and so we begin

and sew (?) we begin...

The quilt show is over and now to begin the rest of the year. Hopefully I've learned just how busy things get in spring and I'll be making some changes. You know the 'so much to do, so little time' scenario!

First I want to show the sampler quilt below. It is NOT mine. The maker, Anne Longston, was the mover and shaker behind the first tea and quilt show 20 years ago and we had asked her to come celebrate with us. Anne was the one who brought her buddies to my house to help and inspire my own fledgling group which led to the inclusion of our first efforts in the show and my involvement with setting up the quilts. Now we have a new bunch who meet at the church twice a month and they are real keeners and super show helpers. Anne and her friend, Grace Koss, designed patterns to sell. This sampler was one and is so typical of our home province, Manitoba. We are a central province, a keystone one in fact. East meets west and we touch the US border and reach up into the Artic. We have such variety and the colours wonderfully depict us when we aren't in our winter whites! 8^) We have wind, water, and THE most sun; varied landscapes from tundra to a tiny desert and a mountain (definitely small m) valleys and prairie, wild life, and a great mix of ethnic populations. Travel is from foots mobile, kayaks, dogsleds, skidoos, planes, trains, grain boats, well, you name it. Some of the blocks are beaver, northern lights, a Mountie, blueberries, various bears, and the iconic grain elevator, inukshuk, and totem. The more I actually get about, the more I appreciate the variety here at home.

And variety will be my focus as I rip calendar pages. I have a great list of things I want to do. The dandelions are certainly part of the colour of Manitoba and I need to persuade them to bloom someplace other than my flowerbeds. So weeding and landscape is happening almost immediately. The playroom needs to have everything put back in its place so I can be creative in the serendipity times. Hence my quick trip today to the city to pick up art supplies so I can begin in a purposeful way to journal. I have my list! Here's hoping I find what I need and actually stick to it. I want to start with watercolours and brushes and then move on into dyeing and printing on fabrics. I'm thinking I know a lot about everything but specifically not much. So this will be a restrained crawl that will eventually send me galloping into full fibre arts and the whole mixed media medley. I want to fiddle with lots of things, fine tune what I like and finish with a repertoire of options for some wonderfully wrapped up winter presents for myself.

Unfortunately, I need to hurry right off as I seem to want it all at this particular point in time and besides it is raining.

Happy Springing