Life is a trip .....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, happy creating..
Regards,
Anna

A Trip..and many Blogs to visit...

This "Trip Around the World" quilt has flown to is new home in Newfoundland. Newfoundland is a day's airplane travel(over 4000 miles) from where I call home. I live in Western Canada in a large city called Edmonton. Our metro area's population is approximately one million people.Edmonton is a beautiful city with a large green belt area that surrounds the river that flows through the heart of the city. I attended university here and have continued to live here since I completed my teaching degree. My husband grew up in Newfoundland, which is an island that is on the eastern seaboard of Canada. It is fondly known as "The Rock" and is a beautiful place with craggy rock cliffs and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Pictured here, is my sister in law M. She and her husband,T., have a lovely place on the eastern shores of Newfoundland that overlooks the Atlantic where this quilt will now reside. It is my most recently completed project.I hope that they find the quilt a pleasant way to wrap themselves up while having a nap.

First There are some great giveaways here in blogland with wonderful prizes that one can enter..Please go and check them out at:
Judi at Green Fairy Quilts is offering a very nice giveaway. She and her husband Clint have a charity to help people in Romania.
Ryan is having a very nice birthday giveaway- go and help Ryan celebrate his birthday and quilting.
My friendMicki at Irish Muse is celebrating her 10,000 hit by having a giveaway of some lovely Irish things. I have enjoyed reading Micki`s blog. She is a transplanted American and enjoys sharing her life with Joe and their very fine dogs. She often has wonderful photos of Ireland and makes many wonderful quilts and embroidery pieces.

When summertime comes, I have more time to explore some of my favorite blogs. I have found many wonderful bloggers from all over the globe that I have come to think of as friends. On the right side of my blog is a long blog list- all of them are well worth a visit. However sometimes one has limited time to explore such a lengthy list, so I thought I would share about two dozen with you. It was hard to choose but these are some of the blogs I read regularly.. Go and visit and you will see why they inspire me, make me laugh and enrich my life by reading their stories.

To begin,Kim makes me laugh regularly-she is a prolific quilter who creates her own designs and writes with real pizazz.. She is working on a very fun quilt right now that I am thinking about making with star fabrics.

Nicole was asked by another quilter her ideas about about the prewashing of fabrics and ways of storing fabric and quilts.It was a great topic and Nicole received about 60 comments on the topic. Nicole posts regularly so you will have to go back a few days to check it out.

If you are looking for a funny tale then Jace is your man. He is a wonderful woodworker too!

Gran "Shirley" has just started a new website and she is wonderful Knotty-Embroidery lady. Right now she has a giveaway.

Corey
had a most interesting antique object that she asked her readers to identify. Go and check it out and see if you can guess what it is...

Shirley is from the land down under and shares her life as a teacher in Queensland.

I am sure you will appreciate Meggie's tales of her life in Australia.She shares her stories about her GOM and family. There are always lovely photos and a musical piece to listen to..

If Color is your thing, you definitely need to check out Wanda's blog Exuberant Color. Her blog is rich with gorgeous fabrics and flowers from her garden.

Susan shares her life with Vann in the Yellow House in Alabama. She is wonderful quilter and an avid reader. I really enjoy checking out her current booklist.

Nancy is from Philadelphia - her current piece is about her reflections about blogging and well worth a look.

Mrs.Goodneedle often has a piece on Tuesdays that encourages readers to reflect about their thoughts and experiences with quilting. Life is indeed Good, Mrs.GoodNeedle...

Gene enjoys exploring with different mediums- he paints, creates with clay and makes colorful quilts and is a recent addition to my blog roll.

A fellow Western Canadian Joyce shares her explorations with clay and fabric. She is creating some lovely innovative pieces.

Until recently Tonya lived in Paris. She loves using words in her quilts and is an expert making free form lettering.

If you enjoy cooking as well as quilting, then you will want to visit Judy
at Patchwork Times. She is a master quilter who loves to cook. Judy also raises chickens.

I think scrap quilts are fabulous and Bonnie Hunter has created numerous free patterns on her website using scraps. She has recently written a book called "Scraps and Shirttales"that shows quilters how to make quilts using scraps and recycled fabrics.

There are terrific quilts being made all over this globe. There is a special lady named Tanya who shares her stories about quilting and life in Japan. I have especially enjoyed her pieces that share traditions and the cultural ways of Japan.

One of my favorite bloggers is Michele who hails from Oregon. She is generous with her time to help others create quilts. On her blog,she has provided links for free patterns.I have appreciated her many reflective pieces about life.
Pam hails from California and is a fairly new blogger who has a great sense of fun and a generous heart. She has a fine recipe for a pot of Cowboy beans too!

Sometimes life can be quite an adventure and Sharon at Red Geranium Cottage has certainly been on one lately. She and "Hunka" her husband, Dennis, have recently moved across country from California to the Midwest. She is back living close to her family and is loving it..

