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Studio Tour 2016

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The Denman Island Artist Studio Tour is coming up on Saturday and Sunday and I’ll be participating with a few of the other local quilters.  This will be my second year and I’m way more relaxed this time around.

Why is that?  Well, a couple of things come to mind.  Last year I knocked myself out getting new pieces made.  It was kind of frantic.  In the end, sales were slow and most of the things came home with me.  This year I’ve got a couple of new things, but I’m also going to try to sell some quilts that I made a while back and am now ready to part with.

It’s really hard, maybe impossible, to know what’s going to sell, and that can be frustrating.  There are always lots of kind comments, ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ and people saying that they’ll stop in at the end of the tour – they never do because they’re heading to catch a ferry.  The trick is to hook them early, and we’re in a good place for that.  We will set up in Downtown Denman, between the Art Centre and the General Store.  This is where people will pick up their tour maps and plan their route; pretty much the start line.

I’m more comfortable accepting that not everything will sell.  Maybe nothing will sell.  My style and colour/size choices won’t appeal to everybody. Some may not like my prices.  That’s all OK, as I’m still enjoying the process of imagining and creating.

As a group, we’re more organized this year.  We’ve talked about how to display our quilts, how the traffic should flow and how to engage the ‘tourists’.  We’ll have a small demo table, where we’ll show the different steps involved in making a quilt.  In addition to cash and cheque, we’re going to accept VISA.

This is all great and I feel confident that we’ve taken steps to make a better experience for those who take the time to stop by.  The one thing that has me concerned is something that I have no control over – the weather.  Last year was awful.  The rain was torrential and the temperature was cold.   We had to cram our quilts under tents and then take many home to dry after the first day.  To top it off, on the Sunday there was a propane leak at the General Store and traffic was shut down for over an hour, keeping everyone away.

I put this post away for two days, while we had company.  Now it’s the day before The Big Tour and it’s pouring rain.  Thunder and lightning are overhead.  I’ve checked the weekend forecast and it looks promising.  Something like the photo below, from a couple of years ago, would be a good start.  Right now I’m going outside to do a sun dance.  If you read this post in the next 18 hours, perhaps you could do the same.  Thanks in advance!

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July Bits and Pieces

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Hello!  I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and had a chance to celebrate our amazing country.  We took in some local events; including a dinner at the pub, an awesome Saturday market and a pancake breakfast at the fire hall.

The weather that we’re having is great for sewing.  It’s grey, cool, sometimes drizzly and generally not what we’re used to for July.  My typical plan is to do chores/workout in the morning and then hit the sewing machine in the afternoon.  Having this kind of schedule helps me to see progress. I love having that ‘carrot on the stick’; it makes getting the chores done so much easier.

I’ve got a few things on the go right now.  The big push is on to get my Postage Stamp quilt finished this summer.  It’s been a fun project to pick up and work on in bits.  Now it’s at the stage where I can visualize the end and I’m keen to get it done.  In this post – A Grand Day, – I have a picture of one block from this quilt.  Each block has 256 pieces and there are  16 blocks, so the  completed quilt will have 4,700+ pieces.

Usually, one makes all of the blocks of a quilt before starting to put them together.  I’ve gotten a bit impatient with this one and jumped the gun.  Sashing is the fabric that separates the blocks.  My choice for sashing is more 1″ square pieces, but all using different text fabrics.  Here’s a picture of four blocks with their sashing.

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(We’re replacing a window and I love the scaffolding for hanging quilts!)  I’ve sashed 12 blocks and have four more blocks to make/sash vertically.  Then the same sashing, horizontal, will go on and I’ll be ready to get it all assembled.  Moving ahead like this has revived my interest in the Postage Stamp quilt.

I’m also getting things ready for the Denman Island Studio Tour, which will be on August 6 and 7.  This year the Denman Quilters will have a demo area and I volunteered to take that on.  I’ve chosen a small trivet in a Log Cabin with Labyrinth pattern that I saw on She Can Quilt.  I’ll have a completed trivet as well as the trivet in various stages of construction so that people will be able to see the various steps involved.

And, nearly finished, is a quilt that I started nearly a year ago, after listening to a Webinar on using a  wedge-shaped ruler.  I’m just hand stitching the binding on, then it’s into the washer and dryer to be cleaned up and made to look ‘quilty’. This one has me quite excited and I’ll show you a picture next time.  Until then, think Christmas candy!

