QUADRA ISLAND QUILT AND GARDEN TOUR

I was on my way to participating in Quadra's Quilt and Garden tour, an amazing event held every two years. You see, Quadra is the home of some truly amazing quilters and many truly keen gardeners. Saturday and Sunday saw the marriage of both and invited the public to share in this scene. Happily the weather cooperated! Twelve gardens were featured, and of those, six included quilts. As guild members, we acted a hosts. "My" garden was at the home of Chris and Margaret Rose (such an appropriate name for avid gardeners!), a lovely property on Quadra's south side. Chris, a professional artist (soapstone sculpture), also opened his lovely gallery that day and allowed us to include quilts there. Sadly, my camera batteries were on their last little bit of ooomph ( after the tour I was heading to town to buy some new ones, but little good that did me then!) so I was only able to shoot 4 photos....only 4 photos! All of the photos here are from the Rose garden, but my mind holds other lovely images of a living roof, fabulous ponds, lasagna (layered) gardening, unique scarecrows, bonsai trees and of course exquisite quilts blowing in the wind, adding color and grace to already glorious settings! And of course I can't forget the garden that featured 40 of our little journal quilts. It was a fantastic event and I dare say you better not miss it in 2012. Or better yet, be on the lookout for other local garden tours and take one in! You won't regret it!

Carol Perry's iris graced the Rose's entrance.

Barb Round's seagull hangs next to a traditional mask.Kate White's quilt became the backdrop for the vegetable garden.

  Kate White's quilt was the backdrop for the vegetable garden.

SPROUTING SEEDS

Seed and plant images are often times associated with the promise of growth, life and new beginnings. This sprouting seed image, taken from a Cretan seal over 4,000 years old, certainly indicates new growth and beginnings for me. Now back at Refuge Cove for two weeks, I am daily reminded of summer's new life. The weeds have abundantly taken over my garden, and slowly I remove them and give them their own new life in my burn pit. My old crooked and toppling fence that protects my garden from deer has just been taken out and is being replaced with a new, straight and secure fencing system. My boxes are full of small lettuce plants, waiting to be thinned and cared for. Old friends are being reunited after a long winter, for another summer of activity. The potlucks are starting and for once the wild salmon are seeming to be standard fare. Perhaps this is a positive sign!

I hustled and hurried to get my summer sewing work completed while in Mexico. I knew my spring would be swallowed up with waiting for Canadian immigration to do it's thing (our issues aren't over yet). But now, for the first time, I am free and able to pursue my OWN work, without the thought of production or sales or inventory or the like. So, off to try something NEW...

Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers by David Hornung has been sitting on my shelf for a year now, waiting for a moment such as now to get into it and see what evolves. I was attracted to this book initially because it was referenced in Nancy Crow's website, and I certainly love her color work. So assignment one titled Chromatic Gray Studies, set me off to dyeing a set of monochromatic swatches, all with a heavy dose of black to hopefully move them towards the gray side. Perhaps there's not as much gray as I'd like, but I'm more than happy with the results and know I'm going to have lots of fun with these.

For now, slowly getting into my summer pace of gardening and creating and renewing friendships, I feel a bit like the sprouting seed. With trust and patience, I know my harvest will be abundant.

BACK AT IT

Sometimes my life feels like when you're in the middle of a good read and somehow you lose the book, or have an emergency occur that pulls you from the book, and when you do return or find it, you wonder "what was happening here?" or "what was this all about?". I'm feeling very rusty after a 2 month transition from Mazatlan to Refuge Cove.
So I set up my machine to look at it and remember how it feels to have it around again. It feels like an old friend.
Then I thought I'd look at my blog, reaquaint myself here...

