Arthur Aftermath

Hurricane Arthur visited us Saturday...although by the time he arrived he had downsized himself to a Tropical Storm.  It was rather exciting to see what would happen as the track of the storm was directly over Amherst!

Friday night, like most everyone else, we visited the grocery store to stock up...just in case. We were greeted with a double rainbow over the Sobeys parking lot.

The storm hit mid day Saturday.Truthfully, we have had far worse. Our power went off and on, off and on three times. We were much luckier than many not to have lost it for long;  parts of the Maritimes are still without and perhaps will be for a few days yet. We headed out to check for damage to the bee hives.  On the road to the farm, the fields were littered with downed branches.

This one partly blocked the road into the bees (can you see the hives to the right just in front of the tall windbreak?  In past windstorms, those trees have blown over onto the hives.)  

The bees were completely happy, seemingly oblivious to all the weather drama.

There were lots of  small cones on the ground so I gathered a bunch to burn in the smoker.

When they go in slightly damp, they give off lots of sweet-smelling smoke.

Back home, we surveyed our yard to find multiple small branches off but no loss of big trees.  In our neighbour's yard, this one just missed hitting their house.

Our yard is littered with sticks and leaves.  Someone is going to have to clean all that up before I can mow!

Thanks for all the emails of concern.  It's great to have Cyber-friends who care.

Ruby Red & White

Canada Day 2014;  we're all celebrating our country's 147th birthday!

Over the years I've made a lot of red and white quilts.  Last year I added these placemats to dress up our table.  I have a free pattern for another placemat with a Canadiana theme here if you'd like to make some of your own.

Naturally, I've also made a maple leaf quilt.  Not sure how many years ago this one was made but seriously close to 30, I think!  My machine quilting has come a long way since this one was made.

Although not terribly patriotic, one of my favourites is this geometric Drunkard's Path.

My favourite is my well-travelled Log Canada, pictured here at the Public Gardens in Halifax, N.S.

I am thrilled to read my email this morning and learn that Log Canada has been selected to be part of International Quilt Festival's Ruby Jubilee exhibit this fall in Houston.  IQF is celebrating 40 years and is marking the occasion with an exhibit of red and white quilts.  I am honoured our national colours fit so well with this show.

Happy Canada Day!

Quilter's Holiday

Along with the completion of the wedding parament came the fulfilment of my last work commitment until the fall.  What does time off  look like for someone whose work is quilting?  Something like this:

In addition to gardening, deck staining, barn painting, lawn mowing, meal making, a little travelling and lots of cat-herding (!), I will be spending my leisure time playing in the sewing room, creating simply for the sheer joy of it. There are no deadlines, page restrictions, copious notes on construction, or piecing diagrams to slow down the process; it's simply a time to play and hone my technical skills. Patchwork is a very technical and exacting process. I've started a Feathered Star in gorgeous Hoffman batiks, a block I've never sewn before, and already I am thrilled to learn the subtleties of its unique construction based partly upon the shape of the centre patch.  My burgeoning silk collection has been patiently waiting for my attention and I am excited to open the boxes and see those glorious colours and textures spill out onto the table.  Some of that silk is shown above, pieced into segments measuring 2" x 3". The blocks may never find their way into a quilt but I've had the pleasure of making each one and learning as I go. I guess my vacation is not so much holiday as sabbatical.

The Power Of Purple

Remember my Rhythmic quilt?

The pattern has been selling like hotcakes and most of the quilts I've seen made from it have used the same colourway as the original. I have to tell you that my jaw dropped when I saw Elaine's version on her blog. Scroll down and prepare to be wowed!    

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Gor-geous!

Not only is her colour choice spectacular, her quilting is fabulous too.

Elaine writes this: "I am a music major from college so was intrigued by the name and I love circles and doing feather quilting.   Win! Win!   It was so striking I had intended to do it in red even though red is probably my least favorite color.   But.....since purple is my favorite color, I tried some different fabric swatches and decided the purple was gorgeous too."

 Look at the tiny grid quilting in the intersection of the blocks.  Patience!

I confess that this is one of my all time favourite designs and seeing it so well done is music to my heart.  The pattern for Rhythmic is widely available: it is distributed by Trend Tex Fabrics to quilt shops across Canada, including Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium  in Amherst. It is also available by snail mail from my website  or as an instant pdf download through Craftsy.  If you have made your own version of Rhythmic, I'd love a picture to show here on the blog.  A sincere thank you Elaine;  you really made my day!

Cecropia 2 (or is that 3?)

Here's part two of the moth story, continued from yesterday.  The Cecropia moth moved from the door frame down onto the deck to continue his rest. Sorry Mr. Moth, that's not a good idea around here!  My hubby looked around to find a higher, less vulnerable-to-cats location when his eye fell on two more of these beautiful moths on the cupola of our baby barn!

He picked up our friend, who gave no objection to his touch. Hubby has a gentle hand and often carries his bees back to safety when they go astray.

