Final Decision

I took my quilt to my critique group yesterday and those copper squares got moved around every which way and although it is my quilt and I can do anything I want, I did agree with everyone's final decision.  We not only moved the squares to a different spot on the quilt, but we turned the quilt upside down.

I thought I was all set with this design, but when I looked at it again. I really liked that light section in the middle of the bottom better on the top.  I thought it was a better balance with it on top.

So I flipped it around again back to its original orientation and moved to squares to the other side.  I think this is it!  What do you think?
Now I need some copper to practice sewing on.  Michael's and Home Depot did not have any.  I may have to go to a roofing store.

The first picture was taken in my studio.  This one was taken outside at the meeting yesterday.  It was such a glorious day that we sat outside on Barbara's deck surrounded by her beautiful flowers and spectacular view of her yard and brook.  I had Paula hold up the quilt for me to take a quick snap so that I could remember where the squares went.  Look at the difference from the first picture.  All the quilting just pops right out in this one.  Makes me think that photographing outside would be a good choice.  In my former house I had the back of the garage where I could hang my quilts for photography. I put two long nails through the siding and would put a dowel through the quilt sleeve and hang it.  It worked great and maybe I can try it here. There is one side of the house that is garden, porch and deck free.  I'll have to see what kind of lighting it gets.  I also remember having to deal with sunlight and/or wind when I photographed outside, but it's worth investigating.  Do any of you photograph your quilts outside?

Decisions, Decisions

I finished the quilting and have faced the "Pen Pal" quilt I showed you a couple of weeks ago.  Now it's time to sew on the copper squares.

I was going to sew them on "straight on", as in this picture.

Then my sister came to visit and suggested sewing them "on point" as in this picture.  I like them both, but am leaning toward the "on point".  What do you think?  I'm also looking for a name. All I can think of is "Copper Shibori".

I've linked up with "Off the Wall Friday".  Go see what everyone is up to.

Wordless Wednesday

Ninety!

This weekend my sister and I drove up to Casenovia, NY in the beautiful Finger Lakes region for the ninetieth  birthday of my cousin Jeanie.  Actually she is my mother's first cousin, so I don't know if that makes her a second cousin or a first cousin , once removed. It really doesn't matter, but I just wanted to show how fabulous 90 can be today.

That's the birthday girl flanked by my sister on the left and me on the right.  Doesn't she look great?  She is still a vibrant, vivacious, beautiful woman.  We have great longevity genes in our family on the maternal side.  I hope I do as well.

Dyeing Workshop

My FiberWorks group occasionally has a member share a skill.  In the past members have demonstrated Kumihimo braiding with fiber and then beads, ice dyeing and felting.  These were to be held at the Brookfield Craft Center, but alas, the Center has closed, much to our dismay.  I said that I would teach the dyeing in my garage, not the optimal place, but Beth graciously offered her huge unfinished basement.  It is a walkout with a big glass sliding door and two big windows, so the light was good and she supplemented it with plenty of overhead lights.
I am kicking myself that I didn't take pictures and neither did anyone else.  I meant to and so did Gwen, but we both got so busy that we just forgot, so allI can show is my samples.

Olive Green

Deep Purple

First we did a six-way single color gradation.  I use the zip-lock bag method ala Adriene Buffington's book, Hand-Dyed Fabrics Made Easy.  It is the book I used to teach myself to dye many years ago and it has been my bible.  I encouraged all the gals to buy it if they continue to dye and Gwen already did.  She has so many useful tips and her method really is so easy and not very messy.

Next I showed them how to do a two-color mix.  For my sample I used Sun Yellow and Turquoise.  Only Jamie chose this combination.  Everyone else did their own thing and I am anxious to see the results next week when all promised to bring them to the meeting.

Everyone agreed that it was fun day and even those who said they had no interest in fabric dyeing are hooked.

I am linking this blog to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", so go over and see what everyone else is doing.

Quebec City

We spent three nights in Quebec City, a perfectly charming place. The  lower city is modern and bustling and the old town at the top of the hills is delightful  We did a lot of walking up and down hills,  I had to give up my comfortable and stylish sandals for my ugly walking sneakers, but at least my feet stopped hurting.

The famous Chateau Frontenac, now a part of the Fairmont chain, is most impressive.  It's been there forever (well a very long time) and is very pricey.  We didn't stay there but walked thru the lobby and shops.

The streets in the old town are narrow and twisty and full of boutiques and restaurants.  We did our best to help out with the Canadian economy. The exchange was almost even with a 3 cents advantage for the USA, but some stores still charged a small fee for using US dollars.  Some did not.  You always got change in Canadian money, so we made sure that we spent it all.  Serious purchases were charged.

As I said about Montreal, flowers and gardens were everywhere.  This park was across from the train station. See the picture below.

