Loose ends…

The Northcott gals at the Quilt Marathon

Fellow Quilters,

As soon as I wrote my last blog post, I thought “Oh, I meant to include…  and I forgot to include…”  It’s kind of like going to the grocery store without a list, because I left it on the kitchen counter.  Does anyone else do that too?

On March 1, I coerced several gals from Northcott to join me in a Quilt Marathon at Quilter’s Cupboard in Uxbridge, ON.  This is the 3^rd time that owner Sue Carmichael has organized a marathon to raise money for cancer programs.  The 30-hour hand-quilting marathon is broken down into ten 3-hour shifts, with 8-10 quilters in each shift.  Like any marathon, the participants collect pledges, except we let our stitches do the running instead of our feet.  Hania (Marketing Coordinator), Jennifer (Marketing Specialist), Susanne (piecer extraordinaire and breast cancer survivor), Ghazal (Graphics whiz) and I were joined by Laurie Moynes, our northern/eastern Ontario sales rep and resident hand quilter.  We dressed up in pink for the occasion, and eagerly took our places around the queen-sized quilt frame under the watchful eye of Laurie.  That’s me with the pink hair (from Jennifer’s stash of costume stuff).  Quilter’s Cupboard had 2 quilt frames on the go, and is still collecting pledges, but has raised $38,500 so far.  Woohoo!  We had a lot of fun, judging from the chatter in the car on the way back to the office.
I have been invited to participate in another blog tour for Quiltmakers 100 Blocks.  Volume 7 hits newsstands shortly, and the blog tour starts next week.  In fact, I am posting on Monday April 29, so you may want to visit and post a comment for your chance to win a copy of Volume 7 or one of the fabric prizes that I am throwing in.  I had a lot of fun playing with some of the blocks.

I wanted to share a photo of an awesome quilt from Debbie Kalenty of Quilters Obsession in Flagtown NJ.

Debbie’s BOM program made with Stonehenge Woodland

She is using Stonehenge Woodland for a Block of the Month program by Wing and a Prayer.  Doesn’t it look great?!?

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to speak to a group of 175 dedicated quilters in Kirkland Lake, ON at their biennial meeting of the area guilds.  I call them dedicated because all of us drove through a Spring snow and ice storm to get there.

Pat of Pins & Needles

There was a merchant mall, with several vendors selling Northcott, including

Judy of The Hobby Shop

Judy Gryska of The Hobby Shop in Kirkland Lake, Pat Kraznosen of Pins & Needles in Haileybury, Lori’s Quilt Shop in Timmins, and Christina Doucette of NeedleWorks in Cochrane.  In fact, Christina had my Polar Opposites pattern made up and hanging in her booth!

Christina of NeedleWorks with my Polar Opposites pattern

I was thrilled to see it.  It was great to see some of my quilting “buds” from previous Elk Lake retreats, and to make some new friends.

With the snowfall, I was able to get in one last day of snowboarding before hanging up my board for the season.  I didn’t want the day to end!!  It was tough deciding which run to choose as the last run of the season.  I am already looking forward to next winter – how crazy is that?!?  Now it’s time to clean up the garden and dust off the golf clubs…

Cheers,

Patti