Eileen is a terrific lady who both hand and machine quilts. She lives in Western Maryland and reminds me my grandmother- thoughtful, devoted to her family and a great lover of the natural world. I enjoy each and every one of my visits with her- I know you will too.

Last but not least is my friend from Vancouver Pam who I had the good fortune to meet in person last summer. We visited some quilt stores and had a great time having lunch together. At that time, I was still a lurker-

Just over 50 posts later - I am still writing - who would have believed it....I was sure I would run out of things to say quite a long time ago but Here I am and, I am having lots of fun, getting know bloggers and quilters from many different places.


On the homefront, I have cleaned up my sewing area and rearranged my fabric boxes. I also checked out star patterns and finally found one that I will use to make a star quilt. I looked in the scrap box and the yardage and found a nice collection of star fabrics for the quilt.

My good fortune continued this week, where I won a giveaway from Rachaele at park avenue sweatshop. Thank you so much for choosing my name. I am one lucky lady.

I am looking forward to getting a new hairdo and going to see " The Lion King" this week.
How about you, what things are you looking forward to doing this week?

Warmest regards,

Anna

Summer is coming....

C and E's paperweight wedding quilt was a quilt that I made for a friend's niece, a couple of summers ago. It was an interesting experience to be asked to make a quilt on commission but I don't think that I would like to do it again. I found it complicated to place a monetary number on a quilt. You can put a replacement value on the fabric, but it was difficult for me, to find a fair price for the time spent creating a quilt. Personally, it is simpler,and I am happier making quilts and giving them away to my loved ones..

What to do first? At the beginning of the summer vacation (well nearly summer vacation because I am not officially finished until Tuesday afternoon) there is always the anticipation of where to begin and what I should get done first.

Sometimes I have immediate plans, and other times, I have some time just to hang out, relax and catch up to myself after the busyness of the school year. This year I have a quilt to finish by the end of the week, but I will also have some time to just read and relax. I do have the quilt put together, borders on and spray basted together. It is a large twin sized Trip Around the World quilt so it shouldn't take too long to quilt(I hope). I also have the binding made...

This weekend has been lovely. I have had two outings with friends -one Friday evening and one on Saturday lunch. On Saturday, a friend was in town from Thunder Bay ( a city in Ontario about 1100 miles east from here)It was lovely to see her. My dear friend V.( who is a good friend of the friend from Thunder Bay) arranged lunch in a Thai restuarant. V and I, then went off to a bead shop and I found some lovely beads for today's beading projects.

Since then I have enjoyed reading and catching up on my favorite blogs- there are some wonderful blog writers on my list. They share their stories, offer tutorials on techniques: for example making scrap bindings(cutting 21 inch strips of various fabrics and piecing them together instead of using all one color). Some other offerings were some ways to make wool pictures or use stitcheries in quilts or make a quilt using one color( blue or red the most popular). I find the blogs inspiring and interesting to see what others are creating. Perhaps you do too!!!

Some other 'bloggers share their life experiences. One of my favorites is Postcards from Cairo by Jenny Bowker . She was recently in India and posted some magnificent photos of the Taj Mahal. It made me go and check out WikiPedia for some information about that beautiful tomb. I don't remember having seen any close ups of the inside wall decorations. There are beautiful carvings, scrollwork and floral patterns that are absolutely stunning.. Jenny has also done some spectacular portrait quilts that she has written about in her earlier posts. I do encourage you to go and have a look.

Another blogger Corey Amaro shares her life in France. She writes poignantly about the loss of her father and about a wonderful elderly woman named Annie. Her photograph reflect the beauty of the part of the world in which she lives.

On the last day of school for my students, I asked some of my little ones at school what they were going to do over the summer- Some said going camping or swimming or playing in the park but I thought that the cutest answer was " I am going to have a lemonade stand". This little boy is a real character. He loved the house center where he would pretend to be a "Spanish cooker" or sell me paper french fries from McDonalds. He even made me the pretend money so I could buy them from him. I am looking forward to the break but I will miss my 5 year olds" stories and jokes. They do make me laugh regularly.

I received a lovely giveaway package from Angela at Yellowbird Art this week. There were two patterns - One by Anne of Bunny Hill Patterns and the other by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts as well as two fat quarters that are very pretty. Thank you Angela- I shall have fun with your prize.
There are some lovely giveaways going on various blogs- One is a Minnesota Shop hop that you can find by going to Gudrun's Quilting on the blog list. Quilters really are generous people- there are many examples of quilters making quilts for Charity or people in need around the globe.

I am almost through all my older quilts in my quilt journal - I am down to the last dozen or so. I guess I better be productive this summer or I won't have much interesting to show you soon:O)

Hope that you are enjoying some good weather and sharing some fun times with loved ones.
Time to bead and make a quilt label.

Warmest Regards,
Anna