Gosh, it has been BUSY here this past week. A quilt show, a Christmas Show, a few side trips thrown in for good measure, and a very special Christmas celebration here at our house.
The Van Gogh Cherrywood Challenge
My friend Shirley Bobier invited me to tag along with her to view the Van Gogh Cherrywood Challenge displayed in Seaforth, Ontario. It was brought into Canada by the Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop in Seaforth.
Cherrywood Fabrics is the creator of a line of hand dyed fabric and the challenge was to use four of their designated fabric colors in the majority of the design.
Vincent Van Gogh was to be the inspiration for the submissions. The finished size of the pieces was 20″ x 20″. The challenge had 465 entries and 120 that were chosen by jury selection were displayed at the show.
If, like me, you studied art in high school or college, you’ll be familiar with Van Gogh’s night color palette. These intense blues were the colors to be used in these small artworks.
“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”
It was a feast for the eyes. Kudos go to the Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop for bringing the display into Canada for the first time.
Several booths were set up at the show and I couldn’t help but notice these great placemats hanging in the Quilted Cardinal booth.
While at the show I noticed these placemats hanging in one of the booths. These were designed by Zakk Kolodziejczak of the Quilted Cardinal www.thequiltedcardinal.ca from Beamsville, ON. He’s the husband of Karen who runs the store. Nice EH?
Just down the aisle I spotted Karen Payton from Kaleidoscope of Quilts in Exeter, ON. She had a booth full of lots of goodies for quilters, especially those who love working with wool.
A nostalgic detour
Indulging in a little nostalgia, I had Shirley take a detour to nearby Zurich, ON. That’s where my Mom and Dad got married in 1954.
My Mom and Dad both immigrated to Canada after escaping East Germany. Dad came a year ahead of Mom to work on a farm. This fulfilled his obligation to the Canadian Government and gave him a chance to pay for his fare and my Mom’s passage a year later on a ship. There was a rule at that time that they had to marry quickly once Mom came. A week after her arrival the wedding took place at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Zurich. Mom’s “bridesmaids” were the male friends my Dad had made. The pastor, who spoke a bit of German, alarmed my Mom when he introduced himself and said he wanted to marry her. Mom straightened him out by indicating that she was marrying my Dad and not him.
Apparently there were lovely flowers in the church that day. They discovered later that the flowers were on their way to the cemetery right after the wedding, they had kindly been left in place for the wedding before being moved.
On to Toronto to the One of a Kind Show
Later on in the week there were presents to be purchased. My sister-in-law Kathy and I headed into Toronto for the final day of the One of a Kind Show and there we managed to cross off a few names from our gift list.
We splurged on specialty food items, jewelry, a little bit of art work and more. Actually much more…
And some good news at our family Christmas celebration
Then, this past weekend, I had my son Paul and his wife Leah joined Rob and I and more of the family for our Christmas together. This was an especially wonderful celebration as Paul and Leah shared the news that they are expecting twins. What a lovely Christmas time it is turning out to be!
Leave a Reply