First Day of Summer

We've had an unusual Spring, May was very dry and June the skies opened up several times.  Then we were almost 15C above usual temperatures.  So to wake up to cloudy cooler weather was a bit of a treat this morning.

 This was one of a series of thunder storms we had last week with thunder and lightening!

 See how long and big those raindrops were!

 Then the next day we were back to sunshine, the large water marks are from where the gardeners were prepping the beds for summer annuals and perennials that they move in and out each year.

 Then the hot spell happened which helped show off these Canterbury Bells nicely.

 The Allium this year were quite spectacular.

 I went out for an early morning walk and breakfast and was treated to sun on the boardwalk for a change.

 The hostas are in bloom

 I had fun with my iPad app called Prisma.  If you enlarge you can see which effect I chose.  Love the random quote on this one.

 I may have to try and interpret some of these into cloth one day.

 The original of the Hosta leaves.

 Adding texture and colour chosen by the app.

 Love this colour combination.

 Remember the Iris from a previous post.

 With the app do you see it almost looks like a face with huge eyebrows and a feathery flower hat.

 Love this one.

 Here you can really see the face and the squinted eyes.

 Today I noticed these Hollyhocks for the first time.  My Great Grandmother used to enjoy growing them.  I don't recall them as she passed away by the time I was about four or five.

 Nice new chairs to enjoy the sunshine and the river have been bolted onto the boardwalk.

 The bush roses are always so pretty this time of year.

 They've planted several Fuchsia trees along the boardwalk.

 Daisies.

 Lobby view without the words.  Enjoy the longest day of the year everyone.

I'm also working on my Grasshopper quilt, I couldn't decide what to do last month for colours so I've waited and started on Month Three.

 There should be a Dresden plate block above the heart, I now think I'll repeat some of the colours I used to make the leaves.  Some leaves may be moved or replaced.  Just stitching them down now.

Woolies On The Coast at Quilt Canada 2018.

I wanted to spotlight a booth at Quilt Canada by my friend Uschi Greiner. She is one half of a former team that brought in Sue Spargo to teach in Vancouver twice.  I've known Uschi for several years first working in a quilt shop, then owning one of her own and now as a dyer of wools, silk velvets and linens along with teaching how to stitch with wool.

 She had a small booth at Quilt Canada which was filled with shoppers each time I went by it.

 Uschi has done several of Sue Spargo's Blocks of the Month.  She has also stitched several of Wendy Williams wool pieces.

 This her new Block of the Month Something;s Fishy that Uschi designed and dyed the wools for.

 She just got it back from Tess Strauss at  Wildflower Quilt Studios just a day before she set up her booth.

 I know she plans on a few more added touches but it is spectacular to see in person.

 The quilting from Tess is just perfect for the piece!

 I think I'll be signing up for this wonderful piece.

 Gosh I wish I'd read that note on her sign...oh well!

 This is Sue's Fresh Cut BOM which has just been released in book form.

 Uschi winds sampler bobbin with wool threads for purchase along with carrying Sue's Eleganza line of cotton and rayon thread.  She also sells hand dyed threads and all sorts of other goodies.

 Her silk velvets are wonderful and she recently has started using some new dye colours that I cant wait to see.

 Please let me introduce to you Ursula "Uschi" Greiner.  Her new website Woolies on the Coast should be up and running soon.

Portraits at Quilt Canada 2018.

I enjoy seeing what people can do to recreate portraits in cloth.  It can be very challenging to get it right I find and there were some wonderful quilts showing different ways at Quilt Canada this year.

 Fates of Maasai Men Triptych by Krista Zeghers was a wonderful example.  She showed a young warrior.

 One Middle aged

 And one elderly.  I had an opportunity to visit The Mayer's Ranch in Kenya in the 1970's which allowed tourists to visit and interact with some of the local Maasai and take photographs of their homes and themselves. My photographs show some similarities but also some differences in their dress.  The young warriors had long extensions, the middle aged men had shorter hair along with the young boys.  My pictures are on slides but I will try and share them with you later.  The other difference was their clothing was predominately red with no designs.

 Ruby by Roxanne Nelson.

 Irene by Linda Tolsma.

 Izzy by Anne Mathers, sorry about the fuzzy detail of the quilter.

 Making Amends by Carol Cote.

 Carol happened to be near her piece when I saw it, and she shared details of how she quilted it.

 Japanese Beautiful "Maiko" by Naoko Hirano.

 

 Rod Stewart by Jean Allenbury.

 Flying Free by Effie Brandt.

 Remember Felicity Ronaghan?  Here is her Trend Tex Challenge piece.

 And here is her daughter G's Cantik Batik Youth Challenge 5-10 year old piece! Congratulations to the next generation of quilters Felicity and G!

 Here are some of the other 5-10 year old Travel Challenge pieces.

 There was also one for older children but I didn't get pictures of theirs.

More to come...