Something Old, Something New

I've been away for a while and then sick for a bit and now life is ready to get back energized. I travelled to the Canadian National Quilt Show in Calgary with my very good friend, Elaine. We had a marvelous time, despite the snow and explored a lot of different places in Calgary as well as attending the show for a couple of days.

I had my first quilt exhibited with FAN (Fibre Art Network) as part of the GeoPhysical exhibition. There were many pieces and all were worthy of being hung. What a creative bunch of people... and I am proud to be part of this group. This exhibition will be available to see on our FAN website soon.

Elaine and I visited many quilt shops and other specialty shops in the Calgary area. Our favourite quilt store was Out of Hand with its unusual assortment of goodies. We also enjoyed Shuttle Works which had a fantastic assortment of wool, books and DVDs on fibre, knitting and weaving and other assorted spinning and weaving paraphernalia. Worth the drive South of Calgary... better not to drive in snowstorms, but can be done :-)

On my way home from another trip, I decided to see if I could remember to knit. I was excited that I could, although I think I dropped and picked up stitches quite easily and completely by accident. Could be the complex wool I used... too beautiful to resist. I did learn to knit when I was a teenager, and I was glad to see I could remember the basics. No idea how to cast off... probably because I never finished a knitting project before.

And as a final note, I am including a photo of the lovely birthday card my Mom made for me in March. She carefully punched the holes and sewed fine threads into this lovely design. Blue and yellow are my favourite colours. Thanks Mom.

Enjoy everyone!

Busy Week

I have been busy creating this week! I just haven't blogged for a few days. I will put some pictures up on the weekend. I've been working very hard on thinking that machine quilting larger quilts is fun... but really it isn't. I almost started having fun... but then my thread kept breaking. I changed my needle to a larger one, but that only delayed the thread breaking by a few stitches. Back to reading up on machine quilting...

On a whim, I made more sunflower quilts tonight. I will take pictures of them tomorrow and list them on Etsy. And I think it is time for more snowflakes out of wool... can't get enough of that needle punching, even though I've given myself tennis elbow!

Exciting news about Inchies! I participated in the Inchie Exchange and today I received some Inchies in the mail. They are absolutely beautiful... Christmas red with beads and sparkle. They came all the way from South Australia! I'll take photos of those tomorrow too.

Hope everyone is taking time to relax during the rush of Christmas. Creativity is a great way to take time out for yourself.

Of Easy Wind and Downy Flake

I have always been fascinated by snowflakes. From catching them on my tongue as a child, to capturing winter scenes in a snowfall as an adult... snowflakes have been a big part of the wonder of winter. My favourite poem of all time is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by poet Robert Frost.

Here is this week's snowflake quilt all finished. I added a simple border and even simpler quilting. I did not want to take away from the snowflake. The quilt is bound with black Grosgrain ribbon that adds a nice texture to the outside edges.



It is for sale on Etsy if anyone has a notion to live with it :-)

Sheepish Snowflakes

Today I am posting the next step in a mini-work in progress for art every day month. The background is blue wool roving, and now I have added a snowflake of white wool, as well as ivory seed beads and rhinstones. It is nothing like I imagined... as usual, but I am happy with it. I think it will become a small wall-hanging over the next few days. I'll share as I progress.

I am segueing to a new project now as a deadline fast approaches. I will share the progress each day as I work, and with luck and some hard work, I might have it almost finished by the end of November! Tune in tomorrow...

Replenish

I just returned from Edmonton. It was time to replenish supplies! It wasn't really... it was time to visit my daughter at University, but I also spent many hours in quilt and wool shops. I tried to just look, but that didn't work very well.

I did buy more felting wool and a wonderful book on felting wool animals. It is called "Wool Pets". I am really excited to start working on something from this book. Not that I need more pets... just another creative avenue to explore.

I also saw a unique art quilt exhibition by Lorraine Roy. The exhibition is at the Alberta Crafts Council Gallery. I love trees and Lorraine captures everything about them beautifully from leaves to roots. The detail in her work is exquisite. It is well worth seeing this exhibition if you have time.

My little vacation was inspiring so I am brewing ideas in my studio today!