Still Back from Quilt Bliss!

So, continuing my saga from the other day . . . after we arrived at Timber Moose Lodge, we settled into the sewing room, which was transformed from this great upstairs room with a fantastic view of the mountains:

There wasn't quite enough room for all the sewists, so another room was set up on the first floor. I snuck down there occasionally to lay out and baste my quilts, and they had quite a cool, zen sewing environment. Just a handful of ladies, but they were having a great time and had plenty of room. I loved being upstairs, although there were a lot of tables to fit in and it was sometimes hard negotiating around people on the way to and from the iron and cutting table. 

Before I forget to mention it, throughout the retreat we had the most amazing meals, prepared by Pamela's sister Christina, mother Ginny, and aunt Becky. Seriously good. I tried to be good and skipped most of the desserts, but they were incredible: bouche de noel, meringues, rustic tarts, and more! They worked so hard for us and did an outstanding job. Thank you ladies!!

Throughout the retreat there were many great classes and trunk shows. Because I signed up late, there were only a few classes left, but still such great choices! I have to confess that I spent most of my time sewing, so I only got to one class, but it was great! I took a fabulous scrap class with Amy Smart. Amy reviewed a number of great techniques to use scraps, but we focused on making a string pieced quilt. It was perfect! About a year ago I won scraps from Film in the Fridge, leftovers from her lovely Bonnie & Camille Ruby quilt, and I've been holding off using them until I got around to doing these string blocks. I made it through one block before digging back into other projects at the retreat, but I'm inspired to finish a quilt with them. I was so impressed by so many ladies at the retreat who really dug in and made a ton of these blocks. Amy had the great idea of cutting the block into quarters, which made a super cute baby sized quilt. 

In addition to the class I took with Amy, there were great classes by Amanda Woodruff on mixing and matching fabric, Emily Sessions on quilting, Kristin Barrus on quilt journaling, Anna Morrison on paper piecing, Leigh Hansen on carving out creative time, and Jeannette Hartvigsen on her fabulous hand-turned appliqué. 

I had been so crazed with work and preparing for my big meeting in DC (which was scheduled for the day following the retreat) that I really didn't have much time to plan (or pack) for the retreat. The morning of, I opened up a suitcase and just dumped in somewhat random piles of fabric. All were tied to projects I had already planned, but I just ran out of time to think about how much I could accomplish and how much to pack. As a result, I ended up with a rather small suitcase filled with retreat and work clothes and a large suitcase filled with fabric and assorted projects in progress. Some of what I packed were the medallion quilt blocks from the round robin I've been working on. I had three to tackle, and April had the awesome idea of us working on them together at the retreat. I've decided not to show the blocks, as I know there are peekers out there! 

But here's a photo of some of the great swag we received:

There's an adorable little print of a sewing machine, two Omnigrid rulers (5.5 inch square and 1x5 inch ruler), little snips scissors, some Aurifil and Metrosene thread, a charm pack and Kona solids mini charm pack, and that adorable little name "tag" person. It's all resting on top of the great Valentine's table runner made for me by my secret swap partner, Lori. I've also included some of the fat quarters I bought at Corn Wagon on my way to the retreat (on the right) as well as two cute Christmas FQs from April. I have just realized that I neglected to add (but need to include) the great little jar filled with selvedges that Sue gave me!

Going to the retreat has really rekindled my sew-jo, and I've been busy since I returned working on a hexie quilt. I've noticed everyone around me getting into the hexie craze for some time, but it really just didn't interest me until now. The QuiltBliss swag included a little hexie starter kit with EPP templates. While I love all things paper piecing, I initially only picked up the little hexies when I returned from the retreat with a bad cold and ended up in front of the TV (and Olympics) for a solid week. Now I have totally gotten into it!

I initially started making flower circles, using the same scraps pictured above, but I didn't like the more traditional look they were creating. I unpicked what I had done and restarted using a swirling spiral pattern which is making me much happier. And the best part? All of the fabric I'm using—even the white Kona—comes from my scraps collection! I forgot to add something to give a sense of scale, but they're little 1-inch hexies. So lots more to go if I want to make this into a lap quilt!

Okay, enough for today . . .  stay tuned for more to come!

Back from Quilt Bliss!

And back from the blogging grave too! This past month or two have been totally crazy with a big work project that, of course, coincided with the much anticipated Quilt Bliss retreat! My work project included a big trip to DC and I initially worried that I'd have to skip Pamela's retreat in order to meet my work obligations. A little bit of tweaking of the itinerary and I made it work!

