Sew Sister Blogathon Canada 2014 hits the Atlantic!

Welcome Blogathon readers!! This week Sew Sisters is celebrating Canadian quilters!

This week is the third Blogathon Canada sponsored by Sew Sisters, a brick and mortar quilt shop located in Toronto, Ontario. I have ordered fabric online from Sew Sisters and found them to be very prompt and efficient. I really enjoy how they wrap all fabric securely in plastic before they box it up to mail. It is great service because this is how Canada Post handles parcels being delivered to me: if it is raining or snowing, parcels are left it in the middle of my driveway and if the sun is shining, parcels are bent and folded and shoved into the mailbox..Fortunately fabric is forgiving!

There are two Maritime hosts today, and both happen to be Linda's! There is Nova Scotia's Linda at Scrapmaster and New Brunswick's Linda at Stitch Lines. Check both of Linda’s blogs out for lots more East Coast bloggers and be sure to comment on both their posts - Sew Sisters has generously provided some great prizes! Thanks Sew Sisters!!

I refer to myself as a "person of fibre"..I love it in its many forms and love working with it any way I can. I quilt, I paint fabric, I surface dye it, I have sewn lots and lots of clothing and household items over the years, I have built costumes for the stage, I can weave and felt, I knit, I can crochet. Breathing does become an issue around sheep (and horses, too, but that's irrelevant here) so I sold my spinning wheel early on in my weaving/spinning career.

As well, I am a sign painter. Hence the name of my blog, Sister of the brush. Sign painting tended to be a predominately male occupation for many years and when I studied at George Brown College (yes, there are legitimate sign writing courses...), we were told the secret to running a successful business was a supportive wife. A wife. No, they never said, supportive husband, spouse, partner, it was wife..Well, that left me and other females in our class high and dry, so it was there and then that we dubbed ourselves, Sisters of the Brush and swore to be our own support system!

I still love wielding a brush. And I incorporate paint and fabric all the time. Painting fabric is soooo much fun! I especially like low immersion dyeing, discharging, sun printing and soy batik and combinations of all techniques!

I am also a longarm quilter. I use pantographs to quilt edge to edge designs, but especially enjoy quilting my own designs.

Thanks for visiting and welcome as always to my regular audience! I appreciate you taking the time to see what I am up to, what I am currently ranting about or seeing what photos I am sharing. Please continue to comment and if you have any issues doing so, please email me. My address is available via my profile which can be found on my sidebar.

A little more about Road to California 2014

This morning when we got up, the temperature was -2! It only reached a wet, windy high of 8 degrees and someone remarked to me that if it really were the fall (which it feels) we would at least dress for the weather. No one wants to pull out their toques and mitts, but really? Well, if we were sensible, we would. But, sensible does not abound in these parts apparently. Today I saw more shorts and bare feet and bare arms than I have for days. Meanwhile I am wrapped in three layers, a scarf around my neck, shoulders up to my ears and anxious to get home so I can stuff a heated magic bag in my sweater! I am still sporting wool socks and flannel pj’s to bed and any tan I might have gotten last month while in Cozumel has long ago faded to pasty white. Sigh. 

Well, I am trying to keep warm thoughts and that brings me back to California. While there I had the pleasure of taking classes with numerous instructors. Lisa Sipes and Pam Clarke were both longarmers I had become familiar with and classes with both provided me with lots of tips, techniques and possibilities. Lisa is a relaxed, casual teacher and displays obvious skill on the longarm.

Pam is very, very organized and has developed a method of marking and quilting that is pretty much fool proof. As she says, when you have quilted as many quilts as she has, you need to be organized and use a method that you know will deliver.

I also had the pleasure of speaking with the very gracious, Alex Anderson of The Quilt Show fame. She was there representing the show and took the time to speak and pose with everyone and anyone. She was chatty and gave me a friendly jab of her elbow when I teased her about the trials of being a superstar! lol

Road to California attracts a large number of Canadians, mostly snowbirds who winter in Palm Springs, and mainly from the western provinces. On the day we were to take a class from Angela Walters who unfortunately got the flu and had to cancel, we posed with a couple of fellow Canadian classmates. We seemed to meet up with Colleen (second from the left) quite a bit and always enjoyed some laughs with her.

