliqued the panels onto the background. The panels were all different sizes and I couldn't figure out a simpler way to insert the panels. I think this way worked best- no Y seams and perfect measurements to try and get it inset where I wanted it.

Last Saturday we had a large coffee party in a hall to recognize my parent's birthdays( my mothers' birthday is next Monday). It was a lovely afternoon with food, friends and family.. Over 100 people stopped by to share in the celebration. We were all pretty tired in the end but it was well worth the effort. I saw some family friends from long ago - people that were part of my childhood and well into my teenage years. It was a little like time traveling back to another time and place. It was very nice to see so many family friends and relatives. My parents said it was a great day which was what my siblings and I had hoped.

And on other fronts- I finally got the Winter village taken down and some Spring decorations put up. It made things feel more spring like inside the house and the outside is beginning to be more spring like too.

At school my kids are enjoying the warmer weather but, oh it is so hard to resist those puddles.

Here are the current flowers that grace our spring table. Bruce brought home some beautiful asteromeria that have opened up beautifully.

In recent years, My friends have often brought me things that related to quilting. They bring me things or comment about how seeing something in their travels makes them think of me and my passion for quilting.

A work friend was recently in New York City and saw a card for the wonderful red and white show that was held at the end of March. She knew I would have loved to see the show and she was right. I remember reading about this unique show on some of the blog posts. What was striking were the photos, for they showed the original way that they hung those gorgeous red and white quilts. All of the 650 quilts in the show were from a private collector named Joanna S. Rose. What a marvelous sight it must have been and how inspiring it would have been to stand under and look up at the various quilts. It was such a nice thing for my work friend to do- to bring me a memento of the show and to think of me in her travels.

Life is a bit full these days- I am trying to get some baby wraps made for some babies that are coming soon or have just arrived. I am also trying to keep on top of the work - before we know it, it will be time to start preparing for year end. I also have some other people who I would like to make quilts for - this year has a number of special occasions for family members- special anniversaries and birthdays. These special days are markers of life- ways that we celebrate and honor the gifts of our loved ones. It is sometimes a challenge to balance the time in all the areas of one's life.

I know there are some giveaways happening but I haven't had much time to blog/ read blogs these days. I hope to get around to visit some blogs soon.
Thanks for stopping by - I always appreciate your comments.
Until next time,
Be well and Happy quilting,
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Seed of an Idea.....

2011-03-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Is it possible spring is coming... The sunshine broke through late this afternoon- Bruce and I noticed some blue sky while we were having an early dinner. You cannot imagine how nice it was, to see some blue sky after weeks of gray. Could it possibly mean that Springtime is beginning... oh please we do so hope so.. In the meantime, here are some lovely tulips that are gracing my table just now...We will be delighted when our own daffodils and tulips poke their heads up through the ground outside.
Perhaps you remember Bruce and I going to a small quilt show in Wetaskwin last summer. One of the quilt kits there was a panel quilt that caught my eye. I looked at the price and decided that I wouldn't buy the kit. Over the summer and into the fall, I kept remembering the panel quilt and sometimes regretted not buying it.

You see my father is having a birthday- a special birthday as he is turning 80 years old in April. He has always been a man of the outdoors- a hunter and a fisherman and I thought he would enjoy being wrapped up with nature on a cool day.

I started to collect panels from various places. I collected ideas from quilt magazines and catalogues for possible lay out designs. And I collected fabrics. Then I got stuck...
Until I saw this pattern kit in a catalogue a couple of weeks ago which gave me an idea for a possible layout of the panels. After some reflection, I decided against making a pieced border. I cut out some of the panels into squares after I pressed them all. What do you think that I would do next- leave them for a couple of weeks to age (of course- don't you know that all fabric has an aging time LOL)

This is where I am now- I have a great piece of background fabric of mountains that I want to lay the blocks on- I am not quite sure which way to cut it. I have pinned the blocks onto the whole fabric and can't decide whether to cut it across horizontally or should I cut it vertically ....

I have not designed my own quilt before - at least not with out having a central design. Do I make a map and measure each block?? I am not sure that is going to work because some of the panels are not straight and that is especially true of the central bear panel.

Mars, the cat came out to help me a little while ago- she stirred up the blocks with her paws and checked out whether the carpet could help her sharpen her claws. She wandered away when she knew she had my attention. I am not sure what it is about quilts and cats but Mars certainly comes to make her presence known when I am making a quilt...

Dusty the dog figured she could help me out too... LOL...
I am not sure about the tan/ blue piece of batik- I still have more of the background picture that I can cut into parts to fill in the spaces where the carpet is currently showing through..

At present I think, I will border it with a smaller strip of the brown (it has imprints of bears on it) and then frame it with the green to make is look like a forest. There is a large piece of green so I am going to use it on the back of the quilt. I expect it will end up about a twin sized throw quilt but we shall see...
There has been some interest in blogland to show one's process- here is my convoluted journey...If anyone has any suggestions about which way to cut it or do I just cut strips - I do know I want to have some parts of the background where the panel squares are currently pinned. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated..

This week is spring break so I am on vacation. I am on a bit of time crunch with this quilt so I would like to get the quilt done in the next two weeks but we shall see... First I need to get it into a top - the quilting will not be elaborate- probably free motion with some outlining around some of the animals.

Hope that all is well with you and yours. Happy creating...
Warmest regards,
Anna

Some quilting influences., inspiration ... and Life...

2011-03-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Its the middle of March and today is Pi day- so I thought you might want to enjoy a yummy piece of pie while you stopped by to visit. Mathematical equations and patterns are a particular interest of my husband's- So here is to a little PI today!

The middle of March always makes me stop and remember some loved ones who have passed from this life. Today would have been my grandfather's 101 birthday(it is also our nephew's birthday). My grandfather was born to Swedish immigrants in 1910. He saw many changes over his lifetime. I miss my grandfather's dry sense of humor, his deep voice that I am reminded of when I hear the character,Eeyore speak in the stories of Winnie the Pooh, and his love of farm, music and family. Most of all, I miss his stories..

Tomorrow is the Ides of March and a day of remembrance for my husband and his siblings. Their beloved brother David was taken from them in 1975 in a car accident. He was just 22 years old. I made this photo quilt for my in laws around 2003 to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary and wanted to include David as part of the photo grouping. He is in the middle at the top of the wall hanging. I know that my in- laws loved that quilt and were glad that all their children were in it, including David. ( Mars the cat is sitting on our pictures).

I know that it has been awhile since I posted - Life at home has been busy. Our son, Kevin, his girlfriend Rose and their cats have been getting set up in our basement. They have made some wonderful changes to the space and everyone is getting used to our new arrangement. The main floor of the house still needs some work to find spaces for some things and the tossing of other things. I was remarking to a friend that my life has been full of de-junking spaces both at home and at school( last year with our school renovation). This is not without stress for me, as,I am by nature, a collector of things. However,one lesson that I have learned is to stop and think before I add more stuff to my spaces( except for fabric and childrens' books LOL) Now if I could only be more organized- I am working on it but it does not come naturally..

March is also the time of year when I complete the second term report cards and updating of my at risk kids programming. So now you know why I have disappeared from my blog writing for a short time...

I don't have much new quilty to show you. I did give away the other BQ quilt to a special lady - she has had some health issues and I wanted her to have a quilt to wrap herself in -just like a warm hug on the days she was feeling under the weather.

I also made some cafe type curtains for the basement windows. I have one more of them to make to complete the ones for the downstair's space, but I may make one for the laundry area and my husband's little office area too.

Did I tell you that we went to the art gallery to the opening of the Emily Carr and Haida show? The opening was so packed (there must have been over 1000 people)that we did not try to get into her exhibit but we are going back this week to hear a lecture about Haida art. We will go and look at her exhibit then as well. My dear friend Val and I went to see Carr's work in Calgary a few Christmases ago. It was fantastic and I am thrilled to get an opportunity to see some her works again.

A friend from work brought me a gift from a quilt store she had been in Jasper. It was a lovely bag with one of Ricky Tims Rhapsody quilts on it. I am a big fan of his work and did a week course one summer a few years ago that used his designs.
I have really enjoyed exploring his Convergence patterns and have made a number of them as throw quilts. The beginning convergence quilt I made was just a small wall hanging and I wondered why I couldn't turn it into a throw size quilt. As you can see from the photos below, that is exactly what I did.
I do like the way the colors meshed in this convergence- the owner is a big fan of green and purple and the fabrics are all batiks....

This " Kool Kaleidoscope pattern is now a book by Ricky. It is fairly large wall hanging or table topper and easier than some other Kaleidoscope designs. His book is well done and has some good visuals should you want to make one of your own Kaleidoscope quilts.

This Chantelle flower is a free form flower that was easy to do. We played with the borders to make it asymmetrical. I am not an art quilter - that is, I like making functional pieces for using in day to day life. Sometimes its fun just to play with the fabric- perhaps one day I will do something with some of the crazy quilting strips I have created. Or another snippet? or another Kaleidoscope?

Two other convergences for you - one that is red and white and black all over..

This one is more subtle- I don't think that the photo does this quilt justice- I loved the soothing color combination - Did you know that red can be soothing???

So who are your influences- do you like particular designers ? Kaffe Fassett? Valori Wells? Ricky Tims? Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston? The women of Gee Bend? These are a few of mine.. I am inspired by their use of color and lines...What inspires you???

And now for some blogging friends who are having giveaways:

Sherri of'A quilting Life" has a great book called Art Quilt Collection by Linda Seward. It is a very nice book and great to look at for inspiration..
the material girls are giving away some great fabric- go quickly they will draw on the 16th.
Liz of Quilterie is giving away a Kaffe Fassett book called Quilt Romance- Its a very nice book indeed.

Carolyn of Veggie Hunter- she's a local quilter that I am looking forward to meeting sometime soon) has a few more giveaways for you to check out as well as one of her own.

Susan
in Texas is having a wonderful fabric giveaway for her 3rd blog anniversary. She has a very nice blog that I am going to add to my blog list. So many blogs not enough time...

Thanks for staying with me ... I hope you will go and check out Tanya of Taniwa blog. She is a terrific lady(a fantastic quilter too) who lives in Nikko Japan. Her story is reflective and she shares what it is like living in Japan just now.. My heart goes out to all those areas who are struggling with the after effects of floods and earthquakes.

We have had a couple of beautiful days here in Alberta- Do I dare say that maybe we might have spring....

Thanks for stopping by- I promise to come back sooner. I hope you will too.
Regards,
Anna

What's new and a Giveaway

2011-02-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

Anita of Bed of Roses blog has a wonderful giveaway of a book by Bonnie Hunter. Do you know her website? If not you do want to check it out here:
Bonnie is a generous quilter who has a number of free patterns on her website. As well she has recently written her 3rd book and Anita is giving it away to a blogger with an active blog. She asks the question- When did you begin quilting? So when did you begin quilting?
I began steadily quilting in 1996 though I had made quillows and one queen sized log cabin quilt in a day in the mid eighties. Quilting sure has changed since then with all sorts of gadgets( rotary cutters, mats etc ) that make quilting so much easier. The array of fabrics and books is amazing these days. Each day you can find somewhere on line or locally with great fabric choices and new designs to tempt one.

I was not familar with Anita's blog but I know that I will return to visit it when I get the opportunity. You can find a link on my blog list for her.

I did get my OWOH winners bracelets in the mail over the weekend. I also went to buy curtain material for the basement this past weekend. One curtain is hanging up and I need to get two more made in the next few days.

Life is a little busy for us just now. Our son and his girlfriend and their two furry friends " Freddy and Buddy" (they are boy cats) are moving into our basement this weekend. The boy and the girl have been busy this past month clearing out stuff, rearranging other stuff and generally making the space a functional living space for them for awhile. A new wall, some paint, lots of garbage bags and sweat have been involved- mostly theirs.. We welcome them and appreciate all they have done to help neaten us up!

We are not sure how our furry pets are going to like having some new friends in their house so it could be interesting.
I will leave you with a photo of Mars helping me eat my ice cream bar. She loves vanilla ice cream - what a funny old girl she is...

And if you have noticed that fabric costs have been going up, you may find this post by Sue of Alderwood Quilts interesting. She is a quilt shop owner from Oregon and shares some really interesting insight to the rising costs of fabric.

Until next time,
Happy quilting,
Anna

OWOH Winners

2011-02-18T20:34:00.001-08:00

Colorwash Heart made in 2002- owned by family friends

I am happy to announce my two winners from the OWOH blogging festival. First I want to thank Lisa from a Whimsical Bohemian for creating and hosting this wonderful artisan festival for the past 5 years. It has been a wonderful event! She has some new plans ahead that will continue the spirit of OWOH but you need to read her post for information about it.

The past two weeks have been busy on many fronts - at home, at school and on the blog front...There were 870 different posts in OWOH and I attempted to visit them all- and I did manage to stop at almost all of them. Perhaps some of you stopped at some and made a new blog friend. I know that I met some new blogging friends on my journey.

