I distinctly remember it being cold - VERY cold. I also remember being very very busy. I hate that - when weeks and weeks pass so quickly that you can barely keep up. Ah well....here's some of what went on.
The beginning of the month I was in Moose Jaw teaching a thread painting workshop to a group of women from the Prairie Hearts Quilters Guild. My pal Mary and I drove down together - it was great to have company, especially considering how cold it was outside. The room we occupied for this class was huge! It was the Art Room in one of the high schools and I have to say that I was very impressed. The lighting was terrific and everyone got to work at their own table. Work from the high school students was scattered around and goodness, there's a LOT of talent in Moose Jaw. But the workshop was fantastic. I've never seen such an enthusiastic group of women. Even on the coldest day in something like 20 years, everyone showed up and produced work that simply astounded me. I had assumed that there would likely be some who would have free motion quilting experience and this was the case, but the class ran from a few with no free motion experience at all to very experienced artists. Anyone who started from scratch caught on immediately and those who already had a grasp of FME zoomed ahead. We got through all of the material I had prepared and got to spend the whole second day working on projects.
....working away .....
See how much space everyone had??
The only down side of the whole weekend was the weather. My car wouldn't start Saturday morning, so we hitched a ride with the owner of the Cottage Redland B&B where I was staying. When we got back later in the day, it started fine, but I was then completely paranoid that it wasn't going to start another time and worried that I wouldn't be able to get to the workshop, or get my car loaded up to come home. But it all worked out, thank heaven. My car is a Mini Cooper and as such, doesn't have a block heater (synthetic oil) and this was the first time that it wouldn't start. Mind you, there was a wind chill factor of around -50C. When we went to pack up to leave, I found that the hatchback had frozen shut. Now, lifting two large, heavy sewing machines over the front seats (yup, it's a two-door) would have been pretty difficult for me, but thanks to Linda Dirkson's husband, who I'm told is experienced in packing cars, everything got stuffed in. So, other than problems related to the weather, the whole weekend was terrific.
Thanks very much to Linda Dirkson who organized the workshop and to all the participants from the M.J. Prairie Hearts Quilt Guild. It was a pleasure meeting you all. I have pictures from the workshop that I'll send along to Linda - so if you'd like to have a copy, please let her know. Or, if you email me, I can send them along to you directly. Email me at acdc@sasktel.net. Thank you also to Linda's husband for his help loading my car - you have no idea how much I appreciated this. And to the wonderful folks at the Redland Cottage B&B who looked after us very very well, fed us to bursting and acted as chauffeur on the coldest day of the year.
Incidentally, if anyone is ever looking for a place to stay in Moose Jaw, I can highly recommend this B&B. It's a lovely old house in a beautiful part of town. It's all furnished in period furniture and I have to say, I have never eaten so much for breakfast in my life! Fabulous meals! The individual rooms are very large, and the beds are sooooo comfortable - best sleep I've had in about three years - no kidding!! I was very impressed with Moose Jaw as a whole - I had no idea it was such a pretty city. There's an abundance of wonderful old houses, many of which have to be in the 100+ years old category and very well taken care of. As one who loves old things, I felt very at home there and will definitely go back.
So, that's the beginning of March. I'll post another time on Gardenscape.........donna
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