As you know, I left Utah mid-summer, relocating to the NYC area. When Pamela first mentioned she was hosting a fabulous luxury retreat along with the Utah County Modern Quilt Guild, I knew I wanted  to go, but I assumed I wouldn't be able to come, given that we're still very much settling into our new jobs and new home. When I discovered a few months ago that there was still room in the retreat AND I realized I had some frequent flier miles piled up, with the support of my honey I decided to make the trip. I knew it'd be a fabulous experience, not to mention a great opportunity to catch up with dear friends.

And what an adventure it was! My dear friend Sue weathered a nasty storm to drive all the way up from Utah County to pick me up late at night at the SLC airport. I settled into her guest room, which included chocolates on my pillow! The next morning, April picked me up and, along with Marion, we wended up our way up to Heber, stopping along the way at several fabulous quilt shops. As I may have mentioned, it has taken some adjustment living in the NY metro area in terms of the shortage of modern fabric stores. There are a few places out on Long Island that have primarily batiks and traditional fabrics, but we have to head into Manhattan to the City Quilter to get some real options. I felt as if I were coming out of the desert into the rich world of Utah fabric stores! Despite the great temptations at Corn Wagon, Gracie Lou's, and American Quilting, I walked away with some fat quarters and some new fabric ideas for my wish list.

We then headed up to the Timber Moose Lodge in Heber. So grateful for Marion's trusty monster truck! A lot of snow had accumulated and only the most robust of 4 wheel drive vehicles were making it up the hill! We actually passed the Dave's Bernina truck, which had gotten stuck going up the hill. After a little backing and forthing up the hill, we finally found the lodge. Funny that you can drive past a 26,000 square foot home and not see it!

Yes, this place is so massive that I could fit my entire house—with room leftover—in the lodge's great room! This incredible place is apparently the largest privately-owned log cabin in the U.S. It has 13 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, an indoor pool, outdoor hot tub, a game room, and plenty of nooks and crannies, including a gorgeous crow's nest with a nearly 360 degree view!

The lodge overlooks a private lake, which is apparently stocked with fish! I didn't bring my camera (just one thing too many to pack!), so I'm using photos from the lodge rental site (thank you!), but during our stay the lake was frozen over and covered with snow.

I bunked with my friend Sue in the lodge's bunk room, which had six queen-sized bunk beds. I don't think I've bunked down with so many people since sleep-away camp in my teens! There was such an impressive number of bathrooms that despite having almost 60 people sharing facilities, I never once had to wait in line for the shower or potty!

So this is a little glimpse of where I stayed. Stay tuned tomorrow for more about the retreat itself!

Utah, I'm a coming!

So, I don't think I've mentioned that I've signed up for Pamela's fabulous 2014 Quiltbliss retreat in Utah. Yay!

I left Utah mid-summer, not sure of when I'd be back, so I'm really excited to be able to come back to catch up with all my quilty friends!

And what could be a better way of catching up than a four-day modern quilting retreat right in the middle of my favorite snowy season?!

Just look at these funky and fabulous accommodations!

Queen-sized bunk beds!! Totally fabulous, right??

I'm already starting to collect the projects I'll be bringing. Lots to sew, lots to sew, my friends! I've been kind of in a sewing funk of late, as I'm still trying to figure out and settle into my sewing space here. Being back among my sewing friends will be so fabulous! And there will be amazing classes with talented folks like Amy Smart, Anna Morrison, Emily Sessions, and many more!

Maybe I'll finally get around to that table runner that I've been meaning to tackle . . .

Gratitude

Alright, no house updates in this blog, I promise! I'm taking a break to talk about my wonderful quilty friends and wonderful quilty things!

So, because I was a bit preoccupied with my packing up and getting out of Utah (which was quite a feat, given the 28 foot long truck we filled!), I have neglected to tell you all about the most amazing group of friends I have.

Almost two years ago I began to sew, learning most everything from blogs and the internet in general. One of the blogs I was following was Pamela's French Knots, which I found charming and full of great information. One day, I read about a retreat that Pam was hosting about 45 minutes away from where I live, and I decided on a whim to go. I didn't know Pam, and didn't know anyone going to the retreat. In fact, I had never even gone to a sewing retreat before and was still fairly self-conscious and nervous about my sewing skills—or lack thereof! Nonetheless, I gathered up my sewing things (feeling like I was packing to run away from home, I brought so much!) and headed to Utah County for the several day retreat. It was so great! I met the most amazing group of women and learned so much in the few days I was there! Pam threw a great retreat, with yummy food and a terrific class on appliqué.

It was at that retreat that I met Ella, Pamela, Kristen, Sue, April, Emily, and Amy. I'm not sure how it developed, but next thing I knew we were getting together regularly for sew days and retreats. At those days I met many other great people, including Marion and Jenny. Now it's been almost two full years, and I regard these women as great friends who made my time in Utah so special. I think I may have shared this story before, because last time I moved—then it was "just" across town—they showed up at my door with mop and pail (and wearing cute little bandanas) and cleaned our house from top to bottom with us. What a special gift it was!