ADIOS MAZATLAN

To say adios is not to say goodby, but to say I am passing with no time to chat, yet will return another day, my friend.
Adios Mazatlan, adios friends. I am only passing, soon to return.
The threads of your people and your culture have woven their way throughout my my heart, mi corazon, my soul, mi alma.
Neighbors of all ages with friendly greetings to welcome us with our white skin and angular speech.
Music heard at every corner, arias and concertos coming from the apertures of the plazuela, young ballerinas chatting in groups outside their studio door, and competing musicians entertaining their local audiences on the benches.
Of course the events: Carnaval, Moto Week, Semana Santa, Navidad. There is always something to entertain, to enjoy, to feed the soul and help to shadow the daily sorrows and pains of life.
The fiestas! The birthday party at the Senior Center was our highlight this winter, with a spunky attendant helping her 90-something wards shimmy and shake their way across the floor to take a swing at the pinata. Be it a baptism or a street party, the elements are always, family, friends, food and music. What else matters?
My daily walks on the oceanfront or up to the lighthouse with neighbor Chayito not only conditioned my body but strengthened our bonds of friendship.
Of course our travels: Morelia with its history and natural beauty, Akumal with is white sand beaches, and Copper Canyon with its depths of landscape and indigenous peoples. Mexico, you are so rich, so amazing, so unique.
And my local friends - be it in yoga or bridge or fabric related - women sharing experiences of life and love and joining together in friendship. Thay are vibrant and alive and an important part of my life.
I can't forget the sewing ladies - they are a bright light to my Mexican experience. If they only knew how much they have given to me with their friendship. Along with cherished partners Bev and Toy, we push them along the path of empowerment. They are so strong!
My 84 year old neighbor took my hand yesterday and with a fortune teller's gaze, she predicted "much love, much health, but not much money - just enough for food!" - and then laughed and hugged me. Here in Mexico, that's what it's all about!
Adios, Mazatlan, adios friends. I am only passing, soon to return.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

We're on the short list with two more sleeps before departing north. Not only are we tying up loose ends here, but I want to put closure on a few of my blog posts from this winter. The three amigas above are myself and Val and Edwige, cohorts in the shirt and chenille shawl projects. On this day we were divvying up our rayon, both black and white (for dyeing), when we decided to get good and silly! We each produced some beautiful shirts (sadly no pic) and the chenille project had mixed results. Another friend, Karen, also wanted to get involved, but we were a bit short of fabric to each have five layers. Karen remembered she had some black rayon in her stash so we then were able to stretch our resources 4 ways. We each dyed up four colorful layers and with the black as the backing, we each set off to sewing straight lines across these layers to later slice for chenille. I think I put about four hours into the line-sewing and was only half way done. At one point my bobbin thread ran out so I was punching holes, like perforations, in my fabrics, and later the black began to tear. This was a bad sign, and I suspected I needed to change my needle. (I have to admit I am not the best at changing needles.) I reported this to the group, and they agreed that it must have been the needle. I received an email from Karen one night with the info that she had finished BUT after slicing, she put it in the wash and it came out in split strips...the black had totally disintegrated and left nothing but the sliced colorfule chenille strips. It wasn't my needle but rotten black rayon! So we all pondered on how to proceed. Val finished sewing hers, but flipped it over and included the black in her slicing. I never got to see it but a friend reported it was lovely. Mine sits half finished on a shelf, and Edwige has hers only basted together. Some projects are best to just chalk up to experience! Karen is now incorporating her strips into a vest.








These two cute cousins came to model the shirts I made for them for Christmas. Aren't these girls adorable?

My invitation to the dinner club inspired this piece. Alistair's grilled shrimp with green curry was not only delicious but beautiful too and I couldn't help but put it to fabric. I love these dinner plate pieces....I know I'll be doing more. For background stitching on the placemat, I go to Epicurious.com and look up a simple and relevant recipe and proceed to stitching it on, weaving the ingredients and process in and out of the scene. It's lots of fun!
And finally, on to my mystery quilt. I've been conscientious about producing the squares each month when Heather from Quadra's guild sends out the instructions. In March we received instructions for putting them all together and basically it was a "how you like it" option. Two nights ago I put them together on my design board, moving them here and there until I got it just right. This is the last pic I took and isn't exactly as I'll piece it, but pretty darn close. Initially the task was a bit of a headache, but after a while I really got into it. Thank goodness for design boards! My pieces and mini sewing kit are set aside so I can have them handy in the car to help me while away the miles. I have a sketch of the layout in my notebook and I'm good to go.
Now to clean out the fridge!

