Carving Wood

I think I’ve taken up a new hobby (like I needed one!).  I’ve promised a wooden sign to John’s daughter and her partner, an outdoor sign to hang on the fence at the entrance of the new house they built themselves a couple of years ago.  It’s actually the height of cheekiness, to offer a hand-carved sign to a couple who are far more capable in the realm of wood than I’ll ever be.  But it’s cheaper than buying one, and they don’t have the time to do it themselves. When we were last in Australia, a carving friend in Merimbula encouraged me to try it myself. He said it would be easy and fun.

So, I have to figure out how to carve it.  It will be what is called a “relief carving”: you pare down the background to “reveal” what you want to stand out.  It took me a while to even figure out that was what it was called! There are lots of different kinds of carving: a lot of decoys, 3-D figures, furniture.  I thought relief carvings were how you felt after they were complete!

I think wood carvers are a secretive bunch, actually – far moreso than quilters.  Knowing you want to carve something doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to access the knowledge.  Try to find a wood carver in Victoria who can teach you.  There are LOTS of carvers around, I know.  But they don’t always do QUITE what I want to learn. And I couldn’t find a class being offered in anything close to what I wanted to learn.  I called a gal someone at a Christmas party recommended — a carving teacher, I was told.  We spoke for about 15 minutes, most of which time she told me how HARD it was to carve a sign!!! (it’s not what she specializes in)  At the very end, she said – I hope I haven’t dissuaded you. She obviously doesn’t know me.

Undaunted, I took her advice to contact Lee Valley Tools for perhaps a book on relief carving, and I got the perfect book.  It’s called “Relief Carving in Wood – A Practical Introduction” by Chris Pye. It tells you what tools you need, how to sharpen the tools (vital, if you’re going to carve), even how to hold them as you use them. It talks about wood, and takes you step by step through the carving of two fish: one low-relief, and one high-relief.  Great!

Of course, I’m going to work on a brown bear, since that will be the main motif on the final sign.  That’s the name of their property. So no fish for me.

So: now to find the wood.  For my practice carving, I’m working on a piece of basswood, which I’m told is easy to carve.  I called or visited about 10 stores that carry lumber before I found a great shop up near Sidney on Vancouver Island that will also supply the yellow cedar I propose to use for the final sign. I’m told it’s very good for use out of doors, and easy enough to carve. 

Okay, I’ve got the wood. I’ve got the instructions.  For my birthday, John bought me an inexpensive set of carving tools for practice.  Alas, they were not at all sharp.  So I have to figure out how to sharpen them.  Aha! A local garage sale had a few sharpening stones.  Between them and the stone John uses to sharpen our knives at home, I figured I was in business.  But I still need a strop for the final stage… a piece of leather which is coated with “strop dressing”.  I’m learning a whole new language here! I’ve ordered it from Lee Valley. It’ll come next week, I hope.

Sharpening carving tools is an art, I think, and now I hear that beginner carvers are best using pre-sharpened tools. The tools I have tried to sharpen were tearing the wood, rather than cutting. I gave up and  finally bought a very sharp flat gouge from Lee Valley (they were sold out of everything else last weekend, thanks to Father’s Day), and, in a couple of days, this is where I’ve got to on the project.

My first carving - not finished yet.

I love this!  I’ve been having a great time, making little curls of wood as I work away at the background.  My compost is going to love it too. It’s very satisfying to see the figure emerge from the background. It’s taken me over six months from my first idea to do this myself, to be able to find everything I needed to make it happen.

Next? I’m awaiting my shipment from Lee Valley of another (deeper gouge) for the next stage – the high relief project – as well as the sharpening kit which includes stropping equipment. Hopefully I can get my little set of tools sharp enough so they’ll cut the wood without tearing it.

Was quilting like this for me at the beginning?  I don’t think so.  My recollection is that I just KNEW how to do things, knew all the terminology, knew where to get the stuff I needed, and knew who to ask for help.  Of course, it was a few years ago, and perhaps my memory isn’t what it used to be…

I’m glad that I’ve finally started on this, and I’m looking forward to doing the real sign.  Maybe another hobby is evolving?   Hey, I like to be useful…. and it beats SAWING wood! lol

Still awake in Victoria.