All for now, time to go after that carrot on a stick.

Thanks for reading.

In The Garden

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When I started this blog I promised myself that I wouldn’t feel guilty if I didn’t post regularly.  I’m not a fan of writing just for the sake of writing, and I’ve followed a few blogs where this has been the case.  Needless to say, I don’t follow them anymore!

Lately my sewing and quilting have taken a back seat to yard and garden work.  As described in the previous post,  A Lull, Hopefully Short-lived, we have been working to create a new garden and to restore one that was neglected for several years.   It’s hard work, but so satisfying.

You may have gathered that I try to look on the bright side of life.  Sure, there are times when it’s necessary to be serious, but why waste that energy if you don’t need to.  Last week my Mother in Law was checking out the garden and she said that it was whimsical – music to my ears.  We’re trying interesting plants and using lots of bright colours.  Believe me, this past week the colours have cheered up the cold, wet and grey days.  We’ve been collecting odd bits and pieces of stuff from the beach – rusted chains, huge spikes and old chunks of ferry dock pilings.  Hurray!  We replaced the two old lawn chairs, which Blake found on the side of the road, with four aqua Adirondack chairs.  And this week we crossed a major ‘to do’ off the list.  We installed a flag pole and raised The Maple Leaf for the first time.  It’s beautiful and we’re going to have a christening celebration on July 1.

Here are a few photos of things in the yard.  You can click on them to enlarge and to bring up a description.

Red Hot Pokers, hummingbirds love them.
Our neighbours’ grandchildren were selling these last summer.
Orb on piece of old ferry piling.
Volunteer poppies.
Ice plants
Tug, seeking shade.
Oh! Canada!
Gurgling water feature/crow bath/Tug drinking bowl.

Now, as Sunday is a day of rest, I am going downstairs to work on a quilt that’s in its final stages.  I hope you’re enjoying a restful, final day of spring.  Thanks for reading.

A Lull, Hopefully Short-lived

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The photo above was taken on the deck of our Denman Island home.  We’ve worked hard this past week, getting the garden and yard into shape, and getting these pots done was one of the final chores.  From now on it’s a matter of keeping on top of the weeds, deadheading, watering and enjoying. And, hopefully back to the sewing machine!

Our garden and yard must meet three criteria.  Plants need to be drought tolerant, deer resistant and low maintenance.  Our household water comes from a local lake and we’re mindful of how much we use, especially when the summer is hot and dry, like 2015.  We have several different grasses and herbs.  They do well with little to no water.  I’ve been ‘collecting’ lavenders, which pass our tests while providing beautiful colour and scent.

Deer resistance is more difficult and seems to change with each year.  Our yard is fenced on three sides.  The deer have figured out that the fourth side is open. Typically any plant that has a strong scent and fuzzy foliage is safe.   It’s frustrating to learn the hard way that chives are left alone, unless they’re garlic chives.  The latter were munched to the ground. I planted some bright yellow yarrow – Achillea millifolium –  two years ago and it thrived.  So I planted a couple of different red yarrows, only to find that, overnight, they were destroyed.  It seems like the best way to deal with this is with a sense of humour.

As for sewing, well, I’m kind of stuck.  I finished the big, bright Indian quilt and a couple of smaller projects.  I’ve got something half quilted but I’m having trouble coming up with  ideas for new projects.  The Denman Island Studio Tour is coming up in August and I’d like to get a few things ready for that.  Big, small, table, wall, bed-sized?  Can’t decide.  There are so many different things to do in the summer;  I think the change from being indoors quilting and sewing to being outdoors playing will be good for inspiration and ideas.

While I’ve been mulling this over I’ve read two books by an author/artist named Austin Kleon.  Steal Like an Artist  and Show Your Work.  Terrific books for anyone who is or inspires to be creative.  Check out Austin Kleon’s work here: Austin Kleon

I’m also enjoying the series of four books, known as the Neapolitan Novels, written by Elena Ferrante.  They take place in Naples and follow the lives of two girls, beginning in the 1960’s.  Lots of twists and turns, interesting characters and a great look into the gritty life of working class Neapolitans.

