East and West and a Gift of Fabric

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to western Canada and surprised me with some lovely fabric from an award-winning quilt shop in Canmore Alta called the Sugar Pine Company.  She is not a quilter herself but was impressed by the lovely art quilts on display there.  Just another reason for me to take a trip west.  She brought me their brochure and another flyer about "Canmore Quilt Art Rockies 2011-2012.    I was drawn to one of the quilts shown on the front of the brochure of camels silhouetted in the sunset.  It looked familiar.  What a coincidence!    They are presenting workshops by Gloria Loughman and David Taylor, both amazing art quilters and I had just purchased Gloria Loughman's book "Luminous Landscapes" and was starting to read it.  I showed it to my friend and she was suitably in awe.   A trip west is not in the cards for me this year so I'll just have to be content reading this luscious book.  

Nevertheless I am heading east to Cape Breton in a few days for my annual Hike the Highlands trip.   We will be doing day hikes for 10 days and I am so out of shape.   It has been a hot summer and I have not had much opportunity to hike except for a few short hikes in Gaspe in July.   Just being in Cape Breton is a treat however and I am looking forward to it.   I have been trying to figure out how I can afford to spend my summers there - house sitting? renting a seasonal trailer site, living in a camper van?    People always ask me if I am a maritimer and I say "no but I'm a wannabee".  My heart is really in the east (you can tell by my artwork).  I love the combination of hills and ocean, big sky and forest.     It's the best of both worlds for me, a place where you can drive a long time without seeing a fast food outlet.    Hopefully I'll come back with inspiration for more art quilts.  Here is a photo of Fishing Cove (a 12 km hike through these hills ending at the ocean)  and one of a bald eagle we saw while hiking the Coastal Trail near Neil's Harbour.