And now to my two winners of the bracelets. I want to congratulate
Singtatter from Singapore
and
Electra from Calgary Alberta
I will get their bracelets finished off and in the mail in the next few days.

These two lovely ladies were drawn randomly using the random generator from 151 entrants. Thanks to all of you who stopped by - I want to go back and stop in on some of you who were so kind to leave a comment on my post now that the festival is completed.
This weekend is a long weekend here in Alberta as it is Family Day Weekend. I am looking forward to an extra day to get some sewing done- I have some curtains to make for downstairs so I am off to buy fabric tomorrow. The local Fabricland is having its Ultimate Sale so hopefully we will find some fabric that will work for a good price. I would like to get some baby quilt wraps made that I cut a couple of weeks ago. Those babies will soon be arriving and be needing those wraps. Perhaps I will get a start on the panel quilt... Lots to do and not enough time... Report cards loom on the horizon...
All in all it looks to be a busy weekend - seems like the weekends are pretty full these days- We have Melissa Etheridge concert tickets on Sunday evening with Serena Ryder as the opening act. We saw Melissa many years ago now and loved her concert. The tickets were a Valentine's gift from my husband.

Recently my friend Micki contacted me and asked me to be her Valentine star of the month. She sent me a set of interview questions and I sent back to her my responses. You can read the lovely piece by clicking on her name above. Thanks Micki for your gift of friendship and kind words.

We hope that the weather warms up too- the last few days, the thermometer has plummeted into the deep freeze... Will it soon be spring???? Rose taken by sister Denise in the summer of 2010
Stay warm and Happy quilting! I will return to regular blogging soon... LOL
Warmest regards,
Anna

One World One Heart 2011

2011-01-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog and the OWOH blogging festival- there are some lovely gifts to be won but, more importantly some new friendships to be made as you travel to the festival stops. I am giving away two handmade bracelets but more about that later...
First...
This mystery quilt's name is Bear in a Cabin and is a mix of log cabin and bear's paw blocks. It is one of my oldest quilts- I began it around 2000 and finished a couple of years later.

I have been thinking about this post for awhile now as I am a big fan of Lisa's from " A Whimsical Bohemian - the creator of One World One Heart. The intent is help bloggers around the globe meet other bloggers during this two week festival.
Did you have penpals when you were growing up?

My name is Anna( aka quiltmom) and I am a middle aged woman from Western Canada, who has loved having penpals from all over the world since I was a teenager. Blogging reminds me of those days of writing letters; only now you get feedback and make connections much more quickly than when I just had snail mail..

I started my blogging journey over two years ago. I love to quilt and create things and have played with lots of different types of medium- pottery, candlemaking, macrame, knitting, crochet, sewing, stamping and beading. Still my first love is quilting followed by beading. Perhaps one day I will combine two but right now I enjoy playing with fabric and beads separately..

I am a kindergarten teacher in my professional life. My husband and I have a grown son. We share our house with a dog named Dusty and a cat named Mars.

One day last week I came home to two packages waiting for me on the table. One of them was large heavy plastic bag from Hancock's of Paducah and the other had some books from Amazon. It was a red letter day for Mail that day....

Now inside this big plastic mail bag, there was some beautiful fabrics to add to the stash- fabrics for baby wraps, a Halloween and Christmas project and some more fabric for my Kaffe Fassett quilt.I am not sure just how big that quilt might end up!! Most importantly, it has a large piece of fabric for a quilt that I am planning that is using some wild life panels. I am still trying to find the right pattern but soon...

The Amazon box had some other treasures in it, but these two books were special to me. The Art Quilt Collection book is brand new to print and was recommended on a couple of blogs. As someone who enjoys looking at other people's work for inspiration, this book is a beautiful addition to my quilt books. Each page has an art quilt with some information about their technique- lots of ideas to ponder..

The other one is a book that I read many years ago and gave to my mother. It is about three generations of Alberta women, but mostly about Mamie, who came to the prairies at the turn of the 20th century. Her story reminds me of the stories of my great grandmothers.(One of my other interests, is genealogy)

And now some information about my giveaway prize. Remember those two bracelets that are laying on the table in front of the bear. I am giving away those two bracelets that are handmade by little ole' me. The bracelets are black stone and silver and will be fitted for the two winners. All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog and I will draw the winner on February 17th. Lisa has asked that all winners have their own blog as this is a festival to introduce bloggers to other bloggers. All bloggers world wide are welcome- please remember to leave an email address so that I can contact you should your name be drawn.

Do click on the OWOH icon - it should take you to Lisa's list of other bloggers who are participating in the festival.. Enjoy the festival- it is going to be great deal of fun...

Warmest regards,
Anna

It all started when...

2011-01-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

The weather has turned mild here in Alberta(unlike some of my friends living in Manitoba and Ontario where the mercury has dropped quite low).
Still, we have mounds of snow that has needed to be dealt with, in one way or another- We had our roof shoveled off on Saturday as it was causing some problems for us in the house. Hopefully it will be better now that the roof is cleared but it is a challenge to get rid of the ice build up.
Bruce found some lovely pink and white carnations to grace the table. Nothing like flowers to add color and life to the house.

On Saturday, I decided to get going on some quilt projects - I pulled out this Tesselating Pinwheels and counted out the block pieces that were already cut. I discovered that I had not cut enough of the black background to make a bedside quilt(a large twin) so I went upstairs to dig around for the black fabric. I was pleased to find another piece of the background. A little while later I had enough cut to make the blocks required.

Here are a few of the blocks made up - the colors are much richer than the photos show- I can't seem to get the light quite right for taking inside photos.You can also see the bag of block pieces waiting to be put together.

While I was upstairs looking for black, I pulled out some fabric to make some new baby clover leaf shaped wraps.

I cut three - all will have the green minkee inside them and different outside fabrics- the sock monkey, the Yellow Golden books and the Raggedy Anne and Andy fabric. I will put batting between the layers and quilt them on the machine and then bind them with bias made binding from the matching cotton fabrics.

Some friends and family members are having babies this spring so I need to get the baby quilts made soon.

My intentions were good but then I got distracted by some blog reading here: Naomi of Nome's bragalong blog posted this You tube link of Suzanne McNeill making this very cool block. ( I learned something new today- I figured out how to embed a You tube piece in my blog_ Wahoo!) Do visit Naomi's blog to check out her beautiful version of Suzanne's 10 minute block

After viewing the tutorial - I had to try it- so after a few tries of getting everything to be in the right direction( sometimes the seam ripper is one's best friend) I made these blocks. They are just test blocks out of charm squares. I still need to press them and I think I will fold them back like Suzanne suggests and make the cathedral window edges.They really are quite fast if you get them oriented correctly.Suzanne had some really nice ideas on the You tube tutorial.
I love the look of curved piecing- Perhaps this is the pattern for my sunflowers with dark black centers and sunflower fabrics.. Hmmmmm...

It was interesting to see the difference between the blocks that were all one color and the printed ones.

There are so many things to consider when you are choosing a quilt pattern.. Do you make your own? Use a commercial one and follow it exactly? Start with a pattern and change it to fit your ideas ? Do you add you own borders?

I sent off the parcels from my last giveaway and got word that one has already arrived. It is always nice to know that the post had safely delivered them to the new owners.

There are some interesting giveaways going on in blogland just now. Do go and check them out if you have the time:
Lila of Lila Tueller Designs is having a very nice giveaway- just because- She is giving away a layer cake and a fat quarter bundle of Riley Blake designs. She does beautiful fabrics and patterns - do go and visit her.
Linda from Stray Stitches is celebrating 400 followers. She is sharing some lovely fabrics - She is one generous lady and I know you will enjoy reading her posts.
There is also a blog hop going on that is being hosted by Moda bake shop and Stash books. Stash books is publishing a book with some Moda bake shop patterns in it. Each of the posts on the blog hop has a nice recipe to share. There is a chance to win a book and the grand prize of some great Moda fabrics. You need to enter all the designer's posts in order to be eligible for the grand prize.
If you have not heard of Moda Bake shop, you may enjoy checking out their blog to find some new patterns as well as gathering some great recipes.

January has been a difficult month for some of my blogging friends. My hope is that their loads are lessened. My thoughts are with those who are struggling with the floods in Australia ,and others, who are dealing with family illness. May the new month bring brighter days and new beginnings.

Until next time,
Be well - Warmest regards,
Anna

Flowers for a Winter's Day

2011-01-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here in Alberta the snow has fallen steadily for 10 days straight. This is a view from my dining room window-look at the weight of the snow on the evergreens. We are wondering where we are going to put more snow if it keeps falling! I have to say we were thrilled to see the blue sky and the sun today. My kids even got to go outside to play at recess this afternoon.
Like many others at this time of year, I have stopped to reflect on life's gifts. The new year's arrival has been mostly quiet and this little panel quilt always makes me smile. It is joyful and I am reminded of my life's rich blessings.
Here is my sunflower girl painting that I referred to in the last post. I love the flowers in her hair. She is happy and smiling - just like the sunflowers
I have played with a technique called Snippets to make a version of Sunflowers. It is my tribute to the Van Gogh sunflowers. I gave this wallhanging away as a gift to a family member. Perhaps one day I will make another version of it. Cindy Walters has a number of great books that can help you learn how to do this fused applique technique. She did a marvelous version of Van Gogh's painting Starry Starry Night that is on to do list.

My good friend Val knows how much I love sunflowers. These measuring spoons were such a perfect gift for me. The handles are sunflowers and the backs are engraved with one of my favorite mantras " Live Love Laugh".
Over the last few years, I have collected sunflower fabrics. One of the quilts that I created with them, was this Disappearing Nine Patch quilt. Another way that I have used some of my sunflower fabrics was in two coin quilts.
Now I have a nice new collection of sunflower fabrics just waiting to be made up into a new quilt- I just need to find a good design to show off the beautiful sunflowers. Perhaps you have a pattern or idea of how to use some gorgeous sunflower fabrics?

Our friend who painted the Sunflower lady, also painted these flowers on a set of glasses for us. She is such a talented lady and can paint on anything- old saw blades, baby carriages, candles and pots of every shape and description. She loves to create on different surfaces.
December was indeed a very lucky month for me. Heather from my muse blog had a lovely Christmas contest where she sent me this terrific light bracelet. Thank you Heather- it is so charming and will be a big hit with my kindergarten kids...
Mary Jane Carey from Holly hill designs sent me a note to say she would love to send me a pattern of my choice from the 100 designer block blog hop. This was the one I chose- I love the saying" Snow is for the birds". Right about now, I couldn't agree more- The snow is very beautiful but we hope that it will stop falling for awhile!

I had to show you this gorgeous stain glass poinsettia. It is truly a treasure from a dear friend. Flowers do make me smile in lots of different forms. I love how the light shines through the rich colors of the glass.

A blogging friend Carolyn is having a giveaway on her blog just now. She lives here in Edmonton and one day soon we are going to get together to have tea and talk about quilting. Do go and visit here and meet her cat Tika and see all the wonderful projects that she is creating.

I have been reading with great interest Barbara Brackman's blog . She is a terrific quilt historian and has two blogs(that I know of) going just now. One is on Civil war quilts complete with civil war blocks to make.This year is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil war. Her original blog that is linked here has all sorts of interesting information about fabric and the history that surrounds it. For example, she had a recent post about a London museum who currently is showing a fabric exhibit where the fabric tokens were from the mid 1760's babies and mothers that went to the London Foundling Hospital. You can find a link to Barbara's post here. I love how she gives great background and context to provide the fabric's stories.

I finally got my own sewing machine out the other day and added some borders to a quilt. It is another version of the Wonky Rail Ties - I am pleased with the borders. I have been reading on other blogs about different challenges and goals. I am thinking about 11 quilts for 2011- that seems a bit of a lofty goal but one needs to have aspirations.LOL
It felt good to begin quilting again. Sometimes, one just needs to take out some fabric and begin playing. You never know where the fabric will lead you..

I hope that the flowers have brightened your day and lift your spirits. I know that one day the snow will melt and we will have beautiful grass and flowers again - Right now Mother Nature needs to rest and renew the earth.

Don't forget to come back at the end of the month- I will be back beading for the One World One Heart blog hop.

Until next time,
Happy Quilting,
Anna

Some Winners

2011-01-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

My Chantelle Fleur quilt- Ode to Ricky Tims Every winner should see a flower too...
Well Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thanks for participating in my first ever giveaway(by myself giveaway- not part of a big blog hop) I have loved reading the comments this week. It is nice to hear from people from different parts of the world. You are all so kind. I liked reading about your New Year's resolutions and favorite colors.

