More Winnipeg artwork

Brenda did a bad thing!!! She reminded me that the ORIGINAL McNally Robinson bookstore is HERE—in Winnipeg!!!! I wonder why I didn't visit it the last time I was here? I bet I totally forgot about it! I just checked the map, and I see there are two locations! I will have to wait until I get a car to get to the big location, but there is one at The Forks, which I hope to visit later today. Thanks, Brenda!!!

Yesterday was the first day of Quilt Canada 2026, and I wasn't at the booth much if you were looking for me. I had mentioned I wouldn't be there, but I did see some familiar faces later in the day. I hope to be in the booth much more today, so if you are around, be sure to come and say hi. 

Oh my gosh --- here's a crazy story that I heard last night. I met up with some of my colleagues just before I headed off to bed. They related that someone had stopped by the booth and bought a machine. They were there because their puzzle-making husband does puzzles with me online, and they were told to stop by the booth and seek out someone with an orange thing in their hair. 

Well, that threw me for a loop, and I had no clue what they were talking about. Online puzzle, male friend? Who the heck could that be? And they had no idea that I had picked up puzzling as a new hobby. Then it dawned on me, this was the man I met during the puzzle social event a couple of weeks ago. He told me his wife was coming to Quilt Canada, and I suggested she look me up! 

He is a geocacher, and I bet he will be at that meet-and-greet today! Or whatever day it was. The world is so small, and people are so connected!!! We all had a great laugh once I connected the dots. And YES—she bought a sewing machine. 

I spent the day, or a good part of the day, in a classroom with 20 students and the teacher. SVP sponsors two rooms with sewing machines, and the class was all about free motion, which required a little bit of setup. It's crazy to set up 20 machines for free motion. Change the foot, drop the feed teeth, change the setting, etc. And then you have people extremely anxious about getting their machines set up when they are not even going to stitch for an hour or two. 

We needed to wind bobbins and thread the machines. It was crazy, but I survived, and then in the afternoon, I had to change them back to regular sewing mode. 

But oh my—people are funny. Only one or two in the class owned a Husqvarna Viking sewing machine, and trust me—I would be apprehensive about sewing on another brand in a classroom. The biggest issue I had was tension. And yes—there was only one machine? Maybe two that actually had tension issues. In one instance, the spool of thread was almost done, so the thread was the culprit. Sometimes, the high contrast some people were using caused the issues. And sometimes the thread was not in the correct position (vertical versus horizontal), and several other issues. 

But what got me is that a couple of people said directly to my face, "I am an experienced free-motion quilter." Well, if you are, then you should know that high contrast is NOT a tension issue but a shadowing issue. They looked at me like I had horns on my head! So many people were quick to blame the machine - "My machine at home would never do that." Seriously, people -- you are here to learn and have fun, not criticize the machine that you are using as part of your class fee, so you don't have to bring one.

I had some very picky people in that class - well, probably two that were the worst, and one of them apologized to me at the end about her trying to be so perfect with her project. Her work was just fine, and the tension was just fine - she was just damn picky for no reason and to criticize the machine. I didn't even ask what machine she had at home. 

I had time to people-watch in that class, and it was hilarious to see the different personalities. One woman arrived late, but only by five minutes. Within minutes, she had stuff strewn around her chair, and it was crazy to try to get to her machine to help. Then her phone rang in a very loud sound that went on and on. Where is her phone? Tucked in the depths of all her crap!!!

Anyway, the class was very interesting, and I was happy to be the fly on the wall, and I hope to try this when I get home. I think the classrooms today are a much easier setup. Simple sewing. Yeah!!!!

OH MY -- look what I spotted at the booth next to us. Yep -- there is a LOT of John Deere fabric in there. I wasn't going to buy any, but Margaret spotted a vintage-looking one that I may have to get some. It doesn't even look like John Deere fabric. And I spotted some other interesting fabric in that booth, so I will have to check that out today. I don't have to worry about the weight, but I need to worry about the space. I don't have a ton of room. 

