Remembering

I don't always blog about my "quality quilty time" As I warned you before, and you quilters all know this, quilting is sometimes a mindless, repetitive activity and my mind wanders off in all directions.
Being an avid student of social history, and in particullar local history and having spent the first 25 years of my life in Halifax,Nova Scotia,I am thinking today of the 90th anniversary of the 1917 Halifax Explosion. On Dec 6, 1917 at 9:04AM, 2000 people lost their lives, a thriving square mile neighbourhood of north-end halifax was wiped off the map and many people lost homes, livelihood, loved ones and way of life in an instant. Many were blinded by flying glass and many more were scarred and disfigured by the chemicals in the over 2 million kgs of explosives with which the Mount Blanc was overloaded when it collided with the Belgian relief ship Imo at the narrows of the Harbour. When I was a small child, only 25 years later, I remember seeing people who bore the scars as they went about their lives, and being told by my mother not to stare. I feel I must remember this and at shortly after nine this morning, my thoughts went back 90 years.
If you wish to learn more about this disaster, there are extensive archives online - I am including a before and after picture of the Acadia Sugar Refinery in the dock/railway/industrial complex in the northend as being typical of the more widespread devestation experienced.

Too Busy to post!!!

The Christmas push is on - the giant quilt has already been received by the folks who commissioned it; and the small wallhanging will go out Monday, leaving the lovely Garden Maze to be finished. Two out of three is not bad and with luck the present one will be finished within the next fortnight.
I finally decided to remove myself (as did two other members of the same organization's Board of Directors) from a very stressful and no-win situation. It's amazing what a great new surge of energy for creative endeavours followed that decision. I look forward to a very productive new year as a result. Will still be involved with community affairs but within a different group with slightly different aims. Am looking forward to this and to tomorrow's ham and beans supper to be followed by the lighting of the community's Christmas tree on the wharf. Should be fun. Will be baking a couple of loaves of oatmeal brown bread in the morning. If you'd like the recipe - give me a shout. It's delicious!

QUILT LABELS, HANDQUILTING AND THE CHRISTMAS RUSH

YUCK!!! Today I was planning to go down off the mountain and take Marion's quilt to the Post office and ship it to her. She has been waiting so patiently and all I have to do later today is stitch on the hand embroidered quilt label and pack it up. I was then going to go on and pick up some fresh roasted fair trade coffee beans, go to the hardware store, shop for groceries and check my daughter's mail. Not in the stars today - has been snowing and sleeting and this is how it looks out my door so I don't think I will be going anywhere. Too slippy - this early in the year the roads have not yet been pickled in salt and thus safer, as they will be after a few more snowfalls. Tomorrow and the rest of the week will be much better - the temperature is expected to rise to 10 Celsius, which is around 60 Fahrenheit.

The descent to the valley floor 600 feet below me is very abrupt and if it can be avoided, not to be done in bad winter weather. I served my time with many white knuckle trips before I retired so avoid it now without guilt - LOL.

So today I will continue working on Ruth's Garden Maze quilt - this is a lovely handpieced top in nice spring colours she purchased in her home area and someone recommended me to her as the person to handquilt it - need to get a better picture - my batteries are low.

May get inspired to work on Mich's wallhanging - it is a quilt version of an art print by Benjamin Chee Chee called Friends. Chee Chee was one of the founding artists of the Cree-Objibway First Nations art group in the 1970's. His wallhanging and Ruth's quilt are both promised before Christmas so I must work hard over the next few weeks.

Progress on Janie's Quilt

Above is a picture of a quilt that is on display in a museum in Pennsylvania. I am making a reproduction of this quilt, with some slight variations, for a client in upstate New York. Although not an amish quilt, the original certainly reflects the love affair that the Pennsylvania "deutsche" have had with red, green and ochre, and will be a striking quilt when finished. It will be queen sized and I am on the piecing for the last flying geese of 80 which I have hand pieced - nothing beats the empowerment of being exactly right the first time and I have enjoyed doing them. Will be starting to piece the strips this evening and when that part is done the rest is a stroll on the park!! Will keep you posted - hang in there, Janie, it won't be long now!!

