What a Lovely Day for a Quilt Show

Heritage Park in Calgary puts on a huge quilt show every May.  They have, usually, over 800 quilts.  Some are draped over beds and couches in the old houses, but many are displayed outside - weather permitting.  There are many years when weather does not permit.

Their quilt show was last weekend.  The Monday before, I checked the weather.  Rain!  Yikes!  I continued to watch the forecast, and it changed frequently from rain, to cloudy, to downpour, to partial sun.  Thursday and Friday, it rained buckets, and I wasn't holding out much hope.  Saturday wasn't bad, though - just a few sprinkles.  I went to see the show on Sunday, and it was glorious!

Sunshine, blue sky and the perfect temperature for walking around.

Look at that sky!  These are the vendor and special exhibit tents, with some of the outdoor quilts under canopies to the right.

I entered a quilt in the show for the first time - my Stars Around the Garden quilt.  Here I am with the quilt.

Do I look maybe the teeniest bit excited?

Here you can see it (behind the pregnant lady) with one of the old houses in the background.

This is a non-judged show, but I did get a little ribbon for being a first time exhibitor.

I won't put all my photos in here, as it would really bog down the old blog.  But, if you want to take a look at all 80, you can go to my flickr page.

Trip to Windsor

Not the castle, the city in Ontario.  A week or so ago, I visited Windsor for the first time.  I was there for a conference at the University, and tacked on a couple days vacation, so I could visit the place, and, of course, do my own little shop hop.  I brought Mr CQT with me - now that he's retired, he can come along, whenever he wants.  That's kind of fun!

We stayed at the Windsor Hilton.  I highly recommend this hotel - lovely rooms and great service.  This was the view out of our window.

This is the Detroit river, and the Detroit skyline.  Detroit is NORTH of Windsor, which really got me confused with directions - I couldn't wrap my head around the US being north of Canada.  Of course, my family would tell you that I'm confused with directions most of the time.  Thank goodness for Mrs. Garmin.

Here is the skyline at night.  Our view was spectacular!

We did not visit Detroit.  Somebody forgot to bring the passports.  (OK, OK - it was me.)  But we did tour around the Windsor area.  We visited Rose Cottage in Amherstburg, which was a pretty store, in a new building.  Amherstburg is a very pretty town, on the edge of Lake Erie. Then we went to Essex, and visited Sewcraft, which sells all kinds of fabrics, not just quilting fabric.

We then visited Ella Quilts in Tecumseh.  This is in a tiny house, hidden from the street.  We couldn't find it, even with the help of Mrs. Garmin.  But we phoned and got directions and I was pleasantly surprised.  The store was packed full of fabric and supplies, and the owner was very welcoming, even treating me to a quick lesson on how to do a disappearing four patch block.

Finally, we went to Quilting Confections in Windsor itself.  Mrs. Garmin got confused by the address, and wanted to send us in a strange direction.  We knew from the ads for the store that it was across from the airport, so we ended up finding it ourselves.  This store is in a strip mall, but very bright and cheerful, and a good supply of fabric.

I didn't buy a lot.  Ontario has 14% sales tax, so that made the prices a little steep, when comparing them to home.  But, I couldn't go away empty handed, so I did buy a few fat quarters.

Birds, owls and monkeys!  I seem to be on an animal kick lately.  The fabric lines are Song of Joy by Victoria Hutto (Timeless Treasures);  Owls in the Hood by a Danish company called STOF and Lollipop by Sandy Gervais (Moda).

Nametag

At the Calgary Modern Quilt Guild meeting that I attended last month, we were told to make a nametag for the May meeting.  At first I was stumped.  Most of the nametags that I have worn have been about 2 inches by 3 inches, and I had no idea how to make something quilty that was that small, and still left room for my name.

But at the conference I went to last weekend, we were given fairly large nametags; pouches actually, with room to store a flash drive and one of those little voting things that seem to be so popular now with the powerpoint crowd.  It hung around our neck, rather than being pinned on.  When I saw it, I had an "aha" moment!

So, I made a tiny churn dash block - 3 inches, and added an extra bit of fabric to write my name on.  A couple strips of colourful stripes for binding and straps, and I was done.

Or so I thought.  I then remembered that I had some sewing themed buttons that I had bought on a whim.  Why not?  I added the scissors, sewing machine - and that little orange blob is a thimble.  Finished!

And that is all the sewing I have done this weekend.  Spring has finally arrived here, and I had to spend some time outside!

I'm linking up with Mary for Sew Sunday.

I Have an Excuse, Really!

I haven't been doing any quilting in the last week.  I spent four days at a conference in Lake Louise, which is in Banff National Park.

It is just a beautiful spot.  The weather wasn't great - it was pretty chilly and snowed quite a lot one day.  But who can complain about these views?  We ate our meals in a room with floor to ceiling windows, all looking at this:

There is a lake in front of this mountain.  Lake Louise, as a matter of fact.  When it isn't frozen, it is the most gorgeous blue you can imagine.

However, I wasn't there just to look around.  We had full days of lectures, and I learned a LOT.  And, of course, these conferences give you an opportunity to network with with others in the same business, and catch up with old friends.

When I was away, we received word that some of the government workers, including the courthouse security staff had gone on a wildcat strike.  Some of the court staff walked as well.  But, I was reassured to find out that none of my staff did.  They are so wonderful.  One of my staff said "How could we walk out?  There was a lineup of people who needed help?"

