More Winter Here!

Winter returned yet again Friday night, with a fresh foot of snow.  Spring had been coming along nicely (if 6 weeks slower than for some of you down south of the border), with the snowbanks sagging lower, the sun feeling warmer, and the roads melted bare of ice and snow.  But winter is not going to let go easily here this year!

The trouble was the rain we got Thursday, which had turned the driveway to a sheet of ice.  It took me nearly four hours with the big snowblower to get the driveway clear, slipping on the ice under the deep snow constantly.  Everyone here uses driveway stakes to mark the lines for the snowblowers; you can see one sticking just out of the snow along the side of the drive - it was 10" above the snow a few days ago!

                                                    

This one didn't quite get buried again, but the one on the right is just emerging after disappearing completely again.  These are 30" driveway markers, so that tells you how deep the snow is.

Out the back of the driveway this is the pile the snowblower has deposited over the winter.  Last year it was about 2 feet high; this year it is over my head.  (That's a four foot driveway stake sticking above the snow pile.

A week or more ago it was warm enough that the ice on our back roof crashed off onto the deck like a thunderous avalanche, breaking into big chunks like ice-bergs.  Then it promptly froze in place again, so I can't move it.  Then it snowed a foot on top.  Winter isn't over yet!

On the other hand, the side yard looks very peaceful.  Note the tops of the adirondack chairs sticking above the snow under the old apple tree, and the fox tracks leading that direction.  This would just be an ordinary winter if it were late February - but it's now late March, and this amount of snow still around is unheard of!  Still, it was a beautiful sunlit day.

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Quilting or Software Engineering?

I don't know if you've priced a sewing machine recently.  Quilters tend to use high-end sewing machines.  And then there are the quilting machines - they were predominantly displayed by the vendors at the Lancaster Quilt Show.  In fact my first impression as I walked in the door was 'Wow - machines that quilt by themselves!'

This is one of several machines, happily sewing away all by itself, after the salesperson touched a few buttons to activate the software.  My first question for the vendor I talked to was 'Is this still called quilting?'  These machines are absolutely amazing, but I learned  from my wife that quilt shows, at least in Canada, are beginning to exclude quilts completely quilted by computerized machines.

These are 'long-arm' quilting machines, and there were a lot on display.  I'm not sure if the 'long arm' refers to the long bars you can mount a full-size bed quilt on, or to the 'long arm' of the actual sewing machine (what quilters call the 'throat'), which can reach across up to 30" of fabric as it quilts.  We've come a long way from a group of ladies sitting around the dining room table!

Long arm machines like this can be used without a computer, either as a free motion machine (see the handles you can steer it with), or with various guided patterns, but they now also come in computerized versions.  I had an interesting chat with another vendor, learning that the computerized version like this might set you back a cool $25-30,000.00!  That's just a little above our budget! (They only come with one machine; the other is just added for displays.)

And then around the corner I found this eminently sensible much cheaper simple version, made of wood, and only costing $600.00.  You use your own sewing machine here, and the table transforms it into a very simple version of a free motion quilting machine.  I was glad to see someone was designing for lower budgets!

Anyway, that's about it from here for the quilting show.  I want to reassure all you quilters out there that the chauffeur also arranged to take in numerous quilt and fabric shops, many of them out in the Amish countryside east of Lancaster.  You'll be glad to know that my resident quilter is in a 'using-up-my-stash' and 'finishing-old-projects' mode just now, so the damage to the pocket-book was relatively mild.

I'll finish up with the grand prize winning quilt, a full-size brilliantly embroidered bed quilt.  Not my style, but I certainly recognized its beauty.

A little detail; the detail makes all the difference in a prize-winning quilt.  Hope you've enjoyed my totally personal impressions of the quilt show and the quilting art that makes it worthwhile!

The Magpie Judges Quilts

Whenever we go to quilt shows, (or whenever she asks my advice on fabric), my wife calls me a magpie.  I always choose the bright colours.  And since I'm just the chauffeur, I'm free to judge quilts entirely according to my own preferences - not to say a few serious criteria haven't rubbed off on me over the years.

