originellie's

Winter Quilt Retreat

2012-02-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

In two weeks I will be knee deep in projects at originellie's annual Winter Quilt Retreat. Once again the retreat has sold out with a waiting list. It should be a wonderful weekend. Donna Taylor has worked her magic and donated two boxes of wonderful treats for the loot bags. I can hardly wait to fill them.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and looking forward to visiting with everyone. I am hoping to get some quilting done. Christine was kind enough to cut out 2 projects with her Acucut which was amazing. I still can't rotary cut so this was a great way to get a quilt cut out and ready to sew - I'm even attempting curved piecing!

Winter News

2012-01-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

It's almost the end of January. I've had a long 4 months recovering from shoulder surgery and have been out of my studio the whole time. I am anxious to get back to work. A couple more months and I should have full use of my shoulder and arm. I was so sure I would be able to get tons done during my "time off" but that was not the case.

February is going to be a month of slowly catching up. The Winter Quilt Retreat is full and everyone is anxiously planning which projects and how many projects they will take to work on. I have yet to finish all the quilts I take - I am always very ambitious but not too realistic. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and having some time to visit and catch up on all the news. Once again Donna Taylor of Taylor's Sewing Centre has outdone herself with loot bag donations. I know I speak for everyone when I say how much her efforts and generosity is appreciated.

I have taken this year off from teaching which was needed but I really miss seeing everyone. I hope 2012 will be a time to come up with lots of new and exciting workshop ideas. A whole year in my studio should be a very creative and productive time for me. I hope that 2012 is a creative year for everyone. Take a little time each day to live your creative life.

Summer Days

2011-07-12T16:23:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-09T03:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-06T17:51:00.001-08:00

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

2011-01-21T18:07:00.001-08:00

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

2011-01-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-29T07:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas came and went in a flash and in a few short days the New Year will be here and it will soon be time to buckle down and get to work in the studio. The pressure to get class samples is on - I have been avoiding the studio and maybe a break is what I needed. It has been a busy life in my studio. I started my quilt pattern business in 1999 and have worked pretty steady since then. A little time to regroup and refocus is sometimes necessary to get the creative juices flowing again. I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions and I usually don't set many for my personal life but always get a bit excited about what the New Year might bring in my studio life.

My goals for 2011 are:

1. Learn to use my quilting machine.

2. Learn EQ

3. Venture out of the box and create small art quilts with lots of thread play and embellishments.

4. Use up some of the vast amount of fabric, wool, thread etc that I seem to have acquired over the past number of years.

5. Keep up my blog.

6. Write a new book with Christine.

7. Use my camera everyday.

I think that seems like a reasonable list.

Organizing the Studio

2010-12-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just around the corner and I decided to get a jump on my New Year's resolution by organizing my studio. I started by ruthlessly getting rid of fabric that I will never use. I even gave away some that I still liked but realized that I don't want to make anything with it and don't have time so it's time to move it out. It absolutely astounds me at how many places you can stash fabric. Every time I opened a cupboard or a rubbermaid bin there was more fabric. I've decided that 2011 will be a year of using up some of my stash. I realize that in my lifetime I will never use everything I have but my plan is to put a good dent in my stash.

Once I eliminated the stuff I didn't want I tidied up my fabric shelves and my fat quarter cubbies. I love the space saver "shoe bins" that you can buy at Canadian Tire. Fat quarters fit perfectly and the bins are stackable. I also put individual projects waiting to be made in those clear plastic zippered bags that linens come in, along with the pattern or book I want to use to make the project. I put all my jelly rolls in one basket and 5" charm packs and layer cakes in another. I took my books and categorized them by subject. I put all my patterns in baskets and also sorted them by subject matter for easy reference. I bought clear divided containers at Michaels to put all my beads, buttons, embellishments etc so now I can easily see where everything is.

Over the past year I have gone through all my magazines, cut out articles and patterns that I thought were interesting and but them plastic sleeves in a binder and then recycled the magazines. I got rid of tons of magazines and condensed them into three binders.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my threads. Once that is done my studio is relatively tidy and ready for the new year! I can't wait to start a new project! Just think of the mess I can make........

2010-11-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how quickly time passes by. It seems like just yesterday that we were enjoying the February retreat and now the November retreat has come and gone. We spent a wonderful three days at McIntosh Inn in Morrisburg sewing, talking, eating, sleeping, and sharing with good friends. The talent in this group always humbles me. Show and Tell was magnificent as always and I am astounded at the amount of work that gets done in three days. What a treat to have a chunk of time to just create and not worry about the day to day responsibilities of home and family. We are truly blessed.

We welcomed three new retreaters - Kathy, Brenda and Jenny and judging by their comments I think they had a great time. I think it is wonderful how everyone made them feel welcome and within a short time it seemed like we had all known each other for years.

Now for the planning of the February 2011 retreat!!!

Quilt Retreat Feb 2010

2010-03-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

What a fun time we had at the February quilt retreat. We had a record number of attendees - 25 in total and the quilt room was a hum of activity all weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect, although we had a blizzard on Thursday and I was a bit worried about what Friday morning would be like. Luckily we woke up to sunshine and mild weather.

The weekend was especially exciting because it was the last weekend of the Winter Olympics so many of the ladies were running back and forth to the foyer to watch the various events.

Thanks to Monique we had 2 massage therapists come on Saturday to give massages and everyone seemed to enjoy that. We didn't have quite enough time to give everyone a massage but hopefully next time we can accommodate everyone.What a treat!