When it came time for me to move east, I knew that the hardest part would be to leave my friends. I plan to return for retreats and such, but it's still not the same as being in the 'hood! Sweet Ella hosted a lovely farewell party for me the week before I moved, and they surprised me with the most wonderful, gorgeous churn dash quilt. So amazing! Just look at it—here's the front:

And here's the back:

Do you see? It has my first initial in the middle! The pink fabric is puppies from Ella's amazing stash. I had admired it once, and she generously gave me some of the fabric with a blue background. I was so delighted to have that fabric then, but to then discover the same fabric in pink on the quilt . . . so wonderful!

Everyone contributed a square, or binding, or quilting, and then signed it. What a special gift! I always think about my friends back in Utah anyway, but this is a particularly dear reminder. In fact, as I write this post I'm snuggled up in this great quilt.

April, in addition to her contributions to the quilt, made me an amazing, ever-coveted weekender bag. We had talked about making one, but I never dreamed she'd make one for me! I've been wanting one for so long, but they're such a project to make that I was a bit too daunted to try it myself.

Here's the bag in all her glory:

And here's the other side:

Here's the closeup on the front—the clothespin dolls are from my ever favorite Heather Ross:

And here's the closeup on the back—It's so so special, it even has a car pulling a teardrop trailer, just like we did driving across country!

Do you see the great Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy on the bottom? April knows I love my Denyse Schmidt, so she used her fabric throughout. This was my "to go" bag on my trek cross country. You can fit a small country in here!

I miss everyone so much, but I can curl up with my quilt and use my weekender bag and feel so close!

Retreat Report

I think I've been sewing for so many consecutive days now that I've run out of energy for talking about all the sewing I've done! I'm exhausted! After Day 1 of my mini retreat with my friend Sue, I had some more #Xplusalong blocks finished, but mostly these piles of of the pieced bits and bobs waiting to be finished into blocks!

I just plugged away and after two and a half days of retreating I had 61 (of 99) blocks finished. Yay!  

The stack doesn't look nearly as impressive and large as I had hoped it would, after all that work! And to think I'm only 2/3 the way through! Or, perhaps more positively stated, that I'm already 2/3 the way through?! I think of all the blocks so far, this one below is my favorite:

While I was plugging away on my blocks, Sue was working persistently on her gorgeous throw quilt. And, in perfect timing, she finished the core part of the top just before she had to go. Isn't it gorgeous! I didn't get a good closeup photo, but it has the best combinations of fabric! You go Sue!

After I finished my last round of #Xplusalong blocks, I didn't quite have it in me to begin cutting fabric again for the last chunk of blocks, so I turned my attention to finishing my top for the Twisted Quilt I've been working on. Twisted indeed! The pattern is described as being for beginners, but either I'm not a beginner yet or this pattern is more challenging than it's described to be! I followed the directions to the last "T" and yet my blocks didn't end up near the same size as predicted, so I had to improvise! The pattern originally called for 6x7 rows of blocks, but I ended up doing 5x8 and then widening it with a border. Those twisted "x"s look all neatly lined up below, but they took a lot of "convincing" to fit together! Thanks to Sue for her ideas on the arrangement of the blocks and helping me ensure that the blocks all ended up being the same size! So, here she is! Hanging from the back patio in the wind, so don't mind the crease across the bottom!

Now "all" I have to do is quilt and bind!

Many thanks to Sue for a fun retreat!

I Know! Twice in a Week!!

Don't mean to shock you all by posting too much now, but I think I've gotten my groove back, and furthermore, I'm kinda feeling my blogger responsibility! I can't just leave my two (official) followers hanging out there waiting with bated breath for my next installment!

So, to continue on my report from the awesome Crazy Old Ladies Cabin Fever retreat that Emily Herrick hosted two weeks ago . . . one of the great quilts that Amber Johnson designed and showed off at her trunk show is "Twisted." I just fell for it instantly. I love the way the white "x"s weave across the quilt. I just knew I wanted to make it! Doesn't the pattern look great?!

I'm making it right now for the family I posted about two days ago. I'm doing it in blues and yellows, with the white "x"s. When I'm finished with this one, which I'm making as a twin, I think I'm going to make it in greens and oranges/tangerine. The first block took a while yesterday, as I figured out how to make it all work, but then I got in the groove and I knocked off 12 of the 42 yesterday--not a bad accomplishment give that it was a ladies' sew day so there was a lot of talking (and fighting for the ironing board)!

Back From the Blog Grave

Hi y'all!

Remember me! I used to blog here frequently? Now don't get huffy! I didn't forget you! Things have just gotten busy around here and it's been hard to get back to the old blog!

