Community

Thank you to Sew Sisters for hosting Blogathon Canada for their 3rd year. Also a big thank you to Linda at Scrapmaster  and Linda at Stitch Lines for being our Maritime hosts for today. Make sure to hop on over to their blogs and if you missed out on yesterdays bloggers, check out Stacey in Stitches and Momiji Studio from BC.

Each year I look forward to seeing what Canadian quilters/textiles artists are working on and meeting new people. It creates a wonderful sense of community! This summer I unplugged so that I could spend more time with my husband and children and fly to Alberta to visit family for the first time in five years. While there, we had the opportunity to check out the Western Threads exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. There is some pretty amazing textile and fibre art happening across this country. Once we got back to Nova Scotia my sewing room became our storage room and we embarked on kitchen and bathroom renovations. Today is my day off and I FINALLY get to reclaim my space now that all the work is done. (read as .... catch up on my We Bee Canada quilt blocks that I am months behind on and Teresa hasn't had access to her sewing room since July soooo .... no quilt pics to see for now ... sorry)

We moved to Nova Scotia almost 5 years ago from Ottawa, Ontario. My daughters' dance and music lesson schedules prevent me from joining any guilds. I have come to realize that one of the things that I miss most is the community of textile artists that I had around me .... those days of packing up to head to the Quiltin' Hilton for the weekend with my group of quilting friends. So, a couple of weeks ago, I packed up and drove to Cape Breton to seek out like minded fibre people at the Maritime Handspinners' Retreat hosted by the Unspun Heroes. 

I drove up on Tuesday to the beautiful Gaelic College to participate in a daylong Historical Knitting workshop on Wednesday and a Wet Felting workshop that spanned Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

My first foray into Wet Felting .... the layout before felting. Today, my plan is to finish the embellishing (I'll post a pic of the finished project)

The retreat began Friday afternoon and lasted until Sunday noon. It is amazing how quickly friendships can be forged over a bag of fibre, a spinning wheel, shared stitching with over 80 spinners/weavers in one room. The Gaelic Singing at the Milling Frolic and the Ceilidh only added to the wonderful atmosphere in the room.

Sunday Morning in the Great Hall in the Hall of the Clans before anyone arrived to pack up and go home.

 I went knowing not a soul and came home with planned retreats in January and February to meet up with new friends in NB and Maine; I came home reminded what I love about quilting, spinning, and weaving....that lovely community! I have seen this clip floating around FB lately. It is so true!

If you are new to quilting (spinning/weaving or whatever your preferred textile passion is) or have never had the opportunity to head to a retreat, my advice is to find one and go. I'm a home body and introvert so I usually suffer about a week or so of "what the heck did I sign myself up for?" panic but once I get there, I have never regretted it....I learn new tricks, built lifelong friendships, and typically laugh until my sides hurt.

If you know of any textile related retreats that are coming up in  2015 then please feel free to share in the comments below. I would love to hear about what is happening in your community and who knows, maybe I might pack up my car and join you!

Welcome to NS

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is hosting a Blog-a-thon.  Each day between now and Nov 24th, bloggers across Canada are participating.  Yesterday we visited BC; today we are in the Maritimes.  If you are like me and still relatively a baby in the blogging world and would like to meet fellow Canadian Blogging Quilters or are simply in need of some awesome inspiration, then you should definitely check out these posts.  The host blogger lists other blogs from their home province in their post. Visit Sew Sisters at the link provided to see their list of host bloggers (pssstttt...there are also give-aways).

If you are stopping by for the first time via the Blog-a-thon then welcome to my relatively new blog.  I in definitely in learning mode!  Stop by frequently as I add and update.  

A little about me...I moved to NS almost 2 1/2 yrs ago from Ottawa.  My two kids (very soon to be 10 & 12) have forgiven me for all the Ottawa and area shop hops that I regularly took them out on and now willingly head to the Annapolis Valley with me to purchase fabric and fibre.  They have caught their own little bug...they have become avid knitters and love fabric.  I started quilting in '93 then took a break to go back to school, get married and started up again when I had my children.  After another brief hiatus I am happily picking up my needle again!  When I don't have fabric in my hand I can be found behind my spinning wheel....or waiting, waiting, waiting at various activities with my drop spindle.

What's new in  my little corner of the world???  We survived Annie weekend.  Both my girls performed in the musical Annie.  It was a blast; it was a lot of work...it is over.  Now we are all trying to re-energize and get back in to routine.  I had big plans for yesterday!  Lots of the list involved catching up on laundry, cleaning, tidying another corner in the sewing room and SEWING!!!!!  Reality...I curled up on the couch, read a book, and slept!

Today....trying again.  I went down and sat in my sewing room for inspiration.  My goal is to not start anything new until I weed through my pile of UFOs.  However, this little stack of fabric keeps calling me...

My 9 yr old aspiring quilter (she has a little tutorial here showing how she designed and made a pillow for her cousin a couple of Christmases ago)picked these bundles up for me at CQA in Halifax.  We arrived just moments before the vendors mall closed.  She ran in and surveyed the shelves and came back with these treats.  The bundle on the left was from Mad About Patchwork.  Their booth was stunning and deliciously colourful.  There is no way you could walk past without your eyes pulling you back in! The star shaped bundle and larger piece was from The Running Stitch.  It was so wonderful to see them there.  I frequented The Running Stitch when we lived in Ottawa.  We spent our last milliseconds in their stall wishing we had more time to check out all their lovely fabrics.  I have a Christmas gift to make for my father (and am still mentally stuck on what to do) but I have a couple other little ones that I adore and if there is time they might just get a little something using these fabrics.  Too many thoughts....so little time!!!

