North Star Show n Tell - The Narwhale

AH -- I'm back. I had a great night's sleep even though I had a wee nap around dinner time. Let's hope that I'm back in my time zone.

I thought I had better get some of those edited pictures up for you to have a peek at.

I'm going to start with the homework from the North Star quilt by Elizabeth Hartman.

This is one of our ongoing classes at The Hobby Horse. There are nine blocks in total and the last block will be assigned at the next class at the end of this month! I put my blocks up on the design wall this morning. Going to be chatting about that in the next class. Hmm - something weird was going on when I put them on the wall. But all is good now.

We had three blocks to do over the summer, but some people needed to catch up on a couple or perhaps some of these are duplicates from what you've already seen, but you'll never know.

Today, it's all about the narwhale. This is Neville Narwhal.

Jana's Neville Narwhal

I remember hers because every fabric has DOTS in it. Well, not quite all. Do you see the block in the bottom right corner, she has narwhale fabric in the center of it!  I love how everyone got super creative with their fabric choices. Just wait for the show n tell over the next couple of days. It's amazing what the students came up with.

I don't remember the owner of this one. Trust me, there were tons of blocks in our show n tell. The aqua colors in this are gorgeous and I love that argyle fabric! The tusk disappears a wee bit so we discussed different ways to make that show up.

Another Neville Narwhal

There'll be more of the homework over the next couple of days so watch for that.

So what did I do yesterday? I started off by zipping down to Ottawa Street in Hamilton. I was looking for two shops in particular. I'm totally blind because I parked practically beside one of them and I didn't see it. I had to look up the address and then realized my mistake. It was closed for the holiday weekend and I mean closed. There were big metal shutters on all the windows. But then it's a sewing machine dealer - big bucks in that store. I don't blame him.

I'll have to go back another time, but that wasn't the main reason I went so I wasn't too upset. Then I had to find the other store that I needed. I walked up and down that block several times. If anyone had seen me, I'm sure they would have thought I was a crazy person. I found the store - there are not many great shopping stores on that street. Anyway, they no longer carried the vinyl that I was looking for.

Back up the street to the first store I went in. Yep - they had marine vinyl and I got a lesson. The vinyl that I thought was marine vinyl was NOT marine vinyl. Now I know what marine vinyl is but I'm not sure I could identify it on its own. It can withstand extreme cold without cracking (I'm not sure what the crack point is on marine vinyl as I didn't ask). Anyway, I came home with a nice selection of different colors of vinyl. I've got some samples to prep and the vinyl looks really nice. I don't think I've ever shared my samples with you. I'll do that someday.

Then I went back to the sister shop (European Textiles) which was back down the block. I told you, I walked up and down that block several times. They had some nice remnants of silk, chiffon, and other oddities. I know - what's got into me?  They also had a lot of quilting fabrics. I glanced at them, got excited about one which I left in the store. When you see it, you'll faint that I left it.

Orange bike fabric

Seriously???  I left that in the store??  Well - it was flannel. I guess I could have purchased enough for a quilt backing, but I don't need more backings!!!!  So I walked away but only after I took a photo!

In total, I spent less than $200 and it was all for work-related stuff. Not bad! The more that I get involved in this education business, the more I want to get back to garment sewing. Fit is a big issue with garment sewing. One of the shop staff provided me with an information card for some amazing classes - basically a certificate at a local college in dressmaking. Hey - why not!!!!  I'm going to check it out. Anyone else interested??? It's at Mohawk College in Hamilton. 

Then I spent the remainder of the day puttering. Studio U and Studio B were in quite a bit of disarray. That was the result of NOT unpacking the suitcase and putting things away properly so the cutting tables were a jumble of stuff. Now all the presser feet and thread are back where they are supposed to reside. Bobbins and stuffing tools are back in their homes as well as the samples. Well, most of the samples. I've unpacked part of the suitcase and I need to finish that today and get it repacked in time to go to the CreativFestival later this coming week.

I don't know what to say about the CreativFestival. It's not what it used to be. I can only hope that this fall is different? I know I'll be there and we'll be showing everyone the NEW Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2 with all its cool new stuff. There are some great classes and I'd love to attend one of the Mary Fons events, but I'm not going to have time for that.

I would encourage you to come. If you don't want to come because of past experiences, then I would encourage you to contact the show owner and explain why you are NOT coming this year. While not attending is essentially feedback, I think it's important to verbalize why you're not coming. An actual voice with a reason says way more than total absence. Here is the link to the contact box. Be polite, be constructive, and be honest! This is the ONLY way, we can get this show back to its total glory.

Oh yes - if you want to get a fabulous piece of artwork, then check this auction out. It's part of the annual fundraising from SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates). All the pieces on this link are now $100 to buy. Some of the pieces are amazing. I believe they are 12" square.

On that note, I've got some computer work to do with the morning and then I"ll be back to work for the rest of the day.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!