The Great Canadian Shop Hop: Update

Episode 7 of Tricia Sherman's "Great Canadian Shop Hop", filmed at the Country Quilter in Richmond, Ontario, will be on Tricia's website later this week. The show will be airing on QNN (Quilters' News Network) in mid-May.

I was pleased to have been invited as the guest designer on this show which also featured the "Quilt for a Cure" quilt marathon, held annually at the shop. I had several posts about this event back in March of this year. Check out the posts on March 1, 3 and 5 for more information.

Tricia has a great monthly newsletter that you can sign up for on her web site. Be sure to have a look!

Lynne Edwards, MBE

Last January I wrote about my friend, Lynne Edwards, from England, who will be receiving the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth for her work as a quiltmaker, teacher and author. This morning I received an e-mail from Lynne about this prestigious event. Here are a few excerpts from her letter:

"Just thought you might like to see the fat envelope that arrived with the postman recently! The Palace requested me to be there on a date in mid-June, when - of course! - I was booked to teach in France. With the UK students now having paid their fees and more importantly, booked their flights, I was terrified that this would be my only chance and that if I couldn't attend, they would just send me the medal in the post. But, happily, I spoke to a jolly lady in St James' Palace who gave me July 3rd as an alternative. I can take three guests and we have a special permit and car sticker that will allow us to drive through the gates into the Buckingham Palace yard and then park the car within the palace grounds."

Congratulations, Lynne! We will be looking forward to seeing all those photos of you with the Queen.

Elaine Quehl: Contemporary Art Quilter

Elaine Quehl was the guest speaker at our Thousand Islands Quilters’ Guild meeting on April 24. Elaine started quilting by doing traditional designs, but soon branched out to explore contemporary art quilting, free motion machine quilting and fabric dyeing. Her work has been exhibited across North America and she has won many awards.

Here are a few pictures of her quilts, including some “in progress” works. Be sure to visit Elaine’s website to see more of her wonderful quilts. Elaine was a real inspiration to us with her dynamic presentation!

Flowers

After a very long, cold and snowy winter Spring has finally arrived! Our temperatures have been in the mid 20's for the past week and we are enjoying every minute of it. Our sun room has now had its spring cleaning and we can sit there to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.

The best part of getting the sun room ready was hanging this wonderful painting (36" x 36") back on the wall. Brockville artist, Celia Kainz, created this painting for us to complement the room. We have geraniums and little blue flowers in hanging baskets all around the house during the summer and Celia has captured those flowers beautifully in this painting.

Another New Pattern

I have just finished this little Memory quilt pattern. It is called Remembering (Pattern #332). This quilt is 12" x 14" and it makes a quick gift for someone special. You can use a picture printed on fabric such as EQ Printables, or make a picture pocket so you can change the picture whenever you wish. The picture is framed with Crazy Quilting and embellished with stitchery, 3 dimensional fabric flowers and ribbon.

I used silk fabric and metallic thread for the stitchery in the black and white version. The beige quilts are made with cotton fabrics and the pictures are framed with lace.

Click here to see this new pattern on my web site.

New Products from the Chicago Quilt Festival

I discovered several new products at Quilt Festival last week. Although not brand new to the market, they were new to me.

Kaleidoscope Kreator allows you to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind kaleidoscope designs from your own photos with just a few clicks of your mouse! You can then print the designs on fabric using a product such as EQ Printables fabric sheets and incorporate them into a quilt. I have had this programme since Version 1, but Version 2 along with the new template packs and a project CD were all new to me. Be sure to check out this website if you enjoy creating memory quilts as much as I do.

Fusible thread from Superior Threads has all kinds of uses including binding and applique. Look here for some great tips on using this product.

Because I use a lot of lace and trims in my memory quilts, I was very excited to see the new products that are available for dyeing lace. There were several booths at Quilt Festival selling paints and dyes for fabric and lace. I bought this set from Sara's Bloom along with 3 different brushes. This technique of dyeing lace will be perfect for my newest pattern, Portraits in Lace, because it will allow me to dye the lace to match the fabrics.

