Out for the Day

About twenty five of us friends had a day out today in Valeggio sul Mincio.

We went to a wonderful agriturismo, Corte Marzago, that belongs to my friend's family.

They have a bed and breakfast and also several vineyards for their own wine production.

I bought a case of the white Custoza which is the area for that DOC wine.

Entrance to the Agriturismo.
It use to be a convent in the 1500s.
You can still see the steeple of their church.

We started with a quilt lesson from Roberta Bugli, one of the Ad Maiora quilting pioneers.

It is  a fabulous hand-sewing project taken from the magazine Quiltmania.

Teacher's example.

I like to have those on the go for when I travel. I think I will make this one of my projects.

Some of my amazing friends.

It is so nice to sit together and sew...like the old days, I guess,
when women got together
and shared stories while making things for their loved ones.
Down time is good!
We do a lot of laughing.

Someone was selling small scented cushions to put in drawers. The money went to charity. I bought this one made by a 90-year-old women. ALL BY HAND!!

You can not believe the work!

We had a fabulous lunch...

The chef in his kitchen

... with the main course being the famous tortellini of Valeggio served with a butter and sage sauce. The pasta is so thin! The filling is meat.

photo montage, Maria Teresa Sansotta

A few of us took a side trip to Borghetto,

where they have a famous tortellini festival in June.

The festival is really about eating the famous tortellini with tables set out on the bridge which is all lit up with candles!

I just love being here!

Mini Me

I read in a magazine about a fun idea.

Make a mini version of a baby quilt you've made and offer that mini one to the child on a birthday.

front view of the doll quilt

It would be a quilt for their doll!

the quilt back

Love that! I've made it already and I am giving it to her for her 1st birthday.

I embroidered her name on the back.

Click my friend's baby quilt to see the larger version.

More Publicity

In the spring of 2013, I took a small group of Canadians to Verona for an experience they will never forget.

A view of spectacular Verona.

You can see older posts about the 10-day trip by clicking here and from there scrolling the travel log backwards to view the previous 10 posts.

Or

You can get your hands on the Winter Issue of Canadian Quilter Magazine…

cover of the Winter Issue 2013

and read all about it.

The magazine invited me to write about the textile festival, Verona Tessile, and to give the readers some insight on the trip I plan around this festival. What great publicity!! The magazine has a readership of 20,000. Impressive.

The other thing the Canadian Quilter's Association did was invite me to exhibit one of my works in their Invitational Quilt Show which will be included in Quilt Canada 2014. The works will be exhibited from June 11 to 14 at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. I have looked at my works and there is nothing I want to submit. I've got to get busy making something. I don't want to pass up this opportunity. I was honoured to be invited. I must submit something grand! How intimidating.

Note: Travellers on my trip to Verona don't necessarily have to be Canadian or live in my city because the actual trip starts at the Verona airport. Last year we had a Canadian living in France join us!

A Visit

Canadian Quilters' Association board of director member, Laine Canivet, was in Toronto recently.

Old City Hall tower in downtown Toronto

She and I (and Marsha Cleveland, editor of The Canadian Quilter) have been communicating about articles for the magazine since the exhibit Tradition in Transition was invited to France.

summer issue 2013

The Summer Issue 2013 has an article entitled Definitely Canadian which is in large part the presentation I gave at the 18th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork Lecture Series.

starts on page 11

A future issue will feature an article about Verona and their biennial textile festival. I will let you know when that gets published.

To order a copy click here.

Laine and I met on Friday for a coffee at my favourite place, L'espresso. She wanted to see my studio which was full of cardboard boxes and bubble wrap and not much sewing. I plan to set up my sewing machine this week as I slowly send out the Mineral pieces that arrived from Europe last week and make more room in my head for creating!

Studio Magazine

If you are Canadian you may have heard about Studio Magazine.

It is the only national publication dedicated to contemporary craft in Canada. It has been around for 30 years (formerly known as Ontario Craft). Their readership is approximately 17,500 people.

The magazine features stories by leading craft and design writers and they have published an article about Tradition in Transition for their Spring/Summer Issue 2013.

