Vermont Quilt Festival 2014 meet Thelma and Loiuse

As I have learned over the past month or so, it doesn’t take much to upset your plans. One week into my “retirement”, as I rushed from one task to the next, I managed to injure my foot. We are big walkers, hikers and bikers in this house, so an injury, especially one that keeps your feet up and out of closed toed shoes, sure can upset the apple cart. I learned the hard way that a pretty minor injury can keep you from your favorite activities and can certainly curtail all others. Driving a car is tough, especially a manual. So all those trips to the beach..haven’t happened yet. My trips to PEI...nope. Even quilting has been difficult because after a few hours of standing, the foot swells. A nuisance? Darn tootin!

As the healing progresses, there was one trip I have been able to take. Thanks to the lovely driving skills of my partner in many quilt related crimes, the Louise to my Thelma, I was able to get to the Vermont Quilt Festival In Essex Junction, Vermont. As we drove that long and at times, very windy road, me with one foot hiked up on the dash, we did solve a lot of world problems (well, quilt world problems). We also managed to find possibly the best maple walnut ice cream on the planet. Oh, and the BEST crab cakes ever. Go to Pauline’s, you won’t be sorry! And on the way home, the house special pizza at Pat’s Pizza won high marks, especially since it could also be ordered gluten free. But, I think Pat’s was in Maine. It was a long drive. We crossed three states..

While at the show, Nancy and I took two classes together, both very informative and enjoyable. The first day long class was Beginning Bead Embroidery with Fibre artist and beader extraordinaire, Lisa Binkley.

This was the class sample Lisa prepared for our day

Lisa was very patient, very organized, had great class samples, and was such a kind, pleasant person. She was extremely encouraging and although I recall her standing on a chair at one point to get people’s attention (there are always one or two in every class that never know when to be quiet), she kept a huge smile on her face. I have beaded for a long time, but it was great to get a refresher and just sit and play for a few hours. Seeing all the beautiful, detailed work she brought along to share with her classes was very inspiring. 

Lisa very graciously posed with me

The second day we took a class called Paint and Stitch: Peacock Feather with Susan Brubaker Knapp. Susan calls her technique thread sketching and we spent the day re-creating her peacock feather piece that adorned the pages of an issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. Susan uses a brand of paint that was new to me, so I was intrigued to give it a try while having her as my resource for any questions I had. It was great fun sitting and painting fabric and chatting with Sharon, a very interesting table-mate, also recently retired.

This is the piece Susan included in the Teacher Show

Once our pieces were painted, we started the process of adding the stitching. Susan is a very knowledgeable and organized instructor with a very sharing nature and she graciously answered many questions we had about materials other than the ones we were using in this class. She also brought along a huge selection of her pieces for us to ogle and somehow I managed to not take one photo of any of them!! Susan has just completed her first year as the host of Quilting Arts TV and I suspect her down to earth demeanour makes her an excellent choice for the position.

Susan also graciously agreed to a photo

Painting Fabric and More

When you consider my many years of working with fibre, my two years of longarming is not a big number and my textile interests are wide and varied. So, when we chose classes at Road to California with our focus on quilting, I still was most certainly not passing up the opportunity to take a class that involved paint and brush! I have been a fan of Mickey Lawler and her fabric painting technique for a very long time, so the chance to spend a day with her was the icing on the cake, so to speak, for me.

Mickey demonstrates one of her techniques

Even though she suffered a painful injury on the first day at Road, Mickey was delightful! She was very organized and informative, the class was fast paced, and best of all, Mickey is funny! She had us laughing over and over as she recounted personal anecdotes, all the while showing us new and creative ways to paint our fabric.

Mickey’s beautiful work

Mickey’s color chart

Mickey's class was on the last day of Road and after a full week, Lorette and I had new places to go and familiar to us people to meet, so we packed up quickly and set off as soon as the class was done. My hubby had just flown into the busy LAX and while I painted, was picking up this fun Escapevan for our next weeks journey.