I hope you get a chance to change pace, do some fun things and pick up a good book over the summer.  Let us know if you discover a ‘must read’.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

It’s a Dog’s Life

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This has nothing to do with quilting or sewing or creating anything, but it kind of called to me today.

We have an eight year old Chocolate Lab, named Tug.  Tug is our second Chocolate Lab and we got him as a pup six months after Chip succumbed to a number of diseases, at just 10 years old.  Chip was of the larger Labrador breed, can’t remember if that’s American or English, but there is a difference.  In our two Labs the difference is about 30 pounds.

We fought hard against having a dog at the same time as having two school-age children and a husband with a very busy work/travel schedule.  But, every night, for what seemed like forever, our daughter, Brooke, would ask for a dog and we were finally worn down.

I haven’t done any research on Chocolate Labs, so my observations are purely anecdotal.  These are lovely, fun, loyal and social dogs and our two have shown human-like tendencies.  Chip learned to move the chair away from the table so that he could climb up and join us at the table.  As a family, we got used to this; any guests were shocked to be sharing the dining table with a 90-pound dog.

While both dogs loved visitors/mailman/canvassers, Chip was more aloof than Tug and he would seek out his crate for quiet.  Tug seems to need to be around people all the time.  He is usually under foot in the kitchen and is always glued to our sides if we start packing to go away.  He has mastered the ’emo’ expression.  We’re sure he’s thinking ‘I’m so sad, are they going to leave me, I don’t see my things packed yet, don’t forget me.’

Tug began this lovely day with a long walk through the forest to a local lake, coming home along the beach.  Then he lay on his puffy bed for several hours while we pulled weeds.  Right now he’s having a little nap and then he and I are meeting a new ‘girl dog’ and her dog Mom for an after-dinner stroll.

Here’s a little gallery of Tug pictures, with one of Chip – face on with yellow bandana.  Click on photo to enlarge.

I’m not sure about reincarnation; if it’s a real thing then I know what I want to be when I come back.

 

 

 

Switching Gears

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It’s Sunday on the May long weekend and I hope you’re having a good time, wherever you are. The other day I was trying to explain to an American friend what this weekend is all about and I have to admit it’s a bit confusing.  Here’s what I learned from a quick search.  The holiday is officially called ‘Victoria Day’ and it’s celebrated on the Monday preceding May 24, which is the day that Queen Victoria was born in 1819.  It is a statutory holiday in all provinces except NS, NU and QC, where it’s called ‘National Patriots’ Day’.  In NB it’s listed as a ‘prescribed day of rest’.  Most stores remain open; banks and government offices close.  Mail isn’t delivered.

Fewer and fewer people use the official term Victoria Day, instead calling this  ‘ The Queen’s Birthday’, ‘ The May long weekend’, ‘The May Long’ or my favourite, ‘The Two-Four’.  Whether the latter refers to the date, or to the kick off of summer beer drinking season is a matter of personal choice.  This is typically a  busy gardening weekend, as by late May, the weather should be warm enough to get plants into the ground.  Unfortunately, it’s snowing in Calgary today even though they’ve recently had temperatures in the high 20’s.

Three weeks from today is the Victoria Half Ironman race, something that I’ve been training for since late fall.  Last Sunday I made the tough decision to withdraw from the race.  Dental surgery/infection and a nasty cold sidelined me for over three weeks, at a time when I should have been building big miles.  In a nutshell, I ran out of time.  Once the decision was made and I shared it with my family, friends and training buddies I felt sad, yet relieved.

It took a couple of days to mentally adjust to not having this goal to reach for.  I love the challenge of pushing myself and the feeling of being fit.  I got out for two short runs and a lovely hike to Quarry Rock with my daughter, Brooke, and was reminded that fitness can be found in lots of places.

What to do with all that extra time now?  I made a little jacket for the 10-month old daughter of a couple that I know from triathlon training.  I’ve been easing back into garment sewing and this project reacquainted me with reading patterns and various sewing techniques.   Here’s the jacket, front and back.  Click on the photo to enlarge. Note the little bicycles on the fabric!

When that was done I took on the task of making myself a name tag.  These are handy at quilt meetings, retreats and workshops.  I made this out of bits and pieces from my fabric stash.  I found some fabric that has inspirational quotes like ‘dream big’, ‘make messes’ and ‘bite off more than you can chew’.  Then I made my name out of bits and pieces of alphabet fabric, kind of like an old-time ransom note.  Not wanting to get too far away from my sporty side, I used a piece of coveted swim fabric for the back.  Here’s the name tag.  Again, click on the photo to enlarge.

