September - the connecting roots....

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...

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

The Winds of Change

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

When the lines converge

( Pictured here are my beloved inlaws enjoying a morning under the covers reading- December, 2006)
A few summers ago I discovered Ricky Tims and his book "Convergence Quilts." The book has some wonderful examples to spur ones creative juices. There are some more complicated designs that use curves and registration marks to join them together.If you get a chance, check out his website at rickytims.com and you can see the many wonderful Harmonic Convergences as well as his Caveman Quilts. His quilts are heavily quilted with beautiful detailing.

Now, I am a practical sort of girl and while I admire other people's wall hangings and art quilts, I usually don't make them( there are a couple of exceptions-one that I have played a little bit with is the Snippets Sensations by Cindy Walters). I wondered if it was possible to use the technique to make a large enough quilt for a couch. The first one I made is a wall size and remains unfinished. Perhaps one day I will use it to explore adding some embellishments and such..

Since that time I have made a half a dozen larger ones- It has been fun to explore how to put the colors together so that you don't get mush- I have an unfinished one that is mush - there was not enough contrast in the fabrics and just didn't work. It was destined for a special someone that deserved better than an ugly quilt so it sits in pile to remind me to get the values and contrast right..
I loved making these quilts- it was a little bit of a puzzle to see how it might come out.

This middle quilt was made for a dear quilt friend - How often do we make quilts for loved ones but not for our quilt friends because we know that we can make beautiful quilts themselves? My friend loves purple and green and I was really happy how the fabrics worked together- (My profile has another view of this quilt).

This last one was made for my friend K's 50th birthday - I called it Black and White and Red all over- I am the person on the right... It was a surprise for her and I know she is quite fond of her cuddle quilt.

I have also made the same quilt for my sister, and two friends as wedding presents. I often find the most challenging thing to do is to figure out how to border it. Often I have extended the square so that it has a small stop border and then used the same fabric from the body of quilt and used in each of the four quandrants. It can be a challenge to find a good border fabric.

Ricky Tims has so many wonderful designs ( Kaleidoscope, Chantelle Flower, and Rhapsody come to mind)- I was given his Rhapsody Quilts book and I would like to make that pattern too. I have a Kaleidoscope quilt made that just needs to be quilted- Hopefully during Christmas vacation....

Life sometimes gets in the way of quilting time- not just because of the demands from other parts of my life but I don't always have any energy left when I do have time to quilt. There are so many quilts that I would like to make... I have the technology and the materials but sometimes find it hard to find the time and the motivation for creating.. perhaps you do too..

Time to go and do a little work for school next week and then have the rest of the weekend for family and quilting... Have a great week...
Regards,
Anna

Quilted Memories

When I first thought about creating a photo quilt, I was intimidated by the whole process- What would make a good design? what pictures should I use- should I turn them all into sepia or black and white or should I use the color pictures? On and on went the questions and there didn't seem to be any clear cut answers. After awhile,and with the time ticking away, I decided to just take the plunge. My in-laws quilt was the result- Mars the cat certainly approved of it - She would make us laugh, because, when I would lay it out on our loveseat, she would lay on our families' corner( and only on our corner) of the quilt.


The blue photo quilt is the second design that I came up with for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The original quilt design was one where we were all in coffee mugs. I thought it could hang in my parents new redesigned kitchen. A friend of my parents had even sent me a palette of colors so that it would fit with the new decor. I decided that I wanted to see the flimsie in their kitchen, before I finished it. It was a good decision- I hated it, when I saw it in their house. It was too large, and too cutsy, and when I think about it now, I realize that a wallhanging in the kitchen would have needed frequent washing. I am not sure how the photos would have withstood regular washing.

Have you ever got a quilt top together and decided that you hated it? What did you do? Did you finish it? Does it still sit abandoned because your idea didn't live up to the corresponding result?

Do you ever get stymied by a design and just can't get the rhythm of that quilt? I have a tumbling blocks quilt that is in a bag waiting for me to finish. The fabrics are beautiful batiks but I just haven't figured out the pattern so there it sits...hopefully one day because I think it would be really beautiful- right now it is just a bunch of triangles and flags....

In my parent's photo quilt,I really liked the original quilt fabrics that I chose, but the colors didn't work and the design didn't work, and I knew that everytime I looked at that quilt I would want to rip it off the wall. I didn't want anyone to see that I had created something that was that ugly!!!

I wanted to use the pictures so I took out the pictures and started all over again. My immediate family is in the top left hand side of the quilt. My son is the top left picture and my husband is the left center. I am between the two of them. My parents photo that was taken around their 50th wedding anniversary. The other pictures are of my nieces nephews and in laws. The four inner photos are of me, my two brothers and my sister. We are in the central square around our parents.

The photos were printed in a tight weave white cotton meant for photos. The lady who printed them knew lots about printing photos on fabric (much more than I) and did a fantastic job with the photos. The second version is much better. The quilt was based on a pattern(I think it was called Come Paris) from the Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine. It needed some adaptation, but was the perfect number of boxes for photos of all the members of the family. It looks very handsome with the bed quilt hanging on that beautiful quilt rack over the bed.

I am not sure when I will try my hand at photo quilts again. I have seen people use them for graduation gifts and memory quilts.. Perhaps there will be another occasion that warrants photo memories..but then again perhaps not...

Happy Quilting,
Regards,
Anna