Field Trips and Play Dates

Wonderful weekend.
Saturday, Menachem and I went on a field trip. Some of the IJQ women arranged to meet in Hamilton to take advantage of Fabricland's 50% off sale, stroll along Ottawa Street (fabric and sewing related stores), and visit the Quilt Art 20 exhibit in Burlington.
We were supposed to be 5 IJQers, but a bad back prevented Penina from joining us and Nancy got caught in snow squalls and decided to turn around and return home. So it was Marilyn from Hamilton, Karen from Buffalo, and Menachem and me. We met up at Fabricland and I must say that their fabric selection appeared to be better than that of either the Doncaster or Empress Walk stores. Although I wasn't really planning to buy fabric, there were several baby cheat panels and backings which were just so playful and colourful that we couldn't resist. I also took some of the fabric I had and needed to match up in order to finish projects. It was a perfect opportunity to stock up on batting, rotary discs, and steam a seam which I'll need for the postcard exchange.
From there, we walked along Ottawa Street, popping into fabric stores. I bought some organza ribbon hopefully to use on the postcards. And then we went into Uri's Textiles where I found a very textured fabric with a small multi-coloured subway brick pattern which I hope to use as inspiration for a future project. We also found a lovely fabric from which we hope to make a headboard. Perhaps, after close to 20 years in this house, our bedroom will be our next home project. We can choose the wall colours from the headboard. Uri, the owner, is a very nice Israeli man and after he and Menachem started playing Israeli geography, we got a nice discount.
It was bitterly cold and windy so our next stop was lunch at Limoncello. We had a nice meal and chat. From there, we went to the Burlington Art Centre for the Quilt Art 20 exhibit. Some of the works were truly amazing. There was also an exhibit of the Burlington Fibre Arts group members and a postcard exhibit. Beautiful postcards.

Today was my fibre arts group meeting at our house. We all showed our interpretations of the challenge from the last meeting. Interesting how each of them were so different. We talked about art shows, articles, books, etc. and ended with a demonstration of applying foil to fabric which gave me an idea or two to try. And then a project page for the next challenge. It was a pleasant afternoon and these meetings seem to energize and inspire. So let's hope positive things continue to come from them.