Bruce helped me set up the random generator with the names and I am pleased to announce that the 3 winners are: (1) Hazel B. sew crazy
(2) Teresa( no blog)
and (3) Linda Quilt Cookies

I will look forward to hearing from these ladies so that they can claim their prizes. Hazel will get to pick first and so on down the line.

Watch out in late January when I participate in OWOH - I will be giving away one bracelet or maybe even two that I have made. Lisa from Whimsical Bohemian is the webmaster for that terrific blog hop. I have met wonderful bloggers from different parts of the globe.

There is a blog tour that started today on Spun Sugar quilts Vickie is the host and she is and some of her blog friends are holding a Valentine Hop. Today she made some very cute valentine hearts. There are some nice prizes and projects to view.

Another giveaway you might want to check out is my friend Oz Jane. You can find her blog here: Jane is giving away some lovely things - a nice apron, a beautiful storage bag for quilty things and a book done by Australian Homespun. Don't they all sound lovely. Do check it out...
The last one I will tell you about is from Vicki from the pickledish patch is giving away one of her stitchery patterns. It is part of a larger one among the gumtree designers blog group who are giving away all the patterns for the fresh hope foundation quilt. It is a lovely prize Vicki...
In the meantime, I am not looking forward to morning. It has been snowing here in Edmonton since early Friday afternoon. My husband has shoveled snow and dug out cars. We are not sure how many students will make it to school tomorrow. We don't have snow days here- so off to work I will go! Stay warm...
I'll be back in a few days to post..
Warmest regards,
Anna

Finally 100 Posts- Can you guess what that means?

2011-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Did you notice my header change- The beautiful star came to me from a giveaway that I won recently from Michelle of the Raspberry Rabbits blog. I have written to Shell for a couple of years now and I was very inspired by the quote on the Star. It seems like a fitting header for a Brand New Year!
I have been writing this rambling blog for over two years. Finally, I have reached that magic number 100 - It has been a wonderful journey. This last year I have written more sporadically - perhaps in 2011 I will make a more frequent appearance here. It is not that I don't think of you often and wonder how my blog friends are doing, but more that my daily life seems to get in my way.

For example, I had hoped to post yesterday but I seemed to have caught a flu bug and spent the day alternating between the couch and my bed, when I wasn't gracing the bathroom throne. However, whatever it was seems to have passed, and I am starting to feel like my regular self.

Today is the begin of a New Year and a fresh start... It is snowing outside and we are off to some very good friends for New Year's Dinner later this afternoon. I have some photos of the holiday to share with you and then something for my dear friends too..

This lovely collection of fabrics I posted about last time. They came from Elaine of a Faithful Quilter. The fabrics are so beautiful that I hoped that a photo in more natural light would show you how beautiful they truly are. Thank you so much, Elaine, for the gorgeous fabrics. I was one lucky girl in the month of December as I won a few giveaway prizes and this was the first one.
Bruce and I went shopping on our way back from the airport where we left our son and his girlfriend who have spent an enjoyable two weeks with her family and friends in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
One place we stopped was a little antique mall that has all sorts of bits and bobs of things. I loved this Christmas plate and these two brooches so they came home with me as a Christmas present to me. My grandmother, I am sure had one similar to the flower one and it reminded me of a sunflower. ( In an upcoming post I will sharewith you some more sunflowers, as we received a beautiful sunflower girl painting for Christmas and glasses with sunflowers from a dear family friend)
The same day I found the plate, a very nice parcel came in the mail from Carrieof Schnibbles fame- It was a beautiful parcel wrapped in Red tissue with a roll of fabric to make her Christmas pattern from the Henry Glass blog hop . As well, she included a lovely set of her patterns, a Christmas cup and a Santa Claus for my tree. It was such a wonderful prize, Carrie- Thank you so very much! I can see that I have a few of my Christmas patterns to make for next year.

On the quilting front- Perhaps you remember me debating about adding the yellow to these placemats - I thought you might like to see the finished version. Our family friend loved them. I know that I loved her sunflower painting and glasses. The glasses were given to Bruce and I to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.
On the day of our wedding anniversary, my family had a lovely turkey dinner for us followed by a Happy Anniversary Carrot Cake. A couple of days later, we had a special dinner to celebrate Christmas with some very good friends. This picture of Bruce and I, is taken with a very special gift from them to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. The painting done by Jane Lee Ling, is made using a Hayter viscosity rejection technique on an acid etched zinc plate. It is a gorgeous piece that we will cherish always. We are currently looking at how we can move some pictures around so that we can show this beautiful piece off in our home.

And now to something I have been planning to celebrate my 100th post. A giveaway of my own- I hope that you will find something in this group of things that you might enjoy if you happen to be one of my winners. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me what is your favorite color. If you have a New Year's resolution you can add that too. I will close off the comments next Sunday January 9,2011. The first name drawn will have choice of the three prizes, the second one next and the last one will get third prize.
These are the three choices
The first one has a book called Nine by Nine as well as some fat quarters.

The second one has some patterns and something else - I haven't quite decided whether it will be a bit of fabric or something else.
The third one is a book called Twin Peaks and some fat quarters.

This giveaway is open to all of my readers where ever you live on this globe. I have been a lucky girl recently and I want to celebrate a New Year and 100 posts

Later in January I will be participating in the last OWOH event (See the icon link) in the top right corner of my blog. I will be making a couple of bracelets for that giveaway. That post will happen on January 31- through February 17th.

Here are a few other giveaways going on in Blogland-

You might want to check this one out. Vicki of the Pickledish Patch is hosting a nice giveaway on her blog. She is lovely Australian blogger who is going to open an etsy shop.

There is a fabulous giveaway going on at Stray Stitches Linda has a gorgeous quilt and fabric that she is giving away to celebrate 2011 and her followers.
Go and have a look- it really is a fabulous giveaway prize- Someone is going to be very lucky indeed!

My blogging friend Thimbleanna is celebrating four years of blogging. She is one of the blogs that I read before I blogged. Anna used to tease me about being "Anna NO Blog". She has a great blog- shares some wonderful recipes and loves to share her quilty stories. She has some lovely gifties for her winners too.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing in my journey - in some patches of time, it is more quilty than others. I have been inspired by you all and enjoyed reading about your life's journey. I have enjoyed getting to know many wonderful people from around the globe that share a passion for creating things- not just quilting.

My New Year's wish for you is that you can find time to feed your creative spirit. May the New Year bring good health, prosperity and wonderful times spent with your loved ones.
A very happy New Year to one and all.

Warmest regards,
Anna

Signs of the Season...

2010-12-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

Poinsettia throw made around 2002 - center of the quilt is a paper pieced pattern by Eileen B.Sullivan. It is a sew and flip technique.

My dear friends,
It has been a busy time for me- it seems like a common refrain but somehow this fall has been busier than usual or maybe I am getting older... For whatever reason I have not got as much done at home and quilting seems to have fallen to the back burner. In the New Year I want to change that - I have some quilt projects that I want to make for some special people to acknowledge their importance in my life.

The festive season has arrived in my house. We are all lit up with lights of the season. This year we have had more snow than some years so it is indeed a winter Wonderland.
This furry bear friend who is hanging on for dear life has graced the top of our Christmas tree for many years. Sometimes, I think its time we replaced him but the men in my house say he is a tradition, so there he sits, perched on the top of the tree. We put him in his place yesterday when we decorated the tree with dear friends and family. Our tree trimming party is an annual event where friends come and help adorn the tree. It looks beautiful doesn't it! Last weekend, I put up some of the other Christmas decorations that add ambiance and reflect the Christmas season. This stand came from my in laws home, and is very old. I change it seasonally and it holds all the symbols of the changing seasons.

The mantel holds some of my favorite Santas. Do you collect certain kinds of decorations?
We live in a small house and so I rotate the collections of things. Over the years, I have been given a number of Santas. This is just some of them. They say less is more- I still haven't quite figured out how to be a minimalist but this is reduced..LOL

We have had a real tree for all of the years we have been married. We love the smell of the real tree and don't mind the real life droppings of nature that decorate our rug by the end of the Christmas season. The tree is covered with an eclectic collection of decorations-many which have been given to me by students. Some ornaments have hung on every tree for the past 30 years. The tree does not have tinsel on it yet. Santa Claus usually added it on Christmas Eve- This year I am not sure if it will get on or not..

Poinsettia flowers were my wedding flowers in 1980. I have a great fondness for them and Bruce brought this beautiful plant to grace our table. There are some wonderful Christmas cacti too. Cacti have quite an amazing flower- almost like a trumpet shaped flower that keeps expanding out... We have an old one and a new one and both of them have blossoms- Nature does have amazing timing..
I have been very fortunate lately. I have won some giveaways. These are a couple of things that arrived in my mailbox.

A while back I won a gift certificate to a place called Patchwork Plus through the Barbara Cline book bloghop.( If you love lone stars then you should check out her book "Star Struck Quilts.") When I began searching The Patchwork Plus on line website I was thrilled to find some beautiful sunflower fabric and some teacher like fabric with all sorts of math and science symbols on it. As well,I found a pattern of a quilt that I had admired on Tazzie's blog awhile back.Tazzie is an Australian quilter who has contributed designs to Australian Patchwork and Quilting. I really loved how Tazzie used black and white around the central blocks. Her central blocks were Kaffe fabrics. It seems quite fitting that the pattern was bought from a gift certificate that came through a giveaway on her blog. Thank you Tazzie!
Elaine from a Faithful Quilter held a giveaway in honor of her birthday earlier in December. I was so amazed when an email appeared in my box to let me know that I had won some lovely fabric. I wish that the camera captured the truly gorgeous fabrics done by Barbara Brackman. They are rich and luscious to look at. Thank you Elaine for your beautiful card and generous gift. It is very special fabric.

And here is a giveaway for you to check out at retro mummy She is giving away some really lovely Lecien fabric called Flowered Sugar.... yummy...

Christmas will be a little different in our house this year. Our son is flying with his girlfriend to the other side of the country to spend Christmas with her family. We know that they will have a fantastic time but we will miss them both. We will go earlier to visit my parents and have dinner with my siblings.On Sunday Bruce and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I am not sure yet how we will mark it but it doesn't really matter as long as we have time together.

In closing, I would like to wish you and yours a lovely festive season where you have the opportunity to enjoy some good times with family and friends. May 2011 bring good health and prosperity to you and your loved ones.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Going back....

2010-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

Do you have a favorite pattern that you use when you quilt? There are a few giveaways going on in blogland and sometimes the blogger will pose a question.
One of the giveaways that I entered tonight, asked me if I had a favorite pattern.
I guess I am a traditionalist at heart- I love patterns like Lone Star, Log Cabin and Double Wedding Ring- the designs are simple designs with lots of color. The quilt in the photograph was made a number of years ago(rising 10 years) and it belonged to my inlaws. I believe it is a Double Irish Chain and, even though we have taken a number of photos of it, the colors just do not come out correctly on the computer or photograph. The red is a rich cranberry/ burgundy red and gold and green are quite luscious in person. However, I like to post at least one quilt this post. Here is one to kick out the Festive Season.
My spouse and I share a great love of flowers. Bruce found some lovely peach colored roses with alstroemeria. They are such a pretty flower and last quite awhile- They certainly brighten a winter's day.
Winter arrived last week with a bang. The first seriously cold day was on the 22nd which also just happened to be my birthday. It is not unusual to have snow on my birthday, but one hopes not to get hit with a real cold spell at the beginning. This one lasted for only a couple of days,thank goodness! Too many cold days in a row can make for some serious cases of cabin fever in kindergarten.
Since I last wrote - all the most important writing has been completed at school. I have met with my families and we now are preparing for the annual Christmas concert. The children are getting excited for the upcoming arrival of Santa.

You already know that I love creating and making things with my hands.One of my other interests is family history or genealogy. When I was about 16, I began to research my father's family. Like a disease spreading, other family members got hooked into looking at things from the past. M This weekend Bruce and I went to visit my folks in Red Deer(it is about a two hour drive).My mother has developed a serious bug and collected information from 8 different lines that radiate out from my grandparents. Imagine my pleasure when my mother handed me a pamphlet from the local museum, with a photograph of my grandfather's family. The photo was taken in 1912 when my grandfather was 2. He is the little boy in the doorway dressed in white. (I think you could click on the photos and make them larger.)The curator, Michael, was someone with whom I went to school. He gave a lecture Sunday afternoon which we were invited to attend. It was a wonderful hour spent learning more about the settlement of the area and some of the trials,tribulations and challenges that the families experienced when they arrived in this New land.

This dapper fellow holding the violin was my mother's great uncle John. The photographs were all taken on glass negatives and have been well preserved.
Here is my mother Dolores(the fair haired one) and her cousin Lavila taken on either side of the family photo. Lavila's father was born a year later than this photograph.
My great grandparents were Swedish and came around the turn of the 20th century. Like others, my great grandfather came ahead and his wife followed awhile later. Their journey was long and arduous. They came to land that was not yet developed and worked hard to establish a new life. The exhibit is called "Nya Bachen" which refers to "New Land".