QUILTS AT THE HARBOUR 9 WAS BEST YET

We did it!! And we survived, even though a little dazed and fatigued. We earned the most $ yet for the United Baptist church down the road from Grace and I and we received rave reviews from the visitors too.

The bake table was well received - the bread and muffins gone by midday Saturday. Connie brought in a lovely iced cake Sunday and it went not five minutes after it was placed on the table. Refreshments were yummy!

Lots of bouquets of dahlias and glads; green and partially ripe tomatoes and apples, jams, pickles and preserves - yum!!!

This is a picture I took on Saturday of avid quilters picking over the yardage, fat quarters and eighths, notions, books and patterns. This was taken in the Fellowship/Sunday School room - the church itself was reserved for our best yet display of quilts, many of which sold during the two days.

Now I am in recovery mode and catching up on housework plus making a dessert for the Historical Society's annual Dessert Party and Nautical Gift Basket draw to be held tomorrow afternoon after the Annual General Meeting.

Was having a crisis of indecision between gingerbread with whipped cream, lemon loaf, or apple crisp with whipped cream. Settled on the apple crisp and will make it using gravenstein apples - a heritage apple that does not keep over winter but is luscious either in a cooked recipe or eaten out of hand.

Waiting for the show!!!

After doing all the publicity we can, we now have to wait patiently for next weekend to see if we will be a success. Grace and I have delivered and posted posters and flyers, exhorted friends and acquaintences to show quilts and have gone through our caches of books, notions, fabric and patterns to see what we can put on the new-to-you table. Our friends the Bernina Lady - Jeanne Huntley, and Gayle and Glenice at the friendly fabric store (Avonport Discount) will have all sorts of goodies to look at as well as purchase and I'm going to go to Avonport this week to drop off my faithful 35 year old Bernina for servicing and pick up Jeanne's publicity brochures and the pieces she and friends wish to display. Suzanne and her mother Myrtle will be bringing armloads of their yummy quilts, as will many other quilters from near and far.

Now, all we need is for lots of people to come out - and it's the best time of year to go for a run in the country - the weather is great, the leaves are turning and the tourist attractions and great restaurants are less crowded now. So do take a run out and see us next weekend at the West Hall's Harbour United Baptist Church - the church dates to the 1840's and little has been changed in that time - lovely faux-grained and cream enamelled pews, and other lovely church furnishings. We will be at the church on Saturday Sept 29, 2007 from 10AM until 5PM and on Sunday September 30, 2007 from Noon until 5PM. To reach Hall's Harbour, take #359 north out of Kentville and go until you reach the Bay of Fundy. Go through the village, past the Lobster Pound and on up the hill two kms on the paved road until you reach the church - a white building on your right at the corner of the Sullivan Road. We will have a bright red white and blue OPEN banner outside. Admission is by freewill offering, the yummy refreshments are free and there will be a bake table and a Quilter's gently used table in addition to all the lovely quilts.

We hope to see you there, and maybe we'll even get some bus tours - we had a large group from Newfoundland several years aho.

Pictured is a seat pad hand hooked in the 20's or 30's here in Nova Scotia. I will be offering this vintage hooked rug for sale at our upcoming Quilts at the Harbour quilt show and sale on Sept 29 and 30th. There is a little unravelling at the outside edges, but as you will note, the artist worked far outside the edges of the intended seat pad so it can be restored with no loss to the design.

http://www.quiltsattheharbour.com will tell you all about the quilt show and sale.

The rug is hooked from a pattern distributed by Garrett's of New Glasgow, Halifax and Boston; these lovely patterns, after years of storage in the old Garrett's factory in Nova Scotia are now being reproduced again by a Pictou, Nova Scotia firm.