Even though it seems to take forever to get ready for  and consumes thought and energy for months beforehand, it’s over in a flash! There is so much to see and do in the 4 days that it takes a week of posts to cover it all, or would if I was a more reliable blogger.

These are a few of my favorite entries from around the show…

This lovely rhino was made by Pam Holland he has blue toenails and the best smile I have ever seen on a rhino not that I have seen allot!

This cheerful quilt greeted me every morning as we headed to our stand to begin the day.

It’s all knitted ( with a bit of crochet tossed in) and made by Pauline Law of South Africa. Pauline  mentions she was inspired by the quilts of Gee’s Bend  and has won  a Judges Choice award for her quilt.

The eye-catching piece below is made by a former student of mine!  Herma de Ruiter was inspired by Chinese lanterns to make this quilt. It’s a perfect entry for the guild Challenge this year, the theme was Festival and  Herma won the European Award!

Congratulations Herma!

Marie Roper created this striking figure inspired by jesters and the circus…

There is so much to see at this show, you could spend days there and still miss exhibits, entries or vendors.  But by the end of  Sunday there isn’t much left….except the dreaded orange carpet and a bit of garbage!

Meanwhile back home in Vancouver, (I hear it’s been very warm! that figures since it’s cool and rainy here) Bart is enjoying trips to the river to cool down.

Thanks Ann! from both of us. I’m heading back home to Vancouver on Wednesday, I hope the warm weather will stick around till I get there.

bye for now, Catherine

I want to share a little bit more about the fashion show Thursday evening…

The last category of the night was “Art to Wear” and wow! the costumes were amazing, these two were  my favorites of the night, both from the UK team.

and Laura’s outfit of course, check out those eyelashes!

The show finished with a grand finale down the runway all the models together, or as many would fit at one time. The whole event was great fun ….

And the winner is…

This quilt won Best in Show and was made by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga and is called “Octopussy”. The fabrics are hand dyed cotton and silk and it is free motion quilted. Here’s a close up image  to see the details.

This stunning piece won the Pictorial Quilt category and is also made by Janneke, she must have had a very  busy year!

The miniature winner is this lovely quilt made by Kumiko Frydl, it’s barely 12″ square, hard to believe it could contain all that detail.

The winner of the Quilt Creations category was Stephanie Redfern for her wonderful book The Stone Bird. This is a section of just one of the many pages from the book.  There is more information about Stephanie on her blog along with a picture of her and the winning entry!

More images from the show next time…

Bye for now, Catherine

We are half way through Festival  of Quilts, 2 days down and 2 to go.

Last night was the Fashion Show, actually it was called  Fashion sans Frontieres and was held at the Hilton Hotel just next door to the National Exhibition Center where Festival is held, just outside Birmingham.  The quilt show closed at 5:30 pm  and I scooted across the parking lots to catch up with Linda and Laura at the Hilton. They had been there for the dress rehearsal and were well along with their hair and makeup preparations by the time I arrived.

There were long tables set up back stage for hair and makeup and lots of garment racks set up around the room.  On the hangers there were some amazing dresses

and on the faces some even more fantastic makeup!

There was room to practice modelling  moves before heading out onto the runway and a great chance to get to know the other designers and models.

Linda and Laura did a brilliant job in designing and making their stunning garments and  they did the modelling as well! Both looked amazing on the catwalk. This is Linda modelling the day-wear garment and accessories,

and Laura  modelling evening wear.

There are more images of the show on Linda’s blog and there will be more next post. There is so much to see, I haven’t shown you the Art to Wear category and the finale  of the fashion show. And of course  there will be images of a few of my favourite quilts and exhibitions  from Festival.

Bye for now, Catherine

 

 

It’s that time of the year again!Today we set up the stand at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, UK . Festival of Quilts 2011 opens tomorrow at 10 am,  ready or not!

We loaded the van this morning and headed down the highway to set up the show. There are so many bits and pieces required to make sure everything looks as good as it possibly can.This is what we start with….

and after several hours of hard work and a bit of trial and error  about what should go where this is what it looks like.

The stand is almost  finished  just a few little touch ups in the morning and we will be ready to go.  While we working hard all day some were back at home taking it easy,  Linda’s cat Toby has mastered the art of relaxation!

talk to you after the show,  Catherine

 

I had a special treat for my birthday this year, Linda took me to the Burwarton Agricultural show. It was full of things I don’t normally see in Vancouver. There were lots of animals, perfectly combed and polished, there were vegetables matched in sets and loads of interesting displays and demonstrations of just about anything you can imagine.

These sheep had the most amazing colour fleece , sort of “yellowy” gold.

I got up close and personal with a few of them. Apparently every one of the sheep was a bit different, I’m afraid the finer points of sheep were lost on me but they are very photogenic!

The finer points of sheep may have been lost on me but the judges and competitors took the competitions very seriously! It was pouring rain when these sheep were judged, but nobody moved even a hair out of line.

This fellow was keeping a very close eye on me and my camera, he (or maybe it was she?) was so big I could only get this much of him/her in the image.

The importance of the day was lost on some,  in the midst of all the noise and people this fellow managed to catch a nap! It’s a great trick to be able to balance on your nose while you sleep.

When the rain got a bit heavy we made a run for some of the marquee’s. This one was full of perfect vegetables! There was the  longest carrot competition, the best matched cabbages and cakes,  lots and lots of cakes.

We couldn’t believe the size of these cabbages, the big ones weren’t the first prize winners but they were spectacular! very eye catching.