More about Hawaii

I see that both Daphne Greig and Susan Purney-Mark (the other teachers on the cruise) have blogged about their versions of the Hawaiian cruise.  We each went our different ways during the shore days, so to get a more complete view, perhaps you’d like to read their blogs too. They have taken lots more pictures of the beautiful places they visited.

Susan Purney-Mark: http://www.susanpm.blogspot.com

Daphne Greig: http://www.daphnegreig.blogspot.com

Our Hawaiian Cruise

We’re back from our Great Adventure, so this’ll be a long post.  Hope you don’t mind, but we did have fun!

We flew to Honolulu with our bags packed with class kits, summer clothes and John’s ukulele, on our way to 12 days of uninterrupted fun aboard the Carnival Spirit.  This is a big boat, with about 2000 passengers and half that again in crew.  We were to spend a night in Honolulu before hitting all the main islands of the Hawaiian chain, and from there, cross the ocean back to Vancouver.  This is called a “relocation cruise”, when the ships change their voyages from the South Seas to the Alaskan cruise run.

We had about 35 quilters aboard, with various companions, and we all met on the morning after embarkation to pick up last minute instructions, coupons, and the schedule for the 12 days.  Our quilters also picked up a journal book and were encouraged to save mementoes from the trip for a “mystery” project once we were at sea. 

After our initial meeting, a  number of us headed out to the Honolulu Quilt Show, which they generously held while we were there(!).  On our way, via public transit, a few of us found an interesting building with some great artwork outside.  As always, quilters take pictures for future projects, and this was no exception!

Deborah, Patty and Susan looking for quilt patterns?

The Honolulu Quilt Show was wonderful, and we all took some more pictures there.  The hostesses were delighted to see us, and were very welcoming.  And their work was inspiring.

From the quilt show, Susan, Daphne and Sara and I continued on to do some shopping.  We found the Fabric Mart, where there were bolts upon bolts of batiks, Hawaiian prints and bark cloth, as well as many other non-quilting fabrics (is there such a thing?). As it was our first day, we didn’t hurt our pocket books TOOOO much!

Two floors of heaven for quilters!

On board cruise ships, they do everything to help you feel comfortable and welcome.  On our second night aboard, we returned from dinner to find the first of many towel animals who would share our stateroom with us throughout.

In case you left your dog at home?

From the island of Oahu, we sailed to Kawai.  Kawai is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands, and so the flora and fauna are more established than on the other islands.  The mountains have eroded more than on other islands as well.  John and I took a bus tour to visit Waimea Canyon, called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. Our bus driver was very entertaining, and warned us about the local fauna, which he called “killer chickens”.  It turns out that mongoose were imported to Hawaii many years ago to try to keep down the numbers of rats which eat the sugar cane. Unfortunately, they found out too late that the rats are nocturnal and the mongoose are not. But mongoose like the eggs of all the ground-nesting birds there, so they proceeded to proliferate on all the islands except Kawai.  They were never brought to Kawai.

What this means is that there are chickens EVERYWHERE on Kawai. Our bus driver predicted that, despite all our natural instincts, at one point or another during the day, we WOULD take a picture of a chicken.  And we did.

Our bus driver feeding the killer chickens

Three otherwise sane fellows taking pictures of a killer chicken

The excitement was intense!

The other thing our driver taught us that day was our “secret password”. For us, it was the name of Hawaii’s state fish.  It was vital for us to learn this word in order to get off the bus and back onto the ship (he said), and also if we wanted him to stop his horrendous puns.  The fish is called:

HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUA’A

Try saying that three times quickly!  It does have its own rhythm, though, and I got quite good at it.

Waimea Canyon was beautiful too.  Lots of colours and changing shadows as the light changed. 