Here is a photo of my mom and I with the family photograph.

This past weekend was quite hectic- my friend Val and I went to a local bead show of hand made beads.(I hope to show you them in a different post). There were some really lovely ones and,of course,I bought some to use to make Christmas gifts. Bruce and I left to spend the rest of the weekend with my folks.
Some family friends of my parents came in to have " American Thanksgiving Dinner" on Saturday evening. They are transplanted Americans. We had a pleasant evening and enjoyed chicken dinner with all the trimmings.

Sunday was even busier- In the morning, Mom and I made gingerbread playdough for my students. I have some gingerbread cookie dough chilling in the fridge compliments of my mother. One evening this week, I will roll out the dough and make gingerbread cookies for my school kids. After lunch, we went off to the museum and returned to watch the Grey Cup (our national football championship). Some family members were disappointed because our Western team - the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost to the Montreal Alouettes.
Our journey home from Red Deer was later than usual as the road was covered in ground fog for the first half of the trip. It felt good to fall into bed on Sunday night.

If you are still with me, I want to share a few giveaways that are happening in Blogland.
Rebecca is having a lovely giveaway of some gorgeous fat quarters.
Elaine is having a birthday giveaway- She is a big fan of civil war fabrics and has lovely blog - do go and check out her blog.
Charlie is celebrating having 500 followers. He along with the Fat Quarter Shop, are having a nice giveaway with a 50 dollar gift certificate and a baby quilt that Charlie has created. He is giving away the fabrics to make a chenille baby blanket.
Oz Jane has a very nice giveaway going on just now. She often shares her adventures with Moggie the cat and life in the land down under.
Heather of "Trends and Traditions" is part of a group of designers who are hosting a blog hop with 17 other designers for the first 7 days of December. It is The Henry Glass Parade with a free project and a mystery word to collect. At the end you could be the winner of some great prizes. Do check it out from Heather's post.
December is soon here. May you enjoy some wonderful family times during this hectic season.
Until next time, I hope you spend some happy time creating.
Warmest regards,
Anna

November Ramblings...

2010-11-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

So how is life everyone..... Are you getting ready for Christmas? Is it getting cooler and the snow arriving in your neck of the woods(for my Northern Hemisphere blogging friends)? Here in Edmonton, we had one snowfall that has melted away but this weekend has been cool and grey. The sky looks threatening- I guess I will have to put away my open toed shoes soon. LOL

One of the things my husband Bruce often does, is bring home flowers when he goes grocery shopping- The newest flowers were red carnationa and a stem of orchids - The orchids are actually white and deep red purple, and have graced the table that I have been working on, for most of the past couple of weekends.

For me it is that time again where I worked on report cards for school. The flowers looked beautiful and gave me something to enjoy viewing when I needed some time to reflect on the writing.

Once I had completed some of the report writing, I thought about other things that I have on my plate to do before the Christmas season is upon us. One of them is a small quilting project. I went looking in the stash of fabric for some pansy fabrics. A quilting friend very kindly had given me some pieces for this particular project. I am very grateful for her generous gift, because as I dug through the boxes of beautiful fabric, I found many beautiful pieces of batiks, tone on tone, stars and other floral fabrics but very little pansy fabric.

I have read a few blogs lately that showed some new fabrics that others had added to their stash. I am trying to use my stash when I can, rather than buy new fabric. There are many beautiful pieces up there just waiting to be made into quilts. Do you collect lots of the same kind of fabrics and not much of other kinds? How is it that I can have boxes of one type and only a half a dozen pieces of another?

Choosing a pattern was also a bit of a challenge as I usually make bed quilts. I found the pattern for these bargello placemats in this older issue of Quilter's World.
Here you can see the original pattern called Land and Sea bargello placemats.
I do love the color combo that they used. I am not sure how well it will work with the pansy fabrics, but we will soon find out.

You can see the strips laid out on the table. I am still trying to figure out if this is the sequence that I want to use for the place mats. I can't decide if I want to include the bright yellow strip or not- I am wondering if it is going to be too jarring to the eye?

A friend at work asked me if I would make her some bracelets for her to give as Christmas gifts. These were today's creations- If you are wondering why they still have loose wire, it is because I want to check and see if they all fit, before I cut the wire and finish them. She will not want all of them, so I have a start on some Christmas gifts as well.

The one bracelet on the left that has bigger beads, is for me- I bought some Christmas beads and got them strung in time to wear for this Christmas season. Wahoo..

In between report card writing, we had the opportunity to take in some great music by some local musicians who participated in an event called "Homefest". The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of Homelessness in our area. We have attended before (3 other times). Each time we have enjoyed the music and been moved by the stories shared by the people willing to share their challenging circumstances. Affordable housing is a difficult issue for many people in the current economic times. It is particularly daunting in our winter climate.

Later last week, Bruce and I went to hear a lecture at the local Art Gallery about the work of Henri Matisse. I found it interesting to see this week,that Hancocks of Paducah was advertising a new line of fabrics " Vie en Rose" by Alexander Henry that use Henri Matisse works as inspiration for the line.

I am still wanting to finish reading all the quilt stories from Amy's blogging festival. The icon at the top of my blog can take you to Amy's festival where you should be able to view the quilts. There were 649 quilts in the show- so many magnificent pieces...

This next week there is still some paperwork to be completed for school. Hopefully next weekend I will take out the winter village to decorate the sideboard. The days seem to fly by at this time of year, with lots to do and not enough time...Christmas is coming...

Hope you all are well and getting some time to create and enjoy life.

Warmest regards,
Anna

Amy's Blogger Festival _ Fall 2010

2010-10-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

This week is Amy's Blogger Festival that coincides with the big Houston Quilt Festival and Market. The quilt that I have chosen to share is a quilt that I made for our niece and nephew as a Wedding Quilt. The pattern is called Paperweight from Aardvark Patterns, Kansas.

I loved making this quilt- there are so many fabric scraps that brought back wonderful memories of other quilts that I have made, as I made the wheel like hexagons. I knew that Beth loved blue but I prefer to make quilts with many colors. It is always a dilemma when you are making a gift for someone- what colors to choose - a few or many. My hope is that the owners will use their quilt and feel the warmth and love that is sewn in with every stitch. I know that the couple loved their quilt. The quilt owners will have their first baby in the spring so it will be time for another kind of quilt.

On the technical side,I learned an easier way after I finished making the quilt so if I were to make it again it would have been less difficult to join the hexagons together. I pinned each edge of the hexagon with the joining blocks. It would have worked much better if I had sewn them in half wheels and sewed them in strips.

It is a queen sized quilt and unlike almost all of my other quilts has no additional borders. The outer edge has half hexagon wheels to square it. I am not sure how many pieces there are in it but there are a few hundred pieces.

Thank you Amy for hosting this wonderful quilt festival. This is the third time that I have participated and I am looking forward to seeing all the different quilts. There are many beauties already hanging there on the main link. To see them just click on the icon and it will take you to the quilts. Amy has added a photo of each quilt which makes it look even more like a show. I know I am going to enjoy visiting the posts and reading their stories - I am sure you will too..

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will stop by again.
Regards from a Western Canadian quilter.
Anna

Some early quilts from the vaults....

2010-10-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Quilting is a bit of a cyclical thing for me- Sometimes I manage to get a fair amount of quilting done and other times I seem to get nothing done short of adding some beautiful fabric to my ever growing stash or drooling over magazine/ book quilts and new gadgets like the "Go"... I am not sure why I quilt like that- part of it is certainly because my work life takes over and there doesn't seem to be enough time or energy to go around. Yet,I know if I begin working on a quilt project, I feel better. Before I know it, I will have worked for a couple of hours and feel re- energized too. Sometimes, I stop to look at some photos of the quilts I have created over the last 15 years. Mars the cat can often be found testing out my quilts- She appears to think that I make them for her pleasure. She even has some favorite quilts- The leaf one on the left, is one that she is keen on- it matches her coat beautifully..

My quilt journey began quite a long time ago now - I have always loved quilts and my first experiences with quilting came when I met a friend whose grandmother showed her how to make the dresden plate pattern. We used cardboard templates and scissors ( yes I was one of those people that quilted in a time where there was no rotary cutter.. I completed one block and later turned it into a quillow quilt ( a quilt that folds up and forms a pillow.)

After that, my journey hit a few pot holes and I got side tracked by life- I married my husband and a few years later we had our son. He was born in the winter of 1987. The summer I was pregnant with him I quilted a " Quilt in a Day" Log cabin. It was a bit of challenge as I knew nothing about machine quilting. I thought that all quilts needed to be like downy duvets- I put a double layer of polyester batt in it, so it would be poofy.. It was a bit like wrestling a bear... I don't think I would want you to see the back of it either... The front doesn't look very good these days as it has suffered a few adventures with the pets that are an important part of our home and hearth. Life took over again - and it would be another 10 years before I would quilt again..
However, that is when my quilting journey changes- In the summer of 1996, I met a teacher, Linda and a small group of quilters with whom I connected, and we became quilting friends. I have quilted steadily ( sometimes slightly unsteadily) since that time. I have made over 50 large bed sized quilts for friends and family and numerous baby wraps in the intervening years.

This lone star was made in the fall of 1997-it still lives in our house- I made it larger to cover up my 6 foot husband and son. The colors are now dated but it remains in pretty good shape and still keeps us warm too...

What size quilts do you make? I like to make quilts that will be ones that fit a bed- I have made a few baby quilts and lots of baby wraps but, mostly I make big quilts that fit queen sized and occasionally king sized beds. I also like to make couch sized quilts.

My blog friend Rosa from New Brunswick ( a province in Eastern Canada) posted about the Magic Tiles pattern not long ago. It really is a pretty pattern. Here was my version of this beautiful design. I think I made it about 2002. It is made all out of batiks and I know that our friends loved it.

Sometimes I think it might be fun to make a few smaller projects just to get my juices going- but then I think of all the bed quilts I still want to make for one reason or another... I see the beautiful bags people create - I even have a couple of quilt books with bag patterns - still I make bed quilts ---- I guess I hope to make a dent in my stash and bed quilts is the way to do that LOL

Earlier I was mentioning about the Go -- Well Micki of The Irish Muse blog is hosting a Go giveaway... Now I have been admiring those fine machines- just think how much easier it is to cut things out.. What about all the different die- so many choices.. Maybe you will be the lucky winner or may be it will be my turn- do check it out...

There is a new Talk about Fabric button on the right side of my blog- for those of you who like giveaways or are interested in talking about fabric and fabric lines. You can add the button to your blog too if you wish..

This week is the big Houston Quilt Market- I am mind boggled thinking about all the choices one would find there- It is too large for me but it is fun to see what others have to say about the Houston Quilt festival...

The fall is flying by- this weekend is Halloween and my kindergarten students love to dress up in their costumes and go trick or treating. The first assessment part of my job is done so now the report writing begins... The first snowfall came on Monday and so did the snow pants and the snowmen.... Each day brings new things...

Wishing everyone some time to reflect and create...
Warmest regards,
Anna

Time to Contemplate....

2010-10-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

Some days I am struck by how much can happen in one day- sometimes it is a series of a little things and other times there are major events.

The world has been watching the miracle that has happened in Chili- What a wonderful thing that they were able to keep those miners alive and have brought them back to the earth's surface. I wondered how did those men hang onto hope and the belief that they would some day feel the sunlight and the hugs of loved ones.

Today I am feeling a bit reflective about the fragility of life. I have some friends and family who are dealing with loss and serious illness. I wish that I could find words of comfort that could ease their grief and loss- life can be cruel.

When we were in the mountains of Jasper in the summer, my spouse took this photo of me. We were awestruck by the beauty of Mount Edith Cavell. The Canadian Rockies are truly majestic. You can drive up the mountain of hairpin turns and stop to view the vistas. The mountains are a wonderful place to pause and reflect.. It was very soothing to stop and contemplate the beauty of the surroundings. Do you have a place where you can go and enjoy a reflective pause?

For six weeks this fall, I am participating in a book study group that is reading a book about using philosophy to help children develop critical thinking skills. It is an interesting study and asks questions like "are children philosophers?"
How do we help children continue to ponder questions that do not have right or wrong answers?
How do we help fuel childrens' natural curiosity?

I can tell my life has been busy because I have not been able to spend time writing or reading in blogland. There has been a wonderful blog festival fall into fall that is over tomorrow. If you hurry, you might be able to check out some of the wonderful blogs and sign up for some terrific giveaways.

Here in Canada, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend.

My husband was away visiting his elderly mother. I made this texture quilt for her a couple of years ago. She has Alzheimer's and is well cared for in a seniors home. She recently had her 88th birthday. Ami Simms is the founder of the Alzheimer Art Quilts Initiative that has raised money for Alzheimer's Research. There is a powerful book and show called "Forgetting by the Piece". Do check out her website.

