Hot Days of Summer

Being inspired means keeping your senses in good working order! All 5 senses!

How about this amazing tea as an inspiration for a quilt? Why not?

Queen West Tea from Tealish

It has a great smell. It tastes amazing as an iced tea, which is what I have been drinking. It is so hot here in the south of Italy. It hit 39 degrees Celsius today!

Check out the amazing colour combination!

Blue, yellow, different shades of orange, dark brown (don't forget the tea leaves!)

You decide what shape to create, which block best tells your story.

When you use that quilt, you'll be remembering the time you made that tea, the hot days of the summer you spent in Italy.... or wherever you are.

Going back to the beach. Can't wait to get in the water and cool off!

Inspiration Everywhere

A week ago, while waiting for my daughter to meet me in Rome, I took a walk near our boutique hotel.

I found a cool and tranquil haven at the Villa Aldobrandini, away from the bustle of via Nazionale.

View from the top of the garden on the villa property

The villa was constructed around the 1600's, I think...I photographed the sign so I could read it again later but without my glasses I ended up cutting off quite a bit in the photo and some information was lost!

I wonder if these "rock carpets" are original.

I love the design.

I imagine the creator looking around for just the right stone, like I do with my fabric when creating a quilt.

I imagine the care someone took in placing each stone in just the right place, like I do with my fabric when I make a scrap quilt.

Inspiration is everywhere.

Be sensitive to your surroundings and let them inspire you.

Food as Inspiration

Yes inspiration is everywhere.

I find food can be an inspiration.

How about this home-made torrone patchwork! Love the rectangles with the hazelnut organic shapes.

Or the shapes of the end of the Treviso lettuce...could make an interesting free motion quilt design.

How about the colours of a poached pear (last Sunday's dessert!)

Use your senses and be inspired.

*all photos from my Bellezza project

Uninspired

I must be too tired today. I can't keep my mind on studio stuff...maybe it's because I had to get my car to the garage by 7 A.M. to get the winter tires put on.

The window at a paper store in Paris, France, 3rd district, says

Je ne suis pas inspirée.
(I am not inspired)

That's how I feel today.

Photo Album

For the exhibit Tradition in Transition, I thought it would be interesting to add a photo album of Canadian landscapes seeing as our surroundings affect the work we produce.

lots of big skies!

I asked all participating artists to send me some images of their part of the country to share with the exhibit visitors in France.

from top left:Toronto path, sky from Nova Scotia
view from a cottage Alberta, winter path Duncan, BC
PEI sunflowers, cottage view Alberta
Saskatchewan road

The album will start with images from the west and go 'across the country' ending with photos from Newfoundland.

Beautiful Newfoundland.
photo by Paddy Barry, resident and talented photographer!

Today, I got them printed...and unfortunately will have to go back to the printers because all images in portrait orientation were printed in a landscape orientation!

China Patchwork

Close to Bay Street and Bloor Street in Toronto, there is a wonderful china shop called William Ashley's.

Displayed in their front window is their "Great Wall of China".

I find tranquility in symmetry.....

Almost symmetric- I love the piece that is missing in the corner.

Inspiration

I absolutely LOVE this door art!! I'm guessing it was made by young children in a day care program.

It's gorgeous!

Open you eyes and take a picture of something beautiful today!

Speaking at the Mississauga Guild

I absolutely LOVE speaking to groups and sharing my way of working or my ideas on a textile topic. I especially like the comments and the smiles I notice during and after the talk.

There were about 90 people attending the meeting.

I spoke about INSPIRATION; where to find it and how it can be translated into a textile piece. Not every work I brought was recent or "exceptional" but all works related to an inspiration I highlighted.

This is my latest quilt, inspired by the painting
"The Bird Shop" St Lawrence Street 1866
by Maurice Cullen.
It was a Block of the Month idea by Karen Howes.

The paper pieced segments at the back are about
growing up in Montreal.
The beige fabric is printed with snow flakes.

I will be back at the Mississauga Guild in November (next topic is "Going Beyond the Hobby Quilter") and hopefully there will be some quilts for the 'Show and Share' segment of the meeting that will have been inspired by my May talk.

Thanks to a special blog visitor who saw I was scheduled to speak there and came to hear me AND she brought me a present!

She thought I would find the Mandala designs inspirational.

Thanks CF!!

Colour

I signed up for a knitting class at the Purple Purl. The class took place at the art gallery next door. The sun poured in and the art around us was so inspirational.

Art work by Eva Koller Davis.

I learned so much from our teacher Glenna C.

Since we were doing a class about using two or more colours when knitting, she went over the colour wheel and some colour theory. As in quilting, people have trouble deciding what colours to pull together.

Student, Eva's, work at the side.

This is my sample.
Just as in quilting, one who really knows looks at the back of the work!

The teacher called us advanced. Woohoo!

My Artist Self

Although I was away from my studio and sewing machine for a few days, my artist spirit was still with me. Everywhere I looked was something inspirational-

a shadow,

a pattern,

a shape,

colour.

oops..I'm in the corner there!

I had some quiet moments while the kids and husband slept-in. I worked out some new art ideas.

I am back at home now without the rest of the family.

The girls are still in Paris.

The boys are at the Reford farm.

A bit more tranquility at the end of a busy, busy year.