Home again

Hard to believe, that I have been home for a few days already. Quilt Canada is over for another year. We left very early on Sunday morning for Toronto and flew from there to St. John's, New Foundland. I had never been there, but I hope to go back. My "super-volunteer" waited for me at the airport and took me to the residence. By that time it was way past lunch, but Verna took me to Tim Horton's for a quick bite. Supper was spend with some other girls from my guild. After supper I found out just how steep the hills are. On Monday I had signed up for the "Bird Island Tour " 3 bus loads full of quilters ,all warmly dressed, were taken to the boats . So far so good. As long as we stayed close to the shore I felt fine, but once out in the open, I started to think that this had not been a good idea. I became seasick and except for the picture of the lonely iceberg, I just sat, waiting for it all to be over. Once back on shore I could not wait to get back to my room. The afternoon was spend sleeping. By supper time I felt like eating again and with some of the other teachers we found a place not far from campus. Tuesday was for a lecture in the morning and going to the merchand mall and shows in the afternoon. Awards for the Juried Show were announced in the evening. There were some incredible quilts, but not picture taking was allowed.
Than it was back to work. All 3 workshops( 1 two day and 2 one day) were full with 20 students. I had done quite a bit of work beforehand and that came in handy. The girls were great and came from all over the country, from the North West Territories to New Foundland and one lonely American. I forgot to take pictures till the 3nd day and could not resist taking this one The workshop sample is on the table. The one shown was an extra one, also with sunflowers, I had made some years ago.
Here we are hard at work. For both of the one day workshops we used shaded wired ribbon. Since it is not easy to get at times I provided the ribbon. Any leftover at the end of the day, could be bought. And as you can see here, the ribbon sold like the proverbial hot cakes.
But it was not all work. In the evenings all delegates and teachers ( about 600) were bussed to the Convention Center for supper. There were some long waits, but the food was worth it.
By Friday the four of us ( Nancy Bergman, Helen Marshall from New Zealand, me and Penny Berends) decided to have a quiet supper. We asked the cab driver for the best fish in town and we ended up at "Ches's and yes it was very good. We even got a certificate as first time visitors.

And all to soon it was Sunday morning and it was all over. We left a cool St. John's and came to a sweltering Toronto. And I brought the needed rain home with me!. All in all it was a great week. My hat of to the organizing committee. They did a tremendous job. A thank- you also to Verna and Donna, my 2 volunteers, who were ready to do whatever had to be done. Verna even took me after the workshop on Friday to Signal Hill, so I could prove to Laurence I really had been there.

Now it is back to work. Less than 4 weeks till the wedding. We will have guests from Holland and out west, so I'm busy cleaning and weeding. Even have to do some painting. All my things have been put away and the quilt room has been cleaned up. No more applique till after the wedding!