And this is the train station.  There is only one train that runs there now,  It is mostly restaurants and shops. This was about halfway between upper town and lower town.

We spent our last full day on the Isle of Orleans, a small island right outside the city in the St. Lawrence River.  It was charming personified.  Most of the houses had these bright red painted tin roofs, and had sumptuous gardens and decorations. Many of them were stone, as this one was.

Lots of gingerbread, and hanging baskets,

We were told not to miss the strawberries and we found out why.  There were fields and fields of them all over the island, one half of it mostly devoted to agriculture.  We bought a basket to eat in the car and they were among the best I've ever had.  So sweet and bright red all the way thru, not like the supermarket varieties we usually get hat home.

There were many wineries and we stopped at a couple to sample their wares and we each bought some to take home.  The views were quite impressive, too.

We had lunch here on the island and it was only one of the many fabulous meals we had on the trip.

Right off the island, on the way back to Quebec City, we stopped at these falls.  They say they are higher than Niagara Falls.

This was the only glitch in the whole trip.  We had an hour and a half wait to get to customs at the US border. We had seen signs (in French, of course) about a "Attente de duex heures" and thought that we must have misinterpreted it.  Nope, they were right, but at least it wasn't the declared two hour wait.
Once thru that it was a spectacular ride thru the green green state of Vermont, then on to Mass and finally home to CT, but it was a long day, mostly in  the car.

So I'm home for awhile, trying to get some studio time in.  Come back to see what I've been up to.

Wordless Wednesday

Montreal, Part 2

On our third day in Montreal we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. We were expecting something beautiful, as most botanical gardens are, but were totally unprepared for what greeted us.  First of all it is one of the world's finest and largest, covering over 191 acres with 30 thematic gardens, greenhouses and a vast arboretum. What we also didn't know was that it was hosting Mosaicultures Internationales, a competition that was held in Montreal for the first time in ten years.  I think it must be like bidding for the Olympics.  This year there were exhibits from about 20 countries, responding to the theme "Land of Hope: Preserving Biodiversity"
I took so many pictures, but none of them do it justice.  Many of the sculptures were enormous and all were made entirely of living plants.  What follows is a small sampling.

This gigantic bird tree, made of living plants, is 52 feet high and 56 feet wide at the crown and weighs 100 metric tons. Its 14 branches hold 56 birds, each one an endangered species. It has an internal and external irrigation system

This gives little more detail.  It was hard to photograph.

This exhibit was called "The Man Who Planted Trees". The worker was meticulously replacing some plants in the front of the sculpture.  We saw this a few times throughout the exhibit, where workers were either pruning of replacing to keep them in perfect form.

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There were several exhibits with horses.  Their manes were made of plant material that blew in the wind.

Micky knows that you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the  prince.

This serpent twisted around and even went under the path. this only shows a small part of it.

This "Mother Earth" was one of my favorites.  Again, it was huge! 

There were several exhibits of gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees, etc.  They were all life size and made from various types of plant material.

We spent the better part of the day there and didn't even see the Japanese Gardens or the Chinese Gardens, which are supposed to be world class.  If you're going to Montreal this summer, be sure to put this on your itinerary.

Montreal, Part 1

Our first stop was Montreal, a beautiful city.  As we usually do when we get to a new city, we took a Hop on, Hop off guided bus tour.  We sat on the top deck and got blown to bits, but got a good overall view of the city and gave us ideas on what to go back and see in depth.

I'm a sucker for mirrored skyscrapers, having a made a quilt called "Houston Reflections" several years ago.  Montreal had quite few, but I only took a few pictures.

I found the name of this restaurant amusing.


There were flowers and gardens all over the city.

Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was magnificent!

The sign explains the sculpture below, one of many sculptures we saw on the street.  This  one was rather bizarre and because of the color we called it the "Butter Sculpture"

The figures were more than life size and took up a large space.  I walked all around snapping pictures.

The Beaux Arts Museum had a Chihuly exhibit that we wanted to see, but the museum was closed on Monday, the day that we were there.  We thought we might go back the next day, but we had other adventures planned, which I will blog about tomorrow.

This was Maxine's breakfast on the first morning in the hotel.  Every dish came loaded with fruit, but hers was the most artistic.  It was way too much to eat at one sitting.

Oh, Canada!

  I just returned late last night from a wonderful week gadding about in our neighbor to the north. Three of my lady friends and I rented a car and drove to Montreal for three nights and then on to Quebec City for three nights.  We had a fabulous time!  As you probably know the Provence of Quebec is very French.  All the road and traffic signs, bill boards, store names, etc. are in French.  With our limited high school French from many years ago we got along fine and most people speak English, too. It was a lovely get-away and I will be posting some pictures soon. For now I have to get caught up on laundry, gardening, emails, and all that necessary nonsense, so come back tomorrow or the next day and I promise some good pictures.