Changing Channels

We headed out on a short summer road trip earlier this week and I decided that taking Minnie along to work on in the car would be easier than trying to wrestle with Danuta's Garden, so I hurriedly cut enough hexies to do a ring around three four-diamond hexie pieces that were already together.

There were lots of good intentions but I spent so much time being navigator and taking in the sights that the pieces never left the bag. Yesterday, after everything was unpacked, I spent the afternoon working on the first one.

It's been ages since I've sewn on this one but it's like an old friend - very easy to reconnect with.

Our travels took us into Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes District of New York State. What a gorgeous area - we are already looking forward to a return visit or two.

It is set at the north end of the lake tucked in amid scenic rolling fields of corn and wheat and we thoroughly enjoyed boat a tour of the lake.

We did a day trip into Ithaca and enjoyed a stroll around the Cornell campus, a visit to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and lunch at the famed Moosewood Restaurant (we're not vegetarians, but when in Rome...). They are having a very dry summer so all the lawns are parched but I'm certain that it would be even nicer when everything is green.

And, (quel surprise!) there's even a quilt shop or two. Just before we rolled into Skaneateles we came across Patchwork Plus whose claim to fame is having 9,000 bolts to choose from. It is a beautiful shop - very organized and incredibly neat. I was totally overwhelmed so the only thing that came home with me was these three pieces.

I thought that it was quite cute how they tied it all up with a strip of batik....M

One Treat After Another

I had to make a quick trip to Toronto for meetings, which I don't always favour in the middle of winter, but this one turned out to include a few sweet treats so that helped.

For starters, our friend Mireille had ordered a Galette des Rois (King's Cake) - the flaky, buttery, puff pastry kind with a layer of crème d’amandes - for our family from a lovely little French bakery on Mount Pleasant called Thobors (I could happily live out the rest of my days there...), so I was able to pick it up. We dug into it last night and the oohs and aaahs just kept coming. And, I was lucky enough to find one of the ceramic figurines that was hidden in it, so that was fun too. It's a lovely tradition and if you want to try making one of your own it looks totally doable.

Then, on the drive home I happened upon a new quilt shop in the lovely little hamlet of Bethany. It's called From the Heart and just opened in December. It is a lovely space with a great selection of fabrics and more coming in all the time. I found a few pieces for Minnie and a red holiday print too.

I also picked up another packet of Clover silk pins (I use these all the time - they are wonderfully fine), and I tossed a soft thimble into the bag too. I want to learn how to quilt with a running stitch so that I can move along faster rather than the single stitch method I use so I thought this might act as an incentive.

Edyta Sitar's book Handfuls of Scraps came with me too. I really love the cover quilt and the combination of hexies and appliqué.

The shop hosts Fireside Fridays where you bring your stitching and sit by the fire for the afternoon; I think mid week it's Wooly Wednesdays. Wish I lived closer. Their website isn't up yet but they do have a facebook page that you can visit if you are interested.

About an hour after arriving home our weekend company arrived so it's been a full several days. Today it will be hand stitching and more quilting and maybe a little playoff football. I'm looking forward to putting my feet up....M

'Bee'-u-tiful Finds

One of our favourite things to do in Niagara-on-the-Lake is to get up and go for a long walk before breakfast (can you say freshly baked croissants?!). The gardens are always so beautifully done and the streetscape some of the loveliest that you will ever see. I also like to take full advantage of the fact that we were near two really wonderful quilt shops (which is code for 'I bought more beautiful fabric'), both of which have 'bee' themed names.

My first stop was in Virgil, at The Modern Bee's new location. This is not the largest quilt shop in the world by any means, but I think it has the best fabric selection that I've seen. They don't buy full fabric lines, but instead select the pieces that work with other fabrics in their shop, and they do a beautiful job of it. I went looking for blues and greys and came away with these gorgeous little goodies. Don't you love those radishes? Thank you Martha Negley!

The next day it was off to The Quilting Bee in Font Hill. This is the shop where I bought my sewing machine last year and it is fantastic. The staff are all so lovely and the selection makes it hard to come away with only a few things. The last time I was there they gave me a free Creative Grid 2 x 6" non-skid ruler, just for showing up, and I like it so much that I bought two new ones - a 12" and a 24". The fact that it's getting hard to see the lines on my current rulers sort of helped that decision.

I also found this great print. Not sure what it will be for yet, but it was on half price, so 8 metres followed me home.

I picked up a few more pieces for Minnie...

and Kaffe Fasset fabrics were 40% off, so I found a few of those that I liked too. It was hard to pick just three (the dots aren't Kaffe).