Last weekend, our son Kevin, his girlfriend Roseanne, and I went to visit my parents and enjoyed a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner and all the trimmings with 15 family members. Nearly two weeks ago, one of our nieces, had a new baby girl,W. who is beautiful.
New babies need quilts don't you think? I made a quilted baby wrap for her, which I unfortunately, neglected to photograph- Perhaps one of my family members will send me a photo to post.

While Bruce was away visiting his mother I did attend the Kaffe Fassett evening. This link takes you to his home page.

I loved seeing some of Kaffe quilts and needlework and enjoyed hearing him talk about his process. There was certainly lots of beautiful forms of needlework and patchwork to enjoy. I asked him if there ever could be too much color and his reply was a succinct "No". He graciously signed my books and I went home inspired by all those rich colors.

I also had the opportunity to meet with good friends for dinner a couple of times last week. We enjoyed some delicious meals and delightful conversation.

The week passed very quickly- it was the first week that I had lived in our house by myself, as our son has been living away from home since last spring( well we still have our cat and dog).

In the meantime, I have been very busy at school gathering information for fall assessments and reports. I sometimes forget how busy fall can be.

A lovely lady named Marc sent me some wonderful Aunt Martha embroidery transfers. She was cleaning out her sewing area and wanted to give them away. I was the fortunate recipient of them. My mom did many beautiful embroidery pieces so the transfers bring back many wonderful memories. Thank you so much Marcia. They are really lovely.

Thanks to all of you who left such nice comments last time. My lost tooth did not cause me any grief- I am really fortunate-

Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks - Today I am particularly grateful for all that I have... and taking a bit of time to contemplate life's rich gifts. I will return when I can- perhaps with a little more quilt content..
Warmest regards,
Anna

The Tooth , Magazine Therapy, A Package, and some quilt process..

2010-09-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

Part one a Tooth Saga..
Recently, Bruce and I stopped to buy some groceries and a few things for the prize box for my little ones at school. While we were there, I saw on the shelf, one of my favorite candies " Edinburgh Toffee". It had been quite awhile since I had sampled its sticky goodness so I bought a bag as a treat. Mint,chocolate, licorice and vanilla flavors are some of my favorite toffees. Someone ought to have reminded me that middle aged teeth do not always like chewy candies, and while enjoying one, I suddenly found myself with a large chunk out of a wisdom tooth.. Yikes.... Fortunately, it did not hurt, but unfortunately, it was rather a large hole where there once was a tooth. Yesterday, I phoned the dentist's office and, today after class, I was able to arrange a visit my dentist... To say, that it made me anxious would be an understatement, but I was more fearful of how much of a pain the holey took could become if I didn't take care of it. It didn't take long after my arrival at the dentist- fifteen minutes later with a frozen mouth, I found myself chomping down on a piece of gauze and minus a wisdom tooth. My dentist also sent me home with some instructions to prevent a dry socket(not a fun condition that my husband experienced) and a prescription for antibiotic and Tylenol 3.. It is now a few hours later and other than the residual freezing, it is feeling not too bad- even without the Tylenol, perhaps I may need one before bed but so far, so good)

Part Two.. A visit to Chapters
One of my vices( besides sticky chewy candies LOL) is a love of quilt magazines and books. The book store is literally on the next corner from the dentist's office. I figured I had earned a little diversion after my dental experience, so I checked out the current quilt magazines. I picked up a collection of ten or twelve magazines, and after some perusal, I narrowed it down to these three that came home with me..
Over the summer, I discovered Quilt Life magazine. I really enjoyed reading the inaugural issue and was very pleased to see a copy of it on the Canadian newsstand. Chapters carries a pretty large selection of magazines- that include a number of US and International magazines. There is now a Canadian magazine too - so many choices- which ones would you pick? What makes you choose to buy a magazine or book? For a number of years, I subscribed to Quilters Newsletter (still do), and the Australian Patchwork and Quilting ( still like it a lot but no longer subscribe to it). Currently, I usually buy Fons and Porter..."For the Love of Quilting" and, once in awhile, still buy the Australian Patchwork magazine. I pick and choose more than I used to - each one runs about 7 or 8 Canadian dollars. It quickly adds up not to mention that the piles of magazines get taller and taller.. This time I chose based on what patterns were in the magazines that really might be added to my bucket list of quilts to make.

Part Three_ A Package in the Mail
Armed with some new reading material, some fresh bread and medication we returned home to find a lovely package of fabrics and rotary cutting blades that I ordered from a company called Sew Sisters in Toronto.. I was so pleased to see it had safely arrived and everything that I ordered came too Woo Hoo....
The first one is a backing for a nature quilt that I am thinking about making for a special someone. Usually I work from my stash but this project has involved collecting panels and other fabrics... The design is still in my head... but it is coming along. I also ordered the large rotary cutting blades- they are the best price I can find here in Canada so I was thrilled to get them for even less on this one day sale.( about 20 dollars Canada for 5 blades)
Sew Sisters also had some of Kaffe Fassett fabrics on sale - I was a bit surprised how large one of the designs was ( the orange petal shaped piece is very big) but they are all lovely. I am so looking forward to seeing Kaffe speak here at a local museum in early October. I wonder which quilts and needlework he will bring to show us?

This collection includes a very cute Raggedy Ann and Andy fabric for a baby wrap- and a piece of Valori Wells Sole fabric line.

Recently some bloggers have begun to write about their process while quilting. Here is the beginning squares to my latest convergence. They are wrinkly here but I did press them, before they were cut up into the strips.VBG
And Voila... Here is the newest completed quilt of this year. It is amazing what a difference quilting, binding, not to mention pressing, make to the look of the quilt. I got it bound last week and it is ready for some special people- It just needs a label on it..

I also completed the body of another of the wonky rail ties (8X9)rows so it will be a queen sized version of the blue/green rail ties. There is still 20 more blocks that I can use to make a small couch quilt... I did get rather carried away when I was making those blocks!

Recently I was visiting a fellow blogger,Elaine wrote about a very cool technique that uses square in a square blocks by Jody Barrows. Elaine is having a little trouble with blogger just now, but do check it out( I just clicked the 2nd link), if you are curious about ways to cut up a Square in a Square design. It reminds me of the techniques used to make the disappearing 4 and 9 patch blocks. Quilters do create such amazing designs... I checked on Amazon for Jody's book, but so far, I have not had any luck finding it..

We are beginning to get healthier in our house ( wisdom tooth not withstanding) and getting settled into the fall routines. The trees are turning, the moon is full and Fall has definitely arrived here in Alberta...

Hope this finds you healthy and having fun creating, in whatever medium feeds your creative soul..

Warmest regards,
Anna

September - the connecting roots....

2010-09-16T17:11:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of my father's beautiful lilies- some of which came from plants out of my grandmother's garden. She loved flowers- irises, lilies and pansies were some of her favorites. The frost has come and September has been wet and rainy. We keep hoping that we might have some warm days yet before we have the long winter season.

These last two weeks have been busy ones... This past week was the first full week of school; although I have been back in the classroom since the last week of August. My school kids and I are getting to know one another... My assistant and I have begun the necessary assessments that help us better determine appropriate programming for this group of children. Yesterday we had our annual "Corn Fest" where are families come to see the school and meet the staff. I have been laminating, photocopying and making new things for the classroom so there has not been much time/ energy to quilt.

Last weekend I went for a quick trip to my folks on Saturday. It was a spur of the moment trip that involved my 17 year god daughter A., driving her first long trip( 200 miles round trip). She wanted to see her friend, M., who lives is a bedroom community of the city in which my parents live. A. picked up her friend M., and they drove off to a local restaurant while my friend Val and I, went on to my parent's home to have lunch with my parents. My god daughter A., is the one in the middle. Val and I have been good friends since 1988. Where has the time gone? Our children have gone from babies to near adulthood. Val's friendship is one of the great gifts in my life. While Bruce and I have one adult son, her girls certainly are daughters of my heart. Her younger daughter E., is interested in sewing and quilting- perhaps one day we will make a quilt together.

While we were there, Val and my dad got talking about genealogy and family roots. My father took out some family treasures that my great grandmother Carrie- Belle brought with her, when she and her family moved to Alberta early in the twentieth century. She was a teacher on a reservation in the Dakotas. Carrie Belle was given these beautiful moccasins and pouches/ medicine bags by her First Nation families. The bead work on the moccasins is fabulously intricate and are greatly treasured by my father. One pair was made for a baby, while the blue ones were made for a woman. I don't know if my great grandmother ever wore the moccasins.
This week was also an anniversary of sorts for us. It has been 7 years since my grandmother Grace passed away in an accident. I have written about her before in an earlier post called " Remembering Grace". She was nearly 87 when we lost her- I miss her a lot- I was her oldest grandchild and I spent many happy times during my childhood with her and my grandfather on their farm. My grandmother was the kindest person I have ever known- she and my mother were wonderful role models in my life. They taught me the importance of caring and empathy.
Every post needs a quilt and this quilt was made for my grandmother to honor her 85 years. The quilt is a colorwash quilt with 30X 40 two inch squares. After she died, the quilt was returned to me.

Sometimes when I wrap myself in her quilt, I can remember how she smelled. Did you know that your sense of smell is one of your most lingering senses- that smells can trigger some of your oldest memories?

My blogging friend Michele just lost her father recently. Do go and check out her current post which is touching and eloquent- She has created a beautiful butterfly quilt.

This lovely photo sat on my desk at school for the last few years. It is a photo taken about a year before my gran's passing. It was taken on the farm that she so loved, and is of her and the two men whom I love very much - my son and my husband.

One of my husband's cousins sent us some terrific family photos of a family reunion taken in August. It came in the mail this past week and Bruce and I enjoyed looking at the pictures of family and reading about their connections in a family genealogy book. I love old family pictures and I wonder whether my grandchildren's children will wonder about their crazy old relative 100 years from now.
Many of my parent's generation lived in the same communities as their parents and grandparents. We are such a transient society these days that one's family is spread all over the globe. The internet and technology has made the world so much smaller and accessible to maintain and renew connections with family and friends.

The cool weather has brought fall colds to our home- unfortunately, my husband's developed into bronchial pneumonia. We are hoping that a heavy dose of antibiotics will cure the hacking cough. As for me, it wouldn't be September without some sniffles and a scratchy throat... Too much talking and small children seem to combine to bring a fall cold...

Thanks to all of you who stop by and leave your beautiful comments. I appreciate them more than words can say. When I can,I do so enjoy visiting my blog friends. It is always fun to see what is happening in blogland.

Until next time,
Happy quilting,
Anna

Jasper, Quilt shops and Summer's end...

2010-09-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

This summer has passed as a bit of a blur- especially the month of August- It is often that way- July arrives and I am usually ready for a rest and time to rejuvenate and catch up to myself from the busy school term. Sometimes I have a list of goals that I want to complete and other times summer is a time to reflect and do things as they fit in. This summer was the later... In my last post I wrote about some of our travels to the mountains of Jasper- Bruce and I had a lovely time there- While we were up looking around Pyramid Lake( it is above the Jasper town site) we came across some benches where we stopped to contemplate the beauty of the lake and mountains surrounding it. This rock caught my eye- I pondered how long it had taken to form that round boulder- Mother Nature sure is a master artist...

I have to say, my husband Bruce was a good sport about my passion for quilting and checking out the quilt stores. We stopped at three on our five hour journey to the mountains. The first one was in a little place called Edson. Edson is located in the foothills of Alberta- some beautiful knob and kettle farmland but the mountains are still nearly an hour away. This little shop called Quilters Quarters was in smaller house.
All the nooks and cranes were filled with luscious fabrics.

In my hands are some glorious reds and a sunflower fabric that I decided to add to my stash. I bought a second piece of sunflower fabric that was a batik on black for the sunflower collection.
Our next stop was in a place called Hinton.. When you get to Hinton, you are suddenly closer to the mountains although Jasper is at least hour away. Hinton is not far outside of the park gates. Jasper is part of an unbelievably beautiful national park.

The Sew What Shop was a little hidden but well worth the visit. The ladies were helpful and I found three pieces of fabric to add to my collection there. On one table they had some books for sale that had been in a quilter's collection. The woman had passed away recently and any money given was directly donated to the Cancer Society on her behalf. I happened to find a book called " Ghost Layers and Color Washes" by Katie P.Masopust which I gladly bought.( It is out of print I believe).It is nice to know that I will have contributed to a worthy cause as well gain a lovely book.

On the left hand side of the cutting table you can see a very fun fabric that is of volkswagon beetles ( you know Herbie cars don't you?) I bought a half meter that I will use in a child's quilt in the future. The two pieces that are in front of me were from their sale section- I do love buying from the clearance fabric rack.

