Bee Challenge - Part 2

My Mahone Bay Quilters Guild bee, the Cove Quilters have just completed our second challenge. We have been inspired by the Twelve x 12 Challenge that a group of art quilters have done (and I believe they are now on their second round), they have had an exhibition and have written a book about their experience. We are happy to just complete our challenges!

Our first challenge was just called "Birds", thanks to Sandra R, who was the instigator of this project. For this next challenge, Linda M selected about 15 bars of chocolate and types of candy, put them in a bag and we each drew one. This blind choice was to be our inspiration for the next challenge. We could use the name, the colours of the wrapper or the bar/candy itself to be the inspiration. There were some easy ones and some challenges for sure. The only criteria is that they have to be 12" square and finished. We are encouraged to try new techniques and to be challenged, create out of our box or comfort zone.

My challenge is "My Very Educated Mother..." (Just Showed Us Nine Planets). My chocolate bar was the ...Mars Bar! The sun and planets are fused, I used stitches on my sewing machine (Pfaff 2046) that I had never used before and I used beads for embellishment, something I had done very little of and I think I sewed each one on differently, Is there a "right" way?

All eight challenges. Can you guess the chocolate bars or candy? 

Vicki's challenge - a Wish bar

Linda H's challenge - a Cherry Blossom

Linda M's challenge - Coffee Crisp

Sandy T's challenge - Oh Henry!

Donna's challenge - Turtles

Heather's challenge - Starburst - Heather also wrote about her challenge on her blog.

Sandra R's challenge - Mirage

Our next theme is "paint". I chose a lot of different paint chips and put 2 in each envelope (I did 12 envelopes so that the last person would still have a choice). On the front of the envelope I wrote "house paint, painted lady and paint the town..." They can use one, two or all three of these themes and they must use the 2 colours of paint in their bloc. It will certainly be interesting to see what they come up with.

To get the afternoon off to a wonderful start Linda M served these beautiful strawberries dipped in chocolate. We finished the afternoon with Linda's wonderful Bailey's dessert. It was a sweet afternoon!

Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat 2012

Another Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat has come and gone. We gathered at the Atlantica Hotel at Oak Island for 3 lovely days. The event has been held there for the past 3 years and it certainly is a very suitable venue. Most of the 186 attendees gather in the large room overlooking Mahone Bay. The light is excellent with windows all along 3 sides.

I love the way the room is set up with the spinners in the middle froming a circle, around them are round table where knitters, rug hookers, felters and weavers gather. Then around the outside are long tables for the quilters (close to electrical outlets!). It works really well and is a beehive of activity. This year there were so many spinners they had another circle in the adjoining room. It was wonderful to walk through there and hear the hum of the wheels and the chatter of the spinners. I must say I was thrilled to see so many "young" spinners and knitters at the Retreat. I wish we could get some young quilters to join us!

I am part of a wonderful group of (mostly) quilters fondly known as the "Quilt Mafia". We try and get together several times a year to see what we are up too and catch up on exhibitions we have seen, books we have read and fabric we have acquired.

Alex, Barb, Linda, Laureen and Betsey

Of the 20 or so members of the Quilt Mafia there were 14 of us at the Retreat! We had a wonderful time, lots of chat, lots of wonderful food, great stories and liquid refreshments! Once again we have all booked for next year...can't wait.

I was actually able to get quite a bit done this time. I finished the beading on my Cove Quilters challenge, I finshed the binding on a Christmas wallhanging and I started a new circle project for my class that I am teaching at Quilt Canada. 

My challenge - we had to blindly chose a chocolate bar from a bag and use that as our inspiration. I drew the Mars bar. I used stitches on my sewing machine I have never used before and did some beading. I am thinking of calling it "My Very Educated Mother..." (Just Showed Us Nine Planets) with thanks to Linda and Donna who taught me the mnemonic! I learned another one "Mount Vesuvius Erupts Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressure".

Be sure and check my Flickr page for lots more pictures, with thanks to my daughter Kate who is a wonderful photographer.

Penguins, Quilts and Little People

We are back by the sea after a couple of weeks breathing the mountain air in the wild west, otherwise known as Calgary, home of our grandchildren! It was a busy 2 weeks getting to know our 4 month old grandson Marcus (who is just a delight!),

Marcus and his new quilt Cars and Trucks and Things That Roar. We celebrated granddaughter Molly's 6th birthday.

Six big candles!

We visited the new penguin enclosure at the Calgary Zoo (well worth the hour and a half wait) and visited the new Telus Spark Centre. We also managed 2 visits to the wonderful Calgary Farmers Market and 4 of the Calgary quilt stores, one of which I went to twice!

I had a lovely lunch and visit with Calgary quilter Cheryl Arkison who gave me a copy of her wonderful new book Sunday Morning Quilts. I was fortunate to be asked by Cheryl to test one of her patterns which I really enjoyed doing. 

T Quilt, machine pieced and machine quilted by Cheryl.

Dream Big, machine piieced and machine quilted by Cheryl

A big highlight of the trip was going to the Saddledome for an NHL game, the Calgary Flames vs the Winnipeg Jets. This was the first time these 2 teams had played each other as they play in different divisions.

Andrew and Molly singing O Canada with 20,000 other fans!

The atmosphere was electric as the arena filled with almost as many Jets fans as Flames fans. Molly is a keen hockey fan and was dressed appropriately in her team jersey with purple pants and accessorized with pink cowboy boots (with fringe!). The highlight for her was 2 hugs from the team mascot "Harvey the Hound" and getting on the Jumbotron!

Molly waves her Flames flag on the jumbotron. Oh, Calgary won 5-3!

I could write a whole post on the Calgary quilt stores. As always Traditional Pastimes was as welcoming and enticing as ever. They had just received a huge shipment of fabrics and there were bolts everywhere. The staff is always so interesting to talk to and always very helpful. I can't believe I forgot my camera, I had every intention of going back but the 2 weeks just flew by too fast.

But I think the highlight for me this time was Out of Hand, Deirdre, the owner, always welcomes us with open arms and has remembered us each time we have been there. What impressed me so much this time was their stock and display of ribbons!

Love the black and white floor!

Beautiful silk ribbons!

It was fantastic! I was so overwhelmed by the choices, colours, patterns and designs. Ribbons were stacked and displayed in every nook and cranny! I declared that Out of Hand wins the award for the best use of space of any quilt store I have ever been in. Be sure and check out all my pictures on my Flickr page (link to the left) and see if you agree. And if you are ever in Calgary, visit Out of Hand, you won't be disappointed and say hello to Deirdre for me!