GOODBYE  my Partridge Silkie  "Presley" RIP

Summer 2014 I purchased a trio of Partridge Silkie chickens.
My friend Kathy breeds the most wonderful birds.
I enjoyed the trio & all were a great addition to my flock addiction.

A few months ago I noticed Presley having a hard time walking.
At first it was just a limp which progressed to hopping on 1 leg.
He then would stand propped up against the wall.
Even putting him in a small cage to restrict movement didn't help.

He was allowed to stay with his gals, but could no longer walk.
I brought him inside trying to keep him fed but he just wilted.
Ends up Presley had a severe torn leg ligament.
After 2 months he was worse, & didn't want to eat anymore - sigh.
The vet said it was the kindest thing to put him down.

I was lucky that a month before Presley was put down,
his 3 off spring were hatched...One of them was a rooster!
"Moon Doggie" is now the King of the SILKIE coop.

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WELCOME "Moon Doggie" ( son of Presley )
WELCOME "Gidget & Sandra Dee" ( 2 daughters of Presley)

There was a bit of Drama with the hatching of these 3 chicks.
One silkie (Linda) had hatched 2 eggs & Priscilla hatched a single egg.
They looked to be happy in sharing the large brooder space & raise the chicks together.
But a day later the story changed.

Linda attacked the single chick, which made her 2 chicks run under Priscilla.
The 3 chicks stayed together & all were adopted by Priscilla.
She was an attentive, kind mama who doted on her 3 chicks!

Linda acted like she could care less. She went on her merry way.
Even if she heard her chicks peep, she ignored the sound.
Made me realize not every hen is maternal.

Here is the proud mama & her 3 little angels!
( the black chick is "Moon Doggie the male )

I wanted to showcase the quilts by Eleanor Pastic
These were Inspired by photographs taken by her husband George Pastic.
The "Talented Couple" collaborated on many beautiful quilts.





Eleanor entered & WON
"Canadian Quilters Association JURIED SHOW 2009"

FROG POND ~ Award for "Outstanding Work by first time Exhibitor"
The quilting on this is Exquisite! The Frog's back is covered in tiny little circles. The eye is life like & the maple leaf is covered in veins.




Eleanor also entered & WON @ the CQA JURIED SHOW 2009
 
ONTARIO SUNSET ~ "JUDGES CHOICE" for her 1st ART Quilt
                                 (picture of us together before "Sunset" was completed)

This quilt has so many curves (Eleanor's favorite technique) & the color variation is striking. It is one of my Favorite quilts that Eleanor made.






MIKEL was in Memory of George & Eleanor's daughter who passed away 2010
Eleanor used an antique mirror which George used in his portrait sets. She reworked the mirror & brush many times until she was satisfied with it.





HORSES ~ this was another picture George had taken. The original had 3 horses. Eleanor just wasn't happy with the 3rd horse...so she cut him off! There was much discussion on how to make the horses mane look authentic.




The RED ROSE ~ this beautiful Rose was a close up of George's photograph.
Eleanor used over 20 different red fabrics, with a satin stitch around each petal. She had tried a different color the 1st time, but decided RED would be more challenging & eye catching. The picture doesn't do it justice.

COW & CALF ~ I can't tell you how many changes this scene took. Eleanor wasn't happy with the 1st draft. Every time she would make the images, it didn't look right to her. The rolling landscape took focus off the cow & calf. The calf wasn't in the right position to show it was feeding. The background landscape didn't look right. George would take his photograph & rework the images. He changed the colors & the landscape.
Finally it was the picture Eleanor wanted to make & she was right all along.

 

 

 

Some amazing Quilts by ELEANOR PASTIC

I wanted to share some of the quilts made by my close friend of 24 years ~ Eleanor Pastic.
She was a Talented woman who loved to explore new ideas & techniques.
Eleanor belonged to many Quilt Guilds over the years.
She always ended up on the Executive or Teaching workshops.

