Bella Bella Quilts

This is going to be my next read! I’ve been a fan for 30 years. A lovely and uber-talented woman.

NO ORDINARY MAGIC by Carol Bruneau's Author Page has given us the first retrospective on the innovative work of Nova Scotia textile artist and renowned quilter Laurie Swim and WOW is what I have kept saying with every read of the words and every look at the images and every turn of the pages!

The admiration Carol has for Laurie is evident in each of her carefully and expertly crafted descriptions and it adds to the power of the narrative in this beautiful book. I had to keep reminding myself that the images I were seeing were made with fabric. I felt as if I could walk right in to many of them and oh how I wish I could do so.

There is magic in this book - the beautiful magic that happens when a friend tells a friend's story. Carol Bruneu captures every essence of the intimate relationship Laurie has developed between her chosen artist's medium and her beautiful soul.

From first stitch to last and from first word to last this book is a book to be revisited and sat with over and over again. Sitting on my coffee table I am compelled to pick it up and look through it and to read and re-read passages like this one used to describe Laurie's piece called "Morning Fog."

"...the pieces evokes nothing short of an elegy...But like all great elegies, it's a celebration too - of the wild, of the her and now, the land, the sea, all the real world's currents and flux. It rejoices in the thinnest place possible: the secret place of discovery. Whoever is so privileged and fortunate to happen upon such a place is grace with a gift - not just he gift of its experience, but an awakening."

Awakening, celebrating, rejoicing and graced with a gift is how I felt while spending time with this stunning book.

I first "met" Laurie and her work when I purchased her picture book HOPE AND SURVIVAL: A Story of the Halifax Explosion make both of these books part of your "must buy" list if you haven't already purchased them.

Published by Goose Lane Editions

I wish Nebraska was on my way to anywhere! I wonder if my friend John Gillow was the source for any of these.

What delightfulstories and fabulous illustrations!

These look so fun! My mind is racing with possibilities.

Here is a superb example of quilting enhancing and completing a pieced top without stealing the thunder! Beautiful harmony!

WOW … we have goosebumps. 😉 This stunning quilt was made using Terry Rowland - T Row Studios’s Millie. The pattern is by Legit Kits and is called Legit Flying Geese. The wonderful details and colors make this piece a work of art! Bravo!

https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/24852833/harriet-jane-hargrave?fbclid=IwAR2xH7rT6oG_S1NftAlz6ux5w9FZ8oWWV8PUBTBZ0xMVUB1TZeSRhF0lZo0
Harriet was a gifted and generous teacher, a fine author, and one of my quilting heroes. I quoted her so often in class that one of my students quipped "just call her Saint Harriet." She was far too much fun for sainthood, but she left us so many wonderful memories and a lot of knowledge. Her influence will last generations. This is very very sad news for everyone who knew her, or her work.

Harriet Jane Hargrave Obituary Share Memories & Support the Family.