I judge quilts simply by what 'grabs me', or what has some 'pizzazz'.  As you can imagine, this one grabbed me.  Because of my preferences I often end up wondering why the prize-winning quilts were chosen, as I did at this quilt show - but then I'm not a quilt judge!
 

There are several other factors besides the 'grab factor' that I think are important.  Design is one, and a meaningful title is another.  This striking dark quilt of the sun against a background of stars, with the title 'Solar Wind', won on both counts.

There were a number of 'modern' quilts entered (that was a show category), and overall I was disappointed in them - little pizzazz.  But this one was bright, unusual, and striking.  

And then there are the more serious and conventional criteria, such as the quality of the quilting.  I've darkened this photo again to help it show up, and you can see how the quilter chose different quilting patterns for different areas of this quilt, and it's all beautifully done.

There's also the precision of the workmanship.  This quilt illustrates what I mean - look at how precisely those triangles meet at the centre points.  I'm afraid I'm now in the habit of wandering quilt shows peering closely to judge the quality of the workmanship.

This last quilt meets all my criteria, and is my overall favourite, along with the frog I posted yesterday.  It's a 'Dear Jane' quilt, entitled 'Jane as a Teenager'.  It's bold, bright, precise and beautifully quilted, though the 'quilting' is subdued to let the pattern stand out.  And yet it's a very old and traditional pattern.

Here's a close-up.  The original 'Dear Jane' quilt was apparently quilted by Jane Stickle, in the 1860's, and consisted of 169 square blocks, with 56 border triangles, every one of which is different.  Each tiny bit of different colour or shape is a separate piece of fabric, so there were over 5000 pieces in the original.  This new one sticks to those rules, but uses bright vibrant colours.  (I didn't count the pieces).  Since I have a niece named Jane, the title 'Jane as a Teenager' just seemed so appropriate - bright, colourful and bursting out all over.

So that's how the magpie judges quilts.

The Chauffeur's Report on the Quilt Show

Ok, I'm not a quilter - just a chauffeur (to quilt shows and shops) who can appreciate art when he sees it, so this is entirely my own opinion!  But we managed a short winter break to drive down to the Lancaster Quilt Show, one of seven big ones run across the U.S. by the American Quilting Society, and really enjoyed our short trip - partly because we got out of the snow by the time we hit Pennsylvania..  Herewith is my report (in three posts).

The quilt show was dominated by wall hangings; there was hardly a traditional bed quilt in sight.  This was my favourite, quite small, but with stunning details.  And as you'll see for all my personal favourites, bright colours.

There were lots of picture quilts, creating a picture in quilting.  I thought this one was really well done, with a good selection of blues, and a nicely balanced picture.

Here's another picture quilt, a walk in Vermont in the fall.  All of those leaves on the trees are individual pieces of fabric.

Many of the wall hangings were more traditional pattern quilts, but the 'quilting' itself was stunning and detailed.  As my wife the quilter said, these quilts are quilted to the Nth degree.  I've darkened and highlighted the two photos below to show you what I mean.

 

As I've watched in my wife's studio, quilts are made in two big steps.  The whole process is described generally as quilting, or making quilts, but for quilters the term 'quilting' has a more specific meaning.  The first step is putting together the top of the quilt, selecting colours, fabric and the design, and then sewing it all together, or what quilters call 'piecing'.  That's the part my wife enjoys.

Part two is making the sandwich of the quilt top, the batting, and the back, and sewing the three layers together, or what quilters call 'quilting'.  This is the incredible pattern of threads that provide the patterns on these two quilts.  As you can see you don't just 'quilt' a pattern across the quilt, the pattern is adapted to different portions of the quilt to become part of the design in its own right.  And I was highly impressed by the detailed 'quilting' on the quilts at this show. This one achieves its impact more through the 'quilting' than through the colours or pattern.

I should add that this level of quilting is thanks to the advent of machine quilting, which I'll say more about in another post.  Hand-quilted quilts are rare enough now that they merit their own category in the show!

