Maritime Teaching Tour Part II

Thank you for the sweet comments on the first post about my recent Maritime teaching trip. Here goes for part two.

After a delicious cold salmon filet lunch prepared by my sweet billet's partner, I flew from St. Pierre back to Halifax. I retrieved my second 50 lb suitcase from airport storage, loaded my quilts into the back of a sweet Jetta rental car and headed straight to Charlottetown, PEI. I drove over the exciting Confederation Bridge! I was looking forward to spending the week at my sister's place and also see my parents who happened to be visiting at the same time.

The PEI Modern Quilt Guild *asked me to teach my Variegated Threads pattern (a fav of mine!) and Speed Date with Improv. I also gave the group a trunk show a couple of nights before the weekend workshops. The week previous, my upcoming visit got a mention on the local CBC TV news! A guild member picked up a few of the quilts and pillows I'd gifted my sister and her family over the years to use as props (since I wasn't yet on the island). That was pretty cool, and the story encouraged a few traditional quilters from around the island to attend the trunk show and find out more about modern quilting. Yay!

Some variegated thread spools in the making with lovely tone on tone prints.

Here I am with students and their lovely work.

The next day, we had a lot of fun with Speed Date with Improv, learning 7 different improv piecing techniques and building improv collage wallhangings on the design walls around the community room.

Although this was a new way to work for many guild members, Janice and Jean's smiles say it all: improv is fun!

On my days off in town, I enjoyed walking my sister's dog along the waterfront and the beach, I made it to a great yoga class, got to see my niece perform in her dance school year-end recital, checked out my sister's gorgeous new dance shop location, drank delicious coffee at Receiver and ate scrumptious food at a few local restaurants. It was a fantastic week! Here are a few pics:

Sadly, I never got to sample the fries or free hugs here, but isn't it the cutest chip shack?

Many of the red sand beaches on PEI are protected parkland and there is a comprehensive education program in place to save the fragile dune ecosystem and also protect the nesting endangered Plovers. At this time of year, before tourists arrive and the weather is warm enough to swim, the beaches are deserted and pretty wild with wind.

Charlottetown is a lovely place to explore the backstreets in search of historic buildings and signs.

How about 100 1/2 for an address?

A clever quilt block QR code sign program guides visitors around town to points of interest and attractions.

I'm sure this is one of the most photographed homes in town as it is visible along the length of the boardwalk frequented by cruise-ship visitors and locals alike.

A transport is loaded with lobster headed for market from the fishing village of Stanley Bridge.

My sister and I married boys from opposite sides of the country and settled in their hometowns to raise our families. We never know when we'll see each other again, so it is always a little bit sad when we say goodbye. I felt very lucky that my work took me to Charlottetown and that I got a great visit in while there. Thanks to the PEIMQG for that wonderful opportunity!  If you are looking for a fun project to tackle next fall/winter, check out the free modern mystery BOM program that the guild is sharing on their blog here.

My final stop was to the Maritime MQG * of Halifax-Dartmouth area, Nova Scotia. I've spent many a summer visiting my grandparent's home in Dartmouth. I love the area and was happy to billet with Jeanette and her kind family while working with the guild on Round Peg, Square Hole and Speed Date with Improv. I held a trunk show here, as well. Happily, I sold the rest of the books I had shipped in advance of my trip, so I didn't have any extra weight to bring home - thanks gals!!

I'm grateful to Jeanette, who took a day out of her life to drive me around Halifax, shopping and browsing. No modern quilter should leave Halifax without visiting the super cute Patch Halifax shop and sewing studio. Great modern fabric selection for quilting and garment-making located in a historic old house on Robie St.  As you can see, I couldn't resist! I've already made myself an Eva dress with that lovely Anna Maria Horner "Loominous" woven shown here on the bottom of the fabric stack.

We enjoyed a coffee on the rooftop cafe of the amazing Halifax public library. The interior has incredible lines, doesn't it?

Love this funky block of shops and restaurants across from the library on Queen St.

The guild is very lucky to have weekend access to the big classrooms at the Nova Scotia Community College in Dartmouth. The building is amazing and has lovely views of the harbour....this is where the workshops were held on Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

Fabulous Round Peg, Square Hole blocks made in class (after we first confirmed our scant 1/4" seam allowances and accurate cutting and pressing process).  I'm wearing a new Ola Tunic I made with Essex crossweave just before the trip. It's another Tessuti pattern I picked up in Australia and I love it!! I've since made a second one with Nani Iro double gauze that is dreamy to wear. 

These quilters are an enthusiastic bunch and made great progress on their Speed Date collages and on Mother's Day no less. That's commitment! I love seeing these come together with different accent colours alongside the black and white. Great work, everyone (must've been the Timbits and trays of delicious cookies and squares)!

I was thrilled to learn that my IG friend Jen (and her daughter) would make the trip from New Brunswick to attend the Speed Date workshop. What a wonderful Mother's Day treat! We had chased each other around Australia just a couple of months before, so it was pretty fun to meet up in person finally in Dartmouth. I also had the pleasure of meeting Gillian, who flew down from Newfoundland for the workshops and a visit with her son.

On my final night, I enjoyed a delicious Maritime staple of seafood chowder prepared for us by Jeanette's kind husband. Maritimers really are the best - if you've never been, I highly recommend a vacation on Canada's east coast!  

Thank you so much to everyone who worked on planning the workshops and making sure everything went so smoothly for all of my tour stops. I loved meeting everyone and I look forward to returning one day soon. 

And thank YOU for following along and putting up with these iphone photos - I was unable to bring my heavy Nikon on this trip. There was simply too much to carry! 

* The links to the guild's blogs  (above) will take you to their posts about my visits, where you can see more pictures of my trunk shows, workshops and guild members' work.