John Deere fabric

I do not have any other pictures of quilts in the show, but I hope to get some pictures of quilts, the Trendtex Challenge, or something today. It's a bit hard as we are here to work the show and not spend time wandering around. And usually when we have time to wander, I'm so brain-dead that I don't see anything! There are oodles of quilted clothing as well, which is fun to see. 

Now I've taken my own advice about attending quilt shows and found a very quiet, "private" place to eat. Tim Horton's. I really do suck at finding places on Google Maps. Wait -- that is not true. I can find them no problem, but I cannot get there! I am good with the Geocaching map, but not Google Maps, and it's the same map. 

Anyway, in the morning, before the day started at 8 AM, I managed to find Tim's in the nick of time and still made it to the convention center. That Tim's location is only one block from the convention center. So when it was lunch time, I went to Tim's. There were only a handful of people there, and they were NOT Quilt Canada people, although a couple came in after me. 

Meanwhile, the line at the convention center for the food place was HUGE. How many complaints will they get for that? And there were other places outside the convention center. There will be NO reason for anyone to complain because there were other places. Just get out your phone and search. Yep --- I get it that the restaurant inside the convention center was easy to get to, but not to wait in that line. There were options. And I was to Tim's and back before some of those people got served - I didn't time it, but I walked and was back well within 30 minutes. 

But here is something new. I asked for chili, and when I opened the bag, I got the bread but no butter. It's a new policy. If you want butter, you have to ask for it. I guess there was too much waste, so that's a good thing.

You now have to ask for butter with your chili.

After the show ended at 6 PM, we zipped back to the hotel. I ate alone in the restaurant downstairs. There are days when I don't want to talk to anyone. I'm talked out. My throat, despite trying to keep hydrated during the day, is dry and scratchy, not from being sick, but from overuse. I just like being by myself. And so I had a quick bite to eat - I am so not into food these days. The thought of a large meal or anything heavy makes me ill. Not physically, just the thought of eating much isn't my thing when I'm at a show. 

Then I was off to finish my Adventure Lab. I did NOT intend to walk far, but well, one thing led to another  - literally. 

The first stop was very close to the convention center and was easy to walk to. This piece, titled Justice, stands outside the Law Courts building. 

Justice

It looks just like a big, heavy (30,000-lb) metal sculpture. But did you know that the three free-arm pieces actually move? Yep—I was able to move one of them; the other two appeared to be stuck. But just a slight touch, and it moved. I learned that on the app. They are perfectly balanced, so they settle back into place on their own. 

Three arms move

The last two pieces of art in this Adventure Lab took me on a wild trip down to the bridges and across several rivers. This piece was tucked along a pathway. It's called Niimaamaa and is located in the Forks district. 

Niimaamaa sculpture

OK -- so you can't read this, but it was the sign by the sculpture.

What most people would miss, and you can't really see in this photo, is that there are stars and constellations painted on the top (well, middle) section of this sculpture. So if you visit it, be sure to look UP. 

Stars and constellations are painted on this sculpture.

The final sculpture of this set was across the river, near the Université de Saint-Boniface. So that was a long hike to get there, and for the life of me, I couldn't get around the buildings. I decided to cut through the place, not realizing it was a rambling maze of connected buildings. So I ended up walking all around. If I had NOT taken the "shortcut", it would have been much faster! 

The controversial Louis Riel monument

Again, another controversial piece of art, and it was in a more prominent location, but was moved to its current location in 1995. 

Louis Riel sculpture

As I was walking to the final sculpture of the Adventure Lab, I passed a building that isn't a cathedral, but simply the shell of one. How cool that it has been turned into a gathering place or used for smaller outdoor activities. It was very neat to walk through with no roof. It's called the Saint-Boniface Cathedral and was destroyed by fire in 1968. 