I also bought a Mrs. Bobbin's calendar for next year. Check out this link if you want to see some of the..Mrs Bobbins cartoons. She makes me laugh- perhaps she will do the same for you!
We came a few miles into Jasper town site the next day, after a great night's sleep in our cabin. The last quilt shop is called Stychen Tyme. It is a bead,yarn and quilt store all in one. Now if there ever was a shop made for me- this is it. I have knit and still do use beads to make jewelery. The fabrics are beautiful there and you can see some of the gorgeous wild life material and kits available there. I mostly bought beads to add to my collection.

The shop is located on a main street called Patricia street.

I have been in about 15 different quilt shops over the summer- Earlier on, Lou and I went on a couple of road trips around the Edmonton area. Over and over again, the places I enjoyed most were determined by the friendliness of the staff and the atmosphere of the stores. Some had more fabric choices and some had less, but all had their own unique qualities. Of course - there is always on line fabric shopping, when one can not find the one piece one is looking for locally. I did find on line the last piece of the Hungry Caterpillar fabric after no success when visiting the local ( and not so local places). There are lots of choices out there - some more reasonably priced than others. It is getting more costly to quilt- I am glad that I have collected fabric for awhile to form a good sized stash.

Bruce and I enjoyed the mountains of Jasper a lot. He was able to go meteor watching 2 of 3 evenings during the Perseid meteor shower and still have enough energy to drive around to the glorious lakes and waterfalls of the area. This photo was taken at Athabasca Falls which are quite breathtakingly beautiful.

A view of the Athabasca falls...
The summer has given me the opportunity to spend time with my loved ones- both family and friends. It was great to reconnect with all, especially with those whom I had not heard from in awhile. I quite like this photo of my parents and myself taken in July.

Bruce and I went to visit my parents just before I returned to the classroom last week and we brought this quilt. It looks even better in their living room. I am very happy with the way the border set off the blocks, and how well the quilt matched their living room decor.

I also finished and made a label for this convergence quilt. It is now in the hands of my teaching partner, Doreen whose friendship I celebrate. We have enjoyed being partners for the past 7 years. I appreciate all the extra things that she does to help our students be successful. This last year our school was renovated, so we had the opportunity to work even more closely together. This was my way of thanking her for her continuing support and gift of friendship.

The fall brings my favorite flowers- This is one of the bouquets of sunflowers that Bruce has brought home from the grocery store. Sunflowers make me feel happy- I have long been a fan of Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers - one day I am going to make another Snippets wall hanging of sunflowers!

If you are still with me- there is a wonderful giveaway worth checking out. You can find it here . Quilted fish is her blog name- she is giving away some lovely fabrics and doing it soon.

I hope that fall( spring for our southern friends)brings you many warm days and pleasant times with loved ones. I lost a high school friend to cancer last week, and I was reminded about the swiftness and fragility of human life.

As a new school year begins, I am remembering to stop and enjoy each day's special moments and the important people in my life.
I hope you take the time to enjoy your special moments and people too.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Do you wonder where August has gone?

2010-08-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Medicine Lake,Alberta

I know its been awhile- Perhaps you were beginning to think that I was giving up blogging? or that I was lost somewhere and couldn't find my way home?LOL Went on a long journey? Well it is true that my husband Bruce and I went away on a short little trip. We visited the mountains around Jasper Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It is very beautiful there don't you think?

Summer vacation is soon over for me-classes begin again next week. Perhaps a sign of the seasons changing, is the changing weather- this morning it was quite cool and I put on a pair of slacks and shirt rather than my usual summer sun dress. I have even been thinking about putting on my slippers....

My aunt ( my mother`s sister) came to visit me today- we had a lovely time together- looking at some genealogy books, talking about our projects and having some lunch that I prepared for us to share together ( turkey spread, buns, tomato bean salad, greek salad, salsa and fresh fruit). While she was here, she showed how to do a bow knit knitting stitch so that I could make a baby blanket or scarf( that is a whole other post). My aunt asked to look at some of summer projects.

Here is a little tour of some of the projects that I have been working on these days..

This convergence quilt is done -Waa hooo..... I must have been more wonky than usual whenI was cutting this quilt because I had lots of difficulty getting this quilt straight- I am pleased with it now - we seem to have recouped it from its original bad haircut!

You may remember me making the large wonky tiles quilt last summer for our dear friends to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. I thought maybe they would enjoy having matching pillowcases so with a couple of spare blocks( I have another 100 to turn into another quilt or two VBG) I had some scraps from the borders of their quilt and used them to make two pillowcases for them. Happy anniversary dear friends!
I do love Convergence designs and here is a second one. This one still needs to be quilted and bound(I even have the binding made- Now if I could just get it spray basted so that I could quilt it) It is fun to see how the design converge - I really loved how the red stop border sets this quilt off..
Perhaps you remember when I was trying to decide whether I wanted to use this fabric for a border for this quilt? I really like how it sets off the blocks- Sometimes I find it helpful to see a few quilts that have been made using a particular pattern. This is a BQ pattern from Maple Island quilt patterns- I have now bound this quilt- It is waiting for its label and then I can give it to some special people in my life.. Fabric variations really do change how patterns look. This is the same pattern as the previous quilt, but with a little more variety in the big blocks. I am sure it would look different again with all scrappy fabrics. Mars the cat, came to be our assistant when we were setting out the quilts to be photographed. I am very pleased to have 3 quilts finished except for labels. I have some more blocks to join of the tessellation quilt. As well, I have more wonky rail tie blocks that need to be sewn together LOL. I hope to get some of these blocks together so that I have two more quilts made into quilt tops.

August is soon over but it is nice to have finished some projects this summer. The sands of time stop for no one...I wonder if I can put my pedal to the medal so that I can go a little faster?

These past few weeks I have visited some friends and family as well as enjoyed a few books. I recently finished reading " The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton ( good story) as well as some more of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson cooking mysteries.

Last week I attended a workshop to help me improve my teaching of reading. I will go and spend some time in my classroom this week. I want to get a few things set up before class begins next week. Our school was renovated this past year and they are working fast and furious for us to be ready for school opening. There are lists to be made and some materials prepared and new lessons to develop _ I can feel the pace of life starting to rev up.

My friend Lou and I went on another local shop hop. Bruce and I stopped in some quilt stores on the way to Jasper. More about that next time...

Some Thank you's

I want to acknowledge two very fine ladies who sent me giveaway gifts in the mail..
Nancy from Blogging near Philadelphia sent me a lovely cupcake pincushion pattern with some sweet buttons.Thanks so much for your thoughtful and generous gift Nancy. Do visit her blog - I enjoy reading her postings - I am sure you will too!

Elizabeth sent me the coolest Abby pincushion and thread bag. If you go to her August 23 posting you will see one that is the same pattern that she made for me. I will try and take a photo of it to show you her brilliant work. Thanks so much ladies- I am such a fortunate person..

There are some wonderful giveaways going on around blogland.

If you are wishing for the Accuquilt Go you can enter to win one here: Paulette has a great tutorial going on for the the GO or here: Jackie has some lovely quilts on her blog. You might enjoy visiting her shop too..some really yummy fabrics including Kaffe Fassett.
( Kaffe is coming here to Edmonton to speak- I must go and get my ticket soon.. Waa hooo)

Aunt Spicy's friend Erica has a very cute pair of earrings that she is giving away. I remember having some of those carved earrings some years ago. I love the updated look of those earrings.

Pat is celebrating a writing opportunity by having a giveaway. I enjoy reading her quilting and stories - She has such a great sense of fun...

Enjoy your last days of summer if you live in the Northern Hemisphere (I am sure my friends in the southern hemisphere are looking forward to warmer days and the flowers of spring just as we are looking forward to all the colors of autumn. Such an interesting concept to be thinking about fall and spring at the same time!

Warmest regards,
Anna

Travels with Anna....

2010-08-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

Lilies from my father's garden..
I am not sure where the summer has gone ... Well that is not quite true.. my days have been full enough with some quilting time, family time, a little cleaning and a bit of local travelling... Since I last posted, I have been away visiting my parents and getting a bit of quilting done.Over the summer, I have read a few novels that included some by Jennifer Wiener, Earlene Fowler( State Fair) and a book called the Knitting Club by Ann Hood. There is a stack sitting on my night table that include "Three Cups of Tea", The Forgotten Garden and Leaving Gee Bend..)

I finally got caught up on my blog reading until my laptop died. I am currently using my husband's machine as we contemplate our next step- the warranty on my computer has just recently run out:(

We travelled the backroads to my parents who live 100 miles south in a city called Red Deer. The city is now about 90 thousand people ,but when I grew up there, it was only around 25 thousand. We have travelled the main highway many times over the past 35 years and it does get a little boring. The traffic is a lot heavier as it is the main corridor between the two largest cities of the province (Edmonton to Calgary)This photo is not too far east from my folks- if you look close you can see the rocky formations of the river bank.
Along the road you often will find what we fondly call Nid Nods. They are oil pumps and they are a common enough site on the drive.
Alberta countryside is sometimes referred to as knob and kettle land. Some parts of the prairies are quite flat but the prairies where I was raised is quite hilly. I loved the fields of canola(rapeseed) when they are yellow and ripe. My grandparents were farmers in the Alberta foothills and their farm was much like this land.

You can see my hand in the mirror taking the photo- It is sort of Escher like (some of Escher's brilliant work happens to be showing at Alberta Gallery of Art along with Looney Tunes) This picture was a fluke but sure was interesting...

When Summer comes, it usually means that I have the opportunity to have a longer visit with my parents. I spent four days with my mom and dad. During the visit we went shopping, visited Tim Horton's for coffee and checked out the local quilt stores. The quilt store trip did not produce any great finds - perhaps just as well, with the cost of a new computer on the horizon.. We visited a family friend, Sherry, who has an old homestead house that she and her husband are renovating. She is a fabulous artist and her home is filled with her beautiful paintings and lots of antiques. The quilt on their bed is one that I made a number of years ago, called Chimneys and Cornerstones.
Her husband Brian is a fabulous woodworker. Don't you love his beautiful sleigh coffee table?

On their property is a Pretty cool antique thrashing machine..

My parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary while I was home. To mark the occasion, we took a few pictures of our family. I particularly liked this one of my folks.

This family photo was taken after a celebration dinner that we had to mark the occasion. Unfortunately my husband and son (as well as one niece and her husband) were not able to be there, because they were working. Pictured here are my two brothers, my sister and their partners, along with myself and my parents.

Earlier in the day, I suggested to my folks that we should go and take a photograph of them outside the church where they had been married. We arrived at 2:25 in the afternoon at the approximate time when they would have been leaving the church. They obligingly stood outside the church where they exchanged their vows 55 years earlier.

For those of you who may be wondering if I have been having any quilting adventures... Before I went to my folks, I did get three quilts spray basted so that they are now ready to quilt. My teaching partner and I went to school and used the tables there to lay them out for spraying. Next goal is to find some quilting time... I made a new couch sized convergence quilt that I am very pleased with the results. Some of my summer projects are finally coming together but I have not taken updated photos.
Over the weekend, I took a tessellation quilt workshop- I have some blocks made. We had a bit of excitement during the Friday nite session as the power went out. Quilting by candlelight was somewhat limiting so we headed home about 40 minutes early. Perhaps I should learn how to use my grandmother's treadle machine...LOL

On Saturday, we learned how to make a disappearing 4 patch pattern block. Disappearing 4 patch looks more complicated than it is and is made with charm squares. Hopefully I will get some quilting done by the end of the week and have some new photos to show you.

Next week we are off to the mountains for a few days. We are going to Jasper which is a beautiful spot. My husband is hoping for clear skies so that he can see lots of meteors during the Perseids meteor showers.. The summer is moving along too fast-
I officially return to the classroom on August 30 and there will be school things to do before that time. The time does pass all too quickly..

Happy travels and safe journeys,
Anna

A North Central Alberta Fabric Journey...

2010-07-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Summertime and the living is easy .....This is one of my favorite summer songs from " Porgy and Bess"...

On Thursday, a dear friend Lou and I went off fabric shopping in the Edmonton vicinity...
Our first stop was a lovely little shop in a town called Mundare. Mundare is about an hour's drive north-east of Edmonton and the home of some great Ukrainian sausage. The shop's name is "The Chicken Coop". Here you can see the shop from the street. Come on in and meet the owner.

The owner, Val, has some lovely home decor pieces, decorative ware and fabulous fabrics and patterns. She is as friendly and welcoming as her smile.
Don't you love the beautiful wall hangings that you can see on the wall behind her!

I loved her wonderful selection of batik fabrics- the colors were rich and sumptuous-(some of them are seen in the bottom row) we wanted to buy them all.. There were some great chicken designs and fun applique patterns that had been made into samples.

And how about that cute baby quilt with the animals on the wall... It would look great wrapped around a sweet little one..

