Tall Ships 2017

Hubby and I spent a fabulous couple of days touring the Tall Ships which came to ports near us over the Canada Day weekend.  This is a shot from the Canadian ship "Oriole".

On Friday, we headed to Pugwash, and were pleased to see the Katie Bell, from our province.

 Atyla from Spain featured beautiful woodwork.

 Saturday morning, we left early for Charlottetown, PEI.

The waterfront is beautiful;  I love the hedges of Ottawa roses

There were lots of people in attendance, and we did have line-ups for some of the tours, but nothing too major.

The CBC was broadcasting on site.  We even caught a glimpse of anchor Heather Hiscox getting ready for her next segment.

 There were even a few pirates on hand!

 The masts from the "Union" out of Peru were massive. 

 

 Inside were displays of handwork. This ship is a great ambassador for Peru.

 The Europa, from The Netherlands.

 We have toured the U.S. "Eagle" many times.

 

After leaving these ports, the ships will head up the Saint Lawrence to Quebec, before returning to Halifax later this month, where they will be joined by many others. Then a race across the Atlantic to France.  Imagine!  

"Got to Get You Outta My Life"

I have to wonder if anyone reading this blog is actually a quilter, since all the emails I have received in the past little bit have either been about bees or Paul McCartney! Since so many have asked about the concert, I decided I had best post some details of this absolutely wonderful day.
I wore the Tshirt from the Quebec 400 concert last July. This is the first time I have worn the shirt. It was a great choice, as so many folks throughout the day came over and showed me theirs from this event also - classmates, I guess this makes us...McCartney alumni. A friendlier, warmer bunch there could not be.
Our merry little band of eight set off, clutching these precious tickets firmly:

Amazingly, we found a parking spot very close to the Commons. We arrived around 3 pm, and left well after 1 am (that late as one of of our group got lost and we had to wait for her ...some people, huh?) The parking cost us $4.00 - what a bargain! We walked along some of Halifax's beautiful tree lined streets enroute to the concert.

Learning from last year's sell-out experience, my first stop inside the gates was at the merchandise tent. There were many styles, colours and sizes from which to choose.

The one which said "Halifax Commons, July 11th 2009" looked very similar to what I already had, so I opted for this grey one featuring Paul and his beloved Hofner bass. I like it :)

The crowd was large but moving quickly as we headed onto the grounds to claim our spot. We made note of the landscape and decided if the group got separated we would meet up afterwards at the kiosk which read "Tickets, Tickets, Tickets." Rules allowed folks to bring a fold-in-a-bag chair and there was a special section where those chairs could go. We got set up and began the wait.

It didn't take terribly long for me to get antsy and decide I wanted to be closer to the action...so I ditched the rest of the group and elbowed my way forward all alone. I ended up about 11 rows from the front of the stage. It was a perfect spot to watch what was to be a perfect concert. Joel Plaskett warmed the audience up for Paul, and what an entertainer he is. Even though playing for a crowd that size must have been daunting, he appeared totally comfortable and in his element. No wonder Paul hand picked him to open. Way to go Joel - you did us proud! We loved his set.

There were many highlights to Paul's performance; for me, it was a very moving moment when the 78th Regiment Pipe and Drum Corp joined Paul onstage for a rousing version of Mull of Kintyre. I loved that the backdrop projected across that huge stage was our Nova Scotia tartan.

It was very cool to hear Day Tripper performed, as we understand that one has not been done live since the Candlestick Park concert of August 1966. The pyrotechnics employed during Lie and Let Die were also very dramatic, although admittedly having seen them last year in Quebec made them rather expected. Spectacular none the less, and they were larger in Halifax than in Quebec. Everyone loves the part with the fireworks!

Paul arrived on stage at 9:20 and sang non-stop until almost midnight, giving two generous encores. His energy is amazing and his musical talent unsurpassed.

And then the concert ended... and I got lost. Literally. In a sea of people numbering well over 50,000. Remember that "Tickets, Tickets, Tickets" kiosk where we had agreed to meet up? Turns out there were 3 identical ones...and I chose the wrong one. An overloaded cell phone network made calling impossible. I felt like Waldo without a striped shirt in that huge crowd...Eventually, things sorted themselves out...and they found me...but we were very late arriving back home. It will take awhile to live that one down, especially as all the kids in our group had no problem finding the correct meeting spot. Sheesh...

It was a beautiful moonlit night, and the concert could not have been more perfect. We look forward to reliving the moment via the DVD which will be released shortly.

