July round-up

I arrived in Halifax on July 3rd, was met by Rose and Willis Comeau, and taken to her sister's house in the suburban woods. Squirrels leaping into nut baskets, that kind of thing. That evening we went to the Halifax Tattoo. A great spectacle, but very noisy and too long. I was surprised at the amount of patriotism felt by the audience for their servicemen and women. Next day, a trip round the southwest of Nova Scotia to their area of Acadia. Lots of quilt shops en route, some amazing and some not so much. Almost met Valerie Hearder, but she was not going to be home. Then at their home, pretty close to the shore, I saw Rose's grandmother's quilts, and then met several friends and a sister-in-law and saw all their quilts. Generally a bedsize hand quilted work will sell for between $600 and $1200 Cdn.

I got the ferry to Bar Harbor in Maine, and was met by Alison and spent a lovely couple of days there in rural remoteness. I saw the works that she keeps under the bed (!), and had a day sightseeing and going to quilt shops, then eating lobster. The second day was hot, so we stayed home and I made a quilted bag under her direction. Next stop a flight to Buffalo to be met by Christina and Petra. They live in a farming community near Niagara Falls. We did the tourist thing, but I much preferred Niagara on the Lake, where I bought a print by Edward Spera, one of several local artists there. He does animal paintings with amazing detail, from photos he takes himself all over the world. The other thing in their local town was a permanent mural exhibit.

Next stop Edmonton and Judy and Dave. Had a great time playing in both her wet and dry studios, visiting galleries, quilt shops and chatting. Judy took me to Calgary and then on to Radium, with a stop off at her favourite quilt shop Sugar Pine in Canmore. We met up with Anne and Brad from Oyama. Next day, more quilt shops in Windemere, and then we parted company, and I went on with Anne to the Okanagan. Too brief a time there, more quilt shops, more galleries, lovely views. Greyhound to Vancouver. Stayed downtown (rather seedy) saw Stanley Park, some great art in the furniture dept of a large store, and then got the wonderful train to Seattle. The best train trip ever for luxury and views. I was met by Sally and Randy and spent a couple of days there (more quilt shops, and a visit to Snoqualmie Falls). Sally and I flew down to the quilt festival at Long Beach. We shared a room with Anne, and we all got on fine. Judy, Cheri, Marilyn, Lynn and Tara were also there, as were Alison and her friend Amy. The quilt festival was perfect. Huge, but not as huge as Houston, and classes not all full, so Judy and I signed up for the embellisher half day with Paula Scaffidi. The next day we all did a painting class with Cyndy Walter, slightly disappointing, but fun. Huge meals, lots of margaritas, and lots of chat. We got to see a lot of Marilyn and Lynn's prize-winning quilts, including Grape Harvest before it was quilted.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye and head home with a bursting suitcase of goodies.