Check out page 38

Try to get a copy! If you live in Toronto you can buy one at The Guild Shop on Cumberland in Yorkville or the OCC gallery, 990 Queen Street West (419-925-4222). Maybe try Indigo at Bay/Bloor.

Tradition in Transition is the exhibit I curated for a festival in France.

Dijanne Cevaal Made the Cover

I picked up a magazine in anticipation of my upcoming train ride to Montreal.

Australian textile artist, Dijanne Cevaal,
 has her travel blanket on the cover of
Quilting Arts, December /January2013 issue

My friend Dijanne's work has made the cover of the latest Quilting Arts magazine.

They have a good article about her- she's in the Spotlight.

Last spring, I signed up for her on-line travel blanket course. I am sorry to say I have not finished the work. I had planned to stitch during the summer but that never happened. I still will get it done. It will look great. Her on-line class was really fun to do! Here is another look at my blanket.

CONGRATULATIONS, Dijanne!!

If you are interested in her class, click here.

When I was in Parma, Italy, translating for Dijanne in her free-motion class, I bought this small piece from her.

Dijanne Cevaal's free motion work.
I did frame it...ah, framing artwork...
I will comment on that in a future post!
You know not all ART has to be framed!!

Magazine Coverage

I just received a copy of Burda Patchwork in the mail.

winter 2012, issue No. 36

Astrid Franchet wrote a wonderful article about Tradition in Transition as part of her coverage of the 18th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork. She sent me the french version but said they also printed a german one. So if you get this issue in your country, go out and buy it!

works seen from top to bottom
1st row:Valerie Collins, Quilter's Courtyard, detail
 Meredith Annett, And So It Goes
2nd row: Gordana Brelih, Strong and Beautiful, full and detail
Chung-Im Kim, Dawn
3rd row: Judith Martin, Twenty Four Hour Care
(this work was also printed on a banner hung outside our exhibition space)

Laurentian Hills, 20 person collective: R. Crown, J. Popiel, B. Garner, 

 C. Breedyk-Law, M. Pal,  L. Morin, C. Moore, D. Bates, 

M. Zohar, S. Garner, R. Field, M.Dunsmore, M. Morris, M. Cope,
 M. Filshie, J. Gerster,  C. McNair, E. Quehl, S. White, M. Hannigan

,

I am so glad the exhibit, Tradition in Transition, got so much attention. It was good for the artists and also for me both as curator and participating artist.

Magazine in the Mail

Yesterday, I got this wonderful surprise in the mail.

I received a magazine from France called Magic Patch which published an article by Clarisse Bioud about Tradition in Transition.

This exhibit has been a wonderful venue to promote Canadian talent. Many participating artists were featured in magazines. For me personally I received opportunities to further my textile career. Of course, I said YES to everything that was offered... I will think of how to proceed with these new challenges later.

18th Carrefour Européen du Patchwork

I have been posting about this event and all its preparations for some time.

I bought Quiltmania magazine while in France and the back cover is the advertisement for the event.

www.patchwork-europe.com

Canada is the invited country this year.

The textile event is:
4 towns
22 exhibitions sites
38 exhibitions (Tradition in Transition is one of these exhibits)
1000 works on display
150 European and overseas exhibitors
7 lectures (my talk, Canadian Inspiration, is one of these lectures)
7 guided tours of exhibitions
2 sites for designers and craftsmen
Classes, seminar, workshops
Quilting bee, day trips, horse-drawn carriage tours

Be sure to check back soon as I will be hanging the show tomorrow and Wednesday and the opening is Thursday.

The Canadian Quilter magazine

Grab yourselves the latest issue of The Canadian Quilter, a Canadian Quilter Association publication. Many quilt guilds subscribe to it. It has a readership of 20,000 and is the only purely quilting magazine in Canada.

Cover of Summer 2012 issue

They have printed a 4-page article with pictures about the France show I am curating.

starts on page 12

They are also going to do two more stories; one this summer and another one, more of a report, after the exhibit.

Keep an eye out.

To order a copy of this summer issue, click here.