As always, way too much fun stuff to try and not enough time!

Chicago Quilt Festival

On our first day in Chicago we visited 3 wonderful quilt shops: The Quilt Merchant, Fabrics Etc. and Quilt Fabric.com. There was an amazing selection of fabric, patterns and books and the staff in each store were most hospitable.

Here is my friend and fellow pattern designer, Janet Rice-Bredin, buying even more fabric for her stash. Be sure to look at Janet's Blog for more pictures and information about our time in Chicago.

Our delicious box lunch arrived just as we finished visiting the last shop. I guess this is the Chicago version of a tail-gate party. All the food was arranged in the luggage compartment of the bus!

During the afternoon we drove around the downtown area of Chicago. What a fascinating city! I would love to return some day to visit the museums and galleries that we only had time to drive by this time. The highlight of the scenic tour was a visit to the "Bean". This is an amazing stainless steel sculpture in Millenium Park that reflects the entire downtown skyline. The second picture, below, was taken from the centre of the sculpture, looking up. Check out this website if you would like more information about the "Bean".

Although it was cold and rainy for most of our visit, the day of the bus tour was bright and sunny. You can imagine how beautiful this city park will be in just a few weeks time after all the plants are in.

Cinnamon Buns

Today I attended a Memorial service for a friend and fellow quilter. Peg died of ovarian cancer at the age of 76. Peg was a regular customer at our local quilt shop and she always brought the most wonderful cakes and cookies for all to share. She also put extra bags of goodies in the shop owner's freezer so her family could share as well.

Peg gave me this great recipe for Cinnamon Buns which I make regularly, and I would like to share it with you. Let me know how you like them!

Peg's Cinnamon Buns (Prepare these at night and bake them in the morning)

20 frozen dough rolls

Mix the following together
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla instant pudding
1 T. cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins

Grease a 10" bundt pan or square pan.
Put the frozen dough rolls in the pan.
Sprinkle with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Melt 1/2 cup butter and pour over all.
Cover with a clean, damp cloth. Leave out at room temperature.

In the morning, heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the buns for 25 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes and then turn out on a serving plate.

Thanks, Peg!

Daily Photographs

If you missed seeing the daily photographs during the last few days, you can find them all here. More great pictures of the International Quilt Festival coming soon!

Quilt Festival, Chicago

I am still at Quilt Festival in Chicago. The quilt show is amazing and the booths are very tempting. There is a wide variety of styles, and lots of Memory quilts, which, of course, I always enjoy. I will have lots of pictures to post when I get home on Sunday.

Canadian Aid for Chernobyl

In my post on March 18, I mentioned that our local Thousand Islands Quilters' Guild has sent hundreds of quilts to the Orphanages in Chernobyl, the site of the nuclear disaster in 1986. The Canadian delegation is in Belarus now, delivering supplies of all kinds, including more quilts from our Guild. My neighbour, Eric McKenzie, is part of the delegation and has been there many times. This year, he took his son, Alex, with him for the first time. Eric posts stories about his visit on his web site on a regular basis. I'm sure some pictures of our quilts will show up soon!

Eric's blog is fascinating to read. It certainly makes us realize how lucky we are to live in this country!

Little Picture Quilt #3

I am still making samples of my patterns for the International Quilt Market show in Portland, Oregon using some of the new Spring fabrics. Here are some new models of my Little Picture Quilt #3. The photograph is removable so you can change it whenever you like. A great gift idea!

Another New Pattern!

I have just put the "official" photos of my newest pattern (Portraits in Lace) on my website. The pattern will be added to my shopping cart later this week. These little quilts can be hung on the wall in the "normal" way, with a hanging sleeve on the back, or they can be hung on the Ackfeld hangers that you see here. Ackfeld has a wide variety of these hangers that are perfect for small wall hangings.