To Be Where You Belong

They say there's one in every crowd and unfortunately for those closest to me... I'm that one. My very patient (or is that long-suffering?) husband surely must often feel a bit like Ricky Ricardo in "I Love Lucy" when his wife would get one of her wild ideas. I can still see "Ricky" come charging through the door saying "Lucy, you got some 'splaining to do!" This time however, there was no 'splaining for me to do, since this escapade involved Paul McCartney and my husband long ago accepted there is no explanation on this front...


You may recall seeing pictures of a quilt I was working on a few posts back which featured Tall Ships blocks and the Nova Scotia tartan. Truth is...this quilt was designed to commemorate Paul McCartney's visit to Nova Scotia. I thought long and hard to decide what should go into this piece. I wanted it to have a fun, folk-arty/storybook look (as in the Yellow Submarine days) and using tonal shades of blue, green, red and gold - colours all pulled from our tartan - helped achieve this effect. The name of the quilt is "To Be Where You Belong", which is taken from a line in the Beatle song Honey Pie: "Sail across the Atlantic, to be where you belong." The Tall Ships Festival will overlap his stay here, and he is very interested in seeing those ships. Here is the quilt laid on the floor for basting; you can see there is also a mariner's compass and lighthouse block amidst those pinwheels of sunshine which are guiding the ships to our shore:

Since there was not enough time to handquilt the entire piece, I decided to do a combination of machine and handquilting. Details throughout the body of the quilt, as well as a cable design in the border, were all added with hand stitches. Hidden amongst the waves under the ships are an octopus in his garden, and a yellow submarine. This new chaco-liner worked great to mark the design on the dark fabrics. It has a little wheel inside which ran very smoothly.It was such fun to work on this quilt, knowing where it was destined. Quilted in the inner red border are the lines from the song which give the quilt its name, as well as the date and occasion.

Hubby came with me on the weekend over to the welcome centre at the entry to Nova Scotia to help with the photo shoot. Our first trip over was rained out - the heavens opened just as we got the quilt spread on the rocks - so we gathered everything up and ran.

Our attempt on the following day was a bit more successful, despite a very high wind. We finally weighted the edges of the quilt down with some of the big rocks.

The picture below with the "Welcome To Nova Scotia" sign was used on the front of the card which accompanied the quilt (and a hand-written note to Paul). Day before yesterday, it was couriered to the promoter (Harold MacKay) in Halifax, who had already checked all of this out with Paul's people to make sure it could happen. It is a thrill to know that the quilt will be presented to Sir Paul McCartney early this afternoon, right before he does the sound check on the stage in Halifax. Sincere thanks to Michele and Harold MacKay for their help.

Tomorrow is concert day, and we are having sunshine. It doesn't get any better than this!

Quilting details

Sometimes it feels like progress is made at the speed of snail but we've learned that slow and steady wins the race. Last evening some hand quilting details were added on the tall ships quilt, including the clapboards on the lighthouse.

This week I purchased a new quilting hoop at Dayle's and I like it very much. These hoops, frames and stands are available in a variety of shapes and sizes and are hand-made by a fellow in the Moncton area. They are very good quality, and a terrific price. This is the 14" one but they come larger. It's so much more convenient to use than the big Grace frame.

The Blue Jay outside the window is calling for rain. This makes for good quilting weather.

Week's End

It's been a juggling act of a week and progress has been painfully slow on the Tall Ships quilt. The colours are way off in this picture, but it's awfully hard to get good available light at 5 am. Last evening I worked late piecing several more pinwheel units, so those blocks should build quickly today. The colours for this quilt have been pulled from our N.S. tartan: blue, green, yellow, white and red.

"The Time Has Come, The Walrus said...

To talk of many things,
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and Kings..."

Today I had the pleasure of lunching with Bev Crouse of The Quilter's Net. Though she was only passing through town, we certainly made the most of our time together. Admittedly, we did not discuss sealing wax, but that gives us something for next time. It's wonderful to hear how her vision of matching quilts to buyers over the internet is taking off. We shared experiences and suggestions freely and I came away enthused and inspired. Bev's slogan is "Every Quilt Deserves A Home" but certainly the opposite is also true: "Every Home Deserves A Quilt".

Last week I sketched out a new design with a nautical theme; after three blocks were completed, I decided it wasn't working for me. Back to the drawing board...

Switching out the too-busy background of blues for a royal Kona Bay tonal worked wonders. I am much better pleased with the look. Doesn't it work well with our gorgeous Nova Scotia tartan?