Waimea Canyon

Kawai used to be all about sugar cane, the lifeblood of the economy. But these days, the cost of producing it in Hawaii is prohibitive, so there are only a couple of plantations left.  It is exported for final milling, then imported back at greater expense….. who dreamed that system up?  Today there is a huge coffee plantation on the island, and they are very happy for the cruise ship visitors.  They had a devastating hurricane on September 11, 1992 that wiped out a good deal of the island.  Nine years later, the next September 11th event wiped them out again when tourists stopped travelling.  The cruise ships have saved them.

ON TO MAUI
Our first stop on Maui was Kahului. We hadn’t booked anything to do there, so we thought we’d try to hire some bicycles and look around on our own.  After 2 hours of walking, we didn’t find the bike shop, so we opted to hire a car instead. It was interesting to visit the Sugar Museum, and to drive around a bit.  We drove up to Ioa Valley to see its tropical lushness and take pictures of the rock formations (see Daphne’s blog http://daphnegreig.blogspot.com/  for a great picture of that). We booked a whale watching tour for the next day in Lahaina.

It was near the end of the season for humpback whales, but over breakfast, I saw several whales (2 breaching!) from our balcony, so I thought it would be a good day.  And it was. 

We found whales within 20 minutes of leaving the dock, and it was a competition group: 1 female, 1 baby (already the size of a pickup truck), and 5 or so males, vying for her attention. The baby must have just learned how to breach (lift itself almost completely out of the water and land with a big splash), and it was having LOTS of fun doing it over and over and over!  There was a lot of head slapping, bubble blowing, tail slapping, pec slapping, flukes up and, really, everything that whales do, they did.  It was spectacular.  Of course, you can’t really get pictures of this – by the time you click the shutter, it’s over.  So you’ll just have to imagine….. It was an EXCELLENT day!

On our way back to the ship, I took this picture – so you can see what sort of vessel we sailed on.

The Carnival Spirit

TO THE BIG ISLAND
The Big Island of Hawaii is huge, in comparison with the others.  It is the most recent addition to the chain, and is still growing, thanks to Mauna Loa and Kilauea eruptions. You can fit the entire rest of the state within the area of the Big Island, which is why they call it that.  I didn’t realize how many different climactic zones there are on the island. Because of the prevailing NE winds (which keep one half of the island a rainforest and the other a desert), as well as the extreme altitude changes, 11 of the possible 13 zones can be found there.  That means they could grow anything there!  Not just the world-famous Kona coffee, but cactus and grain and apples and pineapples and anything else you’d like to grow there.  If you don’t like the climate/weather, drive 5 minutes!!

We started our two night stop on the Big Island in Kona. I had signed up for a class in Hawaiian quilting given by Barbara Bieraugel at the Quilt Passions shop. It was a great class, and she filled us in on some Hawaiian quilt history. That was what I was most interested in, as I’m trying to write a song about it.  She was very helpful.  She also prepared her designs so that we could sit and start sewing – she had pre-cut all the patterns for us!

Barbara shows Joyce her technique

This is what I made at the class - I finished it just before we disembarked in Vancouver!

After the class was over, we had arranged to meet a “local” for lunch.  Last year I was approached by Peggy to give her permission to use a picture of my “Star and Plume” quilt on a CD cover and poster for her choir’s concert. We got in touch with her and she proposed taking us for a drive.  We had lunch in Holualoa Village, an artists’ community with palm trees, coffee bushes, pineapples and ukuleles.  It was a lovely afternoon.   On our way back to the ship, we stopped in to pick up some authentic 100% Kona coffee.  Yum!

Kona coffee bags

It was while we were waiting in line to get back on the ship that I spotted this bumper sticker.  I love it!

Kona Hawaii: A Quaint Drinking Village with a Fishing Problem

We left Kona at 6pm and headed for our last stop on the cruise before the big sail across the Pacific: Hilo.  We went around the south coast of the island so that we could (hopefully) see molten lava reaching the sea.  It was about midnight when we passed it, 3 miles from shore.  It would have helped to have binoculars, but it was impressive.  Huge red sparks and lava lit up the darkness, creating the newest land in the world.