We were amazed by how many thumbs up we got as we travelled in our van!

We hit the road and headed out, and the next day my freshly painted, damp fabric got to dry at the Joshua Tree National Park.

The days were wonderfully hot, the nights surprisingly cold and the area incredibly interesting!

This man always keeps me laughing!

Cholla Cactus

After what was already feeling like a long winter back home, the heat of the desert was so inviting and welcome to us. 

Octillo

We basked in our surroundings and marvelled at the views, especially enjoying the sunsets. 

Sun setting over Joshua Tree National Park

We often meet interesting people when we travel. After a night in the Anza-Borrego Desert and while hiking one of the trails, we crossed paths with a lovely couple from Washington, DC who are sheep farmers. She is a spinner and weaver and we ended up having a lovely chat about fibres as we stood in the middle of the path under the hot desert sun. I love that my travels randomly put me in contact with so many people with common interests. I think the key is to be open to the possibility and to wear a welcoming smile.

Time well spent!

The south western shores of Nova Scotia are breathtakingly beautiful, especially at this time of year.

I recently had the pleasure of taking in a few sights along the shore with my daughter as I begin to learn the ways and habits of not working every day. Mind you, I did have my chores that kept me busy enough while visiting! I had a quilt to bind, and blocks to make, and some piecing to plan. And on what would have been my Mom’s 79th birthday, I tried 4 new recipes and each one was a success! 

One of my daughter’s co-workers gifted us with a huge bag full of fresh rhubarb, all in exchange for tips on picking and caring for his patch. Then came the big decision as to what to make! Rhubarb muffins, rhubarb crisp, cobbler, stewed rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb pie, oh my! A chance trip to the grocery store where ceramic loaf pans were on sale for what we felt was a dirt cheap price, made us decide loaves would be a good idea. I started flipping through recipes online and having faith in Canadian Living Magazine recipes, chose Rhubarb Loaf which conveniently makes two loaves, so one for us and one for the kind owner of the rhubarb patch. Be aware though, this recipe has soooo much sugar in it, it is not the healthiest choice, though most definitely a very tasty treat!

With still more rhubarb chopped, it was on to another Canadian Living recipe, Rhubarb Almond Crumble Squares...oh dear. If you like date squares, this is a must try! Again, lots of sugar, but all we rhubarb lovers know that is the price you pay for cooking with this fruit. This recipe is actually a bit more labour intensive than I am used to making in the past while, but again, I was trying to embrace the idea of being on my own schedule. When Simone walked in the door after work, the look on her face as she smelled the sweet aroma was well worth all my efforts. 

We also had an idea that a strawberry rhubarb combination needed to be included, so I made Rhubarb Strawberry Scones, but I used milk instead of heavy cream. Another delicious choice!

The fourth recipe tried that day was Kale and Quinoa Patties. We fell in love with these yummy burgers! So delicious and so worth making again and again! We did discover later that they are best reheated in the frying pan and not the oven, as they tend to dry out and become too crispy in the oven.

The sun was shining and though we had plans for a bike ride, the wind was just too wild for us that day. So, off we went to find a beach for a walk, with a pan of hot crumble and two forks, knowing that Mom would find this a perfectly suitable way to celebrate her birthday.

As is the norm in this area, the fog started to roll and when it rolls, it comes quickly, but we still managed a walk before we had to give in and get out of the damp wind. Besides, we did have that hot crumble in the car!

On Saturday we headed to the local Farmer’s Market where we tried even more scones - can you tell there is weakness here? And then we found me some more of this delicious coffee at the Natural Food Market.

Another great pastime is “antiquing” and I am one who loves to put all good things to use over and over! We visited four stories of antiques, 90% of which I could identify, own, or have seen in my family’s homes. Simone also tends to love the workmanship and intrigue of antiques and uses her Great Aunt’s dishes and her Grandmother’s silver daily, has her Great Grandmother’s table and chairs as her kitchen set and regularly collects new to her items for her home (Especially hats! Grandma June's granddaughter for sure!). One lovely purchase Simone made recently was with me in mind and I was the lucky one who came home with these beauties to use in my kitchen!