Out in my "other" life (that life that doesn't involve fabric--gasp! I know! Is there such a thing?!), I've been busy with job interviews. And that involves dressing up in heels. Oy, I've been out of practice for that!

In more interesting news, I just returned from a totally awesome sewing retreat hosted by Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies Quilts. I had the best time! There were about 30 ladies at the retreat, which was held at the most amazing (and huge) house in the mountains in Springville, UT. We had a trunk show by Natalia Bonner, who showed off her phenomenal quilting skills. I got one of her books, which I've been wanting for a while, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting. We also had trunk shows by Amber Johnson from Gigi's Thimble and Katie Spencer of From the Blue Chair. Both are so talented and showed their stunning patterns and quilts. Katie showed off her technique for using her leftover scraps on her quilt backs--such a great way to use up leftover fabric and to create one-of-a-kind backs!

The ladies at the retreat were so talented! Everyone was working on such different projects and it was wonderful to see the diversity of talent and interests! The house has a great room with a loft balcony, and every time someone finished a project she would hang it over the balcony railing for everyone to see and celebrate. So cool! I so wish I had taken photos of everyone's great projects!

This time I was surprisingly parsimonious in the list of projects I brought with me. Usually I bring bag upon bags of projects to work on, but this time I consolidated my things to only one bag, which still left me with several choices of projects. I had finished my baby quilt top for my cousin's son's baby before I arrived at the retreat, so while at the retreat I quilted and binded the top:

This is one of my favorite patterns. It's from  Hooked on Needles and makes a great baby quilt. I pulled out some of my favorite charm squares for this one, including several treasured Heather Ross Munki Munki pieces. I included two of her seahorses, which went really well with the Sarah Jane Out to Sea fabric, especially the mermaids! I did a rainbow-ish color array, using softer colors as this will be for a sweet girl. I still can't figure out what relation Nora is to me: her grandfather is my mother's first cousin. I think that may make her my cousin three times removed, but it kind of makes my head spin to try to figure it out!

This quilt is about 45x45, and uses Riley Blake's Sweet Divinity in pink for the backing. For the quilting I went with stippling. I'm still very much working on my free-motion quilting, but I'm really pleased with how this one came out. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!

Of course, I was confidently quilting along when I discovered that my tension was screwy and had to undo about four inches in and the length of the fabric. Aaargh! As nice as the place was where we had the retreat, the lighting was not ideal, but I just happened to bring along my headlamp (you never know when you might need it for midnight potty trips!), and it was just perfect for the close-up stitch work. I highly recommend headlamps as critical retreat gear! Perhaps not fashion forward, but definitely a must-have!

In addition to this quilt, I also started my #xplusalong blocks. I saw them on I'm a Ginger Monkey's blog, and I just fell for them! I decided I wanted to use a slightly simpler color palate, so I'm going with aqua, orange, grey, and green. I have 12 done so far, but I have a ways to go if I want to do a queen-sized quilt!

Now that I've done 12, I have a wider range of aqua, more in the darker range, which is pulling out the color more. They look a bit more like the ones in the middle in terms of visual balance. They're pretty quick to make and the blocks are holding my interest . . . which is a good thing, since, as some of you know, I'm not someone who necessarily gets really excited by making block after block!

There will be more news from the retreat later, but before I wrap up, I have an important announcement to share. Due to a horrible situation, a mother and her six children has had to leave their home with little more than the clothes on their back. Some incredible friends and community members are stepping up and providing them with household items, clothes, and living arrangements.

Myra at She Taught Me to Love It is organizing a collection of new quilts for each of the family members, so I'm helping to get the word out. We are looking for new pieced and quilted, twin-sized quilts for the mother and each of her children. There are three boys, aged 6, 12, and 14, and three girls, aged 4, 10, and 16.

It would be great if you could make and donate a quilt for one (or more!) of these children or their mother. If you can't make a whole quilt, then piecing a quilt top or donating fabric, batting, or quilting would be terrific!

If you are able to donate any of the above, please leave a comment with your name and email below. Many thanks!

More News and Views From the Retreat

So. I think I've finally caught up on my sleep after 4 straight days of sewing! My neck, however, has not quite forgiven me for staring straight at my sewing machine for so long! I can only imagine what we looked like--a room filled with 76 women seated at their sewing machines from 7 a.m. until past midnight! One man stopped by and asked if we were all part of a sweatshop! I replied that I didn't sew nearly fast enough to keep my job if that had been the case!

