Fright Night

Wishing all of you a safe, fun, and happy Halloween weekend!

Last Show of 2010 and Thank You

October 23rd marked the last quilt show I'll be participating in this year. It was held in Chilliwack, BC and hosted by the Piecemakers Quilt Guild. This was my booth. Isn't it amazing how much can be squeezed into such a small space?
I had a few moments before the show started to check out the quilts on display. I'm in awe of quilters like Sandra Lounsbury who made this 60" x 97" "Gracie's Garden" quilt. Look at all those tiny pieces!!

I loved the bright colours and the composition of this paper-pieced quilt by Maureen Wood, entitled "Fourth of July".

Of course, quilts made with my favourite country colours and fabrics, always catch my eye. I loved this one made by Lisa van den Brink, called "Stairway to the Stars."

And this one called "String of Stars" made by Sharon Churchill.

Cynthia Long calls this her "Olympic Quilt" because it was finished during the Olympics. But it took her 3 years to make all the half-square triangles from scraps! Talk about a labour of love!

This 94" x 94" "Dear Jane" quilt made by Wendy Lyon has 5000 pieces!!

And this beautiful "Cathedral Windows" quilt was made by the Featured Quilter of the show, Dorothy Baker, soon to celebrate her 83rd birthday camping in South Africa! What an amazing and inspiring lady!

And last but not least, this quilt was made by Gail Whetter, using the selvages we usually throw away. What a fun idea!

Here's a close-up.

I'm always thrilled when I see one of my patterns on display. This scaled-down version of "House Sampler" was made by Cynthia Long. Great job!!

And Kathy Lang purchased my "Pumpkin-ful of Posies" kit and made up this little wallhanging.

So that was my Saturday.

On Sunday, three of us designers who hosted the Quilts at Tanglebank Gardens show in September, invited our wonderful volunteers to a Thank-you lunch at Dougal Walker's home.

After the main course, Dougal, Sue Jensen, and I served the dessert, yummy black forest cake.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! We absolutely could not have done the show without you!

Back in the quilting saddle

Now that I'm home from vacation, it's time to dust off my old Pfaff and get designing again. It feels good to be using those quilting muscles! I'm working on another book proposal and hoping I can submit it to the publisher by the end of the year.

And it's been awhile since I had patterns published in quilt or craft magazines, but now I have two out there! "Vine Dance" is available in the fall issue of Quilter's Connection, a Canadian magazine (http://www.quiltersconnection.ca/).
And, the October issue of "Create and Decorate" (http://www.createanddecorate.com/) includes my "Pumpkin Garland" pattern.
And here's a heads up... Make sure to check the special winter issue of "Quiltmania" magazine (http://www.quiltmania.com/) for another pattern by yours truly!

France Week Two

For a quilter, no vacation would be complete without visiting a wonderful quilt shop! I'd wanted to visit "Born to Quilt", http://www.borntoquilt.fr/, in Fontangy, France, ever since first reading about it in a quilt magazine.
The shop is nestled in the beautiful Burgundy countryside, behind the home of its owner, Veronique Requena. I felt like I'd stepped into one of my favourite country stores in the US!

Veronique has filled her shop to the brim with wonderful fabrics and wools. She teaches, designs patterns, and writes books and magazine articles as well. Her latest mystery quilt is displayed on the ceiling of her shop.

She found room to display two of the quilts from my "Country Comforts" book in her shop and on Sept. 24th I was happy to sign copies for her customers.

If anyone had told me when I first started quilting that someday my quilts would be displayed in France, and that French quilters would be buying my books, I would never have believed them!

In addition to fabric, "Born to Quilt" has all kinds of other country wares for sale.

I loved being here!

Thank you, Vero, for an amazing time, your hospitality, and for many wonderful memories!

It was a dream come true for me!

What else did we do this week? Well, let's see. We explored some more medieval towns,

and some more cathedrals.

We visited Chenonceau chateau in the Loire Valley,

including its incredible flower and vegetable gardens.

And we visited another quilting friend, Martine Bronca, in her home near Tours.

Martine and several of her friends from http://www.quiltinusa.blogspot.com/ had visited me

in July on their way to the quilt show in Sisters, Oregon.

She served us the most wonderful meal, finished off with this delicious fruit tart for dessert!

And I loved seeing the quilts she's made and the ones she's currently working on!

Thank you so much, Martine, for welcoming us into your home!

What a treat it was for us!

We drove on to Mont St. Michele.

This was the view out of our B&B window.

And here it is, a bit closer.

We ended our week in Normandy, at Omaha Beach, a very moving experience.