It was a wonderful day and one of the best birthday treats I can think of, thanks Linda! There are a few more images of our day at the fair on Linda’s blog or there will be soon.

Talk to you soon, Catherine

 

 

 

It’s that time of the year again, Festival of Quilt’s that is! and that means I’m on the road and heading for Birmingham, UK.

Leaving Vancouver is a bit of a wrench this time the year the weather is finally warming up (at least it was before I left) and there are some wonderful things coming up in my garden. On an evening like this it can be hard to leave such a beautiful place, but it was good to see my ride waiting for me!

Even though it seems to take forever at the time it really isn’t that bad a trip and there were some wonderful views out the window as we approached London. Looks a bit like patchwork doesn’t it?!

After landing there’s the usual scramble with customs, luggage, trains into the city and of course the inevitable jet-lag! This is such a busy place…there is so much going on and so many people, I always feel like the “small town tourist” in London. I stepped out of the chaos for a minute in Paddington Station to catch my breath and take a look  around, what a gorgeous building. Not something I have ever said about a train station before but…it fits!

I know it looks as if the floor is tilting, it isn’t –  I was!  The roof is amazing looking in both directions .

Bye for now, Catherine

 

 

…even better than a chance to paint is a chance to paint plein air and the sun is out. After a very slow start to summer the last few days have been glorious, warm summer days, everyone in the city seems to be smiling!

On Thursday evening I attended an opening at the Craft Council of British Columbia for a wonderful show of Michele Sirois-Silver’s latest work entitled Shift. Michele’s take on traditional hand hooked rugs takes the craft to a whole new place.

There were lots of people milling around the gallery and it was great to catch up with friends’ and have a close look at Michelle’s work.

It was such a lovely evening we couldn’t resist a visit to one of the eateries along the edge of the water to watch the sun set… and have a little snack!

With that great start to the weekend I finished it off with a day of painting  with Elizabeth Harris-Nichols at her farmhaus in the city. We had a great day working with her philosophies of A Painting in One day using still life as inspiration.

OK, mine isn’t completely done but that is more me than Elizabeth’s method! I can be a bit picky when it comes to the last bits of anything and there are a few little things I want to do… I think.  I like to leave a painting for a while and take another look with “fresh eyes” a bit later. That way I can see if there is anything needs changing.

It was a beautiful sunny day and Elizabeth had us all set up outside with a canopy for shade. I forgot to take my camera to record the day ( must have gotten too much sun!)  but this is my almost complete  “almost painting in one day.”

and a close up as well…thanks Elizabeth, it was so much fun!

I’m getting ready to head to the UK this week, my next post will be from there!

Catherine

All my visitors have gone home and I have managed a quick weekend away as well. The weather has taken another turn for the worst and the Okanogan valley was calling me so I loaded up the car with the dog and a change of clothes on Friday afternoon and headed out for some time away from the city and the weather!

This is the spectacular view from the deck of friends home where Bart and  I stayed for the weekend, gorgeous isn’t it!? We spent some time visiting and watching the weather across the lake. There was time for a walk to visit some of the local vineyards with some great photo opportunities!

I am glad I was the one with the camera, I was down on hands and knees to get a good angle for the seed head image above and am sure was a picture myself! thankfully there was no one around but this fellow.

And if he was laughing at me he had the good grace to do it quietly.

We made it to the first vineyard on our planned route and enjoyed a tasting trying out 4 different wines. Then on to the next… and another tasting.

It was a great afternoon walking to and through the vineyards. Though it was a bit tiring for some!

Now I must get some work done!

Catherine

 

 

 

Summer can be so lovely here, when the weather cooperates, and the last week has been beautiful. It must be our reward for the rotten spring !  It seems I’m not the only one who likes to be in Vancouver in the summertime I have had visitors in and out all week ( that’s my excuse for being a bad blogger!) Friends arrived from California for a short visit and my cousin and his wife are in town from the UK.  I don’t see them often but this year is an exception, as I will be heading to the UK in a few weeks.

I haven’t done much proper work in between coffee on Granville Island and lunches out  (it’s tough work but someone has to do it!) but I have joined in the Vancouver Draw Down Daily Drawing Project and am having great fun. It’s the perfect project for a busy month, you can fit in a drawing here and there and it only takes 15 minutes a day!

The Daily Drawing Project site gives two options, the first is very quick and easy the second is considered challenging. The daily challenge can be just about anything, on the 1st of July the challenge was to draw your route through the city today.

The 4th of July was draw a bike from memory, well that stated me remembering bikes, at least one in particular.

The 6th was to draw a continuous line drawing of a set of keys and the 7th was to draw the contents of your purse.

But so far my favorite draw down has been to find a pattern in nature and draw this pattern over the whole page.

Now I’m off to get a pencil and pour a glass of water for today’s challenge!

Catherine

July 1st is Canada Day and that means community parades, fireworks, barbecues, lots of red and white everything and this year woolly hats!

On our morning walk Bart and I came across the gathering place for our communities Canada Day parade. Everyone was bustling around getting their vehicles ready and spectators were already staking out the perfect spot on the side-walk.

 

I was a little concerned about who , or should I say what? was moving in when I read the labels on the crates. Lots of local business participate, as do charitable organizations and police fire and almost everyone you can think of.

Despite the cool damp day there are lots of smiles and flag waving!and a great pancake breakfast in the park with real maple syrup ( of course!)

Happy Canada Day!

Catherine