The Big Reveal

What an exciting weekend I had !
Just over a year ago Maria invited me to join a quilting bee.
We each made one strip of a quilt and then posted it onto the next person, who added a strip and so on until everyone had contributed to every quilt.
We agreed to not post photos of the quilt as it progressed, but instead we sent a journal along with the quilt and everyone wrote about the blocks they added and included photos of the progress in the journal.
We decided it would be a lovely idea to all meet up to give the completed quilt tops back to their owners and Jen very kindly offered to host it for us.
We were blessed with a wonderful sunny day and were able to take our quilts into her garden for the Big Reveal.

This is Sarah opening hers.

Next it was Amy's turn.

Then me !! I think you can tell by the ear to ear grin on my face just how pleased I was with this!

I started it off with the  third row down. Just look at all the different blocks the others added. There are cotton spools, baskets, pinwheels, 16 patches and stars. Some people even used organic cotton as they know I like it so much !

Thank you dear friends !!

Jen our wonderful host, had said in her journal that she liked pink and purple, so we took her at her word and made the brightest quilt imaginable. I think she likes it, don't you?

Maria our Queen Bee was next up. I love her quilt so much. She started it off with the row of houses and I'm definitely going to be making some houses since seeing them. I made the birds on the top row. I actually blogged about them here. I just didn't let on what they were for!

Finally it was the turn of Fran. I don't know how she managed to wait her turn!!

So, six wonderful quilts filled Jen's washing line and we all clicked away excitedly with our cameras.

I am so grateful to Maria for inviting me to join this Bee. It was wonderful to finally meet everyone, and so kind of Jen to host it for us. We had so much to talk about and the time passed so quickly, but at least now, whenever I look at my quilt, I can remember the people I met and our day together.

We sometimes have a tendency to over concentrate on the design, or the fabric choice or the skill when making a quilt, but really they are the sum of their parts and much, much more. They are the thought and kindness that went into making them. They are the comfort and pleasure they give to their recipient. They are a little piece of history.
My quilt and it's  journal will be certainly be treasured, along with the friends I've made along the way.

PS I hope my Bee friends are OK with me posting these photos of you. If not, just let me know and I'll take them down :-)

My Life in Lists

Life is fun filled and action packed at the moment and I have a lot of very enjoyable projects that I'm mid-way through, or committed to in the near future. Trying to prioritise which to do when could be quite a headache, but I want to enjoy all these projects so I resort to writing myself lists.

I have lists for the garden jobs, lists for the household chores and a lovely long list for the crafting projects.

Love them or hate them, lists certainly do keep you focussed and I love being able to cross off an item or two at the end of the day (or week!)

I'm quilting a king size quilt for a friend at the moment. It's a lot of work. To make sure I don't fall out of love with this I need to quilt it in small doses, so it stays on the list, and I just do a little a day.

I've also been working on a new knitting pattern, but just for the time being I need to put this on the back burner whilst I get more pressing things done. It stays on the list though, so it doesn't get forgotten. It's a good thing to do when I sit down in the evening.

The charity sewing isn't needed until October, so nothing to show yet, but it's on the list so that I start to plan in my head what I'm going to make.

The most urgent projects on the list are the ones for my son and his fiancee's wedding, which is in August. Aah! just a matter of weeks away!

I have hessian table runners with lace trim to make. No pictures to share yet, I'm afraid.

I also have six lengths of wedding bunting to make.

Laura has chosen the fabrics from my copious stash - well, why go shopping when your soon-to-be mother-in-law has a whole room full of fabric!

I've got as far as cutting out the pennants and ordering the bias tape. I've had to buy it  by the roll!!

She's chosen some gorgeous prints and this is going to be the most fun project ever.

I also have to help her make a dress for her honeymoon (Oops! forgot to put that on the list!)

It's going to be very pretty and it will suit her so well, but this is not, in my opinion, a beginner pattern as it says on the front. We've had to do quite a lot of alteration and I've ended up completely re-drafting the armhole.

Just in case you couldn't guess, my favourite project on the list is the bunting!

Back home !!

I'm back home and as the rain continues to pour down outside on this June evening here in the UK, the lovely few weeks I have just spent in Toronto are all but a very fond memory.
Just a matter of days ago I was walking along the harbour front admiring this iconic view in temperatures of 29 degrees!
I have been so many times now that I don't do the usual touristy things, but I always make time to visit this wonderful place - the Art Gallery of Toronto

I particularly like viewing the Henry Moore sculptures and this year there was a special exhibition of his work. And that unusual looking addition to the building on the right hand side?
This is what it looks like from the inside.

An amazing piece of architecture and a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a cup of tea, surrounded by all that warm and textural wood.

I also went to the Textile Museum of Canada - a very small but well presented museum, where the very first exhibit I laid eyes on was this huge Sashiko quilt.

Here is a close up of a few of the blocks.

I have never tried Sashiko embroidery, but seeing this certainly made me think that I might give it a go some time in the future - not on this scale though !!

One of my priorities was to pay a visit  my favourite park, High Park, and in particular the beaver dams that are always there. See what they have done to this tree?

A few more nibbles and it will come crashing down I'm sure!

Food featured highly on my agenda too, and I sampled a great many world cuisines from Vietnamese to Mexican.

A first for me though was these Canadian fiddleheads.

They are always in season when I go in May, but I've never eaten them before. They are young ferns before the fronds have unravelled. We had to research how to cook them, as they are poisonous if not cooked properly. They did take quite a bit of preparing, but it was worth the effort, they were delicious!

Of course no trip would be complete without a visit to the yarn and fabric stores on Queen Street West (well, more than one trip actually) but I was very restrained in my purchases.
Romni Wools is in the heart of this fabric district and is a knitters, crocheters or weavers dream. It is HUGE!! So huge in fact that I had to take a break part way through my visit, go and have lunch and then return when I had had time to process all that I had seen and coveted. I was like a kid in a candy shop who just can't make up their mind! In the end my purchases were very modest - a book about top down knitted sweaters and some high quality needles. It's just so hard to know what to buy when you don't have a plan of what you want to knit!
My forays into the fabric shops were more productive however and I came away with some lovely aqua coloured raw silk with plans to make another dress for myself. I've never sewn silk before, but compared to prices in the UK, this was a real bargain. If it doesn't work out as well as I want it to, then it's not too costly a mistake.

So, back to the real world - rain, a garden where the slugs ate virtually every veg I planted before I went away, masses of sewing to do for the next family wedding of the year and a head filled with loads of plans for things I want to create in the next few weeks. Happy times :-)