The Travels of a Quilter

purple

2011-12-29T07:18:00.000-08:00

Purple is not a colour that I work with usually but when the colour came as a request from my nephew's bride to be along with a suggestion of a Monet water-lily palette I went ahead, and now love the result. And when we were at the wedding and saw the flowers I saw how much she liked the colour and how lovely it could look. So a year and a half later, the quilt is finished and on it's way to Boston.

The Next Day

2011-12-29T07:06:00.000-08:00

This is what it looked like the next day. Now, almost a week later it's all gone.

Ice

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

We woke this morning to ice covering all the trees, and sidewalks, and driveways, and roads....... A few degrees colder and we would have had a white Christmas.

Usually these ice drops are round - unusual to see them looking like sharks' teeth.

Exquisite Garden

2011-11-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

Helena Scheffer is hosting an exhibit at her art gallery (http://www.galerieouest.ca/) of the Exquisite Corpse, or corps exquis. Done way back in the '20s this was a game that the Dada-ists played, I'm sure while sitting in smokey cafés and drinking absinthe. They folded a piece of paper in 3 or 4 and one would draw the head, fold it so it couldn't be seen, and then the next would draw the torso, the third the legs. Any resemblance to a real human seemed to be accidental!

Below is the corpse made by myself, Rosie, and Hilary (the old TriThis gang). Our only discussion involved using the colour green and a placement of the neck and legs.

Rosie's head

My torso

An exhibit of Jean Paul Gaultier was in Montreal and I was very influenced by that.

Hilary's legs

11/11/11 Remember

2011-11-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

As I write I am listening to the Last Post. I am so grateful for those that are in the military and work and fight on my behalf to make life better somewhere else in the world. As much as I would like the world to be disarmed I know how naive that it is. So thank you. My little effort, in conjunction with my friend Janet, is to make quilts for Quilts of Valour, an organization that makes quilts for soldiers who are wounded. I hope they give some comfort and a sense of appreciation for their sacrifice.

If you look closely, there are a lot of maple leaves in this!

Retreat

2011-11-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Quilliams Inn really does spoil us. This is the cake that was made for us at our last lunch. How wonderful is that!

November Quilt Retreat

2011-11-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

Our Stitch 'n Bitch group has a retreat every November at the lovely Quilliams Inn on Lake Brome southeast of Montreal. We are truly spoiled by the staff and the food is terrific. We are there off-season which gives us a nice advantage, and the weather this year was terrific. A friend and I walk every morning on the nearby golf course just after sunrise. It's past all the season of bright fall colours, but vestiges remain, and I like all the grays and soft colours that remain.

At the back of the hotel is a protected wetland. Early morning is always good for reflections. Unfortunately the ducks hear me coming and roil the water in their attempts to scoot away.

Before the walk, sunrise over the wetlands.

The same area 12 hours later with a not so good shot of the moon!

12bythedozen

2011-11-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the 12 by the Dozen group. We had a wonderful Texan lunch brought in by Venetta, who most of us got to meet for the first time. It was lovely to talk to her, and to the others about Houston, the show, our work......

Houston

2011-11-09T05:41:00.000-08:00

The quilt show in Houston is so amazing. It felt like sensory overload at times. So many beautiful quilts all in one place. The workmanship is wonderful. I'm sorry I can't show them here.

Houston itself, in the downtown office section that the Convention hall is in is sleek with all the high rises and a lovely little park and playground. Lots of new restaurants and our hotel was only a 10 minute walk which gave me some exercise!

I'm not quite sure if these were ordinary crows but a murder there was. They were very musical and roosted in all the trees lining the streets around the convention centre, flying up every now and again in clouds. Sort of Alfred Hitchcock.

There squares were in the sidewalks around the area. Just something to pause and think about as I was exploring.

more work

2011-10-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

My Stitch 'n Bitch group makes squares for a "0" birthday. This is my mother-in-law's for her 90th! Since she has only made 2 quilts and started at about age 83 I thought it only fair to put it together and quilt it for her.

We had a glorious weekend at the cottage - Thanksgiving seemed early this year, and so were the colours.

I have been working! and travelling.

2011-09-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

This is my 12" square done for a challenge with the 12 by the Dozen group (www.12bythedozen.blogspot.com)

The theme was fragments and I was attempting to get a Lauren Harris look for one of my photographs.

This quilt was a mystery quilt that Andrea presented to our guild this past year. As she always does, the instructions were clear and there were enough hints that we could do a good job with the colour.

Below is a 4" square made for a friend who is returning to the UK. the members in our Text'art group made one or more as a farewell present. It's quite a bit glitzier then the photo shows.

We spent the first part of September down east. The overnight train to Halifax was great - nice elegant dinner, a room in the Park car with the dome, and met some nice people. The scenery was interesting - but a lot of it was through the woods and nary a moose to be seen.

After 3 days in the city we drove to Cape Breton and spent 6 days there. Loved the scenery and the people we met. The fish and seafood were great too - not a speck of meat for me (well, except for brekkie bacon) the whole time, and lots of lovely lobster rolls. A great one at the Acadian in Cheticamp!

Classic scenery

The view from our B&B in Glace Bay - near the Marconi museum and over the horizon is the UK.

A flock of cormorants

Rusting cannonballs at Fort Louisbourg. The whole place was a magnificent restoration of the fort as it was in the 1740s.

Across from the fort

It was a stormy blustery day!

lobelia cardinalis

2011-08-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

For a few years I have been struggling to get this to grow in my garden and it's supposed to be a native plant! This year it has rewarded me beautifully. And a treat for the hummingbirds!

Text'Art cottage excursions

2011-07-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from an excursion to the Tomifobia trail - a lovely converted railway bed that runs from the border in Beebe to Ayer's Cliff. It's nicely groomed and wild flowers, brambles and trees grow beautifully along it.

Chicory. Now if I could only make it grow in my wild flower garden!

Cut hay - hopefully this will be great background for something in photoshop.

Milkweed

Canada Lily

More texture - peeling paint.

It was hard to get close to this little guy but we could here him loud and clear.

Text'Art at the cottage

2011-07-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Five of us met at the cottage for 4 days of rust dyeing, colour vie, and dye painting, and swimming, rowing, eating, talking......

This is part of the workroom

The drying room

The dye mixing room

And more work

work by the others - all rust dyed

These are my results with Colour vie after it had been iron-set and washed. The white lines show the crocking that occurred in the wash - good thing these were cut up pieces. It's a good way to apply paint that looks like texture, but it only sits on the top of the fabric and gives it a stiff hand.

These are grey dyes. The left is nickel, the middle charcoal and the outer is stormy grey. Quite a different look to each although the photo makes the two lighter ones almost the same the stormy one is definitely lighter. The wind is blowing so hard today it was hard to take a good picture!

These are both rust dyed - and it's interesting to see how different the two sides are. For rust dyeing we used a half and half vinegar and water combination and left the fabric with the rusty bits overnight to set. The lighter piece was also soaked in tea and it has made the background slightly pink and has made the rust a darker brown as opposed to the reddish hue that is seen in the green.

These are the two ends of a silk/cotton blend that was going to be a scarf. And may be cut up for fabric.

Interesting to see the different effects created with the different types of rusty objects. My green piece was scrunched onto a very rusty old cookie sheet, and the other had old horseshoes. The scarf was dyed with washers. Hopefully the rest of the group will publish a few of their pieces on the 12bythedozen blog.

Summer

2011-06-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like most about early summer.

Lady slipper

2011-06-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was up in the Laurentians celebrating my brother's 60th. We went for a bike ride along the P'tit Train du Nord bike trail - it's an old rail bed so not too hilly! Along side in one section were 20 or so lady slippers - a rare sight indeed.

We stayed in a lovely gîte in Saint Faustin called Gîte et café de la gare. It was a nice set up of 2 rooms and a bathroom which was great for us, and our daughter. A great breakfast.

And of course, the birthday party was great.

Parc Des Rapides de Lachine

2011-06-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I went, with some of my French group, on a walk in the Parc des Rapides at the foot of LaSalle. It's a little spit of land that juts out into the river and was used by Hydro Quebec to generate electricity at one point. It's now an ecological preserve with an enormous number of different fish and birds. It's hard to appreciate the force of the water in these pictures - let's just say you wouldn't want to fall in.

The main tenet of the talk that was given is that Montreal would probably not be the city it is if these rapids had not existed. They forced commerce - fur trade especially, to stop and go around - creating a place of commerce to handle the traffic.

The park benches and garbage cans have been well designed - although not good to sit on when it's 30ºC as we discovered!

