A couple of weekends ago …
I went to a quilting retreat with members of the Millarville Guild at Pioneer Camp close to Sundre. I had never been there before as the retreat usually falls on the same weekend as the International Quilt Festival in Houston which I did not attend this year. So, off I went to the retreat.
The weather was beautiful. It takes about 2 hours or so to drive up (if you are not in a hurry and are stopping for photos, shopping, etc. on the way). As I was driving on the highway on my way to Cochrane, I realized I had forgotten to pack thread for piecing. Good thing that we have “Addies” in Cochrane! So I took a short detour into the quilting store, and two spools of thread and 4 fat quarters later, was once again on my way.
I came upon some lovely signs on the way. I love signs … all kinds, all shapes, all colours. I had not seen a moose crossing sign in a long while, so I stopped to take a photo. The “You are in Bear Country” is well known, but I still like to see it and I am reminded that wildlife is still out there, despite buildings, roads, cars, etc. So here they are:
We had a lovely weekend. It was great to be able to sit at the sewing table at 7:00 a.m. and sew until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore without having to worry about meals … just the sewing machine, fabric all over, and great company. We had time to visit with old friends, made new ones …
On Friday afternoon, we went to the Beaver Creek Mercantile, a quilting store south of Caroline, AB.
It was lovely store, with lots of fabric. The top floor, which you can see in the photo above, was where they had the sale fabric and some antiques for sale. Did I buy anything? Well … despite the fact that I had said I didn’t “need” anything …, I ended buying some more black and white fabrics for the quilt I was working on. What can I say … it’s hard to resist.
On Saturday after lunch, some of the ladies and I took a break from sewing and went for a walk down to the creek.
Aside from working on a somewhat modern quilt that I designed, I also worked on a couple of pillows from a free pattern on Angela Walters’ website. I loved it, and thought it would be a good match for the quilt, so I managed to sew two tops, one with red and one with green fabric. I finished the red pillow yesterday.
The background is a Carolyn Friedlander fabric from her Architextures collection with Robert Kaufman. I bought the rest of the bolt when I got back as I loved it so much I thought I’d use it again.
It’s finally snowing in Calgary … and despite the fact that the sidewalks are slippery and it makes it interesting to walk around, I have to say that the city looks lovely under the blanket of snow.
That’s all for this installment. I hope you enjoy the photos. Keep quilting and I’ll share more with you soon. Remember you can follow me on Instagram.
Ana
PS: I love to hear from you so feel free to drop me a note and tell me what you are working on.
