Quilty Cottage Road Trip
my purchases from Watergirl Quilt Co
The hubby and I just got back from a very busy work week at my MIL’s cottage in Eastern Ontario. At the end of last season we had a new shed delivered as the old one was almost 50 years old and no longer in decent shape. This time we added all kinds of hooks and holders and shelving and got everything from the old shed out of the sleeping cabin and cottage where it was stored for the winter. It is now an organizational thing of beauty…if you can say that about a lowly shed!
Of course, there was the usual yard work (the grass was soooo high), spring cleaning the cottage (lots of mouse poop), washing all the outside chairs getting them ready for the season…and the ceiling in the kitchen/dining room was leaking so we got quotes for a new roof…and we ordered a new dock because the old one was rotting, and, and, and…you get the idea. It’s been a very expensive season so far.
One bright spot in my busy week was that the Thousand Islands Quilters Guild was having a quilt show in Gananoque which is only half an hour away from the cottage…Yay! What a beautiful show. There was everything from traditional to modern and everything in between from a very talented group of quilters. I took loads of pictures, too many to show here, but what I will show are 2 quilts that have prompted me to make my own sampler quilt using 6” squares. These 2 quilts couldn’t be more different from each other in terms of colour and “feel”, but they share other wonderful qualities. Both are beautifully crafted by their makers and both use up a multitude of scraps in their chosen colour schemes.
As I rounded one corner of the show I came across a quilt that I first fell in love with because of the colours, and then I read the accompanying story and loved it even more. Jennifer Clark used the book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks: Tula Pink’s City Sampler for her quilt “100 Beautiful Years, 100 Blocks” that was in memory of her mother’s 100 years from 1922-2022. What a beautiful family heirloom and legacy for her family.
I turned yet another corner and came across Jackie Peterson’s quilt “Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler” inspired by the Elm Creek novels by Jennifer Chiaverini. Even though this quilt was definitely out of my wheel house in terms of its traditional style and colour scheme, I could appreciate the time and attention to detail that went into its creation. I think my own quilt will be a combination of Jennifer’s colour scheme and Jackie’s traditional blocks. I think it will be a “years long” project! As a matter of fact, while having lunch at the show I actually sat across the table from Jackie and she told me it took about 10 years for her to complete her quilt. She loved how each block was totally different and said she finds it monotonous to create the same block over and over again, so it was perfect for her way of working. I think I will appreciate that aspect of it as well.
Jennifer Clark’s quilt
Jackie Peterson’s quilt
Naturally, I took some time to check out the Merchants Mall, because, you know, I don’t already have enough fabric (please read with dripping sarcasm). A great new-to-me shop, Watergirl Quilt Co. from Prescott, Ontario, was there. I first came across this wonderful shop when they were a vendor at the York Heritage Quilt Guild show last fall and found some great brights to add to my stash. The same happened at this show…a bundle of Alison Glass Art Theory fat eighths and a few fat quarters went on the old credit card. Not only that, but Trisha and Mary, from my quilt guild the Twisted Stitchers had a booth with their company Harebrained Happenings. It was nice to see some familiar faces…and get a couple more fat quarters…before I headed back to the cottage.
Tuesday morning, on my way back home, I made a stop in Belleville at Artistic Quilts With Colors, which I hadn’t visited in about 6 years (under a different name back then). It’s a bright, happy shop filled with a wonderful assortment of fabrics by the likes of Tula Pink, Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner and many other great lines, and is staffed with some very friendly, helpful ladies. Jane took good care of me while I was there and helped me find what I was looking for. I’ll try to make a point of stopping in again, before the summer is over, during one of our trips back to the cottage. Hopefully you’ll be able to add some quilt shows and trips to quilt shops of your own in your summer vacation plans. Road trip!
Tula Pink at Artistic Quilts With Colors
another bright corner of the shop
my purchases there