If you look very carefully in the centre of this picture you will see a baby bird in it's nest.

I'm not sure this heron belonged this far north. And judging by the bird watchers with their enormous cameras, it was probably an unusual sighting.

A kingfisher on it's perch.

La Bretagne

2011-06-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Doors in Brittany.

This gives a little background to a quilt that I finished recently which is at the end. This was a challenge that Hilary, Rosie and I had given ourselves - to do something based on the week that we spent together a year ago in Brittany. The pinkish background fabric is rust dyed - something we did whilst there. We did get strange looks going back to the car with handfuls of rusty nails and bolts.

Dyeing!

2011-05-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Text'Art, a group of textile artists is having a show in May and I am madly dyeing socks and scarves to sell. This is a small selection. The show will run from May 12-17th in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC at Galerie Ouest so if you are nearby please come in and say hello.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Three days.

Our long weekend visit to Boston started with an overnight at the cottage. I was delighted to see my crocuses (croci for those that care) poking up from the ground. I can't grow them at the house as the squirrels have a special affinity for bulbs in my yard (as opposed to my neighbours' whose they leave alone). The ice was still on the lake and there was a little bit of snow left, but spring had definitely arrived!

On Saturday we drove through our little custom's post in Beebe and then through the mountains of New Hampshire. As we started to ascend the snow started, gently at first, and then became one of the worst blizzards that we had seen in years. For 3 hours we drove, with ice on the highway (spring had arrived - we no longer had snow tires on!) until finally we were through into Massachusetts. This is the picture I took from the car - asking to stop to take photos was not an option.

Sunday was gorgeous - 23ºC and sunny. We went for a walk through a sculpture park nearby - De Cordova. The piece below was by Roy Lichtenstein. It was a nice walk around with views over a reservoir area and then inside there was more art to see. Rachel Perry Welty had work that used "junk" such as the little stickers we peel off fruit, or twist ties or hospital records. It's a very obsessive use, but with great results. And of course, the rest of the visit with family was great.

Rusting

2011-04-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Although I may feel like it some days, it's not me that's rusting.

This is a piece of cloth that was dyed with washers that had been soaked in vinegar for a while to take the coating off - they were very nice and new from my husband's collection :) I just kept rearranging them on the cloth, and the water I added floated around a bit creating it's own pattern. As with all these oeuvres, now to decide what to do with it.

Spring! I think

2011-04-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

As I write it is half raining and half snowing. A great day to be working indoors. And I have been working! My friend Janet and I have made 2 quilts for Quilts of Valour. Here is one that is just missing the binding.

Then I did a mystery quilt with the guild and am very pleased with the look of it. Now to figure out a quilting design. This is only a part of it - it's a double bed size.

Our guild does a raffle quilt every year and this year it will be a New York Beauty. So these are the two blocks that I've made to contribute.

There are a few more projects underway, so stay tuned!

Sun today!

2011-02-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

looking through the kitchen window. Glorious sun streaming in!

Cap St Jacques - out on our x-country skis.

Snow storm

2011-02-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

This is what today looked like. A storm that dropped about 20cm (8") blew all day and despite the dire warnings not to get on the road we had a good turnout at our guild meeting which takes place in an old house in this park. Skiing is going to be good tomorrow!

Snow dyeing at the retreat

2011-01-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to dye! We were all dressed up in plastic bags to protect our winter coats. This time we left the containers outside overnight as we didn't have a place to let them thaw, much less be rinsed out in the convent. It was a lot of fun, it was snowing, and not too cold.

Below are pictures from my piece. I had supported the fabric with a piece of carpet underlay and in the second picture you will see that it has left an imprint. Now how to figure out how to do that all the time!

The colours used were Forest Green, Golden Yellow and Black. Hmm, you'd never have guessed, right!

Snow dyeing

2011-01-25T17:02:00.000-08:00

I did some more snow dyeing, thank goodness indoors. It was -25ºC outside.

It's interesting to see the more rounded markings that are produced, quite different from the sharp "frost on the window" effect with low water immersion.

This one was done with slate blue, olive with a touch of orange.

This was olive, orange and cherry black.

More sunshine

2011-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

A good day to bake bread! It's cold and sunny and since the wind wasn't too bad we had a good walk with the dog this morning. He doesn't seem to notice how cold it is at all.

This bread recipe comes from a 30 year old cookbook, but it's the same recipe that my Finnish grandmother made all the time. Fresh bread would be waiting for us when we got up in the morning (and we were early risers!) I would certainly love to know her now and show her all the things that I do that she spent her life doing - sewing, quilting, preserving.

My passion fruit vine is beside a cold window that gets lots of light. But it still surprises me when it blooms. Only for a day or so, but still a lovely burst of colour.

Clivia

2011-01-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

With the temperature outside hovering around -20ºC it's nice to have some flowers indoors. The Christmas cacti are all spent so it's nice to see the flowers on this clivia.

Snow dyeing and Charity quilts

2011-01-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

This has been a charity sewing month. Our guild has a Sew-in for the January meeting and so we bring our machines, rotary cutters and mats and get to work on whatever project has been organised for us. This year we made maple leaves for Quilts of Valour. It's a group that donates quilts to Canadian soldiers wounded in action. I also managed to sew a small cuddle quilt which had been pre-cut. Giving me that and another cuddle quilt to take home, quilt up and finish. And I finished a quilt that my 89 year old mother in law had mostly done. So that's quilted up and done!

As a break I decided to do some snow dyeing as I will be doing a workshop at our guild retreat at the end of the month.

We haven't had a huge amount of snow, but there always seems to be a few centimetres of fresh stuff on the ground. Enough, anyway, to do some snow dyeing. I followed the instructions in the AQS magazine which required a lot more dye than I would normally use, but to much greater effect than I had produced in the past. And this time there were some wonderful designs that were produced.

and on the right is a bit of detail.

this had been dyed with gold, some very old black, and marine violet - the blues really don't like the snow dyeing process!

This was a scarf that I put in with the top piece.

some quiltlets

2010-11-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

This little nosegay block was given to members of our guild by Diane Shink, an AQS appraiser and collector extraordinaire of old blocks, star quilts and vintage aprons. She asked us to produce a 15" block and we were allowed to do whatever we wanted with this. Many chose to deconstruct it, but I thought that I would give it a new look and leave it as what it was - a nosegay of flowers.

And here it is.

Below is a piece made with a picture that I took of a small lake on a golf course, early on a November morning. It was done as a challenge for our 12bythedozen blog. Reflections was the theme. The size is 12"x12".

Swiss Rail Tour

2010-10-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Our Swiss Rail Tour with IRT and Great Rail Journeys started in London with a Eurostar train to Cologne where we spent the first night. The hotel was a 2 minute walk to the cathedral so we had a quick look before it got too dark to see (hence no pictures!)

The next day we went to St Mortiz via the Euro-City along the Rhine for much of the way. Lovely scenery.

Our first excursion out of St Moritz was on the narrow gauge Bernina Express to Tirano in Italy and we were able to travel in this old Pullman coach which had been very lovingly restored inside.

This lake marks the divide of the watershed in Europe. Again spectacular views of the mountains.

Going down the valley into Tirano was breathtaking. I'll have to stop using all these adjectives, but we were lucky with the weather and to see the snowcapped mountains surrounding the valley was beautiful.

This little section of track is a world heritage site. It's quite old and a very tight circle for the train to turn on.

A small section of the old part of Tirano. The local dish there is pizzoccori which we enjoyed for lunch-pasta made with buckwheat, and mixed with cabbage and potatoes and cheese, then baked. Delicious!

There we are standing on Piz Nair overlooking St Moritz. Lots of snow up top, but the ski season hasn't quite started.

And the view of St Moritz from across the lake at the foot. A lovely hour's walk around the lake. To save trekking up the roads to the hotels, the town has installed elevators and escalators to get people up to the main section - it would have been quite the hike otherwise to get to our hotel (the Monopol - very nice).

Our next train trip was the Glacier Express and on our arrival in Zermatt we passed this lovely old building on our way to our hotel (the Park hotel Beau Site) -another excellent one.

Zermatt has a section in town of these old buildings- and many more can be seen up the mountain side.

The cog railway up to Gornergrat took us to the top where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the scenery - so many glaciers and when the clouds are gone (which they weren't) a view of the Matterhorn.

And this was the train.

Another outing had us on the train to Stresa on Lake Maggiore in Italy. Our tour of the lake was cancelled due to the races of these gigantic boats. Lots of noise and rooster tails, and we watched one race but that was more than enough.

