Retreat Roundup

What a beautiful week at Margaret's in the Kawarthas. It was HOT and SUNNY and her deck looks out over a lake (of unknown name). The dock was installed but the boat was still in storage so we didn't make it as far as the water, but nevertheless...

The Buckhorn guild hosted me as the guest speaker. I presented a slide show of my trip to the Tokyo Great International Quilt Festival 2009. In the afternoon I taught a postcard workshop. You could entertain yourself for quite a while coming up with a caption for this photo.

I was on supper duty so I'm making sure the guests will enjoy their meal. Get 'em soused is my philosophy, then everything tastes good.

I was back at work on Monday. The first day back never goes quite as well as you'd like.

Mom & Lecture/workshop/retreat

Mom still likes to party on a beautiful day. Back many years ago that used to involve much beer. Now, it's yogurt. Note to self: call the home today and see if upper dentures have been found in the laundry. Note to YOU: if you want to do something nice for your mom, just take her out for a walk on a lovely day. Give her the gift of your time (and maybe a yogurt parfait from McDonalds).

I have been booked by the Buckhorn Guild to do my dog & pony show (slide show of the Tokyo Great International Quilt Festival). After the meeting I will be leading a workshop on fabric postcards. I'm staying with my friend Margaret (of the Kawartha Margarets) for the whole week (yippee!!!). Anne and Sue will be joining us on Thursday. The menus are planned and the toenails are painted (beach weather - OMG, how great is that!). Sayonara 'till Sunday.

Tokyo Quilt

Here is one of the Tokyo quilts. Click on the photo to make it large so you can read the embroidery - the book holds a very important message from me to you.

Circle Applique Quilts - Tokyo

OK, enough about toilets (!). Here are some beauties with the little appliqued circles. I just love these.

Dissecting One Japanese Quilt

When I grow up I want to be able to make just ONE quilt like this.

Beautiful quilt, eh?







Now - a closer look. Oooo - those are all intricate Mariner's Compass blocks.






Closer still... the sashing strips have a lovely vine on them. The leaves are reverse applique (or cutwork) and each one is embroidered. And the border vine - each little leaf stem is appliqued, with a circle at the end.




Now for the quilting... note the beautiful detail in the corner.

Tokyo - Log Cabin Quilts

Today I thought I would entertain you with the Log Cabin quilts from the Tokyo show. Ohhh, teeny tiny logs. Sometimes they use this as a palette for applique. You may also notice the colours are quite subdued in most of these quilts.








I look at mine, which are usually made from 2 1/2" strips. Then I look at these. I look at mine, then look at these. I feel like a kindergardener who is learning to sew by stitching yarn through a paper plate.

Tokyo Quilt Show - Group Quilts

Like all the quilts at the show, the group quilts were fantastic. This is a small sample - there were lots of group quilts. Many were very whimsical, as you will see.

The bear cutting his way out of a crazy quilt made me laugh out loud. And all his little friends helping with the quilt!









There were several quilts at the show that had 'connectors' to hold them together, as you can see in the taupe coloured quilt. In every case, the technique was beautifully executed.






























I belong to a guild that has done a bang-up job of making a group quilt. These made me want to start another one that goes beyond the traditional (habitual?) choices we tend to make. You really need to have confidence in the workmanship of your partners when you tackle a project like these. I mean, LOOK at the tiny stuffed strawberries in the teddy bear's picnic block. Trust me... they are very very tiny. And if you check out the bear with the blue bonnet you will see more yo-yos around the border.