Family Time in Cozumel

This has been my view for the last 9 days...

Our little family had a wonderfully relaxed vacation in Cozumel, Mexico and we spent so much time in the water! We snorkelled and snorkelled some more. We swam in the big waves off the west coast.

We snorkelled off a dock, off a boat, along a shore, and over coral reefs. We snorkelled in shallow water and in water 50 to 60 feet deep. We swam in the fresh water pool.

After diving for 25 years along the Atlantic Canadian shores, my husband did his first tropical water dives and I think he kind of liked it.

Cozumel is a scuba diving and snorkelling destination, and really suited us, a family of water babes.

We saw sea turtles, a live conch, schools of tangs of all colors, clown fish, schools of triggerfish, stingrays, lobster, and so many barracudas. The waters there are so warm and so clear, it was simply wonderful.

So wonderful.

Two views of our little paradise

New Brunswick Mini Vacation

Ah, the fleeting days of summer. I feel the chill in the air, especially in the evening and in the early morning hours. Without fail, after the kettle is put to boil, I open doors and wander onto my decks. This morning I sat, coffee in hand and contemplated how I should have planted earlier and tried to figure out how many more warm nights I needed to harvest healthy, ripe tomatoes. I only lasted bare armed and legged for about 10 minutes before I had to get up and move, get the blood flowing and find a little sweater to cover my arms. Hours later my legs are still chilly to the touch, but I refuse to add more layers. It is still August. It is still my summer.

I know there will be more warm days before winter arrives. I have lived this same transition from one season to the next for over 5 decades. And somehow I am always shocked when summer starts to fade away as the leaves turn, the sun is less strong, the days are noticeably shorter. My husband always chuckles at my naivety, though he too seems to feel the season changes happen more quickly as we age. Me? I am too busy getting comfortable with the heat and the pace of life to notice that summer is gradually packing it up for another year. 

We have interesting work schedules in this house. Rejean works infield for weeks at a time and has only been learning in these past several years to grasp the days he can for himself. This summer he managed to take some vacation days here and there for fishing, biking, river swimming and snorkelling, with a few beach days with me added to the mix. My summer has been hectic for the most part; June and July disappeared in a haze of days spent indoors working. I guess that is also why I am slightly perturbed that there aren’t many beach days left and I just didn’t get in my quota this year.

However, when we have the chance, we are most apt to toss the gear in the car and head out. Two weekends ago, we did just that. We had ourselves a 36 hour mini vacation and it was well worth the effort of loading all our “stuff” and hitting the road.

This trip took us down the coast to Cap Pele and further along to Murray Beach.

We paid for a site at the Provincial Campground and after setting up, headed out for a bike ride, almost to the PEI-NB bridge.

Since we packed light this time, we biked just past our campground to a little take-out for a super, Maritime summer treat of hand cut fries, a hand sculpted, loaded burger and a fresh club sandwich. Yum!

Sunsets are best enjoyed over water in my experience and tonight was no exception.

Mosquitos be damned, we built a campfire and revelled in the peace and tranquility of our beloved Maritimes.

The next day we wandered the area, visiting the old Cape Tormentine wharf.

Tormentine was once a bustling area filled with rows and rows of cars, trucks and buses waiting to load onto one of the ferries that would transport them to PEI. The opening of the Confederation Bridge in 1997 put an abrupt end to this community’s prosperity and since then, the wharf area has seen changes. I was shocked to see that CN had literally walked away from giant pieces of equipment and left them on the pier to rot.

Of course, my second thought involved fabric and the rusting process! Oh my!!

The massive tires fascinated me.