And finally the Matterhorn! We knew it was there all along, but clouds were constantly covering all or part of it. On our last day we took three gondolas up to Kleine Matterhorn and instead of taking the last one down, we walked - it was a glorious day and it was definitely Heidi country.

On top of Kleine Matterhorn

If you look really hard, you will see the ski tows and skiiers below. They drop down from where I am standing to take the picture and ski on the glacier year round.

The Shaw Festival

2010-09-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we were in Niagara on the Lake to see some plays at the Shaw Festival. This is a very charming town and hotels, shops, and residents go out of their way to beautify the place with flowers. This is just an island in the middle of the road! And the Courthouse theatre is the gray one with the pillars

The Prince of Wales Hotel

The Charles Inn, a charming place to stay with a superb restaurant

This area is well known for it's wines and there are plenty of vineyards to tour.

the Trisha Romance house. The whole town is filled with lovely century old houses, this being perhaps one of the fancier.

Reading

2010-09-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

I've managed to do quite a bit of reading this summer at the cottage. I'm somewhat hooked on Peter Robinson (no relation) mysteries and feel that I could land in parts of Yorkshire and start walking and I would know my way! Another odd mystery was Lie To Me by Timothy Findlay. But I enjoyed it.

While in Boston last weekend for the wedding of my nephew (and what a wonderful celebration that was!) I wandered into Borders bookstore only to find that they had just received the Canadian Kobo readers and were promoting them for a very nice price. So I bought one. I haven't used it a lot -in fact have only bought and downloaded one book. But I think that it will be very useful for overseas travel. It works outside, which I hear is a disadvantage to some of the others. And I decided that it needed a little case to protect it. So whipped one up with some more of my gelatin plate printed fabric.

August

2010-08-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a slow month for sewing. I'm in the middle of a hospice quilt - due soon. Procrastination must be my middle name as I've had it long enough that I shouldn't be down to the wire! And next will come a few other deadlines - least of which will be the 12 challenge of Reflections.

This is a little piece made for a group quilt. What I like about it is the use of my gelatin plate printed fabric- I think it worked out rather well and certainly not the usual abstract use!

Summer has been good this year, and August has been especially so - the weather good, the corn delicious, bike rides to markets, and lots of time at the cottage. Our daughter is back from the UK for a month and there have been birthday parties, and there are weddings to go to.

It's also been a good time to reflect on my art and how to develop it. Stay tuned!

Lake Memphremagog Blues

2010-07-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Indigo dyeing is something I've wanted to do for a long time and it was a great to do it with the help and support of a group of friends. We had 3 days at the cottage and were able to work outside the whole time.

The indigo is synthetic partially reduced granules from ProChem and following the directions on their website, we made up a 20 litre vat. This shows the stock solution that is about ready to go into the water solution. The transformation, both of the coppery crust that forms, the limey green that shows underneath, and the colour that emerges after had us feeling like alchemists!

The stock container was slowly submerged and as the contents spilled into the water a navy cloud emerged.

After being submerged for several minutes, this twisted and tied piece of cotton was withdrawn and as you can see it's as green as the glove. In a couple of minutes the colour had changed (oxidized) to blue.

The gloves (from Dharma) are called Mad Scientist Gloves and reach up over the elbow - and down to the bottom of the vat when something fell to the bottom!

Some of our folded pieces hanging on the line to dry.

And this is what they looked like after they were opened up.

The first piece on the left is pole wrapped cotton, and the next 3 are silk velvet scarves.

Cottons wrapped and stitched in a variety of ways.

Soy wax and various kitchen implements were used to create these designs. Also a wood block and tjianting tool. It will look better cut up!

And here we are! Blue fingers notwithstanding.

Black & White and Red all over

2010-06-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

The online group that I participate in had a challenge of producing a 12" square quilt on the theme of "Seeing Red". This is my effort.

When I started to think about my quilt the Red Shirts were barricading themselves in Bangkok. And trouble was brewing. Red is my favourite colour - I think of it as a cheerful thing, lively, energetic, and full of promise. But throughout our modern history it is a colour that is associated with violence, evil, and oppression. Which got my goat a bit.

I've used my fabric that I made during a Rayna Gillman workshop on gelatin plate printing, and the red is my own dyed fabric. I've embroidered a variety of names such as red shirts, red brigade, khmer rouge, red guard, seeing red, red square, and then racking my brain for the last: rackham le rouge. A little humour never hurts.

Finishing the bike tour

2010-06-30T04:07:00.000-07:00

Quintin: this is the Chambre D'Hôte that we staying in. A stunning 300 year old house with floors and stairs of granite and huge rooms, and a huge garden out the back. The owner, a lovely lady, told us tales of growing up in the area, and some of the history of the house, and served us tea in her great room.

Some of the buildings in Quintin

At the L'Abbaye de Bon Repos

This building has the lodging, and the restaurant. The food was excellent, and we really enjoyed fresh local goat cheese.

The Abbaye itself - much without roof, and in need of repair.

The final 5 Km run into Gouarec along this beautiful canal.

Gouarec - a town filled with buildings like these. Quite lovely. We sat having a coffee just across from these. Our coffee breaks in the little towns along the way were nice breaks during the ride - often having conversations with the bar owners and patrons in there for their beer (no matter what time of day).

All in all, it was a great 6 days whizzing through the country side. The bikes were good, the paniers kept our clothes dry, and the route wasn't too difficult. Now if the rain had been better organized.....

Biking in Brittany

2010-06-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Here I am on the first leg of our biking trip. We left our suitcases with Bretagne Bikes and filled our paniers with the clothes that we will need for the next 6 days and off we go! The first leg from Gourac to Caurel was 14 Km which was a nice easy start.

It gave us time to wander around and see the pretty church in town. There was a very nice walk that started up behind the church and led to a small shrine and calvary.

We also came across this tiny little section of town that was all stone houses built of slate. The first one was abandoned, and derelict but as we moved on there were two that were obviously well cared for. And like many houses in Brittany, were enhanced by the climbing roses and hydrangeas.

This was the magnificent Chambre d'hôtes that we stayed at in Châtelaudren. And a welcome sight it was after a 50 Km ride in the rain. Jill Walker, the owner, provided a great breakfast the next day. And along the way we were warned that food would be hard to get, but when we finally reached a restaurant in Corlay it was filled with workers, and of course, with the shops being shut from 12 to 2 there was a nary a speck in sight. Thank goodness for granola bars! We had a very late lunch in the town, and then crashed for a bit.

Here are a few views of the town with it's old waterfall and mill.

Binic was an 18Km ride. We started out in the rain, and uphill, but the last 6 km were mostly downhill - a bad sign for the next day's ride!

Here are 2 shots of the harbour - before and after the tide rolling in.

A partial shot of the town, and the coast line. There is a lovely cliff walk along the top.

To paraphrase Elizabeth Barton, if you've been reading, thanks. And if you'd like, leave a comment. More to follow on our bike tour.

Flowers of Brittany

2010-06-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

These three pictures are of flowers that insisted on growing out of walls - everywhere. From the side of the quay to house walls, to old stone fencing between fields. The top one is false valerian, then daisies on the left and I have no idea on the right.

All along the fields the floxgloves were in bloom.

These purple flowers were also everywhere to be seen in the rocks.

Many of the houses were built right to the edge of the road and these little clusters grew right at the base of the houses providing some colour between the pavement and the cream or stone colour of the house.

The area around the Pointe du Raz was covered in low growing gorse and heather.

If you have recognised some of these flowers please let me know their names by leaving a comment.

more of Brittany

2010-06-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Everywhere that we went we were armed with our cameras. And each evening we would download the pictures onto Hilary's computer to see how well some of them had turned out.

Part of a rock formation found near the beach. The lines were so appealing.

This rock formation in Plouhinec is approximately 5,000 years old and was part of a burial chamber.

A village along the way to La Pointe du Raz - very typical of the houses that we saw everywhere.

At 4:15, right on schedule, the fishing fleet appears on the horizon and enters the port of Guilvenic. I'm sure these are some of the langoustines that we ate for dinner!

Here I am standing beside a Gunnera - these amazing plants grow this high each year.

Tri-This Reunion June 2010

2010-06-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

Rosie, Hilary and me together again! We met up in Quimper after Rosie's daughter's wedding and journeyed on to Plogistal Saint-Germain to a time share that Hilary had organized for us. That would be the manor with all the ivy. But we stayed in the more modern section with a townhouse very nicely kitted out.

These old buildings on the right are in Quimper and date to the XVth Century.

We had a great week touring the countryside and on a rainy day, doing gelatin plate printing and rust dyeing.

