Quilt Mafia Gathers Again

I missed our last gathering and was so happy to make it there yesterday. We met at the very lovely Gaspereau Valley Fibres a farm yarn shop in the very beautiful Gaspereau Valley. I it was a beautiful day and nineteen of us sat around an array of tables and stitched all day. I can't think of a better way to spend a day!

Leslie, Cathy, Laurie and Alex

Uta's wonderful Leopard Who Hides His Spots

Margi's wonderful stick puppets of herself and Brain and four of their grandchildren

Celeste, Kate and Linda

Val's wonderful embroidery that she brought back from her recent trip.

Linnet's vibrant animal quilt

We were watched over by various characters!

I loved all the various textures around us from our own work to the beautiful years and the wonderful old barn boards.

It was really quite wonderful to be surrounded by such inspiration not only in the shop but in the scenery around us. The Gaspereau Valley is fast becoming known for its vineyards, we past three on our way there. It really is a unique spot in Nova Scotia.

The members of the Quilt Mafia are all doing such interesting things. Penny and her amazing dedication to embroidery, Margi and her dolls of all sorts, Alex and her stitching and daily drawing in her journals that are amazing. She dedicates part of her day to drawing and I think she said she had over 2,000 entries!

I wish we could get together more often, we all travel a distance to get together. Plans are in the works for another day soon and perhaps a sleepover! Can't wait. Be sure and see more pictures on my Flickr page.

Maritime Fibre Arts Retreat 2016

The view never disappoints! It was good to be back this year as I have missed 2 years. This year I went for the one day instead is staying overnight, I live just 10 minutes away so it is an easy commute.

Betsey was working on her Star Surprise quilt from a workshop with Linda Mills.

As well as quilters (and there were a lot) there was also a good crowd of spinners. I always find it quite mesmerizing watching the spinners spin! I think of my grandmother who was a wonderful spinner, I have her spinning wheel and her walking wheel. Oh, if only there were enough hours in the day!

I love watching all the hands at work. This was a woman tatting, she was sitting behind me. Beautiful work!

My good friend Patty, a member of the famous Brunch Bunch and a legend in the world of Nova Scotia weavers is also an exquisite rug hooker. I am so honoured that she gave us one of her hooked mats when we moved into our Mahone Bay house.

It was a wonderful day, it flew by all too fast. As well as the fibre arts pictured above there were many knitters, felters, embroiderers etc. The noise level was high, the sense of accomplishment was high and new friends were made.

This has become such a successful event that it is already full for 2017 and has a waiting list. Great to know that the fibre arts are alive and well in Nova Scotia! Be sure and see a few more pictures on my Flickr page.

After Swissair

Sea Change is hand appliqued, machine pieced and hand quilted.

On September 2, 1998 Swissair flight 111 crashed into the ocean not very far from where we were living.  All 229 people on board died. It was a moment in time that affected our community deeply - so many people on shore from the fisherman to the first responders, to the clergy to the "families" came together to do the best they could.  The search, the recovery, the mourning - we all have our own memories, some good some not so good. On the one year anniversary, a local well-known author Budge Wilson read a commentary on CBC Radio.  She spoke from her heart about what she and our community had been through.  She spoke of a "sea change", and according to Wikipedia, "sea change" is an idiom for broad transformation drawn from a phrase in Shakespeare's The Tempest.  For me that term fit perfectly and I made this small quilt.  The log cabin blocks symbolize the families of the victims whose lives had been torn apart.  As well, they symbolize those of us on shore who were home that night.  The traditional Log Cabin block signifies the harmony in the home.  The centre square usually was red, for the hearth, the centre of the home. It seemed an appropriate block to use but in an un-traditional way.  The lives and homes of these families would never be the same.

It is the first in a series of three quilts I have made that commemorate those early years after the crash. We had not lived long in the community but we quickly became part of it.  We met some incredible people and became lifelong friends with two of the SwissAir families. My quilt Sea Change is meant to subtly illustrate the affect on the families in our community as well as the families of those who lost their lives.  I used the traditional “log cabin”  quilt block (which represents the home) but pieced it in a rather chaotic way to reflect the upheaval in so many lives. The circles represent the ocean, always changing and yet in a way comforting.

After Swissair by Budge Wilson 2016, Pottersfield Press. The book and my quilt! I was so honoured when Budge asked me if my quilt could be on the cover of her book of poetry. I was so honoured when Budge wrote the poem about Nancy's Quilt and included it in her book. Budge had been working on this book for a very long time, carefully and respectfully putting into words what so many felt that night and the days that followed.