I was also perusing my fabric stash now that it is all tidied up and pretty much unpacked.

It is pretty small compared to other stashes that I have seen.  I gave away A LOT of fabric prior to our move to groups making quilts for charity.  I didn't relish the idea of slugging everything from Ontario to Nova Scotia.  My cousin in Saskatchewan warned me that I would regret it and...well...I do in a way but then I don't.  Looking at this photo I see a lot of earth tones...that is where my head used to be.  Then I had children and things got a bit more colourful but now all I can think about is bright, vibrant, and WOW!  I have colour holes that need to be filled.  I really must discuss this with Santa.  He has often been such a great enabler of my habit...fabric, thread, notions, etc...He knows it brings me joy and when I have joy then the whole family is happy!

I would LOVE to meet fellow quilters in NS!  It would definitely make it feel a little more like home for me.  Let me know if there is a quilt show (or shop) in your area, what craft shows are going on or what you are working on.  Is there a Modern Quilt Guild in the area?  Come along for the ride and follow me. 

UFO Invasion

How does is happen?  Where do they come from?  You sit down at your machine or with project in hand...inspired, motivated....knowing that THIS TIME the project will be finished from start to finish with no interruptions!  This is how it is supposed to happen, isn't it?  But then...10 yrs later, you pull out a quilt top...actually not just a top but a quilt already prepped and ready to quilt!  How does it happen?  It's right up there with the mystery of the missing sock!!

Somewhere during the past 10 years, life happened and this little project ended up in the bottom of the bin, just waiting to see the light of day again.  I started this wall hanging for a workshop that I taught while pregnant with my second daughter. Sure, I could teach the class...no problem....I have almost 4 days weeks before I am due.  Little did I know at the time, my 9 lb daughter would be showing up five days after teaching this class.  At least my tummy served as a good felt board to display the various stages of the block on while I walked from table to table to see how everyone was doing.  

Ragged Hearts Quilt

Designer ~ Unknown but I am looking for the name Update:  Thanks to Cheryl over at Grandma Cocos Designs...she was able to track down the designer name for me.  It was designed for Homespun Quilts by Anna Laura Reidt (HQ105).

I modified the original pattern to add the inner striped border...without it, I just found there wasn't enough "Zing!" for me.  I machine quilted it with a stipple...I curse myself for trusting the spray on adhesive to hold the sandwich together all these years.  After it was all quilted and bound I realized there was a slight massive pleat down the back of my quilt and the backing had completely shifted...plus, it was my first time quilting with my new machine and the stitch tension was not cooperating with me.  Lesson learned...it all makes a beautiful area to place a label over!  Not letting the perfectionist in me win out this time...the one telling me to rip out all the quilting and start again!  It is done and it is happy.  If you put your ear up the screen you can hear it cheering because it is so happy to be saved from the UFO bin!!

Back to UFO #1...the Lone Star

I'm so happy with how this is finally coming together.  This week I hope to get the triangles set in and then decide if it will become a bed quilt of a large hanging for my stairwell.  What to do?

Just a little peek behind the scenes.  Nothing says love like well pressed seams!  I love my iron and my wooden pressing block!  I love ironing (disclaimer: quilts and fabric only).  Creating a pressing cloth was optional...take my word for it...if you ever make this star then MAKE THE PRESSING CLOTH.  It was wonderful to pin all my seams to and press.  All my star points came out perfectly and the same size.  It was well worth the time to have my husband draft out the cloth.

The Newest UFO Project

I swear...this will not become an UFO! (I don't know...grammatically should there be an "n" on "an" before UFO?)  Shortly after starting my UFO bin purge, my daughter came down with a horrible cold.  She is 9 (yes, my preemie 9 lb girl that was my flannel board for the Ragged Heart Quilt); she is extremely cuddly when she is sick AND she loves quilts.  I was on a roll but really it is soooo hard to sew at a sewing machine AND cuddle at the same time so I needed a new plan.  Not too long ago, I won the blog draw for a Grandmother's Flower Garden kit from Sew Sisters.  Shortly after, I received a couple more kits with my newsletter...was this a mistake?...or did they just know that I was feeling a little blue and receiving those little wrapped bundles in the mail was like getting a hug from a long lost friend.  These were so easy to put together.  Each little kit comes with enough fabric (pre-cut squares) to make one flower plus hexagon templates.  The templates are durable and can easily be used for multiple flowers.  To baste, I used a technique that I found on Youtube.  Rather than being redundant and posting instruction here, Katie over at Katie's Quilting Corner gave me permission to link to her tutorial.  Click on her blog name and it will should take you directly to the English Paper Piecing video on her blog.  Sew Sisters also recommend this handy little tool to bypass the basting.  It's called a Bohin Temporary Glue Stick Pen.  I believe they have also done a tutorial for paper piecing as well...I'll pop over to their blog to see if I can find it...they explain the use of the pen.  Sadly, I haven't had the chance to try it out...I pledged to stick within our family budget to help set a good example so my sacrifice...fabric and quilting tools.  I wonder if Santa is on a budget?!