What I was really looking for, believe it or not, were shades of light blue and grey; instead I came home with all of these gorgeous, saturated colours. I did manage to get some blues and greys too, but will show them to you the next time....M

Fun At Fibrefest

Almonte is a charming village nestled along the shores of the Mississippi River. It's about an hour's drive from us and in the mid 1800s was home to a thriving woolen mill. For the past 18 years the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, which is in the annex of the former Rosamond Woolen Company, has been hosting Fibrefest. It celebrates textile and fibre arts and includes exhibits from local guilds demonstrating knitting, lacemaking, smocking, weaving, spinning, quilting, and penny rugs. Jane and Linda have been in the past and this year Betty and I decided that we could use a road trip too, so off we all went. Included in the festival were several vendors so we had lots of fun browsing and shopping.

I was particularly interested in getting to the Mad About Patchwork booth as I had come across her online shop recently. She has a great selection and wonderful prices. I had to restrain myself, but somehow all of these lovely little fat quarters followed me home.

I was also finally bitten by the Farmer's Wife bug and bought the book. I don't have any plans to make the full quilt but it's beautifully laid out and there are several blocks in it that really appeal to me. When I discovered that they finish off at 6 inches that was all the convincing that I needed.

This block is really pretty.

As is this one.

Lovely little basket.

And this is another favourite.

Nadine Sculland is another exhibitor that I was looking for. She makes these incredibly tiny paper pieced quilts and cards - just beautiful. The Ottawa Valley Button Club was there too (who knew that there were button clubs?) so I spent some time digging through baskets of shiny things and picked up a few lovely shell buttons that I'm thinking I'll integrate into the yoyo heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these pretty little snowflakes were too cute to pass up - they are about 1.5 inches wide and will be perfect to tuck into a few Christmas cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a tour of the downtown shops - which was crawling with women from the festival - we dropped by the museum. It is one of Canada's National Historic Sites and now features a blend of the old and new. Upstairs was a small, but amazing, exhibit by Noelle Hamlyn called Sweetness of the Work, a collection created in homage to hand work to 'showcase the stitches, labour and hours invested in traditional women’s hand work. Many pieces have been washed and treated to encourage the formation of salt crystals to represent the sweat and salt tears of the seamstress - a gentle meditation on the loss of these traditional skills, the repetitive nature of hand work, and the social role of women'. Noelle was there so Betty and I had a great chat with her; such an amazing young talent. All in all, a great road trip, start to finish....M

The Bee's Knees

We're on vacation this week so we headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few days of R&R with Stephanie and discovered a great new shop - Bee. It made 6 hours in the car very worthwhile. I could happily spend the rest of my days there.

The Niagara region is known for its wonderful wines and soft-fruit orchards - oh yes, and those Falls - but lately I have been discovering really great quilts shops there too - the perfect combo in my books! What a charming little corner of the world, and I do mean little. Bee is tiny but packed to the rafters with one of the best fabric collections that I've seen in a long time. Susan was on duty when we were there and was more than happy to help us out.

They've got a gorgeous, full wall of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and will be hosting him this fall for a workshop, which they are all quite excited about. October 4 & 5 are the dates, if you are interested.

And, she had more good news - Quilt Canada is coming to the Niagara region next June. It will be held June 11 - 14 at Brock University in St. Catharines, which is only about 20 minutes away; she's on the organizing committee so she had the inside scoop. Time to plan a road trip for next spring gals - you know who you are...

The little yellow room over Susan's shoulder in the photo above leads to the other half of the building that they are in.

Just when you think you've seen it all, this view beckons through a tiny doorway. It's a yarn and gift shop and as much fun to browse through as the fabric shop. The presentation is just so lovely and the yarns are to die for.

I've checked out their website since we've been home and realized that, despite 2 visits to the shop, I still missed seeing their collection of wools. That's reason enough to return. They need more space for parking and product so in about 4 months they will move down the road to Virgil and set up shop there. It's a two storey house that will apparently have a red polka dot awning so it should be easy to find.

I picked up this sunny collection of fat quarters...I tried to pick a favourite, but couldn't.

And the shop worked its magic on Stephanie too. She bought a kit for a fabulous quilt-as-you-go Log Cabin cushion made up by the gals in the shop - they offer a course for it as well. It comes with all the necessary fabrics cut to the proper widths and includes the batting and backing; all you need to add is the pillow form. Just LUV the colours, and it was beautifully packaged.

So glad that they are now on my radar - look for them if you are in Niagara-on-the-Lake...M