The completed name tag is a reflection of me this week and most weeks; thinking positive thoughts, using my imagination and keeping active and fit.

Whether you’re in the garden, shovelling snow, drinking beer or just relaxing I hope you have a safe and happy Two-Four.

Thanks for reading.

 

Accountability

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The good thing about publicizing a goal is that it makes one somewhat accountable.  The bad thing about publicizing a goal is that it makes one somewhat accountable.  Several years ago I joined a marathon training group in Oakville, Ontario.  The leader urged us to shout to the world that we’d signed up to run a marathon.  By doing so we’d become excited and it would explain why we were going to run hundreds of training miles, often in terrible weather.  More than that, because everyone knew about the goal, it would be very hard to slack off and/or miss workouts.

From 2005 to 2007 I trained with a group of seven gals who were all, like me, training to complete a first Ironman race.  We called ourselves the FAB’s, or Fu**ing Accountability Buddies.  Feeling lazy?  Too bad, they’re waiting for you.  Partied too hard last night?  You should have thought of that, because they’re waiting for you.  Of course they were also there if you got a flat tire, struggled on a hill or just wanted company on a long session.  That group has changed; I moved away, some found other interests and one sadly lost a battle with breast cancer.

This past weekend I had a minor, really minor, spill off my bike at the end of a 70km ride.  I got some bruises, a sore neck and a couple of slightly sprained fingers.  Oh, and a lot of wounded pride!  I spent a day wondering whether it was time to pack in the training and just not race this year, or maybe ever.

Then I remembered how much I enjoy race day and the level of fitness that goes with getting there.   I’ve hit the reset button and will continue to train as hard as is appropriate on a given day.  Who knows what race day will bring?  My plan is to be there at the start line to see.  I no longer have Team FAB, but I feel accountable to myself and know that giving up isn’t an option.

Related, in a way – I posted last week, while I was watching Jordan Spieth at the Masters’ Golf Championship.  While I was writing, Jordan was far ahead of all of the other golfers and seemed destined to win his second straight Masters’.  Things went south for Jordan and, try as he might, he couldn’t recover; he tied for second.  As a professional athlete Jordan is accountable to sponsors, media and fans.  Ultimately, though, he’s accountable only to himself – at 22, tough to grasp.  He’s still FABulous in my books!

As always, thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #5 – Quilting

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I wasn’t going to write any more posts about this project until it was all done.  However, today was such a great day that I just had to share.  Let me back up a few days to last Wednesday.  I made use of our large kitchen island to pin the top, batting and backing together.  The quilt right now is approximately 84″ x 90″ and I needed 400+ pins to pin baste it together.  That’s about 2 hours of pinning!

While I was buying the pins, I picked up a spool of Superior King Tut thread in colour ‘Sunflowers’.  I’d planned to go safe dull, and use grey thread, but when I saw this variegated yellow I just knew it was the one.  It’s so cheery!

The other day I read someone’s blog post, (can’t remember whose), and there were terrific instructions on how to quilt something so large on a domestic sewing machine.  I followed that method and it was a breeze.  My machine loves the Superior thread and there were no tension issues – for me or for the machine.

Because the quilt is so linear I wanted the quilting to be curvy and decided to try a paisley pattern.  After practicing on a small sample, it was time for the real thing.  It took a while to get into the groove and lots of the paisleys look, well, not like paisleys, but they’re fine. The quilting is one-quarter done and it’s really been fun.  Honestly, if it hadn’t gotten too dark in the sewing room, I’d be up there all night long.  Here’s a sneak preview:

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Thanks for reading!

Start To Finish #4 – The Back

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I have such trouble with the back of a quilt.  The front comes from an idea or a pattern.  I have fun putting it together, and it almost always works the way I’d hoped.  The back is hard because I feel that it should be as good or as interesting as the flip side.  It should be worthy of being seen, not ‘just the back’.

