I love my bike!

Isn't this the perfect button? My sister surprised me with it this week and I love it! If you, too, love your bike, you can pick up your own button, plus oodles of fresh local produce at one of the Vancouver Farmer's Markets like the Kitsilano Market (today at the Kits Community Centre parking lot from 10am-2pm). I love riding my bike to the market and taking advantage of the bike valet!

Art by Jane Koo

The "I Love My Bike" button was designed by the very talented Jane Koo, who created this year's amazing poster for the Farmer's Markets.

My proposal story

Minutes before our fateful dive (Dean had no idea what he was in for!)

September 3, 2001

Nine years ago today, I asked Dean to marry me while SCUBA diving in the Pacific Ocean. I haven't told this story on my nearly-two-year-old blog, so I thought today would be an appropriate day to share. 

In 2001, Dean and I had been dating for eight years, I had graduated from SFU with my degree in Biology and I was working as a naturalist at the Vancouver Aquarium. I was ready to take the next step, so I took matters into my own hands. We went for a dive off of Ogden Point in Victoria and after seeing a variety of amazing marine life, I wrote "Will you marry me?" on my dive slate. I can still remember how Dean's blue eyes widened in surprise as I showed him the slate and then popped open a box with a dive watch inside. All he could do was signal, "OK!"

We came back to the surface and shared our news with our parents, who happened to be there to "watch us dive". We assured them that the wedding would be held on dry land, and everyone was happy!

The happy couple with dive watch and proposal slate

Announcing the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild

There's a new Canadian Modern Quilt Guild! I'm excited to announce that the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild is getting started! They have a brand new website and are looking for members! 

The FVMQG is being organized by the amazing duo of Cynthia Frenette and Lysa Mair. I'll let Cynthia introduce the group in her own words:

I had joined the Vancouver Modern Quilt Group and met my new pal Lysa thanks to the thoughtful Van group's organizer and hitched a ride with her in to one of the meetings one night. We soon discovered that the drive to the city in total being longer than the actual meeting itself, while it was fabulous in every way and we loved being part of it, was not really that easy for us to get to each month. So after a few chats, we decided to start a Fraser Valley group to make it more accessible for those like-minded quilters out this way.

We hope you'll join and share the love of modern quilting with us and fellow Valley modern quilters! We hope to make this group accessible and fun for everyone at all levels of modern quilting, whether you're a beginner, a master, a teacher, or anything in between, and will look forward to being part of a great Valley group! We also plan to stay in affiliation with the Vancouver Group, perhaps with intergroup challenges or meetings, the sky's the limit! Won't you join us? And please feel free to share suggestions, ideas, links, activities, anything to help get our new group growing and sharing.

As of yet, this group is just getting going, so they don't have their first meeting posted yet. I believe they're planning to hold meetings in Abbotsford. If you're a modern quilter in the valley, please check out the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild! 

Ringle and Kerr have a new book coming this fall

Have you heard about "Quilts Made Modern"? Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, who wrote the popular book "The Modern Quilt Workshop" and others about colour theory, have written a new book that's coming out in December 2010. I read a sneak peek post on Week's blog and was happily surprised. I hadn't heard about this book on any of my other quilting blogs, so I thought it might be news to some of my readers. In Week's words:

It’s a big book. It’s 160 pages of quilting A to Z. There are 10 never-before-seen patterns using a wide variety of techniques. In addition to pieced quilts, we show you how to tackle hand applique as well as machine applique. There are designs for solids as well as those for large-scale prints.

I am drawn to the skinny coin quilt on the cover and I look forward to seeing more new quilt patterns from this talented team!

Coming soon - the 2nd Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild meeting

Photo by Sonja Callaghan

It's almost time for the second meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild! I'm excited to go back to Spool of Thread and see my new quilting friends again! The first meeting was a great success with 45 quilters present and I'm curious to see how many people come out tomorrow night.

If you're coming, it would be a great help if you could bring along a folding chair or blanket/cushion to sit on and a mug! Of course, we would love to see any modern quilts you'd like to share as well as a tool of the trade for our tool talk section of the evening.

Event details:
Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Meeting
7-9pm, Thursday, July 15, 2010
Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge
101-649 E. 15th Ave.
Vancouver, BC

Get more info and RSVP here: http://vancouvermodernquiltguild.ning.com/events/vancouver-modern-quilt-guild

1. Make a quilt for Mia's baby by May 2009.

It's been awhile since I've updated my 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days List. I've just taken a look and realized I've accomplished at least 15 goals without logging them. Shame on me!

I'm going to try to catch up and I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Goal #1 was to make a quilt for Mia's baby. I made my first really modern quilt for little Gabriel and gave it to him in July, 2009. He was already three months old, but he was still small enough to enjoy it, so I'm counting this as a win.

I wrote all about this quilt in my Blogger's Quilt Festival post so you can look there for lots of process photos.

Photo by Sonja Callaghan

I actually have this quilt in my possession right now, as I borrowed it from Gabriel to share at the first meeting of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild!

Atticus, Jem & Scout

Atticus, Jem & Scout. I don't even have to mention Boo Radley and I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about. The characters from Harper Lee's literary masterpiece are etched into our collective consciousness and seem as real to me as my friends and family. Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Kill a Mockingbird".

This is the version we have in our home library and I re-read it this spring. Have you read it lately? Have you watched the movie? It's one of those rare cases where the movie is as good as the book, thanks to Gregory Peck and the way he became Atticus Finch.

Thank you to Katie who blogs at The Dundee Writer for tipping me off about this event!