We had another shore excursion planned for Hilo: a bicycle trip around the crater rim.  About 25 of us hopped aboard the vans for the drive up to the Jaggar Museum in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. The air quality that day wasn’t so good – the breeze hadn’t started yet, and the air was full of sulphur dioxide at the top.  Not a good place to start the bicycle trip.  Instead, we drove back town to the Visitor Center and unloaded the bicycles.

The start of our cycling trip

It was an easy cycle – we started at the top of the Crater Rim Drive, so there wasn’t much of a challenge.  We really appreciated the slowness of the transportation, so that we could see everything going by and hear the birds. There is a lot growing up there, believe it or not.  It doesn’t take long for plants to get started from lava.

A small fern growing on bare lava.

See the billowing caldera behind us? That's Kilauea.

There are lots of stories about Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes, and her temper. Of course, visitors must not take lava from the park. There’s a book published that contains letters that accompanied lava rocks tourists took — and then returned to the park, because all of a sudden, their lives took a turn for the worse. Pele’s curse.

If you live on the Big Island (especially below the mountain to the south) you might find one day that your backyard is erupting.  The eruptions don’t explode like Mount St. Helen’s did, but rather they burble out. Therefore, it isn’t usual that people lose their lives when Pele’s anger is felt – but it is very possible to lose your property.

Pele is said to appear as an old woman just before an eruption happens. There’s one story of a lighthouse keeper who took in and fed an old woman who asked for assistance. He offered her accommodation for the night, and she agreed.  But she was gone before morning, and no-one knew where she went.  A few days later, the mountain erupted and covered with lava the village where he lived:  all the houses were destroyed, except his. Pele?

ALOHA TO HAWAI’I
It was a wonderful time in Hawai’i, and we learned a lot.  We had pretty good weather thoughout, a few good beach days, and a lot of great things to do.  I would like to return to the Big Island someday.  I think there is much more to see there.

Then we began our 5 days across the ocean — quilting time!  Susan and Daphne and I had a full schedule for the rest of the cruise, teaching various classes and doing a bit of singing too.  Everyone brought their journals one morning and they made fabric book covers, decorated with ticket stubs, fish, palm trees, and sparkles that they had collected in their travels. Another day we had a great Show and Share.  The class I taught was a hand-appliqued Yellow Hibiscus (the State flower).

Apart from the quilting classes, there was lots to do aboard. There were two formal nights in the Dining Room, and a Hawaiian night, where we wore our new outfits from the Islands.  There were trivia contests and mini-golf with prizes all over the ship, shows every night (how DID those dancers do it on the rough sea night?), live music everywhere.  Pools, a gym and spa, deck chairs, movies, dancing.  And the casino, of course.

I set up a “secret” meeting with the companions of our quilters one afternoon and we wrote a song together! It’s called “Aloha to Hawai’i” and is very funny.

The songwriting crew in "The Jungle"

It took an hour and a bit to write, but everyone had a great time.  There was lots of bonding happening among the participants, and tales were told about quilters that would raise the hair on your head — but I’m sworn to secrecy! What happens aboard the ship, stays aboard the ship…..

We took one more photo op on our last night dressed in our Hawaiian garb.  It could be the last time we wear this stuff until our NEXT visit to Hawai’i! 

The Hawaiian Quilt Cruise

All in all, it was a great working holiday. We motored into Vancouver harbour (one of the great harbours of the world, and I was so excited to sail in under the Lion’s Gate Bridge!) and it was over.  One more boat ride – the ferry over to Vancouver Island, and we were home.  It was great to end up so close, without an airplane to deal with after the cruise. But, however good BC Ferries may be, the food does not compare with what we had been eating aboard the Carnival Spirit!

The best part of all of this?  WE’RE DOING IT AGAIN!!  We’ve confirmed that the three of us will meet again in September of 2010 to cruise to Alaska and back.  And I will DEFINITELY be singing the “Duck Neck Quilt” song, about a quilt in the Skagway Museum then!

Our last towel animal buddy - just hanging around.

Aloha!

We are heading out to begin our next adventure tomorrow morning:  eleven days on a cruise ship from Honolulu to Vancouver!  It’s very exciting, and only the second cruise John and I have been on.  The last time, we left from San Diego and had 7 days on the Oosterdam (Holland America) with stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.  It was marvellous.  This time, we’ll be on the Carnival Spirit – and we’re ready to be spoiled rotten.