We spent a few hours touring around the harbour at Duarnenez which I was happy to see as my daughter is there on a regular basis with her tall ship for festivals.

Another day tour took us out to La Pointe du Raz which is possibly the most westerly point in Europe, but this fact is hotly contested by the Portuguese.

We had lovely lunches out and managed to pick up the fixings for dinner. One of our best finds was after we had watched the fishing boats come in at Guilvenic where we bought fresh langoustines, and the fish shop cooked them on the spot.

Of course, it wouldn't be France without fresh croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast!

The countryside was very pretty and we managed to take our fair share of photos of hay bales, coastal rocks, menhirs and old churches. Now the challenge is on to produce something arty out of our memories and collection of photos.

Surface design pictures

2010-05-30T12:35:00.001-07:00

Monique Lucie

Joanne Jacques Lorraine

Hélène Lynda

surface design class

2010-05-30T12:33:00.001-07:00

Another fun day playing with dyes, paints, seta colours, shaving cream and kitchen utensils. Here's the gang with me in the red shirt!

Dye Class Salon 2010

2010-05-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my dyeing class at the Salon, the Quebec Provincial Quilt show, which by the way, is wonderful. A terrific selection of quilts and what great workmanship we have here.

The dyeing class was fun, and I love introducing people to the subject. We have a busy day doing a parfait with 3 colours, a range of 2 primaries, some bucket dyeing with scrunched, pleated and folded fabric, and then some painting with leftover dyes. Oh, and putting a pair of socks in the last remains of the day in the bottle.

The Collège Andre Grasset has a sunny art room with lots of sinks and washable vinyl floor!

And tomorrow we'll do surface design.

Salon 2010

2010-05-26T15:25:00.003-07:00

The Quebec provincial quilt show starts tomorrow in Montreal! for information go to www.cqq.ca

I'm teaching a dyeing and a surface design course and am looking forward to introducing a new group of people to the fun of transforming white fabric!

If you're reading this and you are there, please look out for me!

2010-05-26T15:25:00.001-07:00

May travels

2010-05-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

In preparation for an upcoming biking trip I am valiantly trying to put in time to get ready. This is not going to be a Tour de France - merely 25 -50 Km a day. This past weekend I did 22 and 25 kms so I think I'll manage! We ride on a converted railway bed and pass several ponds - this is one of them, full of yellow water lilies. We also managed to see red winged blackbirds, and Eastern kingbirds. And of course the ubiquitous Canada geese.Earlier in the month we stayed overnight in Kingston on our way to Toronto. A walk through the park gave me a vantage of red tulips with an old house in the back - where I spent a year in an apartment while I was at Queen's U. The bay kitchen window was lovely.
This lilac has travelled! It came from a bush that was given to a friend by my husband's grandmother. It's been transplanted a few times, and this year had some lovely blooms, so I guess it's now happy in this location.

on a lighter note

2010-04-27T16:53:00.001-07:00

This was also a good month for inspiration. I went to MQX in Rhode Island and saw some wonderful workmanship. Great quilting ideas on some of the quilts. Since they're not mine to show I won't upload pics that I took, but look for Claudia Pfeil - fantastic!

I also did some more gelatin plate printing, this time in a course with Rayna Gilman who taught me the valuable lesson of learning when to stop! These are a couple of pieces that I did. I'm very pleased with the process and the soft lines that were produced when using stamps. This blue piece was stamped with my art eraser stamps that I made many moons ago.

The other two pieces have very nicely covered up some ugly snow dyed fabric. In fact I have managed to cover a few metres of boring fabric from my snow dyeing efforts.

April is the cruellest month

2010-04-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is what April 27th looks like here in Montreal. It has snowed all day and my poor hellebore has been dusted off twice. And this poor sweetie! Last fall I planted my first fritillaria and it was nicely surrounded by white scented narcissi, which I pulled out of the snow and are now gracing my den.
It is a fitting end to this month of funerals and grieving. My father, two friends, it's too much. All had lived well, my father to 90. But hard to let go.

Heart Strings

2010-04-03T07:57:00.001-07:00

The online group to which I belong (see 12 by the dozen link) had a theme of Connections. This was my submission. It represents all that is near and dear to me - my family. I tried to use white as the heart fabric was deconstructed screen printed on white and it doesn't look nice when dyed afterwards. However the white was too much hence, the blue stitching and the stippling done in tan Bottom Line.

Harbringer

2010-03-21T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of the sure signs of spring is a robin. Here's a lovely cheeky fat one. And just to make sure that we didn't get our hopes up, several hours later it started to snow, and it hasn't stopped!

Bad Hair Day

2010-03-19T12:57:00.001-07:00

A few more shots from our Sunday walk in the woods. The big rock is probably at least 15' high! The shaggy things beneath the snow layer are ferns, then 2 types of lichen.

Exercise!

2010-03-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we spent two days with my brother and his wife at their cottage in the Laurentians. On Sunday we did a 4 hour, 7Km hike up Mount Nixon. Not bad for someone who is used to a 30 minute walk on a flat sidewalk! This was the view from the top where we stopped for lunch. It was a warm, but overcast day, but the forest was still covered in snow. So much so that if you sidestepped off the beaten path you were thigh high in the soft stuff. Below is Mount Tremblant, just the north side. We spent 4 hours skiing there the next day! Fantastic conditions and my brother challenged me to go down harder runs than my usual greens!The streams were running - some were still covered in snow as we unwarily discovered. The sap is running too - perfect weather for good maple syrup. Cold nights, warm days - I think it's going to be a good harvest.
The water that flowed over the rocks at the beginning of winter froze and formed incredible "falls" of blue ice. These are probably 20 feet high.
More pics to follow.

Spring is around the corner

2010-03-12T10:31:00.001-08:00

Above is reindeer lichen. Guess we don't have any deer around the cottage this year as this is rather full.
Some fungi on a fallen birch log. The snow has that wet crystalline look which means that it isn't going to be there for long with the warm weather we're having.
It's amazing how these little guys are just ready to go as soon as the snow cover is lifted.

Early Spring

2010-03-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

We spent a lovely 4 days at the cottage which is on Lake Memphremagog. We skied at Mount Orford on the way down and on the way back for an hour. With a weekday pass, there is no pressure to ski all day to get our money's worth. And we had the dog in the car waiting for us. Just a different place to sleep for him.The little speck on the ice that you can see is an ice fishing hut. People were still driving out there despite the warm weather (11ºC). I worry about the ice around the shore - it gets pretty soft much earlier. I'll stick to road walking!
The shadows on a sunny day are so dramatic on the snow. About half the snow here had melted by the end of the weekend. I have daffodils planted on this hillside - I can hardly wait to see them emerge.

It didn't bother the dog to go out - he was sniffing something . Our neighbour told us that a fox had spent the winter under our little guest cottage. Hopefully the two don't run into each other.

Birthday quilt

2010-02-24T17:36:00.001-08:00

In contrast to the phoenix quilt is my birthday quilt. The squares were all made by Stitch n Bitch group in honour of my 60th birthday. I finally finished assembling and quilting it and am totally pleased with the look. I machine quilted in the multi coloured batik and hand quilted around the beautiful appliqued squares. I can't quite remember the name of the book that this is from, but I will add it to this post later. A lovely souvenir of a wonderful group of women.

phoenix Feathers are finished

2010-02-24T17:30:00.001-08:00

This is it. It has now been dyed twice, bleached once, painted, and had markels (paint stix) applied. Lots of lessons were learned including making sure that the right post goes to the right blog. All the details ended up in the blog 12bythedozen.blogspot.com/ !

Snow, eh!

2010-02-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would put up a picture of what it looks like around here. Taken in the local park on a walk with my husband and the dog. He's a rescue dog that we've had for about a year now. He's 8, and a lovely people dog, but really can't abide other dogs, so we have to keep him full time on a leash.

Snow Good!

2010-02-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

In other words, not so good! Here's a quick look at some of the pieces. I've learned that dry (but pre-soda ashed) fabric takes the colour better. Delphina which is tightly woven mecerized cotton from Whaley's gives much better definition. And silk velvet, as usual looks the best which you can see in the picture of the scarf.

I didn't use the urea or salt. Hmm, guess that's an experiment for next time. Fingers crossed for more snow!

And since I was playing with dyes, and can't stand to waste anything

I threw some socks into plastic bags and mixed up some old made up dye and dye paint and voilà! More socks for a charity for street kids.

