Busman's Holiday

Well, I might have had to forego the pleasure of a trip to Vancouver with my Best Friend, but before the snow ruined my little holiday I did manage another delightful experience. A visit to the Campbell River Friendship Quilters' Guild meeting - a bit of a 'Busman's Holiday' for a quilt teacher.

My favourite part of any guild meeting is Show and Tell, and we saw some great quilts I'd like to share with you. Elizabeth was the designated photographer and the pictures just arrived so I got to enjoy seeing the quilts all over again. Elizabeth - my partner at Nine Patch Media - and I were invited to show the Rose of Sharon quilts and it was a particular pleasure for me as I was present at the inaugural meeting of the guild 10 or 12 years ago. As their name implies, they are a very friendly bunch and I always enjoy visiting.

As it was the February meeting there was a Valentine theme to Show and Tell - which I'm sure you'll enjoy

It's not hard to spot the hearts on this beauty...

But these are a bit more subtle - to be honest I didn't spot the
hearts until Elizabeth pointed them out to me.











Apparently the request was to bring a quilt with red in it - and there's no doubt about this one!

And, what could be better than red celtic knots?

Every guild has its over-achievers and here's one from Campbell River - not only did she have two quilts for show and tell they were both Queen sized !!! And, they both have red in them.

We had such fun showing our Campbell River friends all of the Rose of Sharon goodies, the book, DVD, stencils, gift cards, etc. etc. and I hope they enjoyed seeing them as much as we enjoyed the terrific Show and Tell.

I hope you enjoy it too.

What do you do when it looks like this outside?

Yesterday I had planned a mini-holiday in Vancouver with my best friend, Kathleen. Getting there involves an hour and a half drive to the ferry terminal and then an hour and a half ferry trip from Vancouver Island (where I live) to Vancouver. We woke up to this - and for those of you who live where you have 'real' snow it probably looks pretty benign. However, just getting down the hill I live on to the highway at the bottom is dangerous when we get snow. Those tennis ball sized snow flakes where the biggest I'd ever seen and if it wasn't such a pain in the neck getting around I wouldn't mind because it is so beautiful.

I know that as an 'adult' I'm not supposed to get upset when I don't get what I want - when I want it - but I was really looking forward to both visiting Vancouver and spending time with my BF so switching from 'mini-holiday' mode to work mode just wasn't happening. What to do?  I did the next best thing - something I love to do and don't often take more than the bare minimum of time doing.

I baked bread. Not just one loaf


(this one is potato saffron - and sliced it has a lovely light yellow color)

Not two

But three different kinds.

The lovely dark round one is our all-time favourite - it's the one we have for every day. It's full of seeds (sesame, poppy, sunflower, and pumpkin) and it both toasts and freezes well.

The third one was a first (and might not be repeated), it has wild rice in it and somehow the combination of wheat flour and wild rice just doesn't quite do it for me. Fortunately, my husband loves them all so I don't have to worry about any going to waste.

Today the sun is shining and the snow is melting, but our little window of opportunity for the trip to Vancouver has passed so I'll just have to console myself eating lovely home made bread.

This may have serious consequences when I weigh in on Saturday.