Sew Karen-ly Created...

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Monday 17 October 2011

Festival Headquarters...And Dayle's

Wednesday was the only day of the week where I had a few minutes to take in some of the displays around town. I started at Festival Headquarters, which was a new addition to this year's event. Having a central gathering spot worked brilliantly.
Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium, located in the Old Clock Tower on Victoria Street was Festival Headquarters. In real life, this historic building houses a quirky gift shop which features all kinds of unique items. As the sign says, "Odd Gifts For Interesting People". If you met the shop's owner Beth Munroe, you would agree this is an apt description for her: interesting!
There were lots of fibre art pieces for sale and display in the shop.
I drooled over this Singer hand crank, which looks like it has been well loved. I've never seen one in such great shape, with all the keys and accessories intact and the finish still bright and shiny. The hand crank in my collection is in rather sad shape and I envy Beth owning this machine.
This New York Beauty which was hanging in her front window has the unlikely title "Imperious Emporium: Mrs. Pugsley's Patronus" and naturally (like every quilt) there is a story behind it. When Canadian Heritage Quilting was released, Beth very generously offered The Old Clock Tower building to launch the book. Beth is a huge Harry Potter fan and the event she staged for the release of the Harry Potter books is legendary in this area. She goes all out. As a very small thank you for hosting our launch, I made this quilt for her. The theme colours at her shop are orange and purple (check the bag if you made a purchase there: it's purple, and the item is wrapped in orange tissue paper!) If you read Harry Potter, you will know that a Petronus is a special spell that is characterized by a big bursting ball of light. You can see the details of the quilting on this post. Having it hang in the window emphasizes the bright colours. I love how it looked, and apparently the CTV crew did too, as they featured it in several shots (more on this later!)
I sewed the New York Beauty blocks in a "snake" setting, to mimic the set of the Grandmother's Fan Quilt on the cover of Canadian Heritage Quilting. Even though I am referring to this as a NYB quilt, if you look closely you will see one block is not this type, but rather a Grandmother's Fan block. For the book launch, Beth had these incredible cookies custom ordered to match the quilt on the book cover, and I used that block in the quilt above. Can you see it? I still have my cookie in the freezer. Notice it is wrapped in purple cellophane and tied with an orange ribbon? A piece of that orange ribbon is stitched in that fan block.
After taking these pictures, I had just enough time to set up for a display of quilts and patterns at Dayle's Department Store. I love going to Dayle's. I spend a lot of time in the Dry Good Department there and I feel right at home. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you those wonderful pics, they are great....not quite as good as being there in person though! Love the Grandmother's Fan cookie, what a wonderful idea.

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  2. It was the first time I had ever seen a hand crank. It was beautiful. I wanted to try it out right there! Your NYB in the window was stunning! Beth told me a bit of the story and showed me the orange ribbon that you stitched in. The colours are awesome! Especially with the light from the window shining through.

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  3. Beautiful display of your quilts - love the purple and orange one you made for your friend.

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  4. I saw that beautiful NYB at Mrs. Pugsley's and wondered if it was your work. So sorry that I missed out on your displays. Will have to try for that another year.

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