Hello Friends. Its that time again when I choose a new word for the year. 2020 is already roaring. Two grand babies on the way, our plan is to make the River House the main home, a month of company from across the ocean and build a Sauna. All that and it’s only the 24th.
So my word for 2020 is going to be Maintain. Maintain my stamina for one, my focus to get all the things done and have Quilting by the River maintain its growth. Now, when I googled the word “maintain” it gave me : to continue to have, to keep in an existing state, or not to allow to become less. Ya got that one. Then I looked up an image of the word. Google gave me: How to maintain weight loss, Tips for maintaining weight loss, behaviours for maintaining weight loss. Enough all ready. Do you have a word? If so please share, as it’s sort of fun to look back and see if it held and for how long.
January has quilters hibernating in their sewing rooms. It seems this year that those of us who have been quilting for some time now are in abundance, as there seems to be a lot of Stash Buster Quilts and groups out there. I know that with our pending move, my studio gives me anxiety. Just ask anyone who comes regularly and they will tell you that I keep rubbing my head and saying, “Not sure where this is going to go in the new place.” With that, I’m thinking of having a purging party in the spring, downsizing, getting rid of the things I have bought but know that I truly will never have time to get too. I will post on my social media in the spring the when and where, so stay tuned.
My big TV debut aired on January 19th, on Episode 1 of Back in time for winter. What a hoot! I did all this research and prep to talk about utilitarian quilting in the 40’s and all they wanted was how quilting gets the woman out of the kitchen! How things have changed. My Hubby would say,”How do I get the woman out of the quilting room and get her in the kitchen?” LOL. Well at least the trout got some air time. :)
I received a picture the other day, of “Castle Lilies” made by a special lady, Wanda Thompson. I had the opportunity to meet Wanda a few years ago, as a bunch of us stayed at her retreat house in the Catskill mountains. I had brought with me my Castle Lilies quilt for show and tell. She fell in love with it and made me promise to send her the pattern when it was done. Wanda does beautiful appliqué and it shows in her photo. Thank you Wanda for the picture and your Castle Lilies is beautiful.
Well it’s that time of year again when I send out the information for my spring workshop. I was unable to get a guest instructor this year, but as luck would have it, I am teaching the two quilts from last fall when the workshop had to be cancelled. Summer Blooms and River Rocks will be the projects for the Workshop. They both use my favourite “Split Rects ™ tool by Studio 180 design. There are always runner and smaller topper options for those who do not want to commit to a large project but want the learning curve. Take a look at the information by clicking here. I ask you all to share with your groups and Guilds as you can print out the poster from my website. You do not need to belong to a quilt group to attend and you can spend the night for an even bigger treat with a friend right in the hotel.
I have added a few new one day projects to the “In Studio Sessions” section of my website. You can get in touch with me to make arrangements to come to the studio. You can also take a class as part of your stay in “The Loft”.
My longarm is calling with a quilt ready to go so I’d better get at it. Thanks for dropping by. Until next time, stay safe, enjoy our Canadian winter and keep on quilting.