It was because of that first cruise that I became a quilting teacher, actually.  My friends Susan Purney-Mark and Daphne Greig invited me along – to sing, I thought, but it turned out I had to teach too.  Now, I’ve taught singing classes for 25 years, given guitar and even songwriting lessons, but I hadn’t started teaching quilting yet.  Am I ever glad I did!  I’m really enjoying teaching classes in our tours.  It’s a great way to spend some quality time with quilters in our travels, and I love helping people learn to be creative.  You’ve already read about how fun my newest class is (read some of the older posts from our last tour).  

So when the opportunity to do an 11 day cruise presented itself (with Susan and Daphne again) I leapt at the chance.  We’ll have 6 days of cruising around the Islands before our 5 days of uninterrupted quilting as we sail across to Vancouver. That’s when Susan will be teaching beading and wool applique, Daphne will teach a class in her Overlays to make an underwater scene, and I’ll be teaching hand applique to create a beautiful Yellow Hibiscus.  All the classes this time will be by hand, which is a wonderfully relaxing thing to do on a cruise ship.  By that time, we’ll be all operating on “Island Time”, and we’ll just float blissfully across (hope the sea is calm!) while we work on our creations – and our tans.

We have 33 quilters on the cruise, with some husbands accompanying. The last time we cruised, I was able to round up the husbands for an hour to write a song together, which we sang at the final concert.  I intend to do the same again this time.  Who knows what we’ll come up with, but I’ll bring John’s ukulele so that the song sounds like it was written in Hawaii!!!

So: see you in 11 days.  I promise I’ll post some pics here and let you know how it all went. Aloha!

The Underground Railroad and North Buxton, Ontario

Bancroft, Brantford (both great fun) and then a weekend off at my brother’s new farm north of Meaford. We had a wonderful family time (lots of food, conversation and soggy walks) and caught up on everyone’s travels and activities.

Our last gig in Ontario was for the Chatham-Kent Quilters guild. First time for us there, and they really treated us well. There were some gals who drove in from Sarnia in the audience too, as well as many other neighbouring communities.  I taught my Machine Reverse Applique class one last time on this tour, and once again, the students created some stunning work.

Half the class in Chatham - look at those smiles!

Before we left the Chatham area, we visited the North Buxton Museum. I had heard about this community a few years ago thanks to a display at Quilt Canada in Kitchener/Waterloo and had wanted to check it out.  North Buxton was a tract of land that was set aside for escaped slaves during the American Civil War. If they could build a house with certain minimum dimensions, they could have the land it was built on.  Quite a few took advantage of the offer, and there was a thriving community there.  In fact, after some initial opposition, the locals actually sent their children to the North Buxton school because it offered far superior education to their own! 

"A Terminus of the Underground Railroad"

The Museum in North Buxton is fascinating, and well worth a visit. We had a personal tour from a 5th generation descendent of slaves who settled there. I wanted to see quilts, of course.  I had heard that there were some signature quilts on the bed. Our guide asked if I knew of the “Hidden In Plain View” book which purports to tell a true story about quilts used by escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad. He said “It’s not true – none of it.” It was interesting to hear it from him; I’ve certainly heard much the same from American quilt historians.  The story has taken off,  though, and I’m certain that neither our guide nor the quilt historians will be able to put the genie back into the bottle.

Our guide showed me a bed piled high with quilts, and pulled back the layers so I could see them all.  It was an impressive show of antique quilts made by the women of the community over the years. Many of them had names embroidered on them – fundraisers by reunion attendees who had come back to the area, for the most part.