Here are our two piles of treasures that we found in the shop stacked in front of Val. My choices to add to my stash are the pile on the left, and ,the lovely lady with Val. is my dear friend Lou. She found some real beauties too. I love the gorgeous sunflower batik fabric she chose that is on the top.

Here you can see the Mundare grain elevator. These elevators used to be common sites around the province of Alberta. However they are quickly disappearing. My mother bought me a quilted wall hanging of a grain elevator a number of years ago. It hangs in my sewing room and reminds me of my prairie girl roots.
We stopped in a little place in Lamont and I found " The Hungry Caterpillar panel and fabrics. They had almost all of the fabrics but I am still looking for the fabric that has all the fruit and food on it. If I don't find it locally, I will check on line for it.
I love Eric Carle's books and would like to make the quilt for my kindergarten. He also did the illustrations for " Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and I have fabrics to make that quilt too. Looks like my project list is growing still...

I thought you might find some countryside interesting.Here in Western Canada, we are known for our prairie sky - you can see for miles on a clear day.

After we left Lamont, we stopped to get some lunch from Tim Hortons, a sandwich and donut place that is famous across Canada. We have Starbucks and Second Cup but when someone says they are going to Tims, it usually means coffee where you can get a double double... ( I think that means two cream and two sugar in a large coffee-) I am a tea drinker- Tim's is famous for having a contest called Roll up the Rim to win... By the way. Tim was a hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 60's.

We are back driving again and we passed many beautiful fields. This canola field is ripe- it has quite a powerful smell and is a gorgeous yellow. We left the country highway to join up with a ringroad called the Anthony Henday. It is a ring road around the city and so we drove from the North to the South and headed West to another community called Stony Plain. The metropolitan area of Edmonton and surrounding communities is about a million people. It is quite the contrast of city and countryside.

After about an hour, we arrive in Stony Plain, where there are two quilt stores there - one is called Sawdust and Tangled Threads which has lots of country and civil war type fabrics. The shop is in an big rambling house which seems fitting for the fabrics they have for sale. I have bought the Buggy Barn patterns in their shop. On this day, I bought a wildlife panel of bears which I am thinking of using for a quilt for my father.
The other shop is called Sewing with Class and, while we did not buy any fabric there this time, we admired the gorgeous samples on the wall. They had some quilts made in patterns we already owned, but have not yet found the time to make.

I seem to have more than a few of those sorts of patterns in my collection. Some even have the fabric to go with the patterns. So many ideas running around in my head - I sometimes feel like the hamster running around on one of those wheels. You know that hamsters can go very fast in the wheel but they don't seem to get very far... LOL

This past week I have been pretty low key. I had not been feeling well so I needed to do those things one does when one doesn't feel well. You have to go get checked out. Everything came out fine and I am feeling better.

In between doctor and dental checkups, I have still been putt-ing along cleaning out spaces that don't get cleaned out often during the school year. The house is beginning to look better, the sewing room tidier, and, perhaps I might still get to my current quilt projects. VBG
I have finally chosen a border for one of my quilt projects- I auditioned more than a few pieces, for this particular couch quilt. I will show you a photo when I post next time.

Today's mail brought a lovely giveaway package containing some handmade pocket mirrors made by Ebony love Thanks so much for the lovely mirrors - they are too cute and perfect for a purse. Do stop over to her blog and check out her lovely things.

Lastly, don't forget to stop at my post yesterday and check out those wonderful giveaways going on in blog land. The blog posts are interesting and the bloggers are all wonderful writers sharing their life and their loves. The giveaways are really a bonus. I continue to meet so many wonderful people through my blogging experience.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit. I am always glad to hear from you.
Your comments are very much appreciated. Until next time, be well.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Some giveaways:

2010-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post with some giveaways going on in blogland. There are so many interesting blogs to read these days. Hope you might find some new blogs to enjoy.

kelly of once in a blue moon has the cutest blue bear that she is giving away - if you love teddies do go and check it out..

Fat quarters anyone- you may want to visit this blog.. Terri of Sew fantastic has some lovely fat quarters that are going to go to some lucky winner...

I love heart quilts and Lee has created a beautiful blue rag heart couch quilt. Wow what a lucky person who wins Lee's quilt.

Mystery prize for someone - It will be a wonderful handmade gift for the winner. GO quickly Lisa will draw soon..

Micki now lives in Ireland with Joe and their beautiful dogs. I have visited Micki for a long time and love reading about her varied interests and life in Ireland. Go quick as this one ends July 16 and announce the winner on July 17.

Spun Sugar
is sponsoring a Go cutter giveaway- They sure are popular out here in blogland and I see lots of people creating some terrific quilts with these cutters.

Cherri House has written a book called City quilts that is having a blog tour. Each of the different interviewers is giving away a copy of her book along with Robert Kaufman bundles of fat quarter solids.
Jodi of Pleasant home has a new giveaway going on- welcome her to blogland and check out her web site.
Deb at Thread gatherer's blog is celebrating her 100th post, over 300 followers and nearly two years blogging. Those are lots of things to celebrate...
Ryan is going to be having a giveaway- Check out his blog for all his exciting news.

Sharon has just opened her on line fabric, pattern and notion store. She has a wonderful personal blog called red geranium cottage Sharon really enjoys fabric and is one dynamic lady. Go check out her website - you will love her stories and her fabrics..

Today my friend Lou and I went on our own fabric shop hop- I have some photos to down load and I promise to post about our adventure soon. In the mean time go check out some of these great blogs.

Like Arnold says

"I'll be back."...
Regards,
Anna

How about a cup of tea ?

2010-07-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays have arrived and I have spent the last couple of days hanging out at home- doing things like watching some movies, reading Mark Lipinski's magazine " Quilter's Home" and picking up here and there. My very good friend Val and I had lunch today and began to catch up with one another after the busy school year. We visited the bead section of Michael's and I bought a new Dr.Suess welcome sign for my classroom door. Even though school is just over, it seems like I am still planning ahead a little bit for September.
The last days of school were busy with tidying up, emptying some boxes from our earlier move and attending some social events at night. During that week I had 5 days where I was out to dinner with friends- both old friends and new as well as attending a nice barbecue with my husband.
My friend Lou and I went out to our favorite local quilt stores and stopped for an enjoyable lunch. Life was particularly full that last week of school so I was certainly ready to stop when we left school at 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon.

The beginning of summer is always a time to catch my breath. Do you have a time where you pause to reflect on life and just enjoy the that particular day? I found this tea set while out shopping last weekend. Most days Bruce and I have tea when I come home from school. I love pottery and this one just called my name. This sign "You Sew Girl" from Connecting Threads made me laugh when I saw it " It is beckoning me to get started quilting... I have been thinking about what projects that I might like to complete this summer. ( a couple of convergences? two BQ quilts? my cube quilt? get my wheel of mystery quilt quilted? two optical illusion quilt tops to finish piecing? this is the start of the list ?)
Naomi of Bee she bags blog sent me these lovely thimbles a couple of weeks ago. Aren't they pretty - I especially like the rose colored one in the middle of the plate. By the way, I made that pottery plate a few years ago when I was playing with clay. Over the years, I have experimented with clay, knit, crocheted, made candles, done embroidery and sewn clothing. Some hobbies have stayed for a good length of time and others it became clear that they were not for me. Quilting is the one that has endured since 1996.
Susanof blackberry creek chose my name when she was giving away this gorgeous tapestry hanging by Susan Winget. I am still deciding where I am going to hang it Susan but it sure is a beauty. Thank you so much for choosing my name. Do stop and visit these two ladies blogs- They are lovely people who enjoy sharing their lives and love of quilting.

You may remember that I was busily working on this Life is a trip quilt. Here was the reason: My friend Clementine was retiring. She seems very happy with her quilt, doesn't she? She is a dear friend who is retiring after 32 years of teaching and moving back home to the province of Manitoba. I will miss her zest and enthusiasm for life. Her laugh is as beautiful as the smile on her face. Safe journeys dear friend!
Clementine's photo was taken in my renovated classroom- You can see we are still in the process of sorting. They are continuing to renovate over the summer- It is like moving into a new school- Everything is fresh and clean...

The rest of the weekend I plan to finish making my quilting list, do some seasonal changes of our decor and take a look at some of the books I have taken out from our local library. I have begun to catch up to some of my friends both in my regular life as well as in blogland.
Perhaps you have some great summer plans or maybe they are like mine- you are stopping to smell the roses too... trying some new recipes and enjoying living a little simpler pace...

Here are a few giveaways for you to check out too.
If you have time, go and visit these lovely ladies-

Lori from Bee in my bonnet who is having a fun pincushion giveaway. The garden chairs are so very cute...She even shows you how to make one of your own..
Khris has a fun turnover giveaway going on her blog - She will draw on the 8th of July ( Aussie time)
Michelle is sharing her love of white and bunnies- I have followed her blog for a long time and always enjoy reading what is happening at raspberry rabbits.

On Thursday we celebrated Canada Day with Red Maple Leaves flying. Hope my American friends enjoy a very Happy Fourth of July.
And now I am off to add to my quilting plan list....and start my summer reading.

What book is on your night table just now ?

Regards,
Anna

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

2010-06-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

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

Life is a trip .....

2010-06-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

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

Blogger Quilt Festival- Spring 2010

2010-05-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

Amy has a new blogging quilt festival that will begin tomorrow May 21. There are so many wonderful quilts to be seen and blogs to visit. I hope that you will get the chance to visit many of the wonderful quilts and quilters that are participating in it. This is my third time participating in this event. A big thank you to Amy for organizing this event- I am sure you will be inspired by the many beautiful quilts and stories. I know I am!

Amy asked us to write about a favorite quilt of ours to share. After some deliberation, this was my choice.
I made this wedding bargello quilt for a friend and her husband. The pattern is called " Melinda's Heart" by Heidi K. Farmer.
I chose these rich colors as my friend was keen on primary colors rather than the pink and green combination used in the original pattern. This was not the first bargello quilt that I had made. I really enjoy constructing quilts using this technique. To some, it may look more complicated than it actually is. It does require some careful cutting and pressing but it is not difficult. Someday I want to make this quilt again in pinks and greens. It would be softer and have a different kind of elegance. My friend's birthday is the day after Valentine's day, so this design seemed particularly appropriate.

There are some fabulous bargello books and designers out there - Chris Timmons - an Australian native and Derek C. Lockwood are among my favorites. Marge Edie also has a lovely Bargello book. I have a few patterns collected for my someday quilts. My someday list is getting longer and longer....perhaps you suffer from the same problem of the ever growing list of quilts you want to make...LOL

Do you make a pattern more than once? Do you have a favorite pattern or technique?

I am currently working on a new quilt- a second version of the blue/ brown quilt(see my last post). This weekend is an extra long weekend for me. I plan to get some quilting done as well as getting some school work finished. I want to begin some year end report card writing. June is just around the corner. The cool and rainy weather will be perfect for quilting and writing- unfortunately, not so perfect for our friends who may be wanting to be camping. They are predicting wet snow in the foothills /mountains tomorrow. That could be chilly in a tent!

In Canada, the 24th of May Long Weekend ( also known as the Victoria Day weekend) is traditionally the first camping weekend of the year. As a child, our family would go camping in the foothills of Alberta. One of my first childhood memories is of sleeping in a tent by a river and waking up to snow on the ground outside. Part of that same memory, is eating fresh pineapple for the first time. Some family friends brought a pineapple for us to try. I was probably 5 or 6 at the time. Fresh produce that we now have readily available year round, was not so common place in the early 60's. Strange the things we remember and store as memories from one's childhood.
I hope the weather is not too inclement for everyone to enjoy some time out of doors.

I was very fortunate this week to win a lovely giveaway prize from Susan at Blackberry creek blog. She is having another giveaway this week- a Southern Living Cookbook that you might wish to own. Susan has been busy redoing her house- she is an avid reader and a lovely quilter- Do stop by and visit..Thank you Susan for choosing my name to win your bunny tapestry. It will be treasured..

Enjoy the quilt festival- just click on the link and it will take you to the list of bloggers that are participating in this years festival.

Warmest regards,
Anna

A Mom is....

2010-05-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

I love you Mom - I have been blessed with a Mother, who has always been there for me when life has gotten difficult or when I was celebrating the special and ordinary events in my life. I know that I can count on her to listen and, even to parent me in middle age. Our standing joke is that she will tell me that its time for bed when the clock is getting late and we are talking on the phone. I can say " Yes Mom" and grin". This photo was taken of us about 5 years ago. She recently celebrated a birthday and my family went home to visit just before her and my dad's birthday. I wish her a very special Mother's Day. I am looking forward to talking to her some time today to wish her a lovely day. I will try not to make it too close to my bed time :D
On Friday, it was our annual Mother's Day Tea. My school children made flowers for their moms/grandmas to present to them at home. All week we practised songs, made cards and wrapping paper and finished painting our flowers. We sang 5 songs for our Moms.I had the kids do a survey- my kid's moms ranged in age from 11 to 65...five year olds do not have a clear idea how old we are..VBG
We had most of our moms come to join us for the tea so the gym( our current classroom) was pretty full with our students and their families.(My teaching partner and I had about 3/4 of our families represented). As always, our educational assistants helped to make the tea a grand success- they made sure the tea pots and food trays were full. Our special assistants gave the children without any family members present, an opportunity to give tea to someone special. We are very fortunate to have such wonderful caring support for our students. One rose was given to each parent as they left the tea. We sent home a flower with each of the students whose families were not able to come celebrate with us. Friday was a very busy day because we went on a field trip to a local school to hear Sandi and Lee Paley sing with the kids in the morning. We were a group of tired ladies at Friday's end.

