Once a Mother, Always a Mother!

Back home tonight. What a busy ten days we have had. First a smooth flight with wonderful views of clouds and the fields and forest below as we flew west . . .



Then a walk down Stephen Street in Calgary under wonderful blue skies . . .

a rodeo in Airdrie . . .


a visit to Drumheller on a day when the thermometer registered 40 degrees Celsius and a brisk dry wind was blowing . . .



An afternoon in Banff amidst the glorious Canadian Rockies . . .


A visit with new friends in Wilderness Village RV Resort just outside Rocky Mountain House, multiple trips to the Marble Slab for icecream, evenings spent catching up on the day's events at the Olympics, chatting and sharing good food, hours at a borrowed sewing machine hemming ten pairs of pants for my son ......

And the creation of yet another of my 'memory' projects ....


My daughter-in-law entreated me to help her solve the problem of a crowded closet by finding a way to help preserve my son's memories is a more compact fashion. The result - a pillow constructed using the sweater my son wore on their first date as a base, logos from a pile of too small golf shirts that represented past work experiences and work related events and trim cut from one of the golf shirts. What do you think?

Did I mention that the memory quilt with T-shirts from high school sports activities was a hit?

What a week!

Time to Catch my Breath!

We arrived in Calgary last night to a warm welcome from the 'grand-dogs'! This morning we are taking a lazy start as we are still on Ontario time and our planned trip downtown is best left until after the morning rush hour. I wonder what adventures today will hold.

The last couple of weeks were a real scurry and culminated in a marathon photography session so I could record the T-shirt quilt before it was packed for delivery. Here is the final product - and it was well received!


Sorry, even rotating these images in other software, they upload like this. What is the solution?

In addition to accommodating a number of showings on the house I was also able to finish yet another UFO - Haven't named it yet but here it is along with one that I finished while in Phoenix last winter. These are based on Wendy Fraser's 'fracture' technique where you cut multiple copies of the same design and they reassemble as one piece. I used 6 preprinted quilt blocks about 10.5 inches square to assemble the fracture portion of each of the pieces. This is a great technique for people who are math oriented but doable by anyone.

I continued to work on my piece begun two years ago in a workshop with Barbara Olsen. However it is just at the half way point and will have to wait until this fall for completion.

My show at Read's Book Shop is over so I am now on the hunt for another location to show them. I'm also trying to get a couple of pieces ready for a group show later in September and need to get my paint brushes out again for some new pieces for the VAM Market Place. Who said 'retirement' would be relaxing?

For the next few days it's over to family time and exploring new places.