We rode our bikes out to the end of the weed invested pier, avoiding some giant holes and pits in the pavement, ducking under an opening in the wire fencing to gain access. People were flocking down this same path with fishing gear in hand. We stopped and chatted for a bit, meeting locals as well as people from Nova Scotia and Ontario, all throwing in their lines. One engaging young boy was visibly thrilled to be pulling the fish in, snapping their backbones to end their suffering and then sharing his extensive knowledge and his minnow bait with an older couple from “away” who were new to the mackerel that were running. Another man shared his bucket to store their catch once pictures had been taken. 

We also wandered up and down some new to us backroads, marvelling in the number of properties for sale. Once such lane brought us to this amazing view of the Confederation Bridge.....

We found ourselves back in Cap Pele and donning shorties, had a quick dip though the strong wind created murky waters that made snorkelling less than interesting.

Eventually we headed to Shediac to ride our bikes along their well designed paths that connect the town to the marina and beaches. Shediac is a tourist mecca here in New Brunswick and the area was full of tourists and locals alike, enjoying the beauty of the summer day. The popular pier at nearby Pointe-du-Chene was packed with cars, bikes and people and we were amused to see this new sign posted, obviously in an attempt to keep everyone happy!

It is surprising what a short vacation can do for the spirit when you are open to opportunities close at hand. 

Stamping out those urges to clean!

I feel like my house is falling in ruins around me. I have piles of my “stuff”, my creative play tools and materials, everywhere. I have to be careful when I let this happen because eventually it eats at me and then I run in circles tidying and not accomplishing anything creative at all. I purposely refused to schedule any more paying work this week, just to let myself have some creative time. This is also the time when popcorn can be an entree.....

Although I am biting at the bit to finish a quilt on my longarm, I have been doing anything but. I have managed to fill my hallway with piles and piles and tubs and tubs of fabric, all in a feeble attempt to organize, or perhaps integrate the new fabric purchases. I like to mix my fabrics up. That way the newer is not playing so much on my conscience if I don’t see a stack of new stuff shining bright as a new penny (remember those? I loved pennies!). Maybe that is why I always rush to pre-wash my new pieces. Makes me feel like they have been here longer. For whatever reasons, I am organizing. Well, sort of. It should be organized when I am done. I hope.

I have sewn some bindings on so that I have some handwork, if I should happen to remember how to turn my TV on. Don’t ask. I am not technically savvy.

I also started some blocks that I have been wanting to try since my Mom gave me a lovely quilt book last summer. I have some 30’s prints and I love 30’s designs, so it seems I should get myself in gear. My biggest problem is that I am not so great at making repeat blocks. Case in point? I made one and stopped. BUT, I am planning on making more. Just not today.

I have also been sketching. I am a summer sketcher. Maybe it is the light. Maybe it is easier to sketch when you aren’t wearing 3 sweaters and gloves. Anyway, I am doing some of that. And when I was cruisin’ through my moleskin, I apparently was “drawn” to a little flower sketch I did two summers ago. Without really thinking about the process, I replicated it on a piece of Soft Kut and made a stamp. All of a sudden the morning had passed and I have a nice little stack of stamped bits and pieces.

I refined the stamp as I made prints until I was happy with my design. I decided to not carve the centre but will pop some little stamens in with paint later on. I know I drew this from a flower on my deck but it has a Hawaiian feel  to it to me. 

I also decided to try some other stamps that I had been carving in spare minutes. Good thing I did because sometimes I have a tendency to over carve my design and I had been considering taking the knife to them again. I learned I am happy with them just as they are. Well, for now at least.

Reminds me of a cartwheel. Must have been all that Americana influence on the weekend. And the one on the left is blurry because I overprinted it. The gold I used first was too light so I mixed some Green in and printed again. 

I really like using metallic fabric paints for stamping, especially on my hand dyed fabric. I tend to use two colors on each stamp although the ones above are just one. I used two with the odd star design.

I almost didn’t try this stamp, dismissing it as too simple. Ah, sometimes I need to step back and remind myself of that great creative advice: Simplify, Exaggerate, Repeat.....

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