Snow Dyeing

2010-02-20T16:32:00.001-08:00

We finally got some snow and not only were we able to go x-country skiing at the Arboretum, but I was able to get some fresh stuff and try out some snow dyeing. Last year's efforts were quite pathetic. Barely pinky green. So hopefully I've used a strong enough concentration this time to create some interest. It's only 1C out there, so this is really wet snow. And with a very large labrador, it was important not too find the yellow snow underneath! Who knows, maybe that would have helped!

The bottom left contains fabric that has a spiral twist, and the bottom right is a silk velvet scarf. Stay tuned!

bracelet

2010-02-16T16:58:00.000-08:00

A group of us got together to experiment and play and this is the result. It's a bracelet based on an article last year in Quilting Arts magazine. Sometimes it's nice not to have an agenda and just go where the fabric and "junk" takes you. This was cut off a larger piece that I made that is now awaiting lots more embellishing. But with the Olympics on, all I can do is knit scarves as my fingers can do the work while I'm watching TV!

It's made with pellon that had been coloured with transfer inks, covered with steam a seam, threads and glitz added, then a layer of purple shear ironed on. Stitching was added along with beads, and the back is purple dupion silk crossed with orange which provides the fringe.

The Bag collection

2010-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here in Montreal we are just aching for more snow so we can go out x-country skiing and do some more snow dyeing. It's just not fair that Washington and Virginia are getting such good storms!!

So I have been finishing some bags that I started at a retreat. And I think that will do me for a while.

Next step on Suns and Phoenixes

2010-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here is the result of some bleaching - very timidly at first, and perhaps not enough. And some over-dyeing. The circles have popped a little more, but it still needs more attention. Stay tuned!

Colour

2010-01-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well, serendipity has raised it's head. I was trying to make the circles yellow so didn't massage the quilt as much as I should have (it's very stiff too) and so the colours have splotched and I've lost the yellow. I just thought I would show the progression. I now need to sew on the binding to be able to do the next step which will involve bleach.

Suggestions are welcome!

Phoenix Feathers

2010-01-25T16:47:00.000-08:00

Today was the perfect day to finish this piece - the quilting part anyway. It was rainy and warm and in this neck of the woods, that means melting snow turning to ice. Not a pretty sight.

A small group of us (all long arm owners) agreed to do a white on white (about a metre squared) which I would then help them dye. My trip to China left me with thoughts of phoenixes as a theme, but when I drew a pair out I found that it was going to be very difficult to quilt. In fact, I learned about negative space - quilting would be required everywhere except on the phoenix. I'll have to think that one through some more.

So instead I did suns and phoenix feathers, and incorporated some plastic rings and wire in the suns to see what will happen when it shrinks.

Stay tuned for the colour episode!

Urumqi - Nanshan Pasture

2009-11-01T04:15:00.000-08:00

When we arrived at the pasture we could see villages of yurts which had been set up for the summer months. One had been set up for tourists and we were invited to try the local tea with sheep's butter and milk. An acquired taste I think. The yurt is about 25' in diameter with no central pole and the floor is covered with an elaborately decorated felt mat. There was lots of other fabric and woven decoration inside.

On the way back to Urumqi we passed a local Uighur market. There were lots of fruits, vegetables, meat and dry goods. The lady in the centre photo is making shoes.

Back in Urumqi, the mosque and the market were closed. Throughout the city, and in fact throughout the rest of the Western Province we saw military on every major street corner. This was a result of the riots in July and there was a sense that nothing bad was going to happen to disrupt the 60th anniversary celebrations. Schools were also closed during this time.

September 9, 2009 - Urumqi

2009-10-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

We had an early morning flight from Beijing to Urumqi in the west of China. It was a 4 our flight, with a slightly northern flight path. All we could see below were mountains and brown terrain, no fields of any sort until we got closer to Urumqi. The city itself is incredibly smoggy - this photo was taken just at the right moment! It is a big, bustling city where the Han Chinese now outnumber the ethnic Uighur population.

We went to the National Museum in the afternoon which had a wonderful collection of textiles and clothing from the vari

ous ethnic groups in the Western province. There were many

forms of appliqué with lots of intricate design and brilliant colour. And I couldn't take photos! The highlight of the museum were the mummies. They showed 4 that are from 2000BC in an incredible state of preservation. They were found around the Taklamakan desert. The museum tour ended in a shop that included everything from books to silk scarves to carpets. And lots of sales staff to follow you around.....

Dinner was at Jum - a Muslim Uighur restaurant. Superb meal - lamb "tortière", stir fry with noodles. There were noodles at every meal in the Xianxan province - all fresh and locally made and delicious. We watched them being made at breakfast one morning. The chef took a tube of pasta dough about 2 inches thick, held both ends and flipped it up and down a few times. Caught it in the middle and repeated the process until he had a quantity of long noodles. Not easy - I tried!

The next day we took a 1 1/2 hour bus ride over a bumpy 2 lane paved road into the mountains to the Nanshan pasture. The scenery was very brown and dry (it's the end of summer there too!) but quite dramatic. We passed fields of sunflowers and sorghum with lots of cosmos lining the road sides. As we got closer to the pasture, and the

road continued at the top of a gorge we saw many army type tents set up (complete with TV satellite dish powered by a solar cell) perched on the edge and around each were bee hives. This area has a winter not unlike Montreal with -20C and lots of snow so these are itinerant apiaries that spring up and get dismantled with the cold.

Along the way we encountered flocks of sheep or goats being

herded by local cowboys on horseback.

More Beijing Sept 8/9, 2009 Temple of the Sun and the Great Wall

2009-10-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

Our afternoon was spent wandering through the park at the Temple of the Sun. It was a lovely day and we found that the retired folk find lots to do here. In the early morning they do tai chi but during the day different groups select their own activities. Some play cards, others sing, and some play a version of hackey sack with a home made shuttlecock. It's social, occupies their time and they seem very happy with it.

The Temple of Heaven (or Temple of the Sun)and it's park were

built by the same Emperor that built the Forbidden City. He and

his successors would lead processions to the temple to pray for a

good harvest.

Our day finished with dinner at Dadong, where duck is the specialty and it came in an amazing variety of ways, including Peking duck.

The next day we went to the Great

Wall at Mutianyu.

A cable car ride took us to an area where we could get onto the wall. It has been well fixed up and you may walk for a long way in either direction. However we were given an hour, and it was 30C and sunny and since it follows the spine of the hills it is very up and down. Going from one tower to the next was enough! It is so amazing to think that the beginning of the wall (not this section but further west) started over 2000 years ago by the Qin emperor who was also responsible for the Terracotta Warriors and a system of unification and governance that lasted until 1949.

Our lunch was in the Houtong, the old residential section of Beijing. This part is being fixed up for tourists, but it was still interesting to explore and talk to the lady that provided an excellent lunch. We had a pedicab tour from there to Mme Sun Yat Sen's house where we learned about her and her two sisters and the roles they and their husbands played during the cultural revolution. Her house was previously a prince's palace and the gardens were lovely.

Another excellent supper in a restaurant overlooking the lake in the Houtong.

Back in Beijing September 8, 2009

2009-10-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Back in Beijing we had an errand to do in one of the city's largest bookstore on Wangfujing Dajie (street) - we needed to buy a specific Mandarin dictionary for our daughter . Thank goodness our tour guide was still with us! It was a huge, modern store, and we were soon out of there with the ancient to modern mandarin under our arm. WD is a very modern shopping street - very high end European stores. The main streets of Beijing are filled with modern sky scrapers, each an architect's dream. Wide avenues have been cut through the city - the main ring roads are where the old city walls used to be. There was one turret left standing. We found the night market which was filled with food vendors, some of whom were offering scorpions on skewers. More on that later!

The food that we have been eating has been delicious. Nothing weird, but lots of fresh vegetables and different tasting dishes. The whole trip was a gustatory feast.

The Forbidden City: The country was gearing up for the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Republic, with the major activities taking place on and around Tian'an men square. Hence the water fountain display at the entrance.

The walls all around and the entry ways are very high and meant to be very imposing - and they are. It has been restored and great attention paid to all the detail work.

Everything is built with significance. There are three tiers on all these buildings representing heaven, son of heaven (the emperor) and the people. The decorations on the roof corners have phoenixes (the empress) and dragons (the emperor) and other birds and animals. Some even have a mandarin facing backwards - the story tells of a dishonest mandarin who was punished by being put on the roof corner to warn all that approached of his fate. The back

buildings in the complex were smaller and a myriad of rooms, all of which had a certain pecking order for wives, concubines etc.

After lunch at Ken de Rouge restaurant in the Houtong we took a quick tour of the main Olympic sites: the Bird's nest and the Cube. After seeing them on TV so much it was interesting to see them up close.