For a group that is missing out on a class with Angela, we look fairly happy. I know we were all very disappointed, but I think unexpectedly having a free day to spend shopping here...

helped keep our spirits up.

I normally don’t pose for photos since I am usually the photographer, but I am glad I did during that trip. It is proof positive that I did attend and that I did meet those great instructors and all those wonderful quilters! Looking at each photo takes me back to the moment and that particular experience and I remember something more about it each time.

I really think meeting so many friendly, generous quilters was one of the best things about going to Road. Every teacher relayed the attitude that if they could do it, you could do it. Every person shared information, offered assistance, moved over if you needed a seat. There were smiles, lots of laughs, oodles of positive vibes, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

More Classes at Road to California 2014

Looking back, I might have registered for classes that covered a larger variety of techniques. Maybe taking classes from instructors I wasn’t really familiar with might have been good, too. But, that is a hard call when you are picking cold turkey. Trying to get a working schedule was our aim and feathers was our focus, but we did take other classes on other themes as well. We packed that week and after our first big breath, we paced ourselves, crashed early and tried to stay hydrated and rested.

Wednesday saw us back in Gina Perkes's classroom. Gina is not only a great quilter, she is simply a lovely person. She is genuine and sweet and very talented. Her class handouts are detailed and I learned a lot from her. Her Mom and I chatted a bit while she sat near my machine and knit, and I also took a break and worked the room (as folk who know me know I am apt to do) and met some wonderful quilters from the US. There was a real mix of quilters, including a charming mother daughter duo. Another fellow classmate, Bonnie gave me some great ideas about where Rejean and I should visit once Road was over. Actually Bonnie provided me with lots of laughs as she would burst into a somewhat off-key version of, “Oh, Canada,” every time she saw me after that, no matter where we met! So funny!

The entrance and hallway of the convention centre 

After a day of stitching “Beauteous Blocks and Borders” with Gina, that evening was the Road's Show Preview Night. Our registration gave us two hours to go view the shows and perhaps rub shoulders with a few quilting “supa stars”..

This is just a taste of the shows inside..

To say the quilts were spectacular is an understatement. Lorette and I methodically worked the aisles and were amazed over and over at the workmanship, the detail, the expertise. Our new BFF, Karen Sievert’s quilt sported a first place rosette for Traditional, Large, Pieced and we were thrilled to see it in person. It was difficult to get a close up because of the way they quilts were displayed so I know you can’t see, but the white area of this quilt is covered in crystals! You can see a detail photo of this beautiful quilt on Karen’s website.

Day Two with Karen Sievert and Myrna Ficken

About twenty minutes into my class Tuesday morning I had my first ”AHA!” moment! We were taking the class "Feathers and Flourishes" with the amazingly talented, funny, funny Karen Sievert. Karen had just explained a method for quilting feathers and we were working on Gammill Visions. I stood at my machine, took a breath and quilted........feathers!! I think I shouted. And Karen, in her gloriously positive way, got just as excited as I did! lol Well, I took off after that and the piece I worked on in Karen’s class is one of my favorites, because of the comfort level I found so quickly. 

The morning flew by! It was a great feeling, a wonderful release to find the flow of stitching within and just quilt! Karen was an energetic presence racing from one student to another, exclaiming over work, passing out hugs and telling us hilarious stories that had us holding our stomachs. 

Tuesday afternoon saw us quilting on Innova longarms when we took “Feathers, Fun and Formal”, with Myrna Ficken, an APQS educator and dealer. Myrna has a fresh style with lots of angular designs and I have been a fan of her stitching for a while. She is a passionate teacher, wonderfully talented and I really enjoyed taking a class with her. Like Karen, she felt like an old friend that it was great to catch up with. 

Building on my stitching from the classes previous, I had a super productive afternoon as Myrna taught us how to create a variety of styles of feathers and also how to fold and curve feathers into boxes and corners and even pile them on top of one another! 

I think the greatest thing about taking back to back classes with different instructors was that I pulled things from each class and then built on them as I progressed through the week. Some designs I played with in Gina’s class got added to and refined in Karen’s. Then I played with them in Myrna’s class a bit more. By the time Friday rolled around, I had a swash of new designs I knew I would be integrating into my repertoire. The other interesting result of this week of classes and working on a variety of machines was that I am 100% sure I purchased the right machine for me when I bought my APQS Millennium. 

