SUMMER CHALLENGE 2007: WELL BEHAVED WOMEN

Terry and Ellen, co-winners from last year's challenge, presented our guild members with a small piece of very domestic, kitcheny fabric showing a myriad of baking tools. Then came the theme: "well behaved women seldom make history". Hmmmm...this one would require some thought (as they all do!).

So with two months to ponder on how to meld the fabric and the theme into something meaningful for myself, I eventually wound my way into honoring my mother's great pie crust recipe. After all, she was well-behaved, never made history, but did make a damn good apple pie, of which family members still talk about.

I knew the exact wall where I would hang this piece so took my measurements and worked out my plan from there. I chose fabrics that blended with the focus piece and also the light colored fir of my cabinets. I remember needing to have a hand-sewing project (must have been a travel day or a craft shop sales day with time on my hands) so I fussy-cut the small baking tools and hand pieced them with a gingery-colored hand dye. I stamped out the title with foam stamps and thickened black dye, but needed to hand letter the actual recipe, as keeping it within a relatively small space was important. I put the pieces all together in somewhat of a "temple" look, then added the small white buttons as a finishing touch.

This is one of my very favorite pieces! Its a wonderful testimony to my mom and it gets me making pies (pumpkin for me) on a more frequent basis. It also may start the discussion or debate on "best pie crust recipe", or "crisco or tenderflake?".

SUMMER CHALLENGE 2008: RECYCLED MANDALA

The theme for last year's summer challenge was something in the "green" realm which also seemed to be a popular theme in quilting magazines. The main criteria was to use recycled fabrics and fibers within the challenge piece. Janet (the previous year's winner) presented the information and spirally-green and not-so-great fabric (of course!) to all interested participants at the June meeting.

I had been saving "chip bags" for awhile and had quite a good collection of them. I had seen some totes and purses made from them and thought that SOMEDAY (the famous Someday!) I would try making one too. I particularly liked the fact that I had chip bags from both Mexico and Canada which gave me three languages.

I love symmetry, and mandalas always attract my attention with their beauty, simplicity and symmetry. So I started cutting them up for some design work. I found them tedious to work with, so ended up carefully ironing on a fusible to the back, which helped in placing them and sewing them down. I realized that once a mistake is made with sewing, its hard to undo as the needle holes/perforations are left behind. Anyway, allof this fussiness took much of my interest in chip bags away, but I persisted and managed to complete the mandala.

For further embellishment, I cut out red aluminum circles from coke cans, hammered in two holes to make them buttons, and sewed them to the outside of the mandala. That was enough. Then the binding and I was finished. For a finale, all my saved chip bags went into the trash.

On the day of our first fall meeting, all challenges anonymously went onto the wall and we placed our votes. Norma, the winner, had a delightful flower display, with 6 different varieties and their botanical names. For example, one flower was made totally of the selvages showing the little circles of color from different fabrics and she titled it "selvagia veriganis" or something of the like. Clever and well done Norma!

My mandala sits in a box. I'll have to find a fitting place to hang it! Perhaps near my recycling area....

SUMMER CHALLENGE 2009: KAYAK GARDEN

Even though I'm a part-timer in my quilt guild (Quadra Quilters), I cherish those monthly meetings and get-togethers with the other 40+ talented, energetic and warm-hearted women in the guild. When we break for summer, we are always left with the choice of participating in the "summer challenge." The winner from the previous year has the privilege of choosing a theme and a very ugly piece of cotton to divvy out among participants, and then she challenges other members to put their creative summer talents to work. In September, pieces are anonymously hung and we each get one vote. The winner's prize? ....to be in charge on next year's challenge.

I love this. I think I'm a competition junkie at heart. In June, Norma presented us with a teal-y piece of cotton with the theme of "the enchanted universe" and told us to have at it. I cringed at both the fabric and the theme....neither struck a cord with me. I hung the fabric on the wall and looked at it for 2 months while ideas drifted in and out.

A week before our September meeting, I realized my thinking time had come to an end and I had to get moving. The three best ideas swirling around in my head had to do with 1)my backyard pond, 2)the quote "if my heart were a garden, what would I plant?", and 3)trying to recapture the magic I experienced during a nighttime kayak trip with a group of women friends. The latter became my choice and I set to work.

The ugly teal-y fabric became both the land and the water by using the reverse side. I then called upon the remnants of the palette I produced at the Cortes class. That earthy yellow worked so well and even pulled out a bit of the similar color found in the dark teal piece. I had very little left to make kayaks but did find enough in pink, blue, rust and purple. Not the greatest colors, BUT because they are from one palette, worked so well together. After sewing them to the background and my batting, I proceeded to free motion the kayak seats into the "kayak flowers", along with the paddle leaves and paddle rays of the sun. I filled in the rest with my favorite spiraling, and then was ready to discharge the seats and paddles to accentuate them. This time I used Soft Scrub with bleach in my little metal tipped bottle. It discharged the color, I then washed out the bleach, let it dry, and added the binding and the sleeve. For the final details, I chose some sweet buttons to add as flower centers, etc.. I completed the piece the day before the meeting. Phew!

