I've been traveling lately...it's that time of the year for me. It must be the migration thing...that pull, that force that says "go". In our case, it was "go south", and my pull was to attend this year's wonderful quilting event, Hands Across the Waters. And it just so happens that my guild, Quadra Quilters, was the sponsoring party for this five guild event that annually celebrates quilting on upper Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Discovery Islands. Typically this is just a one day gig, but Quadra always seems to know how to do it up right. We extended by two more days and offered some great classes taught by talented women. And I couldn't say no to those classes! Plus it was also a chance to hang out with my quilting friends. Hosted by Joan at her very special Open Bay cabin for 3 nights, my friend Jan and I had one great quilting weekend.
My two classes focused on applique. Ursula Riegel taught me everything I wanted to know about hand applique. Being self taught, I always seemed to struggle with it and I inately believed there must be a better way. Ursula, definitely the queen of this craft, set me straight. Plus, I had never tried reverse applique and now I know all the tricks. (Just have to practice!) Daphne Greig, on the other hand, helped my explore applique using fusibles and let us play with our decorative stitches to accent them. I didn't come out of these classes with any finished projects, but certainly a good amount of hands on practice and a much better handle on tips and techniques.
During breaks, I would run around to see what other groups were doing: ripless paper piecing, a play session with embellishments, and thread play to create bark and branches. Amazing things were happening!
The luncheon on Saturday was a chance for 200 of us to come together, see old friends and meet new ones, see what local vendors had to offer, check out the challenge entries (theme of "nature"), hear keynote speaker Karla Thompson share her wit , wisdom and beautiful quilts, and experience the generosity that Quadra extends to each visitor.