A bed full of quilts

Perhaps the most disturbing part of our visit to the museum was the description of how the slaves were transported from Africa.  They were stuffed in, four to a berth, and a berth was a wooden box 2 feet wide, 2 feet high and 6 feet long, looking for all the world like a coffin without a top.  These berths were piled high below decks, and the slaves were chained into them, with no fresh air or bathroom facilities, and only a minimum of food.  The captain of the boats would get paid for each slave transported as long as they did not die of disease on the boat. If they went overboard and died, the captain would still get paid – so they would tie the sick slaves together with heavy chains and throw them overboard.  I am appalled at the barbarity of these conditions. To treat fellow humans in this way…

We flew home on Thursday and had one night there before driving north to Campbell River.  What a tease, to only spend one night home!  But it was only one more night away. 

The City of Campbell River sponsored the North Island Sewing and Needle Arts Show where we sang, and I taught a hexagon class. Proceeds from the event will help fund programs for developmentally challenged adults that they run at the community centre there, including sewing and quilting classes.  It was a very nice event. After my class on Saturday, I wandered around the vendors and display areas. I tried out some bobbin lace-making, and checked out the “sheep to shawl” group on the stage who were working through the shorn wool via carding, spinning, plying, and weaving. It was very well done.

So, now we’re home for the week, getting caught up, unpacked, and ready for our next adventure:  HAWAII!!!  We’re pulling out the summer clothes (wait a minute – weren’t we just in a snowstorm?), and packing up the kits for our cruisin’ quilters who will be joining us in Honolulu.  John’s dusting off his ukulele (he’s going to let me borrow it), and I’ve even found my muu muu that I bought there about 25 years ago.  Maybe it’ll still fit…….

Aloha for now!

A Day Off

Greetings from Peterborough Ontario.  Although it’s April — technically, spring — the snow has been falling for two days, and it all looks very Christmasy here.  John and I have been staying at a motel here for a couple of nights, before continuing our tour to Bancroft on Wednesday night.

We don’t often get a couple of days alone in a motel room when we’re on tour. Usually, we’re seeing friends and doing shows or sightseeing. But both of us wanted some time to get caught up, so we opted to be on our own during this time.  The snow was just another good reason to stay put.

So, what do I do on a day off?  Well, as you see, I’m blogging a bit. I’ve done some updates to the website www.singingquilter.com, and I’ve been catching up on my Facebook page.  Yesterday I found the local Curves and did a workout. I also worked on some of my little hexagons.  I’ve finally caught up on the 15 flower gardens I lost on the flight from New Zealand in December.  I should have this row done soon, and then I’ll start to square off the piece.  It’s almost done!!! (well, give me another 6 months……)

A day off is also a chance to dream. Of quilts I’m going to start when I get home. Of writing a book. Of becoming a black belt in karate (okay, I’m making that part up). Of songs I will write. Notice I didn’t say “should”?  I hate that word!  Either I do it, or I don’t. There’s no such thing as “should”. (or, at least, there SHOULDN’T be!!!)

I’m also reminded of living in Ontario, when every spring would hold out the promise of warm sunny weather, only to yank it away from you when there was always ONE MORE SNOWSTORM — no matter if it was April or May.  (At least, in June you were pretty safe, unlike living in Calgary, for example.) I know that the weather is glorious at home in Victoria just now. My daffodils are blooming in my absence. The artichoke plant is growing by leaps and bounds, the roses are sprouting, and maybe the deer haven’t eaten ALL my tulips. I’m living in hope that the apple tree gives us some fruit this year, its second year in my garden. We’ll be home soon enough, and I’ll be able to get back to work outside.

And after all this snow, we’re really going to feel we deserve our cruise to Hawaii. Everyone is getting very excited about our upcoming adventure — we have 33 quilters aboard the Carnival Spirit, cruising for 6 days around the Hawaiian Islands, then across to Vancouver.  I can’t wait to sail into Vancouver Harbour — it promises to be gorgeous!  And what a different way to enter the city.  We’ve flown into Vancouver and driven there.  Walked the Seawall, even bicycled.  But to sail into one of the world’s great harbours.  I can’t wait!

So, clearly, my mind is dwelling on many things today.  I won’t bore you with the rest. Here’s a picture outside our hotel room. If you’re hot just now, be cool.  If you’re cool, imagine yourself INSIDE and cozy warm.

A winter wonderland?

