I have now finished my Abstract Challenge little quilts for 2008! These are 8"x8" little quilts based on a monthly theme.
Below is April 2008 - SECRET
I needed to do a mask for the FAN 2009 retreat. As I was making it, I thought, "What a good item for the SECRET challenge". We use all sorts of personal masks to keep secret what we don't want others to know.
The mask is made with two layers of fabric with TimTex in between the top and the backing. The technique is reverse applique. The TimTex interfacing kept the mask stiff, but allowed it to be shaped. I found sunglasses in the dollar store in lime green and that is what I used to choose the deep purple contrast. The sunglasses also made an excellent method to hold the mask in place when I was wearing it. The butterfly motif came from the fact that I have been called a butterfly because I flit from one thing to another. For instance: I don't do a series. I'm on to the next quilt and it is totally different in subject and technique.
May 2008 - KitchenI renovated my kitchen in 2008 and chose my colours with 'a walk in the woods' in mind. The walls are two shades of green, the floor is a mid brown birch, the cupboards are dark brown, the counter design is beige and looks like pebbles and the appliances are stainless steel.
The quilt is an abstract, using my colour scheme.
August 2008 - Impressionist ArtI love impressionist painting with its indistinct brushstrokes that encourage your eye to flip around the painting. There is a misty and indistinct feeling.
So ... my thoughts went to the process of doing a water colour painting. I chose a blue mottled fabric that went from a little darker on the bottom to lighter on the top. Later, I darkened the very top just a shade. For the trees: I laid a base colour with fabric dye pastels. They work very well with bright colour and are heat set in place later. Over the base colour, I worked several variegated threads - starting with the darker and going to brighter to gain depth. I put the stems in with a fine black pen to keep them indistinct. I needed to add fairly heavy stitching to the sky to balance the heavy stitching in the trees.
October 2008 Mythology 2008 - SECRETMy 'Goddess of New Adventures in Quilting' was made from a sample started in a workshop 'Meltdown and Burnout' by Eileen Niel.
We attached lace to the background fabric with Gesso and painted it with acrylic paints. the dress is made from tyvek that was painted, hit with a heat gun and assembled from the bits. The face is from a stamped on cotton and coloured with pencil crayons. A little Angelina was added for sparkle. The difficult part was stitching - the fabric was stiff and shredded the thread.
From 2009, I am playing catch up.
From 2009, I am playing catch up.March 2009 - Mother and Child
I've always been fascinated with how we instinctively reach for an infant's hand and they instinctively reach for us and hold on. Thus, a bond is made!My mother and child is a thread sketch of a mother's hand with her baby holding onto a finger. Note to me: next time, do a proper line drawing first! I used a little dilute paint to give shadows. The background fabric is a light overall design of beige-on-beige.
October 2009 - AromaI took a course in Japanese Sashiko embroidery and Kamon (family crests) at the La Conner Textile Museum from Kazuko Yoshira.
For aroma, I've used one of our samples of a family Kamon for Cherry Blossoms. Think spring with cherry trees in blossom... the fresh breeze and fragrant air. It is made with Japanese fabrics and thread, the technique is hand applique. The diagonal hand quilting represents the rain that is almost always present in spring time. The grid around the blossom was to create contrast in line and cause the central applique to bulge out. Surprised that I do handwork? I love it and use it where appropriate.
I still have some 2009 challenges to do. If you want to see past items, use the link on the left to filter for 'art quilts''
I still have some 2009 challenges to do. If you want to see past items, use the link on the left to filter for 'art quilts''
In the morning we headed north, dark skies opened up and we had a pleasant trip.
The silhouette of elm trees was once common. Fifty years ago, the elm tree disease wiped out most trees. However, they are developing 
There are still a 
There are lots of artist's studio to visit, with tidy gardens and fascinating fungi 
We paused in Forest Grove and admired their buildings.
Each of the towns we were to visit were 'visitor friendly'. The main streets were celebrated as the 'old town'. A few days later, we visited the Tom Thompson 
4 H club is alive and well here. Also, there were small horses and proud teams pulling wagons. 
Back at the fairground there was a bake sale, quilt show and lots of crafts. Outside displays included some farm machinery from past years. My dad would have liked the one below. An engine supplies power for a wood splitting machine. 
My husband loved this hand-built motorcycle with the hand crafted donkey sitting on the front fender.
When we attended the fairs in the 'good old days', horses pulled heavy weights. Today it is the tractor pull that wins bragging rights for the year. The heavy trailer ran on wheels until the tractor started to pull and then it slowly lowered to create drag. When the tractor had met its limit, the stack would be puffing, the back wheels spinning and the front ones balancing off the ground.
My cousin Garnet and his wife Inez drove us around the area. One stop was the family farm my mom had grown up on. The buldings are gone.
The area is known as Revanna.
The school has been changed into a house. 
A broken window in an old church tells of change.
One thing I learned about Inez is that she is also a quilter! She does beautiful hand quilted bedcovers and teaches at the local store.
Flesherton is another charming little town, with a store that covers mailing a letter, buying food and picking up a bottle. This mural is on the side of the store.