Apparently, it was snowing up quite a storm outside, but we were in a windowless conference center, fairly removed from the world outside. This is what it looked like at home:

We also apparently elected a president and quite a few senators and congresspeople while we were away at retreat as well . . .  kind of surreal how the world marches on! It was strange actually; I kept checking my iPad for news, but it didn't seem that anyone had their TVs on or were talking (much) about politics. I did, however, get cornered a few times (I'm really not sure why!) and was asked my opinion on presidential politics. A very dicey question in Utah! But no worries . . .  I'm not about to launch into a diatribe on my stance on foreign policy, healthcare, or even more delicate issues! Not in this post, at least! ;-)

Now, back to the retreat itself! First of all, as I mentioned yesterday, I got there a day early so that I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive up to Park City on Wednesday morning. I'm so glad I did! I was able to get my bearings, set up my sewing area, meet some people, and, best of all, hang with my roomie Sue! I wish I could link to her blog, but she doesn't blog . . . yet (hint, hint, Sue!). Sue, knows that I'm a bit out of my element here in Utah, as I'm really an East Coast ocean girl in my heart and soul. And being the sweetie that she is, look at what she gave me as a retreat roomie gift!!

A whole fat quarter bundle of Emily Herrick's totally fabulous Going Coastal collection! Yay! I'm beyond thrilled with these goodies! I've never had a whole, entire fat quarter bundle before and I'm frankly somewhat beside myself! Sue had given me some samples from the line a while back, but that just whetted my appetite for more, and now I have it all! If you don't know this line, definitely check it out. It has flamingos, sea kelp, lobsters, madras, sailboats and other fun designs. So fabulous!

I have a great pattern of Emily's, Cabana, that I already have in mind for the fabric. I have the person in mind to give the finished quilt to, as well, but that part is top secret as I think she reads the blog . . . so more on her secret identity and her special story after the quilt is gifted. I will blog along as work on this quilt, however, so you will get to see this one in progress!

There were some goodies for sale at the retreat, but I was oh so restrained!! $3 half yards, patterns, and all sorts of other goodies. I'm sure you can just imagine what the sale area looked like . . .  sort of like the stores on Black Friday (after Thanksgiving). Nothing like offering sales on fabric to quilters! It was bedlam. I braved the bevy of ladies, but I held myself back and this is all I succumbed to:

Pretty restrained, eh?! I'm fairly proud of myself!

Now, on a non-retreat front, I have some exciting news . . . I won something as part of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!! If you haven't gone over to her site yet to check out the totally amazing talent on the festival, stop reading this right now and head on over to see! I mean it! I'll still be here when you come back! I summoned up my courage and posted my Mama Lilly quilt on the BQF this year, which was fairly daunting given the gorgeous and completely professional work people presented, but as this was my first year of sewing and my first year I completed any quilts I thought it was a good risk to take. And I was rewarded with a $25 gift certificate at Fabricworm! Clearly not for my quilt, just one of those lucky draws! Yay! Because who doesn't love fabric?! And Fabricworm is a great store with an amazing selection of distinctive fabrics.

Recovering from Retreat!

I'm back!! I just had the most fabulous 4 days retreating with the Utah Valley Quilt Guild in Park City. It almost turned into a longer retreat as we got socked in with a snowstorm! I loved it! There were 76 quilters . . . so amazingly talented with such diverse skills! I arrived the night before (Tuesday) and was able to get my area set up so I was ready to jump in first thing Wednesday morning. Good thing, as I set far too large an agenda for such a relatively short time (I know, I know, 4 days is really a long time, but not for the 12 projects I wanted to complete)!! 

Nevertheless, I'm so thrilled with what I accomplished. In ramping up before the retreat I had been prepping my pieced scrap border quilt strips so that I'd be ready to assemble the blocks. I actually had finished all but about 20 of the blocks before the retreat, so at the retreat I was able to finish that up, piece together the rows of alternating white and pieced blocks, and then finally sew it all together. My final goal was to baste the quilt before I returned home. I knew that I'd never get as good a baste as I could get on two tables pushed together (picture instead me at home: the quilt laid out on the carpeted floor, the dog hair flying through the air, with the dogs trying to lie down on the quilt top -- hopeless!). So, here she is! 

Now "all" I have to do is quilt and bind it, and I'll be done! My current idea (thanks Machelle!!) is to do concentric squares inside the squares. I do think that much spinning in circles on my little machine may drive me a bit dizzy, however!

While at the retreat, I also worked on the tablerunner for the swap. Here's the design I've come up with (again, with much help from the amazing women at my table!!). Thank you Sue, Vonda, Michelle, and Machelle! I was originally going to have the trees facing each other in the other direction (picture the shorter end of the table?), but Sue steered me in this direction instead, which I love!

 This is a closeup of one set of the trees. It was a bit of a monster to design the paper piecing pattern. Isn't it funny how simple it looks once it's done? I had to sew and unpick that tree on the left about 3 or 4 times because I first couldn't get the left line of the bottom of the big tree to align with the left line of the top of the tree, and then my tree trunk on the little tree on the left somehow ended up on the far left of the tree. Sigh. You know how some people wear little scissors around their neck when they're sewing? I think I need to wear my seam ripper instead!