Burlington Teen Tour Band Quilt

One of the songs on “In the Heart of a Quilt” is called “Boots and Bayonets”. It’s about a quilted banner made by members of the Burlington Teen Tour Band, a marching ensemble that was formed in 1947 and has been going ever since.  They have been doing very well internationally and are known throughout marching band circles. 

They were asked to perform on the beach in Normandy for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day celebrations. Before they left, the parents and organizers of the band thought of ways to increase the significance of the event to the band members, who are teenagers.  Judy Lyons, who is one of Canada’s few qualified quilt appraisers, came up with the idea of a quilted banner.  The band members were each sent home with a square of white fabric, which they were to fill with something related to their family or friends about WWII.  It turned out to be an impressive quilt, which opened up a great deal of communication between generations.

The Burlington Teen Tour Band quilted banner

One evening Judy’s doorbell rang and she opened the door to find an elderly man in an overcoat standing outside. He asked if he could see the quilt, and she invited him inside.  As she got the quilt out, he removed his overcoat to reveal his old uniform.  He put his cap on his head and handed her his camera. 

“Please take my picture in front of the quilt” he requested.  He was standing in front of the block that his grandson had made.

This is the story I told in my song “Boots and Bayonets”. 

We have just performed in Burlington for the Halton Quilters’ Guild. They had to move their venue on the night we were there, because of a Home Show at the arena.  The new venue was the seniors’ centre — right across the street from the Burlington Teen Tour Band headquarters!!!

Judy met us in the afternoon and we had a tour of the facility. There’s a huge room for the rehearsals, a uniform room and various offices. We met the band director, and he was busy setting up a performance for the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.  Very busy, but he had time to chat for a bit.

That night Judy brought the quilt to the meeting and hung it for everyone to see.  She invited several people to accompany her, including one of the quilters who worked on it. It was wonderful to sing the song for them for the first time.

Here’s Judy and me in front of the quilt before the meeting got started.

Judy Lyons and me with the band banner

 I am always delighted when we can sing a song about the place we are visiting. In this case, I couldn’t have asked for more – it was a very powerful moment for all of us.

The Sugar Shack

I’m embarrassed to say this, but, although I lived for 17 years in Ottawa, I have never EVER been to a Sugar Shack when the maple sap is flowing.  John’s brother Steve lives next to Lanark County, self-described as the Maple Syrup Capital of Canada. I asked him the day we arrived if he knew anyone who had sugar maple trees and who was making syrup from them.  He immediately called his friend Terry, and we went right over.

Every year, if the temperature is right (warmish during the day, cold at night), maple trees’ sap starts to flow. It’s a clear, watery liquid that tastes like slightly sweetened tap water. But once it has been boiled down, it becomes what has delighted many children, pancakes, and pioneers for generations: MAPLE SYRUP!!!  In Lanark county and many other areas, it’s still being made in the old way. If the temperature changes and it either gets colder or warmer, the sap stops flowing. It was flowing when we were at Terry’s.

Terry taps about 20 trees. Each one will produce 3-4 litres of syrup, once it is boiled down to 1/4 of its volume (or less). If he wanted to do this as a full-time job, he’d tap more trees, but it suits him just fine as it is.  He says the reason he makes syrup is because it’s too late for skiing and too early for gardening. It’s not a really engrossing process. Boring, actually. Lots of waiting around.

He has a sugar shack near the sugar bush. It isn’t heated except for the wood fire that will boil down the sap. He taps the trees, and hangs large white pails - one on each side of the tree. After that, it’s a question of keeping ahead of the sap overflowing the pails.

He has a huge metal waterproof vat that fits right over the open flame, and Terry fills it with the clear sap.  He brings it to a boil over a hot fire, and his job then is to keep the fire hot (lots of wood used) and keep filling the vat until he wants to boil the syrup down to its finished consistency.

Terry shows me his process.

Once the sap is boiled down enough, he strains the syrupy liquid through clean terrycloth into a smaller pan, which he continues boiling and keeps an eye on until it is “right”. Each maker has a different “right”, but Terry prefers amber coloured syrup rather than light, like you mostly find in the stores. He told me that the light coloured syrup (called “premium”) is what the larger producers make. They use a reverse osmosis system, rather than boiling, and they can’t make amber syrup that way.  I like it Terry’s way.