Winter Retreat

2010-02-25T05:24:00.000-08:00

The excitement is building and the emails are fast and furious as we prepare for the Winter Quilt Retreat. We have a record number of attendees this time and a waiting list. The retreat is becoming a very popular event. It should be a fun time. Cherice and I plan to get an early start so we can set the room up and make sure everything is in order. I have run this retreat for so many years and I still love going. It is so special to spend a weekend with such wonderful friends and have a chance to catch up on what everyone is doing. I particularly love to see what everyone is working on as the projects are as diverse as the people attending which makes it all the more interesting. I'll take lots of pictures and post them when I get home!

The spring issue of A Needle Pulling Thread just hit the stores this week so be sure to pick up your copy and support this wonderful Canadian publication. Taylor's Sewing Centre has lots of issues available.

I've started planning classes for the fall and am going to have a new Block of the Month which is a wool on cotton project that is so sweet and a Jelly Roll Club which should be fun. I also have a few other surprises up my sleeve so we'll see what I can get done. Donna is going to order lots of new jelly rolls. Can't wait to see what arrives.

2010-02-15T18:44:00.001-08:00

Be sure to visit www.northcott.net to see some of the new patterns Christine and I have designed. There is a commemorative Olympic quilt pattern and a couple of new designs for Hallowe'en.

originellie's update

2010-02-14T16:10:00.001-08:00

Things in the studio are "heating" up. Christine and I are busy designing some quilts for Northcott, classes at Taylor's are filling up and the February Retreat is just around the corner. For the first time we are completely full and have a waiting list. The word is out and the retreat is becoming a popular event.

Christine and I had a very busy and successful studio tour "A Country Home Christmas". The tour was two weekends and the weather was perfect. We had a really good crowd both weekends. I think I will do it again this year.

Last Friday I had a Quilt til you Wilt night at Taylor's. Everyone was so productive and had a good time, yummy pizza and of course a little bit of chocolate!

The 1000 Islands Quilter's Guild is on Thursday, Feb 25 at 7:00 at Merc Hall in Maitland. Cheryl Swanson is the spotlight quilter so come and show her your support.

I'm already thinking about classes for fall 2010 and am working on a wool applique block of the month and a jelly roll club.

Another great retreat

2009-11-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

Another successful quilting retreat has come and gone. Twenty two quilters spent the weekend sewing, eating, drinking, and talking (and not always in that order). I am in awe at the amount of work that was accomplished. Show and tell was stunning and I am sure that the quilts just get more and more spectacular every year. As usual, the staff at McIntosh Inn catered to our every whim. We are so lucky to have found a place that is so accommodating.

At Taylors, classes are winding down for the semester but we are having a teachers meeting in early December and I am sure the line up of classes for January will be better than ever. Visit www.taylorsewing.com to see the list of classes available.

Christine and I are working hard getting ready for "A Country Home Studio Tour". We've both been quilting up a storm and look forward to setting up at Linda Scallion's home. Tour dates are November 28, 29 and Dec 5, 6 from 10am to 5pm. Hope to see you then!

International Quilt Festival

2009-10-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! A Needle Pulling Thread made its debut at Quilt Festival and the response was overwhelming. Carla and I worked long hours and introduced the magazine to anyone who would listen. There were so many people there and the crowds were still good despite the economic times. Shoppers were more selective about what they spent their money on but they were still spending - me included!

Elizabeth Dillinger's "Holiday Sparkle" quilt which was on the front cover of the Festive Issue and hanging in the booth was a huge hit. Everyone stopped to admire the quilt which was a great lead in to our spiel about ANPT.

The quilt show was stunning. I spent a bit of time admiring the Canadian exhibition as well as the Quilting Arts show. I could have had a lot more time but we were too busy to get away from the booth for long periods of time.

As exciting as it was to be there I am sure glad to be home!

Fall Activities

2009-09-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

The summer is coming to an end and that means all the fall activities will soon begin. Next weekend, Sept 11 and 12 is the open house at Taylor's Sewing Centre. There are lots of new and exciting classes and most of the samples are already hanging in the shop. Be sure to stop in and take a look around.

The originellie's retreat is filling up quickly so if you haven't sent your cheque in - do it soon or you may be disappointed. There are only a few spaces left.

Christine and I have almost got all the quilts done for Northcott with the help of her mother, Judy. Visit www.northcott.net to see the Olympic quilts. There are some really nice designs. Donna has booked a trunk show so you'll be able to see them in person soon.

Fall Classes being planned

2009-06-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

Next week we will be having our teacher's meeting at Taylor Sewing Centre to plan the new fall classes. There should be lots of fun things to do. Visit www.taylorsewing.com to see what we have planned. The new schedule will be up by the beginning of August at the latest. If you are interested in a particular class or want to learn a new technique let me know and I will try to teach something to incorporate those requests.

Save the Date

2009-06-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with Howard Travel and we are busy making plans for a bus trip to International Quilt Festival, April 16 - 18th, 2010. Mark this very important date on your calendar because this is one adventure you won't want to miss. The tentative plan is to leave on Wed. April 14. It will take approx 8-9 hours to get there. On Thursday I thought it would be fun to have a day touring around Chicago. We will spend Friday and Saturday at the show and trust me you need a minimum of 2 days to see the International Quilt Exhibition and to visit the approx 500 or more exhibitors. We will return home on Sunday, April 18th. If you are at all interested please let me know. I'd like to start a list to have an idea of how many people would like to consider this wonderful opportunity. I will let you know the cost as soon as I hear back from Howard Travel.