Back Home – For a Moment …

After several weeks on the road, I’m finally back home — though just for a brief pause. I returned from a trip only to head out again a couple of days later to teach at the Saskatchewan Stitches Conference, held at the beautiful St. Peter’s College and Monastery. It was a full, rich week of teaching, learning, and sharing with a fantastic group of stitchers. I always come home from these events inspired, even if a little tired.

Now I have a few days to catch my breath, reorganize, and repack before heading to Ontario to teach at Quilt Canada. It feels like life is moving at full speed, but I’m grateful for the opportunities to connect with so many passionate makers.

At Quilt Canada, in Ontario this year, I will be sharing three classes: a 2-for-1 class where we will explore image transfer using Artist Transfer Paper, and then make some acrylic skins to use in our work; the second class is a Slow Stitching class – working with neutral fabrics to sew scrolls and rolls by hand including trims and ribbons as a way to connect our hands to cloth – I just taught this class in Saskatchewan and had rave reviews! The third class is my much loved Curves class – a pear-shaped project completed with no curved piecing required (yes, really!). I hope to see some of you then. Even if you are not in my classes, stop by to say hi. I’d love to see you!

Even when things are busy, I try to keep up with this blog — a small touchpoint in a fast-moving world. I meant to write sooner, but between travel and teaching, time simply got away from me. Sometimes, something has to give — and this time, it was the blog.

Now, I’m off to finish unpacking — and then I plan to take a few quiet days to do some stitching, revisit a few projects I had to set aside, and enjoy being in the studio again, even if just for a little while.

May is done, and with it, my stitch journal for the month is complete. I’ve been keeping up with my daily stitching, and it continues to be a grounding practice — a way to slow down, reflect, and enjoy the simple rhythm of thread through cloth in peace and quiet.

Until I write again, keep enjoying the warm weather, take care of yourselves, and stay safe — especially with the smoky skies and poor air quality from the forest fires. I hope you and your loved ones are well and out of harm’s way.

Ana