Summer Days

Summer in the 1000 Islands is so incredibly beautiful. Blue skies, bright sun and warm temperatures with a cooling breeze off the St Lawrence RIver. It is hard to think about quilting when the weather is so gorgeous. I'm working on one of our Northcott quilts but I don't seem to be getting much done.
Taylor's Sewing Centre had their teacher's meeting yesterday and soon the new schedule for Fall will be out. There will be lots of wonderful classes for all skill levels.  I won't be teaching this semester as I am having shoulder surgery. It will be strange to have an empty slate this fall. I've been making a list of all the things I can do with one arm!
Christine and I took a card making class last week and I'm having fun using up some of my scrap booking supplies. We also spent a day at the cottage painting fabric. I am trying to have a very creative summer.  I am taking pottery classes with my daughter Monica at Krista Cameron's studio. Last night we made beautiful bowls and platters and next week we will start working on the wheel. I haven't thrown pots in over 30 years. It should be interesting. I also started my art journal and plan to work on it all year. All my years of collecting things and now I finally have time to use them. My goal is to do something creative every day.

Hot and humid days

It seems that in eastern Ontario we go from winter, to a brief encounter with spring and then summer comes with a humidex of 39 C and violent thunderstorms. It must be that weather change that has me up a 5 am ready to start my day!
I spend a lot of time at my cottage in the summers and this year I decided that in order to do that I needed to bring my sewing machine down. I set up a lovely little corner and now I have an area in which I can be creative while enjoying the majestic St Lawrence River.  I love my weekends of R&R and having time to catch up with the pile of books and magazines I want to read but during the week I enjoy getting some work done. I spend most of my year working in my studio so a change of scenery for the summer is a treat and very inspiring.
Christine and I have been busy working on quilts for Northcott. Visit www.northcott.net to or www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com to see some of our newest patterns.
Today we are spending the day dyeing wool. We have wanted to do this for the past year and never seem to have a whole day to devote so today is the day!

AQS Show, Lancaster, PA

Just got back from seeing the AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster, PA. What a wonderful place to visit. If you have never been to the Lancaster area it is definitely worth the trip. The drive down from Brockville is quite reasonable. The show was very good - lots of wonderful quilts and three floors of merchant mall. If that doesn't satisfy you, there are many great quilt shops in the area. Intercourse, just 8 miles down the road is home for Zook's, The Country Cupboard (my personal favourite) and Bitty Kinna's.

There is also Burkholder's which is in Denver and definitely worth the stop. This shop is on a farm and is home to over 10,000 bolts of fabric. It is a feast for the eyes and disaster for your credit card! It was fun to see all the new lines of fabric.

If you get tired of going to quilt shops there are several great outlet malls to visit as well as many tourist attractions. The Lancaster area is the heart of Amish country.

Studio Time

The only good thing about snow in March is that it forces you to stay home and get caught up. I spent 9 hours in my studio. The first couple of hours were spent cleaning up from weeks of stuff that kept piling up. The rest of the day was spent working. I cut out half a quilt so I can now assemble the blocks. I also put binding on a quilt, set up my new laser printer, and got a binding ready for another quilt. Six hours of work and I wonder why I even bothered to clean! Once again it looks like a bomb went off in my studio. I think that I just have to accept that I am messy.

I'm working on a quilt that I designed with Christine for Northcott called Sandstorm. It uses the Stonehenge fabric line and I think I am really going to like this quilt. I'll post some pictures later.

Visit www.northcott.net to see some of the things we have been working on.

Quilt retreat Feb 2011

Another originellie's Quilt Retreat weekend has come and gone. This year we had a record number of attendees - 26 women plus our honourary guest quilter - Ken. The quilt room was a beehive of activity all weekend and once again I am amazed at the amount of work that was accomplished. I have now completely lost track of how many retreats we have run but am sure that we are in the 20's and every year just gets better and better.

Once again Jane had the bakery in Perth make a fabulous quilt cake. That had to be the best tasting cake ever and they always go above and beyond in the decorating. We had wonderful loot bags and door prizes thanks to Donna Taylor from Taylor Sewing Centre and all the wonderful women who donate things. I'm starting to think that people come for the loot bags!

Pat and the staff at McIntosh Inn were wonderful as usual and always go out of their way to make us feel at home. We certainly never go hungry!

Show and tell was amazing. This is one group of creative and talented women. After spending a weekend amidst all that energy and creativity I always come home inspired and anxious to get up to the studio.

It's hard to believe that we have to wait over 8 months until the next retreat. Hopefully we will see each other between now and then. Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful weekend.

February Retreat

In less than two weeks originellie's will be hosting another quilt retreat at McIntosh Inn. This year we have a record number of participants and a waiting list. I think everyone needs a break. I know I am looking forward to spending a whole weekend with 25 good friends. We always have a great time and get so much accomplished in spite of all the laughter and chatting.

Christine and I have been very busy designing for Northcott. If you visit our website www.uppercanadaquiltworks.com you can see some of our new patterns.

The spring issue of A Needle Pulling Thread is almost ready to go to the printers. There are some wonderful projects to make for spring. Watch for it on the news stands in the coming month. Better yet, get a subscription so you never miss an issue.

The Textile Museum

This past weekend I spent a couple of days in Toronto. One of the highlights was a visit to the Textile Museum to see the Mola exhibition. It was a wonderful and large collection. Here are a few of my favourites.

February Quilt Retreat 2011

I just sent out the retreat information for the February Quilt Retreat at McIntosh Inn in Morrisburg. It will be so nice to catch up with old friends, share stories, meals, a nice glass of wine, and see all the different quilts and projects that everyone is working on. On Saturday night we always have show and tell and I love seeing the beautiful quilts, rugs, sweaters, scrapbooks etc that this amazing group of women have created. These are wonderfully talented women. How lucky we are to be able to spend an entire weekend with 24 women that all get along and enjoy each others company so much. We are truly blessed.

Our Exhibit at the Brockville Arts Centre

For the month of December Christine and I had an exhibit of our quilts hanging in the Brockville Arts Centre lobby. Here are some of the quilts. Most were original designs and two were designs from Bird on a Wire, Saskatoon, SK.

We received many positive comments and were pleased with the feedback from both the viewers and the staff at the BAC.