This church is resurected as the Osprey Museum.
My cousin has a garage where he rebuilt a 1923 Ford Roadster for his daughter to ride to her wedding.
Inez has her special place as well. Her garden is called 'Memory Lane' because she has incorporated objects like her grandchildren's bike and other toys. Unfortunately, the photos were too shaded. But, some flowers stuck there heads up in the sunshine.
A family treasure is this small bible from the second world war. The hole is said to be a bullet hole that saved the soldier's life. The bible was in his breast pocket.
She played the organ at St. Mary's Anglican church. This may have been the one!
My grandparents are laid to rest in the church graveyard.
And, of course ... we stop for quilt stores!
I'm hoping I haven't mixed up some of these small towns. In earlier years, the typical town consisted of a post office, hardware, car/machinery repair, food store and possibly a church. The elder farmers often retired to small houses in the town.
The river is a moderate size and at 
A 'fall' of roots over the cliff.
This looks like the everglades.
Still a few wildflowers
Some fall colour
This is a type of rock that can be 
With a 
without the 
View from the hill overlooking Georgian Bay ... 
Interesting perspective - road and electrical wires,
like a ribbon, it runs ....
Link giving information and map showing extent of escarpment: 
The picture below is my grandmother as a young woman, notice the similarities? 
This is the road to Meaford - with the Georgian Bay in the distance.
We were greeted by a wonderful collie - with the patience of a herd dog. His herd consisted of cats.
My cousin and her husband have recently purchased his great-uncle's farm. The house is old and in need of major repairs. The question is: to rebuild or build a new house?
The barn is ancient.
The back had an interesting array of doors that were 20 feet in the air with no obvious way to use them. There must have been a ramp in the past. Note the handmade hinges.
Surveying the scene ...
The farm is located on a sunny hill.
A pear tree was heavy with fruit.
Back to the herd of kittens. These are the barn kittens, their mom and an old & creeky black tomcat. My husband bought them kitty treats ... and was he popular! 
Larry would dance for a treat!
I would have loved to take this one home. Fluffy was shy and avoided people and the other cats. However, she would approach for those treats!
We visited the Meaford Cemetary.
A special aunt and uncle:
And sadly a cousin who was named after my dad, and who died too soon! A boating accident at 17. My memories of him were the summer of '59 when I visited. He was a 2 year old bundle of energy with a grin on this face.
On a lighter note, the entire town was decorated with scarecrows for Thanksgiving and Halloween.
Our visit was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my cousin and meet her husband. I wish them well with their new home and adventures in farming. 
The rock formations are interesting. Layers of sandstone cracked to form blocks with smooth surfaces. I had seen these incorporated in an old barn foundation and wondered where they came from.
A huge curved glass ceiling lets light into the main area. This is one part of six.
Sculpture and murals tell the history. 
I grew up in Toronto in the 1940's where horses pulled ice wagons that delivered for ice boxes. In the summer, we would get ice chips from the wagon.
The port functioned to ship farm products and receive goods. It became important as an industrial area for manufacture.
My grandparents passed away in their 90's in 1975. The farm was sold to my second cousin, John. He and his wife did a marvellous job of changing the old house into a modern home.
For the renovation, the addition was removed, leaving the original house. The new addition consists of a large living area with a huge fireplace, a new kitchen and bedrooms upstairs. A new entry was built, leading into the new living area.
Below are the kitchen windows. Note the detail of the brickwork that matches the original. 
The bricks were carefully chosen and the seam is almost invisible between the 150 year old building and the new addition.
There is a new open staircase leading upstairs. The bedrooms of the two areas are now accessible by a hallway.
On the old side of the house a stairwell comes down and leads out the old front door. As kids, we rode down that banister ... much to my grandmother's dismay!
Down the hallway, the old parlour is to the right and ahead is the dining room. My grandmother's parlour had contained an old organ and 'sitting room' chairs, including the rocking chair that was a wedding gift from her sister and which is now in my living room. The dining room was much as it is today. In the renovation, the 
I was always 
There was a table suspended by chains. Leftover food would be placed in crocks and on covered plates to keep it cool and intact. Today the ceiling is laced with electrical wires, water pipes and furnace pipes. There was always an old cistern that collected water from the roof and stored it for washing purposes. A well was used for drinking water. There is now a passageway from one basement to the other.
Another addition is a wraparound deck on the cool side of the house.
My grandparents would be amazed to see a recreation area, complete with a pool. The timbers in the terrace below were from the old barn.
The huge trees are 
Once again the walls are incredibly thick. Unfortunately, the barn was 
Sixty years ago, the old farm had 'outdoor plumbing' with hollyhocks growing beside the out-house. From the west coast, my dad had returned in the summers to rebuild the kitchen and put a bathroom in.
Below is a back view of the barn with the ramp that led to the second floor. My grandparents had a 'mixed farm' with livestock and grains. An orchard and vegetable garden supplied most of their needs. We travelled in to 
Next door is my great grandfather's farm, also still owned by the family.
It was wonderful being able to visit and to see my grandparents farm is still in the family.
