Oh My!

Christy, Marcus, Molly and Andrew

I have a lot of catching up to do! Two weeks in Calgary visiting our son and family combined with visits to three wonderful Calgary quilt stores (I know there are more but that is all we could manage!) plus the amazing quilt show at Heritage Park plus Lynette Anderson's wonderful trunk show at Traditional Pastimes. The list goes on and on. So may pictures to download, process and edit then sort for Flickr!

This lovely display greeted us as we walked into "Out Of Hand" in Calgary

I missed my Mahone Bay Quilt Guild's 14th annual Dessert Party with an "Extraordinary Quilter" and 2 workshops. Our Guild started this event 14 years ago and this was the first one I have missed. From all accounts it met with expectations and those who took the workshops really enjoyed them. Pictures are here and here. 

I got back just in time to attend my Cove Quilters bee and see the grand unveiling of our last challenge "Lotsa' Dots". Everyone really did a wonderful job with this challenge. Mine is still a work-in-progress, the first one (of 8) I have missed the deadline. I hope to get it done for our Guild meeting Monday.

Some of the store samples at Traditional Pastimes of Lynette's patterns.

I was so pleased that we were able to time our visit to be in Calgary when Lynette Anderson would be doing a trunk show at Traditional Pastimes. I booked my ticket even before we had our plane reservations, just in case. Lynette was born in England but lives in Australia now, on the Sunshine Coast where she has a wonderful shop called Little Quilt Store. Lynette had just been in Portland, Oregon at Quilt Market and had brought with her lots of wonderful quilts, both old and new to share with us. About 40 eager quilters sat around the store and we could easily see Lynette's quilts up close. It was wonderful. Her deigns are whimsical and endearing, beautifully stitched by hand and by machine. She was a gifted story teller and we hear great tales of her dog Hugo who is featured in some of her quilts.

I also loved her Christmas quilts. For someone who lives in such a hot climate at Christmas, she certainly captured the feeling of Christmas. It was great to hear that she changes her decor at home for each season and holidays. Her very supportive husband Vince did a great job as her "quilt sherpa".

I came home with the pattern for this sewing kit. Can't wait to get started, the tiny EPP hexagons are going to be a challenge for sure! Be sure and visit my Flickr Photostream for lots more pictures from Lynette's trunk show.

My very patient quilt sherpa Peter, waiting at Out of Hand.

The three quilt stores I went to are all so very different. Out of Hand is still one of the best - Deirdre's use of space is amazing, every nook and cranny is filled with treasures. I had to go twice this time to see and enjoy it all.

I loved this quilt, Pies and Tart - bought the pattern, a Sue Daley Design! Pieced by Nan Tuer and quilted by Arlene Hidahl at Cairnhill Studio.

The pies and tarts are EPP (English Paper Pieced). This could very well be a wonderful project to take to work on at my bee, a hand project to have on the go for quiet times when hand piecing is most enjoyed.

Quilt Mafia Meets Again

Fifteen of the Quilt Mafia gathered at Laurie Swim's in Lunenburg this week and we had a great day of sharing, talking and eating! As always the conversation was varied and interesting, the food delicious and the quilts/knitting/works of art that everyone was working on or had completed were fantastic. What an amazing group!

So many were wearing hand knit socks! This wasn't all!

There was some conversation around "should we or shouldn't we be known as the Quilt Mafia"? I don't have a problem with it but then I was around when Polly's Dan first started calling her quilt friends "the quilt mafia" and it just stuck! I was surprised the other day when I found out by searching google that we aren't the only ones who use that term. The Fons family of quilters - Marianne, her daughter Mary also refer to themselves as the "quilt mafia family". It is found here as "fabric mafia" in a conversation with Lynne Edwards. Just googling the term brings up other links! Who knew we were so ground breaking way back then?

It was wonderful to be surrounded by Laurie's art quilts. You can read/see more about her here. I especially loved her new series, yet to be named but using the image of the fish stores in Blue Rocks.

Here is a picture I took a few years ago of one of the fish stores in Blue Rocks, near Lunenburg.

I think Laurie captured it perfectly.

The Leading Light Award

Not many people have heard of the "Leading Light Award" and I am not surprised! Let me go back a bit. In the late 1970's our provincial craft organization, NSDCC, began to plan a national juried exhibition of fine Nova Scotia crafts that would be called "Profile '81". The committee organizing this exhibition was made up of mainly women from quite a few different craft mediums from the fibre arts (weaving, quilting, needlework) to metal arts to pottery etc. We had such a great time at our meetings that they also became social events which would usually involve a pot luck lunch or dinner. Soon after that one of the committee members moved to her own apartment after her marriage ended so we had a surprise shower for her to stock her kitchen with a few necessities.

Most of the "Brunch Bunch".

Next thing we knew we were making plans for another get-together for someone else's birthday, as if we needed an 'excuse"! Next thing we knew we had a name "The Brunch Bunch" and now 30+ years later we are still gathering for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day and just whenever we feel a need to see one another. Over the years we have lost Marian (our matriarch) and Sandra and we miss them both terribly. But hardly a gathering will go by without their names coming up. They both had a great influence on all of us.

"The Leading Light Award" was Marian's wonderful idea, though some hold it in higher regard than others! It is the epitome of tacky! We have accomplished a lot, we have been recognized by our peers for our craft, for our volunteer efforts, for our dedication to our provincial and national organizations. We have had solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, invitational exhibitions and we had a Brunch Bunch Exhibition at the Lunenburg Art Gallery. Many of us have had our work published and many of us have written about our craft for publication. A few have written or are writing books abut their craft.

I received "The Leading Light Award" when my quilt, Waternish Star was awarded an Honourable Mention for Bed Quilts at the Canadian Quilters Association annual juried exhibition. This quilt was hand pieced (the 2 outside broders were machined sewn on to the quilt), hand quilted and it has over 4,000 pieces. I was thrilled with both awards!

"The Leading Light Award" comes with one criteria - it must be displayed! It is awarded when one of our bunch accomplishes something, does something extraordinary. The person who has it can decide who gets it next, there is no time restraint. I have had it for some time. It was displayed in my sewing room, on a shelf in full view! I really did cherish having it, to be so honoured by such a gifted, creative and supportive group. I recently passed it on to Jamie for her dedication and determination to provide students and artists with the best paper available from the Japanese Paper Place and for her amazing handmade books (and quilts). Jamie will get to enjoy this award for a while then it will be her turn to decide who gets it next. Can't wait to see who it is!