There's lots more to tell about the retreat, so stay tuned for more in another post, but I'm oh so tired! Before I close up shop for the day, however, let me give a shout out to my retreat roomie, Sue. She was a great partner in crime, taught me so much, and kept me so entertained throughout the retreat! And hi to Robyn too! If you haven't yet, go check out her great blog. Look at what she can make!!

D-Day!

Oh, the bags are packed, and I'm ready to go . . . . And yet, these are just the sewing bags!! These don't include any of my clothes!!

I'm headed off this afternoon to Park City for my Utah Valley Quilt Guild Retreat. Wahoo! Here's to three and a half wonderful days of sewing, quilting, and camaraderie! Stay tuned! I will try to keep posting throughout!

Getting Ready for Retreat

Do you remember packing up for summer camp when you were a kid? The packing would begin with excitement weeks before departure day. Now, I'm not talking about packing clothes and necessities -- that, my mother would largely take care of (thanks Mom!). No, I'm talking about the fun stuff. The flashlight that had what seemed like 15 different flashing functions (as if I was going camping alongside the Alaskan Coast Guard station), the 32 snack assortments, the hot pink fan (yes, Ella, I know you would have wanted that one!), the walkman I had wanted forEVER, the Sweet Valley High novels (remember those?), etc.

I would pack and repack, add more things to the ever-burgeoning piles, try to cram the lid shut on the oh so nifty trunk we had purchased at the Army-Navy surplus store. I was so thrilled to be going to camp, and I think the packing represented my excitement for all the experiences I was going to have. If I just packed the right things, If I only had the right accoutrements, If only . . .  then the experience would be AMAZING!!

Well, here I am  . . . cough . . .  years later and not much has changed!! I'm heading to my retreat with the Utah Valley Quilt Guild in just a few days, and I feel that same sense of excitement! And yes, that same packing frenzy! My piles are continuing to grow. You'd think that I'm going on a month-long quilting cruise, rather than a 3 and a half day retreat! But to have a whole three and half days of sewing seems so wonderfully intense that I've set a rather rigorous agenda for myself, and one that just keeps growing by the minute (especially every time I read a new blog post and discover a new wonderful project I could add to my Christmas "to do" list!). And how horrible would it be to be stuck in Park City (gasp) only to discover that I'm missing some critical piece of fabric?! Egad! So of course I'm  planning on bringing what feels like half my stash.

So, this is my current plan of action as it stands now (see my prior post for some more detail on a few of these projects):

1) Pieced scrap border quilt (thank you red pepper quilts!): I've pieced all the blocks, so I "just" have to sew the blocks together, baste it, quilt it, and bind it.

2) Polka dot baby quilt: I've pieced the blocks, so again "just" have to sew, baste, quilt, and bind.

3) Denyse Schmidt quilts: I have a bunchload of DS blocks pieced, from which I have a few baby quilts' worth of sewing to do! (not a top priority)

3) Ruby & Camille Scrap Quilt: I have all the scraps cut for this, but need to paper piece the blocks.

4) Christmas tree skirt: I have the sketches for this and the fabric picked out, but that's about it!

5) Modern Christmas table runner swap: I have my sketch and my fabric picked out.

6) Ana White work apron: I have the fabric and the pattern.

7) Tote bag (Christmas present): Fabric and pattern: I've made a ton of these, so this is a quick sew

8) An unmentionable project (Christmas present for one of my readers!)

9) Dog bone quilt: Fabric and pattern (Christmas present)

Getting the picture?? I may be biting off quite a bit more than I can chew. This may not be just a shortcookie, but quite a large cookie!! Just take a look at my "to go" pile (so far)!

Wednesday Works in Progress

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday! It's been a busy week, and I have a few things to share . . .

First, my finish for the week--my Happy Ironing ironing pad:

And be sure to check out my free pattern!












Next, in anticipation for my upcoming retreat, I've gotten started cutting and piecing my fabric scraps for the pieced scrap border quilt I found on Red Peppers' Blog.

The tutorial calls for a 45 x 45 quilt, but I'm planning on making this a queen size, so I've doubled the number of scrap blocks. The bright side of a bad week of insomnia is that I've cut out almost 450 scraps from fat quarters and sewn 120 blocks. Oy! I'm hoping to get my contrasting white blocks cut out before the retreat so that when I get there I can just put it together!

In addition to this project, I've started a cardigan. I have a favorite, soft cardigan that I found in San Diego a few years ago, and I've decided to try my hand at making another one in this luscious red color:

Here's the original I'm working from:

The back is almost done, and then I'm on to the front panels . . .





Thanks for stopping by!