I think Lorette was thinking me a bit (well, probably a whole lot) crazy because at night I would lay my new samples on top of my bed at the hotel as a bedspread and sleep under them. By the time Friday came, I had almost a whole quilt..

Day One with Gina Perkes, Road to California 2014

My first class at Road was with the delightful, Gina Perkes. Lorette and I had decided that we were going to focus most of our class time on overcoming our hesitation of quilting feathers and Gina’s class, “Fantabulous Feathers and Fill” seemed a great place to start! Gina has a very fun, pleasant personality and she made sure we all knew how loved we were with constant praise and adoration. Her mom, Debbie often travels with her and she was equally as charming. Gina brought along numerous samples and invited us to take as many pictures as we wanted of her work, as well to use her award winning quilts to cuddle in if we got cold! Really! She assured us she uses them for just that purpose at home. I don’t recall anyone taking her up on her offer to cuddle with them, although we all took lots of photos.

We were learning to quilt our feathers and fill on the Charm, a new Gammill sit down machine, but as much fun as it was, I still prefer my APQS longarm. I have quilted for years on a domestic and with carpal tunnel and neck issues, I find it tiring. But, that didn’t take away from all the great designs we learned! And Gina was very generous in sharing tips that could make our quilting smoother and easier. As well, she was very generous in her praise of our efforts, constantly moving around the room, engaging with every student over and over.

Even with all the excitement of actually being in this class, it was all I could do to stay indoors! The sun was streaming in the windows, I could see palm trees just a short distance away and I was in bare legs!! No talk of polar vortex here! Eating lunch outdoors outside the Convention Centre was lovely!! And every time you sat down, you got to meet more quilters because even on these first days before the show and merchants mall began, quilters were everywhere and they were all excited to be there, taking classes and learning new techniques.

There is a photo on Gina’s blog of our class at Road and if you look at the left hand side of the picture, you can see my bare legs underneath the table where I was sewing!! You can see a bit of my head and sweater as well, but I would be hard to identify conclusively based on this photo. However, Gina very graciously posed with me as proof I was there - just in case I had to pinch myself later on in disbelief! Fun loving person that she is, first we took a selfie..

Then mom Debbie took a posed shot..

Road to California 2014

We have been weighing our bags and carefully calculating what needs to be distributed where in order to get it all home..I have been on the road for 4(!!) weeks and as always, am amazed that the time has gone this quickly and that it is indeed time to again face the realities of the Canadian winter. We are heading into storms, blizzards actually, and have no idea how long this part of our journey will take and what planes will be able to land where..

This blog has been an interesting avenue for me. I have made connections; I have met new people, found old friends and made new ones. One of my newer quilting friends, someone I met through my blog, issued an invitation for me to join her at Road to California this year. After a bit of hesitation, I accepted her offer and because of Lorette and this wonderful opportunity, a whole new world within quilting has opened up to me. My hesitation came partially from an inability to making that big a commitment to my interests, but also partially because I had a nagging feeling that afterwards I would be a changed person. And I don’t know if I was quite ready to face up to and deal with that new person.

Road was amazing. The instructors were absolutely the best. The show quilts were stunning. The merchants mall was everything I needed it to be. The weather was hands down the perfect antidote to the cold and freezing I left behind and I was thrilled to be in bare legs! I met so many wonderful people and we talked quilts and quilting for hours. Lorette and I talked quilting by the hour!!

My hubby joined me after Lorette and I had spent 7 glorious days taking classes and for the last 3 weeks he and I have travelled the southern and central coasts of California in our rented camper van. It has been more than wonderful and we are sad the time has come to leave. But, it is time to head home and start processing all that new knowledge, time to use the materials and supplies I was able to find, time to get back to my long arm. 

I am heading back with a renewed sense of my abilities. The teachers I took classes with made me realize that the power to create my own long arm designs is indeed within me and that the more I hone my skills, the wider the scope of work I will create. The freedom of my recent days has encouraged more creative thoughts than I will be able to complete ever. I made new BFF’s!! (Lorette chuckled I know when I told her I had to google BFF because I couldn’t remember that that second F was for..oh dear....) and I was fortunate to have so many share many wonderful stories with me.