My current colours of India quilt is exciting, vibrant and bright.  I was thrilled to find three fabrics for the back that I thought would be complementary.  They had an Indian feel; with paisleys, swirly flowers and gold threads.  I washed and pressed them and then fooled around with a layout.  It was all carefully measured and well sewn/pressed.  But it was awful!  Almost so bad that I don’t want to share it, but here it is:

What’s wrong with it?  There’s too much going on.  Any one of the fabrics on their own would be fine, but not all three.  The orange with gold flower would have been awesome.  Also, it’s pieced that way because I didn’t buy quite enough length – because I didn’t have a plan.  (This is a mistake that I’ve made before and hope not to make again.)

Here are some backs that I’m happy with:

Back of Newspaper quilt
Back of Night For Life Gala quilt
Back of Read Between the Lines
Back of Kohala Koi quilt.
Back of Collaborative quilt.

There’s some interest, but they don’t steal the show.  If the quilt ended up folded over or upside down it wouldn’t be a bad thing.  The piecing is necessary because fabric isn’t usually wide enough to back anything more than 40″.  Adding bits and pieces disguises the seams.

Returning to the quilt of the moment – the colours of India.  I bit the bullet and went in search of all new fabric for the back.  I had great help in one of the local shops.  The clerk and I found the perfect fabric, but when he went to cut it, we found a flaw ran through the entire bolt.  (I was shocked when the manager said that she knew it was flawed, but was prepared to sell it at full price, without flagging it as flawed.  hmmmm.)  I had better luck at another shop and made my purchase.  It’s been washed, dried and pressed.  Tomorrow I’ll piece it and then, with Blake’s help, I’ll pin the top, the batting and the backing together.  Then it will go away for a bit while I decide how to quilt it.

I’ve just reread this post and feel a need to add a disclaimer of sorts.  The back of this quilt won’t have different colours or fabrics.  It will be all one fabric with seams that won’t be disguised with bits and pieces.  What I’ve chosen just feels like the right thing, all by itself.  There won’t be a third attempt.

Stay tuned for the next post, which should be the final one for this project.  It could be a while.  In the meantime, I’m trying to think of a name for this quilt, other than ‘Colours of India’.  I like ‘Memories of India’ but President’s Choice has a line of marinades – ‘Memories of Korea, Szechuan, Tuscany, Argentina’ etc – so that won’t work.  I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Easter!

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I hope that you’ve all had a pleasant Easter weekend.  It’s a funny one, what with different people getting different days off.  Looking around our neighbourhood it’s obvious that there are some family gatherings happening, maybe some Easter egg hunts??

Good Friday saw me out early for a bike ride.  It was kind of a shake down cruise as I’ve not ridden much since 2013.  Well, I did try to ride on Thetis Island, at the quilt retreat, but one of my pedals snapped after about 15 minutes.  Lucky for me, I was at the top of a hill and managed to coast most of the way back! Stanley Park is an amazing place to go for a bike ride.  There’s very little traffic early in the morning.  The road surface is smooth, there’s one good hill and the view is unbeatable.  It’s a 10km loop, so I did two of those, plus there and back from home, which totalled 35km.  Now that I know the bike is in good shape I will venture out for longer training rides.

The other fun thing that happened on Friday was the start of the 48th annual Southern Straits Yacht Race.  It’s put on by the West Vancouver Yacht Club and the start is directly off the pier at Dundarave Beach.  Hundreds of spectators turn out to watch.  There were bands playing, pancakes for breakfast, free coffee and the Easter Bunny was there too.  Here’s a photo of the first start with the bigger sailboats.

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Saturday was an indoor cycling workout, followed by chores and sewing for the afternoon.  The highlight was dinner out with Blake’s brother and girlfriend at Arm’s Reach Bistro in Deep Cove.  Fabulous food and a wonderful setting.

It’s now just before noon and I’m excited to say that I knocked off a 15km run this morning.  I’ve not run that far since 2013 and it was awesome.  (I set out last Sunday to do that distance, and just wasn’t feeling the love, so bailed at 5km!)

I had my good playlist and just chugged along listening to tunes.  Have you seen the Academy Award nominated movie Selma?  It was nominated for Best Picture in 2015.  It deals with the black struggle for the right to vote in 1965 and is a powerful film.  The song Glory, by Common and John Legend, is from that movie and is one that I could listen to over and over.  It came on during my run and, as always, it moved me deeply.  Is there a song that does that for you?

I wish you all joy and peace today and every day, wherever you are and whether you’re alone or with family and friends.

Thanks for reading.