Retreat Planning

So to continue on the retreat wagon . . . here's what I'm thinking about working on during the retreat:

1) Pieced Scrap Border Quilt

I found this great tutorial on Red Pepper Quilts' blog. It calls for 20 different fabrics, but only in small, 1.5 x 5.5 inch strips, so you can totally use fat quarters (or less) for this project. I'm using rainbow-ish colors (yes, I'm still on the rainbow kick!): aqua blue, dark blue, green, red, and orange, and I'm using 4 fabrics for each color.

The tutorial is for a 45.5 x 45.5 inch quilt. Perfect for a snuggly baby gift! I'm thinking, however, I might try to make this a full-sized quilt. I had insomnia last night and spent several hours cutting out 228 strips--enough for the original size. I'm not relishing the thought of going back to the cutting board, but I really do want this a bit larger!

2) Christmas Tree Skirt

I also want to work on a Christmas tree skirt. Last year I made a Christmas pillow for my mother, using a paper-pieced tree and gifts and an appliquéd rendition of my puppy Sophie. I want to build on this idea and turn it into a tree skirt. This picture is what first inspired my project:

Isn't this card so sweet?! So, here's my plan for the skirt: I'm going to have the tree and gifts in one corner, with one of our pups on top of the packages and the other sitting at the base of the gifts looking up. In the opposing corner of the skirt I'm going to put our two pups and a friend cruising down a snowy hill on an old-fashioned sled. I got the idea from Stephen Huneck's fabulous dog print.

Aren't these three so cute! Sophie (our black lab mix) and Zoey (our brown border collie-lab mix) have a little friend, Teddy, who is a yellow lab mix, so this is a great image of the trio! I even found some great wood-grained brown fabric that will be perfect for the sled! I'm kinda dreading the appliqué for Zoey, however . . . she has a wonderful border collie coat (unlike Sophie who has the more typical lab coat shown in the woodcut image above), and as a result she has all this wispy, feathery fur that flows off her. It's beautiful, but the shagginess is much harder to capture neatly in appliqué!

I'm still sorting out what to do with the two remaining corners. Paper pieced trees? Houses? Suggestions are welcome!

3) Ruby & Camille Scrap Quilt

Last year I won some great Ruby & Camille fat quarters and pre-cut strips in Film in the Fridge's giveaway. She has a great tutorial for her Ruby Strings quilt. It's a whole lot of paper-piecing of the strips, but I love the finished look! This one will be a gift for someone very special to me who is currently going through a tough, tough time.

This project is made more appealing because most of the strips are already cut. Phew!



4) Ana White Work Apron

At her book tour appearance the other day, Ana White (see prior blog post) was giving away a few of her great work aprons. I didn't happen to win one, so I want to make one for Karen. In addition to all the fabulous furniture plans she provides on her blog, Ana White has also shared a tutorial for the apron. Hopefully this will be a quick project!

I know, I know! Too much to accomplish, but there is so much I want to do! Project mania!

Gearing up!

I know, I know!! Two days of blogging in a row!

In a few weeks I'm headed to the Utah Valley Quilt Guild retreat in Park City. Yay! High altitude quilting! I'm starting to pull my projects together and I am, of course, planning to accomplish in 3.5 days way more than is humanly possible! 

We're doing a pin cushion exchange, and I tackled one this last week:

There are so many great, free tutorials out there that it took forever to decide what to do! I especially loved the ones that Darling Adventures' blog shared! I have no idea what the other retreat ladies are making, so I hope mine is good enough! 

We're also doing a secret sister exchange of goodies over the course of the retreat. There's a $2 limit per day, so I have to be creative. I'm trusting that they're not assigning me to Sue, my roomie, and since I don't know anyone else at the retreat (and seriously doubt they follow my wee blog!), I'm spilling the beans . . . In addition to a few fat quarters, I decided to make a few things. First, I made one of Keyka Lou's great little clutches. It fits a cell phone, a credit card or two, and some cash. These have become my go-to gifts of late.

I also made this mug rug with a paper pieced spool:

I used selvedges for the spool's "thread." Thankfully, my free motion quilting is continuing to improve! Now if I can just manage to figure out how to FMQ on a large quilt and not just tiny mug rugs!

May Update: Quilting Edition

Joining in on Lee's Wednesday WIP! Happy Day Everyone!