It took this trip and this experience to me to solidify that things will be changing for me....soon.

Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada

Welcome to all everyone visiting via the Sew Sisters Blogathon Canada! This is a great opportunity to find new-to-you Canadian bloggers and re-visit old blogging friends.

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is a great quilt shop based out of Toronto, Ontario. Living in the Atlantic region means searching for those special fabric needs online as well as on foot and I have found Sew Sisters has a great selection, great sales, their shipping prices are reasonable, and their service is speedy! I have just finished piecing and quilting a quilt for a friend of my daughter’s and a selection of fat quarters from Sew Sisters rounded out my very small collection of purples quite nicely!

My daughter and I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics and her friend gave us an idea of the sort of pattern she wanted. I cut 4.5 inch strips, sewed them in pairs, and then cut lengths 8.5 inches long making finished blocks of 8 inches. I used a solid purple backing, with purple Bottom Line thread on the back and black Omni thread on the top. This pantograph pattern quilted up very quickly and the quilt is surprisingly cheerful and yummy! The binding will be made of leftover scraps of prints.

Messages

Some things that happened today were meant to happen. Or, perhaps they were simply a product of my own willingness to deviate from what I felt I should be doing and instead, doing what I wanted to do. Whatever the reason, the effect was overwhelmingly joyful and I found myself smiling and laughing to myself as I drove back home.

First off, I met up with the lovely Lorette of Spruce it Up Quilting at the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival. The festival is in its 6th year and transforms the charming town of Amherst, Nova Scotia into a fibre mecca for five days. Sadly, this was the first year I had carved the time to make that 40 minute trek down the highway, but on the bright side, I will make sure to get there another year.

I spent some time wandering through the Zonta Fibre Arts Bazaar and managed to spend time promoting my newest favorite fibre group, SAQA Atlantic. I had chats with a number of vendors including Heidi Wulfraat who has a beautiful array of hand dyed yarns and Felicia Knock with her gorgeous selection of hand dyed wools. I had an interesting conversation with a couple who live on 28 acres; we talked about chickens (love!), bobcats and cougars, minks, pig farming, chopping wood, tatting, and kids! The other booths featured hand made glass buttons, felting, jewellery, hooked work, fabric and so much more!

After leaving the bazaar, I headed down the street to find the First Baptist Church where the Cumberland Quilters were hosting their quilt show. They had decorated the beautiful and historic church with their members’ quilts and rugs while Jackie of The Fabric Cupboard had set up shop within the vestibule. And this is when my day got even more interesting.....

Before I left this exhibit, I asked if there was another quilt show on as I had read in the brochure that there was, but I hadn’t been able to locate it. One of the women told me that no, there wasn’t. I was a bit surprised, but assumed that one had been cancelled, or the date changed. Off I went. 

As I headed down the sidewalk, I saw a woman struggling with a sign. She hesitated and looked back at me. She made a comment I didn’t really understand, something about moving the sign for Alan. I asked if the sign had blown over. No, it hadn’t, but it was too heavy for Alan, the church custodian. I smiled and started to move on. Then she asked me if I had been to their quilt show. Ah, noo, I haven't.....Come with me, she said, there is still time.

Slightly bewildered I followed her across the courtyard to Christ Church where a show by Quilt Expressions, an Amherst based quilt group was displayed. Once again the quilters had made use of a lovely, small historic church and had draped the pews with many beautiful quilts, many hand quilted, with extensive quilting, as was pointed out to me. 

The conversations I had during this next half hour were just such a re-inforcement that the world is indeed a small place and that there are connections everywhere. Walking through the doorway, I met up with an old quilting acquaintance and learned her two granddaughters are currently studying at two of the universities my children graduated from - STFX and McGill - so we chuckled over that coincidence. A woman standing beside her had just moved back to this area after living in a community near my parents home on PEI and her son was best friends with a cousin of mine. Then she mentioned a name I knew well; a friend of my family’s, but mainly of my Mom’s, who had just been there to pick up an item to take back to my parents home church. Then the woman from the sidewalk and I talked some more and discovered we shared the same married name, with different spellings.....Hmmm. 