Did you notice that Terry gave me a jar of his syrup?  That was a huge bonus.  I’m looking forward to trying it when we get home. Terry’s wife Sharon told me there are many ways to use maple syrup in cooking, like over chicken, on oatmeal, and to replace cane sugar in anything.

I have a much greater understanding of the process now. It certainly is a bonus to this time of year! Too bad we can’t do this in Victoria – too warm out there.  We’ll have to make sure we visit this time of year every year.

On the Road Again

Last Sunday we hit the road via a flight to Toronto for a month long tour in Ontario.  Believe it or not, the weather was nicer in TO than it was in Victoria (although my daffodils had just started to bloom before we left, and there was still snow on the ground in S. Ontario)!

Our first concert was for the Port Perry Patchers.  This is just north of Oshawa (just east of Toronto), and near where my family originally settled when they came over from Scotland in 1841.  We did a quick visit to the Greenbank Cemetery to pay our respects.

The concert in Port Perry was fantastic. Such a great response to the songs! I also taught a class in English paper piecing hexagons the next morning which was great fun. The last part of the class is figuring out what hexagons can do – what shapes and designs they are good at. I asked them to write their names using hexagons, and our wonderful hostess Marion tried a few different ones. (see photo below)

Our next show was in Niagara Falls. We realized it would be busy there, since March break had just started. (We tried to get into a maple syrup making festival the day before and were turned away due to a 1-1/2 hour lineup!!!)  In Niagara Falls, there were LOTS of families everywhere. We were staying right on the “strip”, with tons of hotels, restaurants, and horror/wax museums.  I don’t get that part of it.  I guess this kind of tackiness has taken years to build up.  We did get a walk to the Falls, though, which were magnificent as usual, especially with the ice buildup from the winter.

The concert was fun – the Niagara Heritage Quilters meet in St. Catharines in a huge hall.  There were maybe 200 people there!  The next morning I taught a class in Machine Reverse Applique to a very keen group of 13.  We had a great time!  There are lots of new quilts from that class that are going to be beautiful.  In the picture below, they have just started to cut out their designs.

This is a fairly new class for me, and I’m enjoying teaching it.  The design aspect can be daunting for some people, but I give them lots of ideas and support during that part of the process.  Everyone came up with a very good design. They sew their quilt sandwich along the lines, then cut out the top layer to reveal the fabric beneath. That’s the really exciting part.  I’ve become a bit addicted to the technique, and will make others.  It’s quick and easy, and there are few limitations as to what you can do.

I’ll be teaching this class twice more before we get home in 3 weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next students design.

Hexagon names

This is us at Niagara Falls

One of the student’s reverse applique piece in progress

This is all of us at the finish of the Reverse Applique class

15 hours of work

Well, we’ve been back from our NZ trip for well over a month and a half now, and I’m finally able to talk about it. No, the trip itself was wonderful, as you know if you’ve been following our travels. It’s what I lost on the way back.

I’m pretty sure it was on the flight from Auckland to Vancouver. Fourteen hours of flying can lead to some confusion in the rush to get out of the plane, not to mention the fuzziness that fatigue can lend to the proceedings.  And I didn’t even notice it was missing until a couple of weeks later. My heart just sank.

A little baggie of about 15 Grandmother’s Flower Gardens, done in 1/4″ hexagons, all ready to piece onto my little quilt. GONE!

I was devastated, felt hollow and bereft. But now, with almost 2 months of time to settle down, I can say: it’s only time (15 hours) (and hardly any fabric!). At least, I didn’t leave behind the quilt! THAT would have been tragic!

I did try to call the Air Canada baggage services, but they never ever answered. I think it’s a test: see how long people will wait on hold with bad muzak playing. I managed about 15 minutes till I had to hang up.

I will get back to piecing little little hexagons when we fly to Ontario in March. I usually have far more interesting work to do when we’re home! And I must keep reminding myself: it’s not about getting it done, it’s about DOING. (very zen, doncha know!)