DIPLOMA DAY

Monday was my last day of the season to work with our wonderful Sewing Ladies. My awesome co-hort, Bev, and I are both heading north in a few days, so the ladies had a celebration for us, a day of food and friendship and more food and more friendship. These are the moments I live for. We took this opportunity to hand out diplomas for the different programs we have been teaching this winter. (The ladies giggled with delight at being honored for their efforts.) Bev taught English each week to this fine group of twelve. They interact each week with tourists at different market venues and English skills are invaluable to them.  Fantastic job, Bev! Fantastic job, ladies!

My role this winter has been my usual attempts to help them enhance their sewing work with artistic expressions and personal touches. This year I wanted to teach them paper piecing which I was pretty sure they had little or no experience. (I was inspired by Pippa Moore, a fellow quilter from Vancouver Island who has done a similar program with women in Africa. I attended her slide show just before coming to Mexico in October.) Each Monday I brought a new pattern, demonstrated it , and sent them home with the homework of finishing it.  We started with simple stripes and finished off with a more complicated sailboat. All twelve gave it a try, some liking it and others struggling through the process. Here's Sylvia with one of her boats...she was one who really took to this activity and I'll be sure to bring her more patterns next year. Then on to silk painting. This was a project we started last year. I had seen an article on Dharma's website about a silk painting project in Haiti, so of course I wanted to try it here too. I think I brought 50 scarves last year and each woman painted 4 or 5. This year they requested more, so I brought another 80 down and we set up shop each Friday at their community center with our pvc frames, silk blanks and colorful silk paints. Ivan, the art teacher at the center was instrumental in helping with painting skills (hey's a great watercolorist!) and design. In the end, the 8o blanks turned into beautiful scarves that are now for sale at their venues. How they loved using salt in this process. I'm wondering if they'll be continuing this next year. Sales will tell and I'll await an email in September with their "wish list".

I was gifted an extra three weeks here as our plans for leaving changed, so with a bit of time at hand, I taught them the ladder stitch I so often use to applique shapes to fabric. It was a quick one hour class, and they loved it. For the next two weeks, they brought in items they had made using this stitch. They are so proud of their new skills and I am incredibly proud of them too. My summer will be spent thinking about what to teach next year. Any ideas?

Take a look at the feast that Bev and I were treated to that day...as a way of saying thanks to us for our classes and friendship. These truly are the moments I live for!

EARTH DAY

It's Earth Day, and my computer greeted me with the question, "What are you doing for Earth Day?".
Maybe Earth Day has now become as important as Easter and New Years and Christmas and Valentine's Day and any other holiday that is taken on by the marketers. I hope so. At least it has risen above Groundhog's Day and Secretaries' Day (sorry secretaries, I don't mean to belittle your job!) I'm waiting for the day when its an international holiday, celebrated world-wide with celebrations to raise our environmental consciousness.
Along with packing up my belongings for our upcoming trip back north,  joining some friends for lunch, and sharing dinner at our sweet 84 year old Mexican neighbor's house, I don't have many Earth Day activities planned. Perhaps the finishing of a recent collage is appropriate.

 

I recently gathered a group of women for a collage class. It was a fun day of "intentional" dyeing, another day of design, and a final day of free motion quilting. My creation was of an earth angel, which turned out not exactly as I envisioned, but my message of our need for angelic help is there. Yes, we need help, and lots of it. Our poor Mother Earth can't get a quick face lift; she's stuck with what we dish out to her. And stress, being the killer that it is, is taking its toll on Mother Earth.

While I'm at it, I really want to congratulate my three students on their awesome creations! Dragonflies, bassett hounds and beach scenes (and earth angels) filled our days. The colors and compositions are fantastic. And Nancy, you have now set me off on a cheesecloth spree...it is an amazing and versatile dyeing tool.