I promised you a before and after photo of my new hairdo. This is a photo taken a few days before- I was mighty windblown( which doesn't help) but it was getting pretty raggedy looking. The pets are not very happy looking either LOL

And here is the updated haircut- sleek and shaped and not too floofie looking. I am not sure why I didn't put my specs on- I wear them all the times these days as I can not read much of anything without them.(I do have more than green shirts in my closet) just have been wearing lots of green this spring. Perhaps I am hoping that spring has finally arrived- last week we had a snowstorm and needed to pull out the dreaded shovel. It has melted again and things are really beginning to green up- Hurrah!
Bruce and I visited the Art Gallery this week to attend a lecture about Yousef Karsh. His black and white photographs are so rich with light. He was an Armenian immigrant who moved to Canada when he was 16. He lived a long life( 1908-2002), mostly in the city of Ottawa and took photos of over 15,000 people many of them celebrities. This beautiful book called "Regarding Heroes" was written by David Travis. He was a former curator of photography of the Art Institute of Chicago and was the speaker at the lecture we attended. His book was a Mother's Day gift from my loving spouse. My favorite page in the book has Martin Luther King on the left and Nelson Mandela on the right page.

Yesterday while I was out, I visited a local quilt store to check out there clearance section. They had some lovely fabrics that included a beautiful piece of paisley that I added to the stash. Our son Kevin and his girlfriend, Roseanne, took me out to Mother's Day dinner in the evening. We stopped for dessert at a local ice cream place called Marble Slab to have waffle cones. My choice was raspberry cheesecake ice cream - total decadence.

Later today we are off to the Winspear auditorium to partake in a special event where some classic Chopin will be played and nice food served. It should be a very nice evening. All in all, I am one fortunate lady.

There are a few giveaways going on in blogland:
a honey run quilters giveaway Do you like jelly rolls and charm squares? Do you have a favorite line of fabric? Go leave a comment for her to enter.
Inch Worm Fabrics is having a great giveaway of a Lonestar book by Jan Krentz . She has a great blog and very nice store - do go and have a look around.Mother's day giveaway. Be sure to go to the Mother's day link first in order to enter for the great book. I am sure you will enjoy your visit.

Angela at Fenland Textile Studio gave me a very nice compliment and chose me as one of her beautiful bloggers. There are many wonderful blogs out there so I am very touched, she would choose me. There are so many bloggers that I could pass it on to, that I can not choose a handful. Pick any of the blogs on my blog list and you will find someone special to read. Do stop by Angela's blog -she has been sick with pleurisy and will enjoy having you leave a comment.

My original idea for today's post, was to write about my four great grandmothers. They were amazing ladies who were immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. That is a post for another time.

For some of you, Mother's Day may not be a happy day. You may have lost your mother or your child recently and feel great sadness. May you find yourself buoyed by the warmth of caring loved ones today.

I have been blessed with a loving Mother and Mother in Law. My mother in law now lives in a nursing home where she is well cared for- she has Alzheimer's. I miss her friendship, her love of the arts and her thoughtful ways. She was a nice painter, a fabulous bread maker and a kind and caring friend to me. She raised 5 wonderful children who miss her presence in their lives.

Motherhood, to me, is about the nurturing of loved ones- that may be your biological mother or someone who has provided you with the care and feeding of your physical or emotional spirit. Our family circles are richer for those who give us sustenance and support. Thank you to all who share their loving gifts with others.

Until next time,
Be well,
Warmest regards,
Anna

May is here.....

2010-05-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Dusty the dog was in serious need of a hair cut so after a visit to the vets to get her rabies shots updated we took her to the groomers. She gets rather motley looking (as seen in the first photo)not to mention grumpy. Dusty is also not the best problem solver.Here she has managed to tie herself around the bottom of the back step because she only knows how to turn in one direction. I am not sure how one teaches a dog to go in both directions at age 8!
This is the after photo from her visit to the groomers. She is so sleek now - Dusty was not keen on the bows- neither was our son. A girl needs to get dressed up now and again VBG
Over the weekend, Bruce and I visited a local rock and gem shop. Naturally while I was there I bought a few beads to play with- I am currently making some bracelets with a black and silver theme so I added these beauties to the collection. There is a strand of abalone and some black agate. The owner had a sale so everything was 10 percent off. It was fun to see all the beautiful polished stones.

Aren't these beautiful little pots/bowls? Twice a year, a group of local potters have a craft sale. My good friend Val and I went to check out their wares and came away with a few pieces for very reasonable prices. I bought these pieces as gifts for friends and family.
Once upon a time I played in the clay before I took up quilting. Occasionally, I think about playing with the clay but somehow there is not enough time for me to create my quilts, bead and do pottery too. Have you always quilted or do you do other things to express your creativity?
Linda of Flourishing Palms sent me this beautiful handmade bag as a giveaway prize on her blog. I love the beautiful detailed quilting and the turquoise color. Unfortunately, my limited photography skills do not do it justice. Thank you so much Linda for your lovely gift. It is a beauty!

These are my two current quilt projects- I had some trouble with the border of the convergence because I gave it a bad Haircut- it was quite badly askew and I was beginning to think it might need to be a liberated version of the quilt. With the help of my quilting friend and mentor Linda, we managed to straighten it enough for me to add the outside borders. The fabric on top is going to be the back of the quilt. Do you like your front and back to be coordinated? Do you make pieced backs or use one large piece of fabric?

I recently began making this quilt as a gift. It is a fairly muted quilt for me but I think it will work for the its designated home. I am still debating about adding the printed border to it. I think it will work out nicely but I am still playing with it.

In other news, we are managing quite nicely in the gym at school. This week we are working on Mother's Day projects for our moms. We are going on a field trip on Friday and having a special tea for our Mothers in the afternoon. Friday will be a busy day indeed.

Today I bought the April/ May issue of Quilter's Home. It has a list of 55 Rad blogs to check out. There are so many great blogs out there - I am sure that I am going to discover a few more from this list.
A friend went to Quilt Canada in Calgary last week. Mark Lipinski was one the guest speakers. He is a wonderful comedic storyteller and kept everyone in stitches. I attended some of the shows that were associated with Quilt Canada when it was here in Edmonton a few years ago. It is always fun to see the newest trends, fabrics and meet with other quilters. It feeds our creative spirits and infuses us with energy to continue on one's quilting journey.

A dear blogging friend Eileen lost her beloved Geo yesterday. She is a special lady, a wonderful quilter and one of the kindest people I have come in contact with in blogland. I wish her comfort and the support and caring of friends and family at this difficult time.

Mother's Day is coming up and my blog friend Michele has written a powerful piece about her mother and her experiences with Alzheimer's. Michele is involved with Ami Simms Alzheimer's Initiative project. Please stop by and read her poignant piece.

Life continues to be full - May has arrived and there are many things on the horizon- a special Chopin concert, another trip to the Art Gallery, moving back into our renovated classroom, assessment and report cards... and a new Haircut for me..
Like Dusty, I am in serious need of a new hairdo... that is on next weekend's agenda

Until next time,
Be well,
Warmest regards,
Anna

The Winds of Change

2010-04-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

March winds have blown through and have brought in some April changes.
I don't even know where to begin- the past three weeks have been so jam packed busy. It has been windy here and they say the wind brings change well- there are lots of changes happening just now. We had our spring break holiday the week before last- For part of it I worked at school packing up my classroom- No, its not early summer vacation- Its Renovation time. My school is having a beautiful face lift and it is our turn to be renovated. They are gutting each of the classrooms down to the wall boards and replacing everything.There will be smart boards in each of the classrooms with new mill work,flooring, wiring and lighting. It will be lovely when completed but in the meantime, my teaching partner and I are moving to the gym with our two kindergarten classes. For the next 8 weeks, it is going to be a busy place with 47 kindergarten students, 2 teachers and 4 support staff sharing a large gymnasium. Our boxes are packed ... Ready set go....

This is a photo of my classroom taken last fall when my husband came to read to my students during a special reading event. I will take a picture of our updated look before summer vacation or when we have all the boxes put away in our new room.

On the home front, our son Kevin is moving into his first apartment not far down the road. It is an exciting but a big change for us all. Moving and change seem to be part of our lives just now..

Some spring break outings:
My husband and I went to see a play called the" Science of Disconnection" written by a Canadian playwright named David Belke. It was a fascinating one woman play about Lise Meitner. She was a physicist who worked on a team that discovered Nuclear Fission. Meitner was overlooked when the Nobel Prize was given in 1944, for splitting the atom - Otto Hahn(her professional partner) was awarded it. It was a fascinating story about a brilliant woman who was passionate about physics.

We visited the magnificent new Art Gallery of Alberta and saw La Petite Danser. She is still beautiful with her face radiating her pure joy of dance. The exhibit had a number of interesting Degas sculptures- many were studies of body movements. Degas heirs had many of the pieces cast in bronze. Most were not meant to be shown and were originally made of wax.
The new Art gallery building is truly glorious- so filled with light. We will go back and visit the Dancer before she leaves us. This summer the new exhibit will be MC Escher and Bugs Bunny.

Our family visited my parents and siblings over the Easter weekend. It was terrific to see my sister and brother and their families. There were delicious meals and some together time. My father's birthday was on April 8th. My mother gave me this photo of my dad and their miniature collie, Tammy.
My father has always loved animals and has a wonderful way with them. I love this photo of him with his current beloved dog. Belated Happy Birthday Dad- May the year be rich with wonderful things for you.

Bruce lost a dear friend Ed at the end of March. He had been ill for quite a long time. He was very interested in astronomy, mountain climbing, the outdoors and the Opera. When Ed was first diagnosed with cancer, I made this astronomy quilt for him. Rest easy, dear man, may you find peace now.

Now if you are still with me, I do have a few quilting things to show you. I began a convergence quilt during spring break. I thought I remembered what to do but I sewed four seams together and promptly needed to rip them all out. However after some rethinking- I managed to get the quilt top together - personally it may be questionable at this time whether I am all together LOL)

I have chosen a robin egg blue border to act as a stop border for the convergence quilt. After that, I will extend the four corners out of each of widest outer fabrics for the outside border. I have a second convergence ready to cut into the strip sections. I love this Ricky Tims pattern- I am always excited to see how the grouping works together.

One of the things I book ended my break with, was time with two of my dearest friends. My quilting friend Lou came to the city and we went on our own shop hop. We stopped at 6 different quilting stores and I managed to not to break the bank doing it. I actually only bought fabric in the first store and in my favorite second hand place. Lou and I had a delicious lunch together. One of the reasons I showed some restraint is because I had been coveting some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. They are quite expensive here ( about 18 dollars a meter).I had found some KF fabrics on line for 10 dollars a meter plus free shipping. Here is what arrived in my mailbox last Friday...
I do love all the beautiful colors and was very pleased to be able to touch them. The four fabrics group are not Kaffe fabrics- I just liked them.
On the last day of spring break, my friend Val and I had the opportunity to catch up and have lunch before we returned to the classroom. Was that really only last Monday we had lunch...

These beautiful things came to me from a couple of giveaways that I was lucky enough to win. I love Angela's little bag and hand dyed fabrics.Angela also sent me this gorgeous bracelet and it fits perfectly. Do go and visit her blog called Fenland Textiles.
The batik piece came from one of my Australian blogging friends, Jane. You can find her blog here.Jane I love the leafy batik.
Thank you both so much for your lovely gifts.

Bruce and I are beginning to get the idea of what it might mean to be empty nesters. We went off to a concert of East Indian music featuring a sitar artist last evening.The three musicians sat on a beautiful quilt that I spent some time trying to figure out the pattern. It was made with brocades and silks and the pattern was a simple hour glass block combined with squares. We enjoyed a delicious Vietnamese meal prior to the concert. The restaurant was called "The Golden Bird" and was a new one to me. Our usual favorite was going to be an hour wait... New places are good too you know...

This week will be busy with the move. I hope to fit in a bit of beading and quilting if I am still awake in the evening.LOL

Spring has sprung - the grass has rise... It has been quite windy outside - the weather seems quite fitting for the way life is just now...

I will return when I get the chance,
Warmest regards,
Anna