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.

Happy Holidays

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.