Preparing for Robyn

I ventured out with Carol last night to our guild's executive meeting to finalize details for the long anticipated visit of Robyn Pandolph to our guild this Thursday. It was one of the coldest, most blustery days this winter. Today it is sunny but still a frosty -30 degrees celcius! In addition to a trunk show, Robyn will be giving a workshop on "Designing your own Folk Art Applique".

I am quite excited about it but also feeling a bit uneasy about going in "blind". So I decided I must have a subject. Sophie!

Our beloved 17 year old calico cat.

For those of you who are familiar with calicoes, you'll know that they can be a bit tempermental - but they can also be "softies" and very loving. In recent months, Sophie has taken to sleeping with my 8yr old daughter. These will be fond memories for Claire, I hope.

This is Daisy (wanna play?)- Sophie's best friend!

OK - the fur does occasionally fly!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Sophie will be my subject. I plan on putting her in amongst the flowers in our garden enjoying the warmth of the sun. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. Will keep you posted.

More Catch Up!

Last fall, our guild had the pleasure of a visit from pattern and fabric designer, Cynthia Tomaszewski. Cynthia hails from Michigan, but has spent the last several years living in Abudabi (sp?), United Arab Emirates. We were treated to a fabulous trunk show of her works which featured beautiful florals and applique. The next day she gave a workshop in which she taught us various applique techniques. A warm and generous woman, we all felt enriched by her visit!

In the photos, you will see photo of Cynthia (center), myself (R), and my friend Carol (L), as well my workshop efforts !

Viruses, pleurisy, and pneumonia begone!

This has been quite a winter for illness, and I for one, have had it! Various bactria and nasty viruses have hit me, my family, and friends. It's time to move on to better health. I wanna quilt! The only problem is there's so much I want to do and I can't decide where to start! My guild is having a "Quilt-til-you-Wilt" day later this month at a local Best Western - quilt all day from 8am til 9pm. We will be served all our meals - no cooking, no dishes to wash - heavenly! This is a great opportunity to get a lot done so I'll have to go to my stash and put a project together.

I've only managed one little wall-hanging the last while. This Santa is wool-applique from Rocking Chair Stitches. I quite enjoy working with wool, and applique is portable. In fact, I did most of the work on this while waiting in the living room of my children's piano teacher while they did their lessons.

I was introduced to wool applique last year with a visit to my guild from Nellie Holmes. She spoke at our meeting and gave a workshop the next day. She is a delightful and inspiring speaker and teacher. Nellie is a Canadian pattern and fabric designer. She, along with two other designers form Upper Canada Quiltworks. Her branch of the business is called "Originellies". Here is the penny rug I made at Nellie's workshop.

quilting at balmoral cottage

It's been a long time since I've been here..... but it's a new year so I'm aiming to catch you up over the next little while!

The quilt show was a great success! Over 200 hundred quilts were displayed. Caitie got her quilt done just in time (with a little help from mom). Here are some pictures from the show. The first 2 are my quilts, the remaining by other guild members. The Santa quilt is from a Debbie Mumm pattern from about 10 years ago. He lended a nice Christmas coziness to our home over the holidays! The Autumn Leaves wall hanging was from APQ magazine by Kansas Troubles. I changed it to reflect my surroundings. At the time, we lived in a home that had a sycamore, tulip tree,silver maple and red oak tree on its property. I took actual leaves from the trees and used them as templates for the applique. A 4" border surrounds the leaf and flying geese centre.

quilting at balmoral cottage