Inside the shell of the Saint-Boniface Cathedral

There is a new, modern cathedral at the back of this one. Can you imagine what that rose window looked like? The opening is HUGE. 

The facade of the cathedral

And by this time, it was getting late - thank goodness that we are almost at the summer solstice, so the sun is out late in the evening. I walked across the footbridge on the Red River to get back to the downtown. I also walked across the Assiniboine River on the way to those last couple of sculptures. I walked across a lot of bridges. 

And there it is - the Winnipeg sign. You can just see the top of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in the background. This is a very funky, arty area, and I hope to explore it more this week. 

I'm in Winnipeg!!!!

And what about this sculpture? That looks a bit out of focus, perhaps? It's called Forever Bicycles. 

An out-of-focus sculpture

It is a sculpture containing 1266 bicycles!!!! It's pretty cool to see in person. 

And here's another view of the piece. I don't know if there is an optimal place to view where you only see one bike. I must go back and explore that. It was getting late, and I was getting tired, so I didn't stay long to explore. 

Another view of Forever Bicycles

On my way back to the hotel, I spotted this massive mural on a wall. 

Mural on a wall

And there you have it -- another art-inspired tour of Winnipeg. There is so much art, and the name of the Adventure Lab I was doing was entitled "Is it art?" And you can see so many controversial pieces were included. 

There are two other (much shorter) Adventure Labs that I want to explore, and I'm here until Wednesday, so I should have plenty of time to do them. 

Remember, I'll be at Carellen Sewing Center on Monday and Tuesday. One day will be all about quilting with your embroidery machine, and the second day will be all about the Momento digital cutter. I've got samples that are NOT being shown at Quilt Canada, so even if you visited here, what I'm showing will be NEW. 

And I have so many ideas of what I want to make - I need to start making a list. Where is that darn AI when I need it? Nope -- give me a piece of paper! I really think there is something to be said for using a piece of paper to get ideas down. Or, if we were Dumbledore in Harry Potter, we would all have a pensive and use our wands to transfer our ideas so we could go back and actually relive them! 

And now back to some quilting stuff. Remember to check out the list of classes for 2027 in yesterday's post. And if you are at Quilt Canada, you can get the Show and Tell pattern and the felt kits. I saw some people shopping yesterday! Oh my—those kits are so cute—I want them all!! And they have new ones that are not on the website. But if you can't be here, I'll be providing much more information when I'm home. 

So there are two rivers that meet in downtown Winnipeg - the Assiniboine and the Red River. Did you know that when that happens, it's called a confluence? Well, guess what? That was the theme of the Trendtex Challenge this year. I purchased a kit, but just didn't get around to making one. It was interesting to see how others interpreted the theme, and this year, you had the option to make a wall hanging or a bag. I have NOT seen the pieces in person, but you can bid on all the items, as they are used as a fundraiser for the Canadian Quilters Association. Here is the link—which one do you want to bid on? 

And on that note, I'd better get myself organized. I want to get to the convention center a wee bit earlier to prevent people from panicking about setting up their sewing machines. I swear, people panic for no reason. They are here to have fun!!! I don't know how many times I told the group that yesterday, you are here to play with the technique. This is NOT an heirloom, just listen and learn. But so many people were willing to give up listening to the teacher's instructions and ask me questions about setting up the machine that they were not going to use immediately. I refused to answer their questions and told them to listen instead. 

The other thing that shocked me, and I guess it's not out of line. I was there to help them get set up on the machine. Most people didn't believe that that was why I was there. Do they really think they will be left alone with a brand new sewing machine? 

Mind-blowing. I must write a list of tips on what to do and not do when you are taking a class - any class. It will blow your mind, I'm sure. 

BTW --- I WANT to renovate my shower at home so it's like this one. This is the BEST shower I've ever seen and used. I LOVE IT!!!!! Remember—the controls are on the wall opposite the shower head. Makes so much sense. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!