There are Many quilters out there, who learned something from Eleanor.
She taught Quilting @ so many stores & workshops that I unfortunately don't remember them all.  Here are some that I "do" remember ~


Quilt Guilds

EAST  TORONTO QUILT GUILD
YORKSHIRE ROSE QUILT GUILD
YORK HERITAGE QUILT GUILD
PORT PARRY PATCHERS
LINDSAY CREATIVE QUILT GUILD


Quilt Organizations

ONTARIO QUILT CONNECTIONS
CANADA QUILT ASSOCIATION


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These are some pictures of Workshops taught by Eleanor ~

 

 

My next blog will showcase the quilts Eleanor made with Inspiration from photographs her husband George Pastic had taken. George was a Film maker & a great photographer. Truly a house of Talent!

 

Farewell to a Wonderful FRIEND & Quilter "Eleanor Pastic"

When I joined my 1st Quilt Guild ( East Toronto Quilter's Guild in Toronto )
I met a lot of wonderful ladies. Quite a few were Beginner quilters like myself.
It was an Exciting time & every meeting had a learning curve.

One lady I met was "ELEANOR PASTIC" a machine quilter who liked curved piecing.
I was a puritanical Hand quilter, who used traditional blocks to showcase my artsy designs.
We didn't seem to have much in common, & it was Not an instant friendship.

We were attending (separately)  the "Canadian Quilt Association"  retreat.
The finger of Fate mixed up our designated room mates & we ended up together.
It changed our lives forever...for the better.

We chatted until 4am ( class started in a few hours!!!)
Our lives paralleled on many levels & knew many of the same people in business.
The following evenings were the same - a little sleep & going to class tired - LOL
It didn't matter, we found out we were "Soul Mates"

Over the years we became quite close.
It wasn't just about quilting, it was on a real Personal level as well.
I grew up without a mother after the age of ten.
We were so close Eleanor offered to fill that void.
When there were problems in each of our lives, the other stepped in.

We were fortunate enough to live 10 minutes apart.
Often times we would squeeze into Eleanor's quilt room to cut fabric.
Or we would haul our work downstairs to work on her dining table.
Even when Eleanor moved, we spoke on the phone a few times a week.
We would meet almost every month for a Lunch date!

Eleanor & I began to explore more "Artsy" quilt interests.
Realism, portraits & animals became our new direction in quilting.
We took many courses, bought books & watch the Quilt Art shows.
Many discussions were about our next Fabulous quilt - LOL

Eleanor became sew involved that she entered 2 quilts for Quilt Canada competition.
It was NO surprise to anyone that BOTH quilts took home ribbons.
The "FROG" quilt & her "SUNSET" quilt were both 1st in their division.
Eleanor's inspiration was photographs her husband GEORGE had taken.

George was quite ill for the last few years, & Eleanor cared for him 24/7.
It was hard to watch their health trials after being married Happily for over 60 years.
The Ultimate Sadness was Eleanor and George passed away a week apart in Nov 2014
But at least they were together for their next journey ~ they will be missed!
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

My nest blog will be to share with you some of the Quilts made by ELEANOR PASTIC
I know you will enjoy them & be amazed at her incredible talent.
I will leave you with a picture of my Dear friend Eleanor and I @ one of our Lunch dates!!!

Feb 2012

Whew, just realized it's been "forever" since I Blogged.
Alot has happened since my past post, I will try & fill in some blanks.

My journey in Feb 2012

The  few remaining birds of my Old flock, passed away in 2011.
( I had purchased 4 new hens but gave them to a neighbour)
This allowed me the freedom to take a nice winter trip to visit old family/friends. I used up some Airmiles & had a Blast.
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Flew to Vancouver & stayed with "Heevi, Larissa, & Sarah"
(my mother-in-laws Favorite sister, & neices)
I met the rest of their family, & I could Not have felt More welcome!
I Quilted a wall hanging for them - details following this post.

I was able to see My nephew TIM. He drove in from Chilliwack & we enjoyed a nice Chinese dinner. It was Great to see him!
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Took a ferry over to Vancouver Island to visit the next batch of relatives.  I haven't seen my Favorite cousin Anna,( as children, everything was better with Anna) or my Aunt Rose & cousin Maggie in over 30 years! We did alot catching up.
I Quilted a "Buddy Blanket" for my Aunt Rose. All her friends signed it. It was fun to see her open the quilt & we had a good visit.

