This and That

Last Saturday was another fun QBTB retreat day in Lions Bay, B.C. which is just up the road from Vancouver en route to Squamish and eventually Whistler. The village of Lions Bay has a wonderful view of snow-capped peaks and Howe Sound (one of the most gorgeous marine inlets-near-a-city you'll ever see). There's a new piece of public art right in front of the community hall where we gather to sew every couple of months.

This incredible relief carving was designed by local painter Michael Tickner and carved by a group of community residents, one of whom is married to a QBTB quilter! Darrel Loppe and his carving group interpreted the artist's design beautifully in cedar, don't you think? If you look carefully, you'll see the roofs of the village houses in amongst the trees.

I had planned to spend the day working on a bunch of small projects for swaps and giveaways, but I received some unfortunate news from far away. A lifelong family friend is heading into battle, undoubtedly involving some tough decisions, treatment and illness before what we all hope will be a full recovery from breast cancer. This news comes only several days after learning one of our QBTB friends also has the disease. That's two in the space of two weeks. Thankfully, I had this very pretty Double Irish Chain quilt top & backing on hand (truth be told, it's been hanging in my closet for....ummmm....5, maybe 6 years).

Obviously it was waiting for just the right person. That is what I worked on all day Saturday. I finished quilting it yesterday. Today is for binding. I want to get this off as soon as possible, because I'm sure my friend could use some cheering up and I find this fabric utterly cheerful (it's Holidays in Paris by In The Beginning). I think I'll take this opportunity to direct you to my sidebar where you'll see that I've signed on to walk 60 km in the Weekend to End Women's Cancers in August. I'm thankful for all of the support so many friends have given me already - my goal of raising $2000 is getting closer and closer every day and that means more women will benefit from research, treatment and support funded by this walk. If you would like to donate, click on the link for more info. No amount is too small and every donation is gratefully received.

For the first time ever we had a spinner with us at retreat! Susie brought her wheel and some yummy roving which she deftly spun into yarn. Taking pictures of spinning is fun!!

It was another great day with friends.

Then I got home. My husband B is so calm and always a very positive person. He treated this incident with his trademark low-key "it's okay, it's nothing personal, we can get it fixed", but I was really upset.

Not because of how much it would cost to fix, but because our beautiful, original glass windows have been in place for almost ONE HUNDRED YEARS and some idiot decided to throw a ceramic mug through one of them on Saturday night. A neighbour down the street had a bunch of "free stuff" on the curb which a roving group of teens decided to use as projectiles. The family across the street saw them run away afterwards. Just more fuel for my kids' classic line "ooooh, those teenagers!" Luckily we line our windows with shrink wrap plastic in the winter months (because, although beautiful, those single panes are useless at keeping cold out!). The plastic prevented most of the glass from landing on the couch.

To cheer me up, I bought these during our Sunday morning walk.

The glazier is coming over later today.