Lately I have been struggling with finding, no, taking the time to create. There always seems to be something else that takes me away from working on my fibre projects and artistic pursuits. I keep saying, well, if I can just get through this week, there will be more time to focus on that. And then the next week seems fuller than the last. 

I am aware that today event’s might seem of no interest or value to some, but I know that these are messages meant for me. And I am going to take some time to interpret them and see where it takes me next in this journey of mine. And I know my Mom is with me every step of the way.

New Brunswick Tourism Report

I felt like I was on vacation Sunday. The day was just that relaxing! I personally feel I have been working long hours too often lately and I think my husband was thinking the same, so we revved our motor and headed out with our dog-eared copy of The New Brunswick Atlas in hand. Normally we take oodles of supplies, but this time - nope! One bottle of water, one coffee, some extra socks, our hiking boots and my favorite, favorite accessory, my shewee which I feel no woman should ever venture into the woods without. Actually, I think they are handy for more than just the woods - talk about empowerment!! Every woman should get to pee standing up!!

I appreciate my shewee. It saves damp pant legs.

Anyway.

Our goal was to find a beach we had heard about but never been to, as well as some new to us hiking trails. Our destination was the Riverside-Albert area of NB. 

As we drove, we passed through the village of Hillsborough  and also past the entrance to Hopewell Rocks. The sky was blue, the few clouds were pristine white and the fields were luscious green sprinkled with buttercup yellow and every shade of lupin you could imagine. 

Finding Dennis Beach was akin to finding a gold mine! I had no idea there was this beautiful wind swept, light sand beach on the Bay of Fundy and it was hard to tear myself away! I love my beaches and could have happily stayed there for the afternoon. The beach is located near Cape Enrage and I guess as many times as we have visited the Cape, we just never went in that other direction, the one which would have led us to Dennis Beach.

Next we headed along the roadway in search of some trails. Rejean had an idea there were a few hidden in this area and we were excited to find two we hadn’t hiked before. Marking a page in our book for future reference, we continued on to the picturesque village of Alma. 

Alma is full of great things! It is a pretty little touristy village with shops and craftspeople and fish vendors and Kelly’s Bake Shop.....Because of Kelly’s, Alma is home to the world famous sticky bun and this was my first taste experience. The buns are so popular they are handed to you fresh from the oven and are so hot they melt the waxed paper they are wrapped in! They were delicious and I also happily discovered that Kelly's multi grain bread is now a favorite of mine!

After lunch (fish, of course!) we headed up the little ridge to check out the view and found the very amiable owner of Vista Ridge Cottages who shared the very interesting history of his cottages and some info on the nearby Fundy National Park. What a perfect location for a little getaway holiday or even a quilt retreat!! The cabins are really, really nice and bright and if you happen to be there on a Sunday, there is a super Farmer’s Market until 2 pm. This truck is parked at the entrance and I love how they have chosen to display it and have plants for sale on the back!

Taking another route back home, we did some exploration of another new to us trail in the Shepody National Wildlife Reserve and we have figured out the logistics for a hike/canoe trip in this area. It could be the perfect New Brunswick day outing!!

Continuing on, we also noticed a section of the Trans Canada Trail that we hadn’t really paid attention to before, so now we have another trail to try out with our bikes! We are collecting all kinds of possible excursions and at this point I am thinking a nice stay at those cabins would be a great idea!! Especially since they are open year round and we love off season activities! 

This section of the trail passes right through the property of the historic Riverside Consolidated School. The image of a train passing so close to the school teases my imagination. And notice how there are entrances marked for girls and boys! This school is still in use and while we visited a family arrived, ready to play on the playground equipment. That big shoot on the side was the original fire escape!

By now we are both ready to be home, so hitting the main road we motor on. As we pass Hopewell Rocks area, my husband says off-handedly, “oh, there’s your blog friend!”, as we pass a house where we see a woman loading wood in the side yard! Yeah, sure I say! I had mentioned to him that Marjorie lived in this area and that we planned to meet in person one day. What a laugh I got the next day when I saw a comment she made on Holly’s blog that she had been stacking wood that weekend!! It was her! Next time we won’t be in a rush to get home and will make a planned pit stop to say hi!

New Brunswick is a beautiful province to live in and these little day trips serve to remind us of just how much we still have to explore here. Even within a 45 minute radius, we have so much to see and do!