Bloomin Earth Eco Fair

April 16th is Earth Day – this year I’m renting a table at the Bloomin Earth Festival here in Kitchener.  It’s being held outside our City Hall on King Street.  Sounds like it’s a well a attended market and festival, so I’m pretty excited!  I’m planning to debut some new stuff inspired by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.  They do incredible work rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned elephants (and rhinos, and whatever other animals need their help) who are the victims of poaching, etc.  Hopefully we’ll be able to generate some donations to send to Kenya to help with all their amazing efforts!

Quilting Workshop – photos!

Last week’s Contemporary Quilting workshop at KW|AG was a huge amount of fun.  I was thrilled that the ladies bravely adopted my “no planning, no pins” approach to the spontaneous piecing project.  Given the enthusiasm of this group I’m inspired to try it again!  Stay tuned

Living in Colour – website update and blog

 

 

 

My wonderful friend, Grace, is putting the power of art into action.  Have a look at her website, recently updated by yours truly, and her new blog.  Grace offers workshops on stirring up your creativity – no artistic experience required.  And she’s super cool.

Upcoming Workshop – Quilts!

This February 22 I’ll be leading a workshop at KW|AG on contemporary quilting.  I’ve loved quilting since….forever, and am trying to “loosen up” my style.  The photo above shows the sample I’ve started to make for the workshop…silk and cashmere…yummy! There are so many incredible things being done lately with spontaneous stitching/unplanned quilts… why not workshop it?  Can’t wait to meet some like-minded stitchers here in the Kitchener-Waterloo area and get our quilt on!

Erin Martin Photography – new images

Here’s a link to the website of my friend and co-worker, Erin Martin.  She is a self-taught photographer specializing in shots of mummy tummies and itty bitty babies.  Erin and I have been collaborating on the website for a while now, so it’s exciting to have it live!

Canadian + Handmade

Just came across this blog – love its focus on all things handmade in Canada

http://canadianhandmade.ca/2010/11/03/proudly-canadian-pewter/

ArtWorks Show and Sale – reflections from inside a trade show

Last weekend I participated in the ArtWorks show at Bingeman’s.  Having never been before I had no idea what to expect.  It seemed well attended, though never having done a trade show before I can’t honestly say what “really busy” would have felt like.  The producers of the show were incredibly professional and congenial – many of them made personal visits to the booths, which I really appreciated.  I received a lot of really good feedback from my visitors but sales were on the slow side.

There’s a really unique culture among the people who appear regularly at shows like this one.  They can get their booths set up in minutes and have incredibly well designed sales pitches.  It felt at times like being an insider at a carnival…getting to see the performers on stage and off!  It was generally a fascinating weekend.  I learned a tonne, which I think makes it a worthwhile investment.

Click here for the ArtWorks facebook page