ELAINE QUEHL, Quilt Artist, Teacher, Dyer, Designer

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Home From London

Last night I returned from my lecture/teaching trip to the London (Ontario) area.  Today I'm back home being a door person for my two remaining cats ;-)  While in the London area I drove through a lot of beautiful farm country, especially while visiting the Huron-Perth Quilt Guild in Kirkton. I was billetted at the home of Janice Hawkins (President of the Guild), who lives in St. Mary's, Ontario, a beautiful and historic town not too far from Stratford.
My lecture took place at 9:30 a.m., and the meeting was followed by a banquet held to celebrate the Guild's successful quilt show.  More than 100 women from the Huron-Perth Quilt Guild and the St. Mary's Guild turned out for the meeting.  I was warmly welcomed by a very friendly group of women.

That night I headed to London, where I stayed with Glenda Pennington, in her lovely condo near the downtown.  Next morning I gave a lecture to the Thames Valley Quilters Guild.  You can see some of the members here examining my work more closely.
Glenda kindly volunteered to sell my hand-dyed fabrics for me during the meeting.  Glenda and her Program Committee took me for a lovely dinner that night. 

The next day I taught my Liberated Radial Piecing class.  It was a bit of a challenge for some members who have never cut and pieced free-hand before.  They just need to develop a bit of confidence in flying by the seat of their pants.
You can see Alison and Mary working on cutting and sewing their stripsets here (freehand of course!).
In hindsight, there are so many photos I wish I had taken, and I think this after every trip.  But when I'm engaged in the act of teaching I am not always on my toes with photos.

After class I caught some time alone to get refreshed for the lecture I delivered to the London Friendship Quilt Guild that night.  I should add that throughout the course of the day I was offered dessert FOUR times.  I said no twice ;-)
The next day was Friday and I took the day off off for two reasons.  I needed a day of rest, and the guild preferred to hold their workshop on the Saturday.  I stayed with Jacqui VanMeppelin Sheppink during this leg of the trip.  She has a studio that I envy a great deal.  Just look at the size of it below!!  She can fit 5 or 6 students into the studio for classes, something I wish I was able to do.  Several members of her guild came over for dinner that night and we had a little show and share.
Jacqui also has a wonderful collection of antique and toy sewing machines.  The colourful line-up below includes some of the toy sewing machines.  I used to have one like the red one when I was a child!
Saturday I taught my "Beyond Stippling, Part 1" class to a group of 18 women.  The photo below is courtesy of Jacqui VanMeppelin Sheppink.  I didn't even realize I was being photographed until later in the day.  You can see more photos of the workshop on the guild's blog.
What a nice spacious classroom!
In this class I move around and demo on student machines several times during the day.  Photo below also courtesy of Jacqui.
Several women in this guild are fortunate enough to own Bernina Recorder 830 machines.  If I am not mistaken these machines came out in the 1980's.  They are very solidly built and have a beautiful stitch!  I love machines like this.  Here you can see  Lynda, the President of the guild, with hers.

And little did I know that Jacqui caught me with my shoes off.  I can't sew with a shoe on my foot!

It will be good to be home for the long weekend, and I have much to do before my workshops at Courtepointe Quebec Quilts next week.

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