Stitching on an Island in the Pacific!

Not a tropical island, but one that was just as beautiful in it's own way.  This winter saw a change in our lifestyle as my husband has taken on the position as caretaker on a remote island.  The island has several cabins on it and is owned by a doctor whose family only visits in the summer months.  They are missing a lot  by only seeing it in one season!  This is the view from the caretaker's cabin.  Just at sunrise and that mountain was SO pink!  My camera has not done it justice!

This Christmas vacation it has been my pleasure to join my husband and experience remote island living. I am fortunate enough to have two weeks off work over the Christmas holiday period.  This year I spent that with my husband on that tiny little island in the Pacific Ocean. It didn’t start out well when he said as we climbed out of the boat onto the wharf.....”You’re in my domain now.”  I laughed at him as I unloaded a suitcase of fabric, two sewing machines, all my stitching equipment, my laptop, my clothes, my baking supplies and a couple of boxes of fresh vegetables!  However, at point of writing, day 7 of my visit, most of the fresh vegetables are gone, and I’ve staked my claim on “his” domain!!!  Because he works on that island, I took things with me to keep me busy.  Samples for upcoming classes, some mending (I know...quilters don’t do mending.....but he hasn’t caught onto that yet)!  We had ten days in the wilderness and it was spectacular.  Here I am in the biggest house, doing what I love, in a "dream studio"! 

When he was working I spent my time working on sewing projects.  The skipper on the crew boat who brought me into the island asked if I was staying six months!  But I left at least half of it there for next time.  A sewing machine, sewing supplies, cutting mat, pressing cloth, design wall....everything I would normally take to a workshop.  It was like dying and going to heaven.   Here's a photo of the view from where I was sitting. 

I cut fabric, arranged, stitched and just luxuriated in the time available to just design and sew.  I worked on a class that will be offered at Serge ‘N Sew in March.  And this one......to be offered at Serge ‘N Sew in April.  Here’s the link to their web site so you can see other classes they offer as well.  http://www.sergesew.com/

During the times I wasn’t sewing, we went on boat rides to beach comb.  We saw Bottlenose Dolphin which have caused another quilt to percolate, noisy Ravens, Bald Eagles, Flying Squirrels, any number of tiny birds looking for crumbs, and best of all, on the day I went home, Killer Whales!  Absolutely exhilarating!

Stitched Christmas Cards

Saturday was a good day.  I was teaching a class at Serge N Sew in Nanaimo.  http://www.sergesew.com/

The technique was the stitched tree in my book, "Embellishing with Anything." It's the same technique used in the tree on the cover.  On Saturday we were translating it to Christmas cards. 

The most delightful group of 6 ladies were registered and what a great group.  Three left with beautiful cards, one made TWO trees and decided to do a wall hanging with one.  Two had trouble with their machines but coaxed them into working..... with the help of Linda from the store who saved the day. 

It encouraging to see the students I had catch on to what they were doing and then talk about different ideas for the same technique.  To the left we have Tina who has been in one of my classes before.  She's a delight and a creative "power sewer"!  Lots of ideas and unstoppable energy.  She's produced many many postcards since that class and has a travelling kit to do more!  

To the right is Mary, an elegant woman who mastered her machine and the technique.  Her card was completed except for embellishments when she headed home.  Her husband picked her up and he was the best man for being interested in what she had accomplished!

And this is Irene, who also took a class with me previously.  On Saturday she brought her binder of finished projects, all of which she worked through following the instructions in my book after the one class.  She had an amazing variety and quality to her collection.  I was really pleased to think that someone had spent the time she that she did with my book and produced such wonderful treasures, both the patterns and ideas in the book and more of her own design.  Beautiful work Irene!

To the right is Maryanne.  She had a terrible time getting her machine to cooperate, but once it got adjusted, (thanks to Linda, at Serge & Sew)....she was on a roll....look closely at the lovely tree she is working on. 

And here is Judy, the maverick in the class.  She worked quietly and intently and asked great questions.  She is the one who made a wall hanging, and then started on a card and had great ideas to use the technique in other ways.

I love it when that happens.  Such great ideas when they all started with the same project. 

A Forgetful Start and a Happy Ending

Recently I was invited to teach at an “Art Quilter’s Day” for the Parksville Quilt Guild http://www.parksvillequilthousequilters.com/ . I mentioned it in a previous post where I had been preparing to teach a class that was not the one advertised!

Preparations were done in advance. The class was scheduled and organized before our move, and then took place after the move. I felt accomplished in that I not only remembered that I had to teach, but I could find samples, demo items and supplies I had packed beforehand.  Picture me patting myself on the head here!

I got up on the Saturday morning confident that all was well. I was up in plenty of time to have tea before I left, and had everything in the car the evening before. But my husband seemed as if he couldn’t wait to see me off. He kept offering to help, offering to put things in the car, offering to fill my travel mug……I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to and why he was so anxious to get me on the road.

But I left, took the turn onto the new inland Island Highway, which zips past all the towns and various turn offs and makes for a faster trip. It’s an hour’s drive and I’m in plenty of time. It wasn’t until I crossed the overpass on the intersection that I USED to use to turn onto this highway that I realized what my husband was fretting about. I’d forgotten to add distance we moved north of our previous home….twenty minutes!!!

