Show and tell…

JanHirth-HoneyBeez

Jan Hirth sent me a picture of her Fitbit in front of her quilt-in-progress, Honey Beez! I can’t wait to see the finished quilt. Love the gray behind those splashy Kaffes.

And, I must add that I’ll wear my sister’s watch on my arm, with the Fitbit, just like Jan is here. Not all the time, but often. Nice to know that that’s a thing people do :-).

Thanks for sharing, Jan!

More from Nova Scotia…

We went out exploring on our 2nd day in Nova Scotia, which was actually a few days ago. I’ve been teaching for the Mahone Bay Quilters since then. It’s taken me this long to go through the photos and get them posted.

We went back toward Hirtle’s beach, through Lunenburg, along many of the same roads as the day before, but on this day it was clearer and not raining. We decided that stopping to take pretty-house-photos would slow us down too much so I did drive-by photos with my iPhone. I am surprised at how well they turned out.

Hirtle’s Beach is very pebbly/rocky. On the way into Canada I jokingly said that my suitcases were heavy but I didn’t have rocks in them. Can’t make that claim on the way home. Surely a baggie with pebbles won’t add that much weight…

Feet-BeachPebbles

We could not help but notice that there are many modern houses around Hirtle’s Beach. Look close and I’ll bet you spot the ‘Sliding House’ in the next photo. Click here for more info on it.

beckygoldsmith-TheRoad-18 copy

The ladies in my classes told me that most of these are summer homes and that there is some dispute over the fact that they have been built in a fragile ecosystem. But, putting all of that aside, I loved each and every one. If I could tear down my house and build again, I would build ‘modern’.

It’s interesting to note that ‘modern’ does seem to also be ‘colorful’, at least on the outside of these houses. That’s often true of the houses I see featured in Dwell magazine.

The hiking trail at Hirtle’s Beach takes you around Gaff’s Point. It was a very nice walk.

When we were in Lunenburg I took a nice photo of the big sailing ships with the colorful shops and houses behind. It is a place that poses well.

Lunenburg-Ships copy

Mahone Bay is a lovely town as well, I just didn’t take as many photos there. But I did take this shot of the 3 iconic and photogenic churches on the road into town. I lectured in the yellow church on the left and I taught 3 classes in the church on the right.

MohoneBayChurches

Sad to say that the congregations of these churches, like so many others in other parts of the world, are shrinking. It’s a real problem when a local church landmark does not have the money or people to keep it going. But that’s a whole other discussion.

My 52 Week Photo Challenge assignment this week was “the road”. It’s nice that I was in Nova Scotia, riding on so many photogenic roads, for this assignment. I posted my ‘road’ photos on this Smugmug page. Tomorrow we are going to see the Bay of Fundy. I hope to have more photos to share soon.

Can you help this quilter?

UPDATE: Caron has found a pattern! Yay! So you can either read what I wrote or just skip down to the pretty picture :-).

I got an email from Caron who wrote:

Hi!  I bought this book (The New Applique Sampler) on Amazon.com, but did not notice until I received it, that it was a used book.  Of course, the pattern was not in it.  So disappointed.  I just watched your dvd of Teach You to Applique and wanted to start trying this!  I did check your website, but did not see the pattern for this one. Do you sell just the pattern so I can give this a try??
Thank you so much!!

Amazingly enough, I don’t have the printed copies of the patterns from that book—or from any of our out of print books. There’s only so much room in my house :-). I also don’t have the pattern in a downloadable format.

But the patterns in that book are nice and I would like to help. Caron said she would be very happy for me to post her email address along with her plea for the pattern pages. She said that even if someone has the pattern and could copy it for her, she would be happy to repay their expense.

If you can help, click to email Caron.

Important Side Note: In this case, I believe that it’s OK to make a copy of the patterns for her. She did buy the book in good faith. It is not the same as making copies of a pattern for all your friends so that they don’t have to buy a book—that would be copyright infringement.

And, because it’s pretty, I’m posting another strawberry photo. This is the one I turned in for my homework assignment—a photo on the color ‘red’.

To market, to market…

I leave for Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Lorna is going too—it will be her very first market! I am looking forward to sharing the experience with her :-).

We’ve been consulting over what to wear. There are times when I wish I could just put on a business suit and call it done. And then I get over that. Men’s clothes may be easy, but they lack the wild variety available to women. Wild variety is nice.

Since I’ll be shopping for you, I have questions that only you can answer…

  • What would you like me to look for at market? I’m going to be on the lookout for applique-related notions but what else would you like to have available?
  • If I bought pretty packs of wool, would you buy it? Small pieces, or larger pieces?
  • Would you want wool that came with a pattern that I think is cute, but that is not a Piece O’ Cake pattern?
  • What about pincushions? If you are excited about pin cushions, do you want ones that are already made or do you want to make them from a kit?
  • There are lots and lots of fabric vendors available to you. I can’t compete with them but I thought I’d look for a few big prints that you might not find elsewhere. Is there something else that you can’t find that you think I should look for?

I’ll post to instagram while I’m away. I may post photos of different things to get your opinion. I’m sure you will feel free to tell me what you think :-).

And, because I can’t leave without adding a photo, here is strawberry glamour shot that I took this morning. My photo challenge homework this week is ‘red’. Strawberries are in season… what more can I say. I’ll have more strawberry photos uploaded to my smugmug page later today.

Show and tell…

HenrikeAdam

Isnt’ this lovely! Henrike Adam, from Berlin, made this quilt. Here is what she had to say:

I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful books, ideas and patterns. They’re all
a great inspiration for me and now that I finished my version of “Aunt Millies Garden”. A very good friend of mine (not a quilter herself) made following comment:
“It looks as being fourteen, first time in love and drawing tiny littles hearts on everything in your handwriting”.

It does look like young love! Thank you, Henrike, for sharing it with us.

Catching up, leaving town…

I am sitting on a plane on my way to 2 classes that I have looked forward to for a year. Tomorrow I begin a 5-day class with Gwen Marston, only the 2nd class I have taken in the last 20 years. I have heard that Gwen has threatened to retire and I did not want to miss the experience of taking a class from her.

See the grin on Bear’s face? I am wearing that same grin right now.

Bear-InHat-Feb-2015

I am teaching 5 days of independent study after Gwen’s class. I do love this class. It engages all of the parts of my brain. I get to work with quilters of all skill levels doing all sorts of things. It’s great fun!

I am using my 3-hour flight to write blog posts, this one included. I know that I won’t have time to post much over the next 2 weeks, so am writing now and scheduling them to post later. I will post to instagram pretty often, so if you want to see what I’m up to at Empty Spools, I hope you’ll follow me there.

And, because it’s pretty and (marginally) about flying, I’ll sign off with this…

ConfederateRose-Bee

After Gwen’s class I am teaching an independent study, one of my favorite things to do!