When he came down, I scrambled up the ladder to take pictures.  The top two appear to be a male/female pair;  there is significant difference in their antennae which is how one determines moth gender (the larger feathers belong to the male). They didn't object to having their friend join them and the three amigos snoozed the day away in safety.

By nightfall they had gone.

Cecropia

This morning a little before 6, hubby called me to the back door to greet a visitor who had arrived during the night.  We weren't expecting anyone so this was a total surprise.  See who it is?   A Google search identifies him as a Cecropia Moth belonging to the family of giant silk moths.

He's a big fellow!  I got a shot of the lock and door knob for comparison.

Stats list his wing span as 5-6" and that sounds about right.  He was pretty massive when he flipped his wings up.

 His body is very colourful;  the regular pattern of dots on his abdomen is amazing.

 His antennae are feathers!  We think from the size of them he is a male.

It's 9:30 am as I write, and he is still snoozing away on the door frame.  My big concern for his safety is Polly, so she is staying inside while he naps.

If he is a giant silk moth...do you suppose he was attracted by my boxes and boxes of silk stash?  Or maybe it's just that the porch light was on last night, welcoming his presence...

Wedding Parament Finished

Yesterday I delivered the wedding antependium to the church.  It was a dark, dreary day with not enough good light for a proper picture and I had to dodge rain showers to get a couple of quick shots outside. None of my pictures are very good, but time was pressing.  June is wedding season after all, and there is one scheduled for today at the church.

I'll show you the extra sleeve I added across centre back which holds a thin rod to keep the arms of the cross out.  It is imperative that these things hang perfectly straight and flat. The whole piece is stiffened with two layers of interfacing, one of which is a heavy decorator weight.  This made the parament extremely awkward to quilt on my domestic machine - it refused to fold up in the throat.  It was like quilting a board! Not surprisingly, my Bernina quilted feathers through all those layers with no issues.  

It fit the pulpit perfectly.  It was even darker inside than out and the pictures are disappointing.  However, you can get a sense of the effect. From the back of the church, only the golden rings at the centre are visible.

As you walk down the aisle and get a bit closer, the colours of the outer rings begin to emerge. Three shades for three strands of rings which link to form a cross.

The ministers were very pleased and frankly- if I may say so - it looked gorgeous in that setting.  

F-Bee-I

Here's where the bees are currently, up to their antennae in wild blueberry blossoms.

Bee heaven!

Trouble Your Troubles

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”  (Dr. Suess)

Oh my...I've been avoiding looking at this antependium all week because I don't like the shape;  the top needs to be trimmed to accentuate that the design forms a cross but I just don't want to take the scissors to it again.  I trimmed the bottom section last week and am reasonably happy with it (although it took three full days before I looked at it again after I did that!)

I had hoped to leave the top section straight up to the hanging rod so that it would be well supported, but it makes the whole piece look top heavy.  Like an engineer designing a building, my plan B now is to double up the beam across the centre to carry the weight (i.e. if needed, I will add a sleeve with a rod across the centre to make sure it does not curl on the pulpit.) I've marked where I need to trim to make it match the curves in the bottom part;  now I just need the courage to pick up my scissors.  I don't have a big bat, Dr. Suess...but I have sharp scissors.

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.”  

Local Quilter's Connection

A heads up for local quilters:  I am very pleased to say that Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium is now carrying Quilter's Connection Magazine!  Previously, non-subscribers had to drive to Moncton to pick up the latest issue.  Kudos to Mrs. P. for listening to what quilters want and for bringing this fabulous publication to our doorsteps.

Sweet As Honey

I mentioned last week that Scrapmaster Linda visited Amherst. Bee-ing her thoughtful self, she brought along some sweet gifts.  I love the colour of the napkins, and her FQ is a perfect match. Notice that it`s tied with a selvedge from a bee print.  She even fancied up a gift bag with bee motifs.

Included in the bag was this adorable fabric postcard

I will add this to my extensive (ha!) collection of ATC`s, which brings the total number to 3.  

The others are an Anne card made by Cynthia Mitro-Richardson as a thank-you from the London Friendship Quilter`s Guild, and an awesome NYB card made by Kate from Kanata.
Thank you Linda for your thoughtfulness.

California Dreamin'

The VW Bus fabric I got at Mrs. Pugsley's and showed on my last post is sewn up and ready to be delivered for Father's Day.

My husband has had a life-long dream of owning a Westfalia, a tricked-out Volkswagen camper van. Never mind they stopped making them in '79, there are still lots on the road today.  It's not likely that this dream of his will be realized any time soon;  these days we seem to choose our vehicles based on how many beehives will fit in the back...but the fabric is perfect for a pillowcase, where he can motor around in his dreams.
The print on the fabric was running crosswise but I had purchased enough that this was not a problem (if you encounter a similar situation, purchase one metre - 40" instead of 27")

Originally I intended to trim it in bright red but decided that was more my taste than his.  He's a plain, vanilla kind of guy so I went with a pristine white Cotton Couture by Michael Miller for the cuff.

 He hasn't received it yet so shhhh....

Our sky is grey...what's it like in Californa, Marilyn?