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The last leg of the trip was to Calgary to see my neice, "Grasshopper" Tamara. We Quilted a GLOW Baby blanket for Tamara's friends 1st baby. Tamara & family mean the World to me & I've become quite close to the entire ROMs clan. A fantastic end to my big adventure.

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10 days of travel was toooo long to be away from home.
Couldn't wait to see my sweetie, dogs & cat. I had a wonderful time but couldn't wait to get home. It will be a long time before another trip, because now I have a new flock of Chickens!
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HOLIDAY Happenings

It's been a BUSY few weeks & I must admit that I LUV it!
 
I dropped off 222 Placemats that we all made for the "MEALS on WHEELS" recipients. Yesterday I received a call saying that Donna Dunbar made about 35 more mats. ( Last year Donna made 78 placemats - what a Generous person! When I delivered them to the Pickering office I had quite a Surprise....the Meals on Wheels association had made 2 plaques to acknowledge our Donations of Many quilted placemats (over 1,500) I cannot wait til January to present it to our 2 Hard working groups....they will be SEW surprised!!!!!

The "ROUGE VALLEY QUILT GUILD" & a smaller group "HELPING HANDS" have worked their talents to bring a smile for those recieving "M on W". For the last few years, before the holidays we hosted a Workshop @ the RVQG. We fill the room with eager members & sew placemats for the entire day. The Helping Hands group meet every month & work all year to produce a Vast amount of placemats. It is a group effort that brings isolated seniors a special placemat for their Holiday dinner. Prior to 2003 it was the hard work of the "Yorkshire Rose quilt guild" members.
We now make Non-holiday placemats that are given on other occasions.

I started this Xmas "M on W" placemat drive about 15 yrs ago, but this is the 1st time we were bestowed a wonderful "Thank You" gift!!!
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I should also mention the other groups which make this possible.
The 43 divison "Police" station in Scarborough. They have provided us a great place to work for the last few years...Free of charge.

Also the "Art Of Fabric" quilt store on Brock Rd in Pickering has allowed the "Helping Hands" group to use their facilities to sew....Free of charge.

It takes alot of hard work & generous spirit to make this many placemats possible. MANY MANY THANX to Everyone for their participation.
I will post pics of the plaques asap!!!!!    "I'm doing a Happy dance"

Rouge Valley Quilt Show

Well the Quilt show was Fabulous....we have Sew many talented quilters @ our guild! It took me forever to see all the quilts.I wish I had another 5 hours to inspect the beautiful stitches. 
I think the thing I find most facinating is the diversity of ideas. I know I am stuck in a mind meld because all I want to make is quilts with critters, but everyone is not as crazy as me - right?
There were appliqued quilts that looked like they were done with invisible thread, as well as precision pieced quilts with Perfectly matched points ( who does that? Not This gal -  LOL)
It is Inspiring to be @ a Quilt show, the ideas just flow....I Need to get back to quilting every wk....with the cold weather, perhaps that will happen.

I worked the RVQG Tea room, which is Always alot of fun. I can be the crazy waitress that no one can possibly forget. I worked with a few ladies that I didn't know before....we had a great time laughing, serving & cleaning. Wish there were more Quilt shows on the horizon @ RVQG - it's a Blast!

**** Foot note, I Missed the guild meeting following the quilt show. Jean Reid sent a little note to me via Facebook, saying "surprise"  
My "Precious Eleven" quilt won "Viewers Choice" for wallhangings - it really was a Big surprise. I am Elated that sew many people luved the story of "11"

I have a few Xmas presents to make & then I'm onto my next quilt - will send details once I start the project.....I'm Anxious to start! For now I am posting a few closeup pics of "Precious Eleven" 

The Dragon flys were made with Beads & "Wonder under" 2 sided wings.
I used opal paints for the details on the wings.

The Hosta plant has a Garter snake hidden inside. The leaves have wire inside so they can be moved...the flower bells also have sparkle beads @ the mouth of hte flower. It was Fun to  embelish the quilt, hope to explore more on the next few quilts. Of course the subject matter determines if embelishing will work.
OK - signing off - hope you enjoy the pics.