May 1st – the Beginning

We have begun our 24 month journey into the Star and Plume block of the month, and a few people have already completed their first blocks!  You can see them at www.starandplume.wordpress.com. Each and every one will be so different. It’s very exciting for me to see the fabric and colour choices each person has made.

And it’s because of the Block of the Month that I’ve not doing much else on this blog! It was a busy time to prepare the patterns, and make sure I had everything ready before the launch.  I’m back now.

John and I are in final preparation for another tour.  We’ll be driving north, this time, to a place in Canada I’ve never been – the LAST place in Canada I’ve never been: the Yukon!

It’s a bit of a “busman’s holiday”, I suppose, but we do have some shows as we go.  Our first is in Dawson City Yukon – yes, famous for the Klondike Gold Rush.  I expect we’ll be steeped in gold history while we’re there.  I’ll be teaching my Mock Mola class for them while we’re there, and doing a concert at the Dawson City Museum (May 24th).

Then we’ll head across to John’s old stomping grounds: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.  He lived there for 11 years, and that’s where I met him.  We haven’t been back up there for years, and it’s about time for him to visit, see some old friends and check out how the town has changed, now that the gold mine is closed and the diamond mines have created a bit of a boom there.

Then we’ll be back down in the “southern climes” for a show and class in Whitecourt Alberta (just outside of Edmonton), and Calgary.  From there, I’ll be flying down to Quilt Camp in Flagstaff Arizona, for some quality quilty time with friends there, two classes and a concert by myself 😦

I’m just finishing up my 6th Refractions quilt. This one is a little mini-challenge within the larger one:  Eileen (the painter) did a sketch and painting in what she thought of as a “quilterly” style.  Louise (potter) and I were then to create pieces based on Eileen’s painting.

Here’s the original sketch:

Eileen’s original sketch

And here’s what I have made.  Still finishing up the quilting on it, but I’m happy with the result. I used Katie Pasquini Masopust’s idea of subdividing the pieces vertically to enhance the depth.

Lake Cowichan sunset

That’ll be the last bit of quilting I’ll be doing for a month or so.  Now I’m looking for more inspiration.  Perhaps this next adventure will provide some fodder.