Now I’m driving with the cruise control set at 10 over the limit, in hopes of getting there a little sooner and not getting caught! Added to my anxiety is the fact that I have proven to be directionally challenged and often take the wrong turn…..I’ve even done it WITH a GPS! But luckily this time I found the place without a false turn. I was so relieved.

I walked into the room where all the classes were set up to find two classes ready to go and my students all ready to go but looking a little concerned at their lack of a teacher. walked in, stood in front of everyone and said “I forgot where I lived!” One student, who knows me, said “Oh Right….you moved further north didn’t you?” And the laughter burst out.....he discussions about the difficulties of moving, and the stories of my previous meanderings on the wrong road, and then we got down to the business at hand. It was a class teaching how to make the tree on the cover of my book, “Embellishing with Anything” published through C&T http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1288 

OR, you can find it here  http://www.amazon.com/Embellishing-Anything-Techniques-Quilts-ATCs-Wallhangings/dp/1571205888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276821483&sr=1-1.

It was one of the best classes I’ve taught. Excellent students, all with a sense of humour and a sense of adventure. All with different color choices, all with different applications for the same project and every student finished at least one during the day, some doing a second one as well.

Thank you to all of you because you forgave my silliness in not leaving quite on time (I did thank my husband when I got home), and I look forward to another day like that one any time you want to organize it!

A Miscommunication

Since the publishing of my book, "Embellishing with Anything", I have been invited to teach at several different locations on Vancouver Island.  (My dream is to teach on a "quilter's cruise" some day).  I was contacted just before Christmas about teaching at a guild.  But the classes were all to be rather traditional and what I do doesn't fit into that category.  I said so, and the woman who was organizing it came up with the idea of having a "Spring Art Fling" and have three or four teachers come in who would teach non-traditional quilting techniques.  She would be in touch with me regarding the date when she had talked to other "art quilters" she knew of. 

She contacted me again, and the class will be held in May.  I prepared my sample, a supply list, and the instructions.  I was quite pleased with my sample, and was looking forward to teaching this class.  It uses one of the techniques in my book, but in a completely different way.  Happy with my work, I emailed her a photo, the supply list and told her that I would get the sample to the guild meeting where the classes are being promoted through a friend of mine, Ionne. You can see her work at www.ionnequilts.com 

Feeling very satisfied with my meeting the deadline and being so organized, I went back to my studio to continue quilting a memory quilt I'm doing for a friend.  Within half an hour, the phone rang.  It was the woman I'd been communicating with through email.  She was in a fluster.  The sample and supply list I had provided were not for the project she had been advertising!  Somewhere along the line, she thought we had agreed to do a class for the project on the cover of my book.  I checked my emails and can't find one that even suggests that, and the photos attached are all of the technique used in the new class project.  Here is what I thought I was going to teach:

However, since the class had been advertised already and was in the guild newsletter, I said "No problem", and pulled up the supply list and photograph of the project she had decided on!  She thanked me for being so flexible and I laughed.  After all, I had the sample and notes for this one done already as they are in my book and along with the class, I will probably sell some more copies.  And the plus of the whole exercise is that I have a new class all ready to teach sometime in the future!  So, here is what I WILL be teaching at the "Spring Fling"! 

Beaded Goddess Postcard Class

It is a wonderful experience when you teach a class in something you love to do and all five students are just the absolute greatest combination of personalities. I had that pleasure last weekend when I taught a class in making fabric postcards. These are one of the projects in my recently released book, “Embellishing with Anything” and I had fun doing them for the book, but showing five other people how to do them and watching them learn to love the idea as much as I do was just the greatest day I’ve spent in a long time. Their choice of fabrics, their different styles and most of all, their conversation made the day so much fun. These postcards are theirs, the work of Sue, Margit, Tina, Paula and Nancy.

They all have a story and they are all a delight. We all had so much fun we decided at the end of the day to do a postcard exchange after Christmas. That means we will each make six cards, one for each person in the group and one for ourselves. The start of a new and delightful collection of textile art for each of us!

Fabric Christmas Cards

Since the release of my book, “Embellishing with Anything” through C&T Publishing, I have been asked to teach a variety of classes at quilt shops on Vancouver Island, as well as to do trunk shows. This is a lot of fun and I love the people I meet at these events.

I have an upcoming class in Nanaimo, to teach a Christmas card I designed. This card is created using the technique for the cover project in my book. Only the colors have been changed from the Cherry Tree bark and pink flowers, to a more wintry shade of pale blue with beads and sequins added to represent ice and snow. It was fun making these.


If any of the students who were in the Gingko Leaf class (the project photo at the top of my blog) are in this one too, I know it will be a totally delightful day. That class was two Saturday’s ago and my students were such a great bunch. I was sorry to have to go home! And the best part? When I got home, unpacked my supplies and was putting them away, I found a set of three pieces of fabric that one of the students had snuck into my case. I had admired her fabric and the results and she chose to gift me with some of each one so that I can use it in my own work. What a lovely surprise….Thank you so much Dian!!!!