Beijing/Chende

2009-10-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sept 5 - 7

Just a quick overnight in Beijing - overlooking the back of the Forbidden City. This is so exciting.

The next morning we started off for Chende, a town

about 3 hours north east of Beijing where the

Summer Palace was built. Unfortunately it was

rainy and foggy for the visit as the drive through

the mountains looked quite lovely.

We saw our first glimpse of the Great Wall, a section that was run down and not available to visit.

In the area around Chende are a number of Buddhist temples that have been extensively restored and one of which is still in use as by Buddhists. The Potala temple is a replica of the temple in Tibet that would be used by the Dalai Lama.

Some of the outer buildings are just shells, just there for effect.

Only the emperor could have 9 ornaments on the corners of each roof. What is also interesting in this photo are the scratches made on the tiles. These were made by the soldiers during the cultural revolution trying to take off the gold.

OFF TO CHINA

2009-10-29T13:05:00.001-07:00

VANCOUVER Sept 1, 2009

Our trip to China started with a visit to Vancouver for a few days to catch up with my brother and his wife. We also drove up to Horseshoe Bay to meet cousin Bert and Linda for lunch overlooking the Bay. Lovely drive back along Marine Drive. Supper at Monks in False Creek where we were able to see some of the development of lodgings for the Olympics. There are so many places to bike, blade and walk in the downtown area.

Sunday at the Macdonell/Williamson house

2009-07-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

I was invited to do an activity at this old house that is being slowly and painstakingly brought back to it's former glory. So I suggested leaf stamping with fabric paints onto fabric. I emptied out my cupboards, cut up some plain white fabric as well as dyed and trotted off to a little town called Chute à Blondeau which is on the Ottawa river just north west of the island of Montreal. The house itself is just on the Ontario side. It was built in 1817 by John Macdonell, a fur trader in the North West company for his Métis wife and their 12 children. It must have been magnificent in its heyday - it even boasts a ballroom. It was expropriated in 1961 due to the building of the Carillon Dam and unfortunately fell prey to vandals. Consequently the need for all the work that is currently going into it. Here is my photo, but you can also access info on their site: www.mwhouse.ca

Since I had very few samples of leaf stamping, I thought that I had better make some. Here are the results:

a cushion for the cottage postcards

and a wall hanging that has yet to be quilted.

Fall Retreats

2008-11-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

There just aren't enough hours in the day! So much for retirement. Since I last wrote I have been to two quilt retreats at which I managed to do a lot of functional sewing - placemats and a quilt from a kit for the cottage. The Guild retreat is at a convent on the north shore of the island and the property is lovely, especially at that time of year with all the trees in gorgeous fall colour. The second retreat is at an inn on Lake Brome down in the Eastern Townships. This is with my Tuesday group who prefer to be a little more comfortable than in a convent!. The rates are great as we are off season and the food and accommodation are wonderful. We put in full days and some evenings at the sewing machine, get in long walks on the neighbouring golf course and of course eat!

I also managed to finish a quilt that I started a few years ago - another Tri-This challenge with Rosie and Hilary. They both came to Montreal to visit and teach and we had 3 lovely days in early spring at the cottage. This was after a trip to Cap Tourment to see the snow geese. The intent of the challenge was to start a wall hanging and then let the other 2 provide comments, suggestions and critique before it was finished. Needless to say we didn't have to take any of these on board! So Early Spring is my completed result. The dogwood branches and willows were glowing in the sun at the park. I don't have a snow goose on there, but a bufflehead duck that we saw on another part of the trip.

I also taught a small dyeing class here at the house. My studio is very full so not much room for lots of people but it worked out quite well, especially using the kitchen upstairs for the discharging! I've started making scarves with black rayon, some discharge and painting. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more made in time for the holidays.

To round out my life a little we have season's tickets to the Centaur theatre and saw a fabulous and moving play called Scorched. I mention it because it is traveling and I highly recommend it if it plays near you. The publishing season is upon us so that means Books & Breakfast - a great way to hear authors talk about their upcoming books and enjoy a brunch as well. I can see that there is going to be a lot of reading material around here this Christmas. And I'm trying to be a little experimental in my cooking. Managed to make a batch of duck confit this weekend - that with a salad is almost my favourite meal. Christmas baking is just around the corner. My mother in law and I are going to have a "stir-up" Friday and make her Christmas cake cookies.

Summer

2008-09-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

It once again feels as though summer has whizzed by. The radio says that we got less rain than the average, but it sure felt as though the floods had begun! August in the garden is very rewarding though. The fuschia coloured phlox and rudebekia are very generous with their colour. Family care left little time to do a lot of quilting, but I did manage at the end to do another journal quilt - an attempt to be a little more abstract.

It was also an exercise in using a satin stitch border edge and then zigzagging a decorative thick

thread on the outside.

this garden photo should have been taken a week earlier, but it does show off the colour.

Another Milestone - Turning 60!

2008-07-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

This is a birthday that was really fun. I was going to be 60 like it or not, so I may as well enjoy the process. Which included a lovely get together with my Stitch 'n Bitch group and hosted by a good friend. The group makes squares for "0" birthdays and for mine they did squares from the book "Affairs of the Heart" by Aie Rossman - truly, each square is a work of "heart".

We also had a party at home for close friends and family. Catered - never did that before! What fun! Between the caterer, my husband and our daughters I did nothing more than visit with everyone and have a wonderful time.

My mum and me

But it's also a time for reflection. Where to go from here. For one thing, I certainly don't want to bring all the UFO's that are languishing in my workroom into the next decade. A bit of history here - I really took up quilting in a big way when we moved to South Africa and made a lot of quilts, but also started a lot of others. And these were mostly all handwork. When we moved next to England I immediately started my City and Guilds and went on from there. So all these SA projects have yet to be finished (plus a few more over the last few years. And I still like most of them. Does this mean that at the tender age of 60 I'm going to have to show more self-discipline! At very least perhaps give up a sudoku in the morning.

Trip to Newfoundland

2008-06-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

After all the work of the Salon, a well needed break came with our trip to Newfoundland. Timed, of course, around a quilt show - that of the CQA - in St John's. It was fun to be there, and see friends and check out what is being done in Canada. St John's is a visually delightful city with all the brightly painted houses. We also were able to watch the fog roll in over the harbour from our hotel.

We spent the next week touring around, and probably like most others, reined in our plans when we realized how big Nfld actually is! We had a lovely time staying at B&B's and exploring the the Avalon, Burin, and Bonavista peninsulas. We also made it up to Salvage and enjoyed the scenery there. We did lots of walking and were impressed with the trails - the Skerwink out of Port Rexton, the Sandy Cove hike, the Eastern Coast walk out of Quidy Vidi, and the walks around Salvage.

We chased icebergs by boat out of Bulls Bay, and saw the puffins, kittiwakes, and murres amonst others. No whales unfortunately - too early for the capelin we were told. And saw lots of other icebergs from various points along the way. Everywhere we went people were most friendly and helpful.

The scenery looking over the bogs and rocky landscape is stark on the one hand, but teeming with interesting plants on the other. My big regret is that we weren't there to see the fields of lupins in bloom or the masses of wild rhododendrums that looked to be a week away from blossoming. But we managed to see lady slippers on our Eastern Coast walk.

Challenges

2008-06-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

The month of May has been incredibly full. Our Beaconsfield Guild had it's first formal show and for the challenge which was to produce something in the style of another artist, I made Barn with Yellow Roof. This was based on the style of paintings by Ton Schulten of the Netherlands. His canvasses are in the range of 10'x8' so fitting it into a perimeter of 100" was a challenge in itself!The subject is based on a photo that I took of a barn in the Stratford, ON, region last fall. The roof was an electric yellow, and with storm clouds over it, really stood out. And it won a second place ribbon!

Our Provincial Quilt show was two weeks later and I was looking after all the workshops. I am glad to report that it was a huge success - both with teachers and students. All of whom want to come back another time. And the show itself was fabulous - over 500 quilts showcasing talent from all over the province. As well as the main display there were sections showing an exchange between the Laurentian guild and a guild in France, an under 17 display, celebration of Quebec City's 400th anniversary, and lots of vendors. Please look out for Salon 2010! And check out our website at www.cqq.ca. And of course, to add to the pressure, my hard drive packed it in a week before the Salon. Thank goodness for backing up!

Now it's time for gardening and quilting! It's still cool, but even at the cottage the plants are getting ready to bloom. Lupins in both places are looking terrific this year. After seeing all the lupins in New Brunswick several years ago and taking copious pictures, I think that there must be a quilt in there somewhere!