Today, though, we HAD to walk out - someone tried to bring a suspicious package into the building.  Luckily, it was caught at the entrance, going through the security scanners.  We were all evacuated, and spent the rest of the day waiting to hear what was going on.  Thank heavens for Twitter - it was our source of news as the day dragged on.  They brought in the bomb robot and removed the package.  We haven't heard yet if it was a bomb or something innocuous.  I'm just glad that everyone is OK, and that the security staff were back at work!

Hopefully, things have settled down for awhile now, and I can get back to the peace and quiet of my sewing room!

Heritage Park Here I Come!

Every year at the end of May, Calgary's Heritage Park hosts the Festival of Quilts.

Heritage Park is a historical village, set in what is one of the most beautiful locations in the city.

This photo is from a few years ago, and shows the Wainwright Hotel, with all the quilts.  They are also displayed in the houses, draped over fences, hung on clotheslines and hung under tents.  On a nice May day, it is a spectacular show!

I haven't ever entered a quilt.  It isn't a judged show, but all the same, I didn't think my quilts were good enough.  But this year, I picked up an entry form, and noticed that this year, they have a special call for appliqué quilts.  And this year, I have this one:

This is Stars Around the Garden.  I've shown you this before.  It was a Saturday Sampler, that was started a few years ago, and finished up last fall.   It was quilted by the wonderfully talented Chelsea at Pins and Bobbins.

So, I've sent in my entry, and will deliver my quilt on May 21, and be looking for it at the Festival, May 25 and 26.

Linking up with The Needle and Thread Network

Fabric Sale Purchases

As promised, here are photos of the fabric I picked up yesterday at the Ujamaa Grandmas annual fabric and yarn sale.

This was a kit - 2 1/2 yards of fabric, plus 12 fat quarters, plus the pattern - all for $25.  I haven't bought 1930 - 40 style fabric before, but I couldn't pass this up.

The ladies were very generous with their measuring.  This piece was marked as 1/2 metre.  It had been cut into, but the uncut part was 3/4 of a metre, and the part that was cut into left at least a fat quarter.

This piece was marked as 3.5 metres.  It was actually 5.  I have a Christmas quilt in the planning stage that can use this as a backing.

And then there were scraps of various sizes that were bundled together in coordinating packages.  Each package totalled about a metre, and was $3.  I got 4.

And finally, a "grab bag" for a dollar.  These fabrics were mostly non-cotton, although there were a couple muslin pieces in there.  These will be good for practising free motion quilting.

I'm on the Grandmas mailing list, and received an e mail from them today, saying they made $28,500 from the sale yesterday.  I'm impressed!

I'm linking up with Sew Sunday, even though I haven't done any actual sewing yet today.  I have done a lot of preparing, and thinking about sewing and I've decided that counts.

Strategies of a Fabric Sale Shopper

Ujamaa Grandmas is a non-profit society that raises money to help grandmothers in Africa who are raising their orphaned grandchildren.  Their big fundraiser of the year is their fabric and yarn sale in April.  I discovered it 4 years ago.  It seems to be getting more popular every year.

People donate their un-used fabric, yarn, notions, books, patterns, etc to the Grandmas.  They also get donations from fabric and upholstery stores in town.

The first year I went, I arrive at around 11:00.  The sale is held in the basement of a church.  I walked down the stairs and WOW! - I could not believe all the fabric that was there.  Tables stacked with piles and piles of one and two yard cuts of fashion and decorator fabric in the main room - and several side rooms with specialized items.  One room was full of quilting fabric, in various sizes.  Another was full of notions and tools.  A third had bolts of decorator fabric.  I was in heaven!  I stocked up, for just a few dollars.

The next year, I arrived right as it opened, at 9:30.  It was crazy busy!  It was hard to even get to the quilting fabric, but I managed to stock up again, and joined the huge lineup to pay.  I decided I wouldn't go right at opening time the next time.

Last year, I went at 1:00.  Bad idea.  The fabrics were very picked over and I went away empty handed.  :-(

Yesterday, my strategy was to arrive at about 10:00.  That way, I would miss the opening rush, but would still have a good selection.  I got there, and parked a couple blocks away, as there were cars all over the place.  That was not a good sign, but I assumed it was all the early birds, who were now in the process of leaving.  I turned the corner and arrived at the church to find a lineup well outside the door!  It turns out that people were lined up an hour before the doors opened!  This event is getting to be very popular!!

Well, what's a girl to do?  I joined the lineup, and shivered with all of the other women (and a couple men - or "sherpas" as one fellow described himself).  It took about a half hour just to get into the sale. And another 20 minutes in line to pay.   But, it was well worth it.  The selection of quilting fabric was the best yet.  I came away with a healthy haul.  I'm just washing it up right now, so I'll post pictures later.

My tips, for anyone who wants to go next year are:

• Come early and line up.  
• Wear warm clothing, but dress in layers.  It will be chilly outside, but it is quite warm in the church, especially once it fills up.
• Don't bring your children, unless they are old enough to be sherpas.  Especially don't bring strollers.
• Bring your own bags.  (Note I said bags, not bag.)
• Plan to pay cash.  They do take credit and debit, but I find it's quicker to pay cash.
• I saw one pair of women - one stood in the checkout line, while the other went around and collected fabric to purchase.  If you were in a hurry, that would be the way to do it.  But who wants to be in a hurry at a fabric sale?

More information about the event is here.