Some quilters enjoy the 'piecing' and some enjoy the 'quilting'; I'm sure some enjoy both.  Here the piecing involves thousands of tiny bits of fabric to create the blossoms on the cherry trees.  The colour and the picture provide the impact rather than the quilting.  In any case I was quite impressed by it all.

Photography policy - at this quilt show photographs were allowed, as long as not used for commercial purposes, except where specifically prohibited, as they were in several parts of the show.  I always follow the rules, not wanting photographers to get a bad rap!  My purpose here is just to celebrate the quilting artists themselves, amazing stuff they produce.

First Blurb Book!

I'm celebrating because I received my first 'Blurb' book back from the Blurb Corp the other day.  It's a record of our trip to Shenandoah and the Great Smokies that I featured here on the blog a few weeks ago, largely using the same photos.  It's just a small and simple first book, but right now it feels like a big step toward the more writing I want to do.

The Blurb software was easy to download, and intuitively easy to use.  Not only do they have numerous on-line formats you can choose from, you can edit those formats and layouts to adjust size, spacing and number of photos and text.  When you finish you just proof-read it three times and send it off; it arrives back by mail about 3 weeks later, and at what I thought was a moderate price.

I have to give credit to my sister for originally inspiring me toward this.  She's done several of these, much longer and more complex than this one, including wedding albums done in this format.  I've been very impressed, and have wanted to try it for a long time.  Had to screw up my courage to start first, but once I did to be honest it was easy, and only a few days work for this size book.

The biggest chunk of work to be done is having your photos chosen, edited and ready for uploading.  Since I'd already done that for my blog posts, the rest fell into place quickly.  I think it's a great way to be able to sit and look at your favourite photos, and leave something tangible for your kids - there's no way they will  ever look at my thousands of computer files!  I'm certainly not thinking of selling these, but it will be a great way to have a nice record of our trips.

A few of you who have written books or set big goals and worked through all the little steps to get there also deserve credit for helping inspire me, so thanks - you know who you are.  Now, on to the next one.  Maybe I'll eventually do one on 'Seasons in the Valley'!

Jones Falls

While we're on the topic of waterfalls, here are a few pictures from last November (before snow), of Jones Falls in Owen Sound.  Although there is no snow and ice here, there's LOTS of water!  I've never seen as much water flowing over this falls in my life.

Jones Falls is on the Pottawatami River, which flows into the west side of Owen Sound harbour.  Here it falls over the top layer of dolostone along the Niagara Escarpment, plunging down into the ravine below over a series of rock steps.

The day I was there the river was absolutely crashing down its channel over the rocks, heading for the brink.  The Bruce Trail crosses on a arching steel bridge that you can just see upstream in the photo below.  We'd had a lot of rain in November!

Here it charges over the edge and down into the ravine below.  The falls is at an odd angle for pictures, and the ravine was so flooded it would have been dangerous to even attempt a view from below.

Rather than falling abruptly down a cliff, it flows over a series of small rock steps as it approaches the edge, which I thought was captured nicely in this picture.

Then a bigger step and down it goes in a torrent of white foam on this day!  On some summer days with a low flow in the river, it's just a trickle over the edge.

There's one spot where you can get a good view of the falls without climbing further down - certainly the most spectacular view of Jones Falls I've ever had.

Grey County actually has a waterfall tour, and most of the major falls are in public conservation areas like this one.  Check out 'Visit Grey'.

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Hogg's Falls

Having shown you some ice formations along the river above Hogg's Falls, here is the falls itself, taken just last week.  Still lots of snow here!

Hogg's Falls is named after William Hogg, who developed a small hydro operation here decades ago.

This is the valley upstream of the falls; you can just see a dark remnant of the old dam on the left.

In the summer you can climb down to the stream below the falls for pictures (if you're a little adventurous), and I crept down as far as I dared for this picture.  But I was alone, and decided that staying safe was more important, so this is a close as I could get.

I was intrigued looking down from above to see a complete snow/ice bridge across the river, built up from spray from the falls.  Sometime soon this will likely collapse in on itself.

A close-up of the snow bridge.

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