However, some of the originals have survived. This was my uncle's favorite haunt for supplies to repair farm equipment.
My parents were married in St George's Church in 
This rock with a cross is in the memorial garden.
My grandmother gave me a organdy tea apron from William's wife, my Great-Great Grandmother, Jane Foster.
This photo is of my great grandfather (second from left) and his brothers.
Below: My great grandfather is on the left, my grandfather is in the center, my dad to the right and my older brother on the stool.
I found a headstone commemorating two of my great grandfather's children who died in in an epidemic, 8 days apart. 
Below - my grandparents. My grandmother made pies & bread & pickles that won the awards at the fair. To get her celery sauce recipe, I had her bring out the bowls she used for measurement, the old worn tablespoon and the chipped cup. Then I measured how much water they contained. I came pretty close to the original. And, of course she was a quilter. We slept under her colourful quilts, each carefully hand quilted. My grandfather was the best - always full of fun with a smile and a wink.
My Uncle Mannie was always patient and had stories to tell. He stayed on the farm until my grandparents passed away.
Walking down the rows, I felt the shadows and memories of the past.
Winnipeg spread out for a short stopover.
And, soon after Calgary ...
as we neared Vancouver, when the clouds were alight ...
and, as we came down through the layers the clouds glowed ...
and, finally we landed at 7:00 pm before sunset! When we fly west, we follow the sun and enjoy the beauty for a longer time!
After the meeting, some of the board visited Western University at London, Ontario. It will be the site of the 2011 National 
Below is the Local Organizing Committee and the Board members who visited the site to look at suitable rooms to meet the Quilt Ontario needs. 
There are a few modern buildings ... ...
Most are brick or stately stone
Following the site visit we met as a group to discuss and make the preliminary arrangements.
One was curious ...
At the yearly 
Some designs are quite detailed.
Their feathers are absolutely beautiful.
And, then we had a harvest moon.
This post is for my sewing friends: 
I worked freehand, which is the type of quilting I do. We did some border treatments,
and alphabets. 
a sun ...
Raw edge applique ... 
and a design outlined from a stencil.
It was made last spring for the Vancouver Cherry Festival and was recently on display at the La Conner Textile Museum's 
The animals that roamed before the ice ages were very different.
This is one little bit of animal life surviving today ... 
Some lakes support wild birds and fishermen. 
Wild baby's breath flourishes where there is a little moisture. 
Otherwise, tough grasses and bushes live on the dry hills. 
Bushes like this can be hundreds of years old. 
This model depicts a rhinoceros that lived during the Miocene period and was engulfed by a lava flow. As the lava hit the lake, it cooled and left a unique mold of it's body that is visible near Blue Lake at Sun Lakes state Park. A few bones of the large animal were also in the area. It was a young animal and was probably dead and bloated. The size would be 8 feet from snout to tail. This took place in the time between one and 25 million years ago. 
The funny part of all this is that no one believed my story of the 
We were told that a 'must see' is the Dry Falls. An unpaved road led down into a basin. Towering above us was the Dry Falls.When we looked up we saw a building on the other side. 
The building was the observatory overlooking the Dry Falls. Later we drove up to the observatory and the photo below is what we saw from that viewpoint.
This is a drawing of the falls in the time of the ice ages.
Standing below, the rock forms showed the heavy erosion of thousands of years ago.
The cliffs show the layers of rock formed over millions of years by lava flows.
Then, during the ice ages the layers were dug away by the massive flooding.
Basalt cliffs had huge pillars of rock.
If you look up, the cliffs hide caves caused by drainage and the powerful action of the falls.
From here, we drove to the Grand Coulee Dam, built in the 1960's. Its water supplies power and irrigation for the farmlands up on the plateau. Dinner was less than memorable. It was the first time I had chopped lettuce with 
On the way back to 
We stopped at the observatory on the way back and the moon was reflecting in the lake at the base of the dry falls.
The deep gorge had viewing spots where the native 
We crossed a bridge to farmland made lush from irrigation. On the other side, we visited the petrified forest (photos below).
Highway 90 was 4 lanes and we made good time.
Below is a diagram of the yearly floods that backed up and created Lake Lewis. The lake emptied in a week, littering the landscape with huge erratics and tearing out the gorge.
Ginkgo was once very widely distributed. Generally, it is leaves that are found fossilized. These trees in the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is one of the few places where fossilized trees have been found.
Logs are displayed outside the museum.
Ginkgo is sometimes called the 'Living Fossil'. An ancient tree, it first appeared 150 million years ago. There are no wild Ginkgo forests. It owes its existance to cultivation in Oriental Temple Gardens.
The Ginkgo Petrified Forest is located on the 
We saw a few deer droppings and this little creature.
Ice age floods 
This example is blackened, perhaps by fire?
Outside the museum are petrified logs ...
Copies were made and are on display at the Museum of Petrified Trees. I've enhanced the photos to make the design more clear. They are 'prehistory' and typically depict: religion and community life.
A family? mom & dad and child
Hunting scene on top. Bottom? 
Symbol of ???
The designs show movement and inter-relationships.
A universal symbol that gives life - the sun