MQX

2008-04-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Machine Quilting Exhibition in Manchester, NH was once again "awesome". I went down with 3 friends, spending a night on the way at the cottage. The pile of snow on the driveway was still about 6' high and the ice was still on the lake.

We made it in good time the next day to take courses in the afternoon. I registered for classes with Cathy Franks, Linda Taylor, Deloa Jones and Dawn Cavanagh. Except for the first they were all very inspiring classes and I have once again come home with my head spinning with ideas.

We also went to the fashion show - again very talented ladies, and the banquet where Karen McTavish was awarded Teacher of the Year. The guest speaker, Amy Simms, had us in stitches.

The exhibit was a great display of talent. A visual feast. And I met up with a friend from my quilt group from England, Isabel Hall, who runs a quilting business there, and a new friend, with whom I had only corresponded - Joan Hug-Valeriote who is a textile artist.

Now to get to work and play!

Journal Quilts

2008-04-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

The British Quilt Guild has challenged it's members to make journal quilts and this project is being run by Hilary Gooding, a member of the Tri-This group which also has me and Rosie Francis in it. Rosie and I decided that we would follow along and make the quilts too. The specs differ from other JQ's in that the size is to be 12"x12". A friend of mine here in Montreal was also interested so Pamela Chasen has joined the group. At the moment we have no plans to exhibit other than Hilary who will show hers with the CQBG.

So here are mine for the year so far:

January fields

Barn with yellow roof

Cambodian calm

More Taiwan

2008-04-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

There are a few more things I should add about Taiwan. And some pictures.

Taiwan is a great place to visit. The people are friendly, and we never once worried about pickpockets, getting mugged - nothing. It's clean, has the best subway system we've ever seen, great scenery and public parks. And lots of great places to eat. Here is some scenery along the east coast - it beats the Pacific Hwy in California by a long shot.

and because I forgot - here is a taste of what I saw up in Taipei 101.

Last day in Taiwan

2008-04-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

We took the train north to Ruifang where we then caught the Pingxi branch rail line. This line stops at a number of places and you can hop on and off as you wish. Our first stop was Shifen and we walked through the village to the park with the waterfall. To get there we crossed two suspension bridges and then arrived at the "Niagara of Taiwan" as it is advertised. Very impressive.

We didn't have time for any other of the stops but went directly to the end of the line at Jingtong. It was a cute little village but most cafes seemed to be closed. We watched a bride and groom on the tracks getting their wedding photos done. This usually happens well before the marriage and pictures are on display at the wedding. I don't think the tracks are a usual background though!

Our last dinner was at the hot pot restaurant and more live shrimp and whole squid. The pots are set into the table and each person has a temperature dial to control the simmer of the broth. On the side are all sorts of condiments from soy sauce, to hot peppers. Lots of vegetables arrive for each order no matter what meat or seafood tray you've selected.

I won't write about the 40 hours it took us to get back!!

Tour around Taiwan

2008-04-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

We left the hotel with Cooper, our driver, and his van. He had spent some time in Texas hence the name. Heading south we drove on excellent highways, many of which were elevated for miles over the valleys. After a local fancy lunch at an educational farm (more like a resort) we went to the Kanshuin Paper Factory where hand made paper is produced. If we had had more time we could have made our own and embellished it. We then stopped at the brand new Chung Tai Chan Temple which has been built by Buddhists and is to be a world site of learning for Buddhism. Opulent, gigantic and expensive are a few words that come to mind.

Next stop was the much older Wen Wu temple overlooking Sun Moon lake. Again the weather didn't help the view. We stayed at the Hotel del Lago on the banks of the lake.

On the drive to Kaohshing we visited the WuChan temple which had collapsed during the 1999 earthquake and looked remarkably intact except that the roof was almost on the ground. Nearby were a few old train engines and a market. Then on to the old Dutch fort which is now the Chikan Tower temple.

Next were the Spring and Autumn pavillions - these twin towers are on the edge of a lake and one enters in the dragon and out the tiger- to do it in reverse would be very bad luck.

We did a small tour on the Love River and then toured the night market which was teeming with people and food stands. We couldn't quite agree on which outdoor food we wanted to eat so opted at the end for the hotel. A little boring, but we have been eating "local" almost the whole trip!

On Saturday we stopped at a small park with a "river running uphill" and followed a small water course that really did look like it was flowing up. A nice park and a great illusion. The next stop was the 8 Arches Bridge. Again a beautiful park on the sea edge and so we crossed the bridge to the rocky island and wandered around - again in a light rain.

Another beautiful park was the Kenting National park at the very bottom of Taiwan. Lovely boardwalks along the edge of the ocean - and the only way to walk as it is all very rough lava.

Our last stop were the Bahsian caves which were inhabited a long time ago, but have now been turned into temples with cemented floors. In Taitung I finally got to hear "Fur Elise" which is played by the garbage trucks, throughout Taiwan it would seem. As people hear the trucks coming they run out with their garbage and stand along the road waiting for it.

Sunday was the last day of our tour and we went to the Taroko gorge. And finally had some sun. And it was spectacular. We only drove in part of the way, but walked a number of sections and were awed by the height and narrowness. I think the pictures say it all.

If you look carefully

you will see me in red.

Taiwan

2008-04-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Feb 26

Rob and I went to the Longsham Temple which had very detailed carvings of dragons on the roof. Again it was an overcast, slightly rainy day so not great for pictures. There were all sorts of lanterns as part of the festival, lots of mouse/rats as this is the beginning of the year of the rat. Even Winnie the Pooh was there in lantern form.

We wandered through a local market - it's amazing how many food stands are there, and interspersed with clothing stores. On our way back to the hotel we looked at the old North Gate of the city which is now situated within feet of an elevated highway.

A quick lunch at the Main Station again (the second level has just opened with about 50 restaurants so we haven't eaten at the same place twice) and then we went to the Natural History Museum. It's a lovely building beside the Botanical gardens and on each floor there is a sitting area (some serving tea and food) overlooking the lotus pond. We had a hotpot dinner in Rebecca's neighbourhood and her friends joined us. I ordered a tray of seafood and was surprised to see the live shrimp that I now had to cook! All delicious though.

Taiwan

2008-04-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

Feb 24:

We've finally made it to Taipei and what a different city to Hanoi. Much more modern and civilized! Fewer bikes, more orderly traffic, superb underground system, and way less noise!

We sure had a hectic day with Rebecca yesterday. We went to the Sun Yat Sen memorial and watched the changing of the guard, saw the latern festival, went up Taipei 101 and saw the sights and the damper. And on display in the 4 corners was a textile/quilting exhibit with old and new work that was put on by the Taipei Mothers Art Association. So we were all happy!

We also went to the Jade market but it was so overwhelming that I didn't have a clue what to buy. Ended up buying a string of lapis lazuli beads which I'll get gussied up at home.

We've eaten at R's favourite dumpling restaurant, had Korean BBQ in the food court of 101 and I will have to walk more, faster, if I keep eating at this rate! I think we're almost the only non-Asians at the Cosmos hotel, and except for eggs and white bread for toast the whole rest of the buffet is Chinese or Japanese food. But the place is clean and friendly and well located for travelling around the city.

Feb 25

Rebecca still has classes for a few days so we were on our own for a bit. We went to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial hall, now renamed the Democratic Memorial Hall. Amazing set of buildings to be built to honour one person. Since he's not so popular now, a kite exhibit was hung which prevented a good viewing of his statue. We enjoyed the exhibit on the lower level of folk art and carved jade. The Main train station is proving to be a very useful location- we met Rebecca there and had lunch, then caught the subway to go out to the Naional Palace Museum where we saw another exhibit of jade, this time very old work, and a lot of calligraphy. We toured around the Shillin Night Market - only Monday night and it was very busy - and a great place to get an ice cream cone!

Hanoi

2008-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Our tour started today at the Confucius Temple of Literature and then on to the Hilton Jail - of which only a small portion remains as a tourist site. Another cyclo ride took us through the old section of Hanoi before depositing us at our hotel, the Sofitel Metropole - a lovely old throw back to colonial days. The rest of the day was on our own to walk about and risk our lives crossing the streets as we wished! Dinner was at the Green Mandarin - Vietnamese/French fusion and superb.

At 6:30 in the morning we saw people playing badminton on the sidewalk, others walking, or doing tai chi. We started the day with a viewing of Ho Chi Minh who I understand is sent back to Russia annually to be re-balmed. We toured the museum and his house, which was a lovely modern "cottage" on a small lake. On to the Ethnic museum with an outdoor display of different types of traditional houses. The evening finished with a water puppet show.