Happily, might I add, I won this year's competition! There were 7 entries and they were all amazing, as they usually are! My prize was a fantastic book titled "Skinny Quilts and Tablerunners from Today's Top Designers" (thank you Norma!) and the privilege of planning next year's summer challenge. I've already got some ideas.

While I'm at it, I might as well display my other 3 challenge pieces from past years....but that's for tomorrow.

PALETTE PROJECTS

I love palettes of color - seeing the offspring of those simple primaries of red, yellow and blue, and then putting them together into one project so all those colors just magically connect and work together. I always am promoting this idea, but actually taking the time to do it is another thing....you know, the "so many ideas, so little time" thing. But lately I have wound my way into palette work, and satisfying it has been.

A few years back, I came up with a straight and square Mexican-ish shirt design that uses fat quarters and is oh so comfortable to wear. I got back to some shirt sewing this summer, this time putting pockets in the sides. My first was using palette pieces, and those to follow featured some of my unique hand dyes that I wanted to highlight on the pockets, the yoke, etc. Which gets the most compliments? Yes, the prototype palette shirt, and I believe its because of those simple and soothing colors that just belong together like a family of colors. The pockets are too short and the shirt a bit baggy, but I get many positive comments when I wear it.

Then I had a lovely palette of colors from my recent class on Cortes Island and I decided to divide them up into warms and cools and work with them separately. The results are below - two totes that are making their way over to the Craft Cooperative to be placed with my other goods for sale. Of course I had to incorporate bleaching/discharging (this time using Soft Scrub with bleach) which adds a great dimensionality to the whole.

For me, the warm palette works much better than the cool as the residual yellows fall in place with the background. Once again, another piece of information to put in the experiential file cabinet. Happy dyeing, happy sewing!

DYEING IN WHALETOWN

Early Saturday morning, I hopped in the boat for a 15 minute ride to Cortes Island, then took a 20 minute auto traverse across the island to the tiny community of Whaletown. Jan and Carole, co-horts in the Craft Co-operative, put together a group of four for some dye lessons at Carole's place.I brought 2 tubs and a bucket with supplies, while Jan used her wheelbarrow to carry her things from across the road.

A lovely deck in the trees with an ocean view was the perfect setting for our eager group to watch and try out dyeing techniques.

The canning jars and a multitude of other supplies lined our tables.

Helene shows us her work. Notice the moonsnails on the railing and the coastal backdrop.

The buzz of the sawmill drifted through the air most of the day.

Everyone went home with a lovely palette of colors. I will be showing you what I did with mine very soon.

I couldn't help but notice Carole's sewing nook, peacefully located in a shower stall that isn't being used. Clever, yes?Thanks, Whaletowners, for a great day!

JERRY, MY INSPIRATION!

Here's Jerry. He is so amazing - married to a beautiful wife, Reene, for 56 years, lives full time on the amazing boat that he built by himself, and has a fantastic and devoted family that he loves to help with building and renovation projects. After all, he was a high school shop teacher north of Victoria, BC, and he obviously is one those guys who can do anything and everything.

Every summer, Jerry and Reene bring their boat north and cruise through the Desolation Sound area for four beautiful months. Along with a handful of other boaters, they make Refuge Cove their "home away from home" and are included in the group we loosely refer to as "locals".

Last week Jerry turned 80! Reene hosted a deck party for all the other "locals" and provided her fabulous pies (blackberry or lemon chiffon) for 60. And she's close to 80 too. Both are my inspiration...still adventuring, still celebrating with friends, still enjoying all that life holds.

So I searched through my box of recycled white clothes and found only one white t-shirt, but just perfect for a quick tie-dye for Jerry's 80th. Doesn't he look great? And I hear he's been seen wearing it at other events. What a guy!

ON THE PROWL FOR THE OWL

The beauty of Refuge Cove is found in the raw, natural environment surrounding us. We have the ocean as our front yard with all of the wildness and mystery and depth that it holds, while my garden and the forest are right out our backdoor. It's everywhere...and we love it! Although our island is immense, we witness very little wildlife. We hear about winter sightings of a cougar or maybe a lone wolf, but during the summer months, we may see a small marten skirting along the beach or a seal surfacing as we paddle along in our kayaks. Squirrels jump from tree to tree and taunt my little dog with their chirping. Bats whisk through the air at night in search of the many bugs filling the sky.
My most faithful and interesting visitor is a barred owl. Every afternoon, when I hear the robins squawking and chirping up a storm, I know the owl is near. Eventually the robins' squawks enter my yard and I begin the search for the owl. He has three favorite perches and I believe he's looking for snakes, baby birds in their nest, or a small mouse or vole. He also sits above my pond where I have ten 4 year old pet store goldfish with their 12 babies. We made a hideaway out of rocks that they can tuck away out of harm's way, and Mr. Owl hasn't managed to get them yet.
But lately he's nowhere to be seen and I haven't heard the robins cry. Where is he? My ear is listening, tuned to the backdrop of the forest. Where is he?