Our last day was spent visiting Ha Long Bay. It took several hours with stops along the way for silk and laquer ware. The scenery was stunning, but a few hours on the boat barely does it justice.

Once we got past the scrum of all the boats leaving, it became very peaceful with herons and eagles flying overhead. Lunch on board was a seafood feast.

And dinner was also a feast - at Bobby Chins (he's a local TV cook/celebrity).

Hue

2008-03-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

Once again the weather wasn't on our side - overcast and rainy. So we passed on the mountain drive through the Hai Van Pass and took the tunnel instead. It seems as though every square inch of land is cultivated with rice paddies or vegetable fields. The vistas were beautiful. Hue was a seat for many of the Emperors of the Nguyen dynasty and they left their mark with a number of Royal mausoleums - these were used during their lifetimes as summer palaces.

We had lunch at the Mandarin restaurant (opposite the Imperial Hotel). The owner is a photographer and sells his lovely photographs - you choose the size and they are printed up while you eat.

Dinner was an interesting feast. We all dressed up as mandarins or concubines, with one couple as emperor and emperess. And as hokey as it may sound, it was a delicious and different dinner with local musicians to entertain.

The next day we toured the Citadel with it's now bombed out Forbidden City. The frangipani trees were not yet in bloom but they are all around and this is how the Perfume river nearby got it's name. We had a boat tour up the river to the Ming Mang tomb.

Part of our journey to the hotel consisted of a cyclo - another way to enjoy the chaos of the streets.

Hoi An

2008-03-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

A very early and short flight took us to Danang where our bus met us for the trip to Hoi An. On the way we visited a museum dedicated to the Cham people. The museum was built by the French, and showcased many of the temple statues that were created, some from the 4th Century. Unfortunately quite a number were missing their heads - this according to our guide was because it was easier for them to be taken back to Harvard where they now reside. Shame.

On to the marble mountains - a series of steep hills rising up from the plains by the sea. We climbed to the top of one, where there is a large Buddhist shrine, and an enormous cave. The view over the ocean is that of China Beach. We had a quick snack of freshy spring rolls at a local café near the beach. From the looks of the fencing that is going up, there are large resorts that are going to be built in that area.

Hoi An is a small town with a section of preserved Chinese houses and a Japanese covered bridge. One of the houses is open for viewing, but many others have become stores or museums. The ceramic museum gave us an opportunity to go in and look at the building as well as the exhibit. The wood is mostly teak and has weathered to an almost black colour. This area of town floods on an annual basis, as much as 2 metres and the houses have a centre open area on the second floor with a hoist to lift everything off the ground floor.

We went through the market in town, which was packed with vendors, shoppers and the ubiquitous motor scooters. Everything seemed to be on sale, from chopping knives to live fish and shrimp in aerated pails, as well as butchers chopping meat, live chickens, and all sorts of fresh vegetables and fresh rice noodles.

On our free morning we toured the town and after lunch Rob took a bike ride along the quieter roads near the hotel. The roads into and in town are typical of much of the country - a zoo of buses, scooters, bikes and buses many of which are not on their side of the road, and often not even going in the right direction.

Dalat and Na Trang

2008-02-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

The flight from Saigon had us leaving the hotel at 5:30am and on the bus in Dalat a few hours later. We spent the day touring - a Buddhist monastery, a cable car ride through the mountains, Bao Dai's summer palace. He was the last emperor of Vietnam and like many wealthy people, liked to escape to this mountain city when summer became too hot on the coast. One of the specialties of the area is hand embroidery. The most exquisite work is done to produce pictures by thread. Some are even so perfectly done that they can be viewed from either front or back.

Na Trang is a 5 hour drive from Dalat through the mountains, which all would have been more spectacular without the low cloud cover. On the way we visited the Cham towers, which are a major temple for the Cham people who occupied the area during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The next day we took a boat ride to an island primarily occupied by fishermen. To get to the island from our "tour" boat we boarded what appeared to be round woven baskets with a diameter of about 6'. There was a small wooden floor, and 2 of us sat on the edge along with the 2 locals who paddled us in. Lunch was cooked on board our own boat and included a lovely selection of seafood along with soup and fried noodles. The captain doubles as the chef.

Our food in general has been local, fresh and delicious - and all without problem!

Mekong Delta

2008-02-29T05:29:00.000-08:00

We left at 8:30 this morning for the Mekong Delta. The highway was covered with trucks, motor bikes, bicycles and buses all trying to get farther faster. And on either side of the road (i.e direction was irrelevant if necessary). The local buses have an odd sounding horn, and the more they use it the faster they can go. At least I think that's the logic.

As we went further south there were more and more rice paddies at different stages of development. The greens are so spectacular.

At the water's edge in the Delta we boarded sampams to take us across an arm of the river, and then got onto even smaller ones to chug up a narrow canal that was covered on either side with water coconuts. We visited a candy factory where they make coconut candy from the pressed fresh coconut and palm sugar. Lunch was a local feast of elephant ear fish cooked whole and studded with garlic and then pulled apart and served in rice pancakes with fresh green onion and basil.

Saigon

2008-02-19T00:24:00.000-08:00

We've met up with our tour group, an Australian couple and a British couple and a very cheery Aussie tour guide. The Sheraton Saigon is in the older downtown area and like most Sheratons, a nice luxurious hotel. It's a busy city - lots of motor bikes, bicycles , cars and trucks all vying for space on the roads and sidewalks so lots of honking going on. To cross a street requires great faith - nothing stops so you have to just keep moving across and the bikes avoid you. Of course, you have to stay out of the way of cars as they expect you to move. We started with a walking tour to learn how to do this!

The main old buildings have been nicely fixed up - the opera house, the post office and the cathedral. We've arrived just after Tet, the Vietnamese New Year and the streets are covered in lights, red banners and pots of yellow chrysanthemums which are on either side of most doorways to keep out evil spirits while the spirits of the ancestors are being welcomed in.

Our tour guide took us to her favourite pho place. This is a local noodle soup which contains meat or seafood, and then you add your own fresh bean sprouts, Vietnamese basil, mint, and hot sauce. Delicious.

Cambodia

2008-02-09T03:03:00.000-08:00

What an amazing three days we've had here. Everything from setting out before dawn to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat to eating food from roadside stands.

The temples are amazing works considering that most of them were built in the 10th Century or so. Some have been fixed up a bit, with stones put back in place, and the jungle cleared away, but today we went to one that was still a tumble of rocks, with trees growing through and around. It was awesome in it's destruction - made one feel like an early adventure coming at it for the first time. Then, of course there is Angkor Wat which is the largest and most popular. We saw the sun rise over it, and it is just beautiful.

Each temple had it's own style and character with a variety of carvings and buildings. It's going to be a challenge to remember it all when I finally have the chance to download the pictures.

Our guide has been very keen to introduce us to local things. This morning he took us to his aunt's restaurant stall in a market to have breakfast. One dish consisted of porridgy type rice in chicken stock, with vegetables and bits of offal. The other, my favourite, was a bowl of rice noodles with veggies and peanuts and sesame oil. We've also watched how it was made, and eaten sticky rice and red beans cooked in coconut milk in bamboo sticks. This is a snack that is portable, and very good. We've eaten milk fruit, dragon fruit and rambutan. And palm sugar (similar to maple sugar candy).

We've also been to local restaurants, one of which included a BBQ - food cooked on a "volcano" over a brazier.

The hotel (the Victoria Angkor Wat) is lovely. They have the best pastries - a hangover I think from their French colonial times.

Rebecca arrived here just before us so we've had a lovely reunion and it's been great traveling with her.

Tomorrow is off to Ho Chi Minh City

London

2008-02-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

We haven't made it to Egypt - just a stop at the British museum! We've also visited the Natural History museum, the National Art Gallery, and the Royal Academy where we saw a very interesting exhibit on loan from the Hermitage museum.

Last night we saw a humerous version of the Mikado and tonight will see the Lord of the Rings. And as always in London, lots of walking and riding the Tube. And the weather has been kind - somewhat overcast and only a hint of rain.

2008-01-31T15:58:00.001-08:00

The weekend was lovely - lots of good x-country skiing on the old railway bed, and a good day of downhill. I managed to finish the vest and get a few other things done. Now we're back home, and looking forward to leaving these icy, windy days behind. A stop at the Tilley store and some more work on figuring out how to use my new camera and we'll be all set.

a short hop

2008-01-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we head to the cottage to enjoy the last bit of snow and winter before we head off on our big expedition out east. With temperatures well below -10C we will only be snow shoeing or walking.

The plan is to get some quilting finished - a bargello vest that was started last weekend, and to set something up to take on the upcoming trip.