I've done it! My very first official quilt! Now, I've made quilts before, but not quite official quilts. The difference being in the quilting. I've done tied quilts before, but never a fully quilted patchwork quilt. I pulled up my BGP (Big Girl Panties), took a few deep breaths, relied heavily on the kindness and continued encouragement of my sewing ladies, and I did it! And here, without further ado, here she is, my Rainbow Sprout quilt:

First of all, let me acknowledge officially how cool it is to have the friendship and support of a very cool bunch of sewing ladies, especially when you're starting out in the sewing/quilting world. Ella hosted an amazing retreat last weekend, and it helped push me over the edge into finishing this quilt. All I had to do was finish the binding over the weekend! The combined humor, advice, wisdom, friendship and encouragement from April, Ella, Jenny (needs a blog!), Marion, Pamela, and Sue (get a blog!! :-)) has been such a true godsend! Thank you! There's so much more to report on the retreat, but stay tuned for that in another post . . .  I'm on the road and couldn't take photos of all the goodies that came out of the retreat!

I discovered the marvelous tutorial for this quilt from Hooked on Needles. And when I say it's an entirely manageable tutorial, BELIEVE IT! It's a great first-timers' quilt. I think it's a great go-to quilt for a baby gift. I'm kind of all raring to go to make another. I made this for our nephew, Cameron Derek, and I was a bit teary packing it up and sending it off yesterday, as joyful as I am to have this wrap him in love and blessings! Most of the charm squares come from Emily's swap I did earlier this year, but I did throw in a few I Spy squares. I even cut into my beloved Heather Ross Munki Munki--both the gnomes and the VW vans (Cameron's dad is a VW fan)!

For the quilting I did what I'm calling a wonky geometric design, essentially square-ish, but deliberately not perfect squares. I guess we officially call those rectangles (from what I recall of Geometry?). I was originally going to just do straight line quilting, but I wanted to do something with a bit more movement in it.

So this, is my proud photo of work accomplished! I also, with TONS of guidance and inspired help from my dear friend Sue over our fabulous retreat weekend finally finished my pincushion/scrapbag (photos to come).

As for works in progress, Oy! So much in the WIP line! I still have miles to go on:
- My messenger bag
- The valance for my mother's house
- Dare try to make a scrapbag/pincushion for my mother-in-law
- Finish the baby quilt for our friend's almost year-old baby (should I just scrap it and do another Rainbow Sprout quilt?)
- There's so much more I can't even remember anymore!

Advancing!

Okay, so I was retreating, so now that I have returned from a fabulous sewing retreat, I guess I am again advancing! One can only hope, at least!

My friend Ella hosted a fabulous retreat this weekend "down south" (meaning out in God's country past the border's of Salt Lake County!!). It was a sleepover. I don't think I've had a sleepover for ages, and it was so much fun! It was a great group of quilters and scrapbookers. Great food, great laughs. We watched Footloose, which somehow I had missed when it first came through in the '80s (okay, the truth is out, I was glued fairly solidly to the books back in high school!). Very cool thing, Much of Footloose was filmed in Utah, and the church scenes were actually filmed at the Presbyterian Church where our retreat was held! Kind of surreal to see all those famous people sitting in the very hall where I was just sitting working on my sewing project! Thanks, Ella, for such a wonderful weekend! Can't wait for the next one!

Being the oh-so organized sort that I am (insert laugh-snort here), I didn't quite get my act together until the last minute, so I just threw all sorts of fabric and projects together into a large bin (or two), figuring that I'd have TONS of time to get ALL sorts of things done. While I'm so thrilled with all I got done, of course I brought WAY too much fabric. Funto be able to pull it out and admire it, however. Kind of like long lost friends! And, we did have a fabric swap, so it came in handy to have around!

So, what did I work on at the retreat? Patience, patience . . . ! I have been wanting the perfect sewing machine cover for a while, but I was waiting for divine inspiration to hit me. I was collecting my Heather Ross sewing notions fabric, putting together some ideas, and then it finally came together. I honestly didn't think I could pull it off. . . . and it's not quite finished yet, but it's almost there!

So, linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday, here's my almost finished sewing machine cover-I just have to take in the end a bit to allow for a snugger fit, and then make a lining. Here's the paper pieced side with spools (using Heather Ross's Munki Munki sewing notions spools section on the left):

I pulled from my selvedge collection

for the "threads" on the spools. The top and bottom spools use my Echino Bicycle selvedges (which say "Bicycle" and then something in Japanese).

For the second side, I really wanted shears, but the thoughtof paper piecing them gave me the horrors (sort of--I was game for a challenge, but the people around me I think were afraid they would never see me emerge from my sewing room again, so they kept chanting "appliqué," "appliqué"). Here's that side:

I learned how to do appliqué at Pam's retreat last fall and I totally fell in love with it. I can't see myself doing more traditional, entire appliquéd quilts (am

azing as I think they are), but I love what can be done with appliqué!

As you can see, I fell in love with two different grey fabrics, so I used the Japanese polka dot on the spools side and this one on the shears side.

So, now I just know you're simply dying to know what I've done for the ends of the cover. I know, I know! Thanks for humoring me! Here's what they look like:

I used the Half Moon Moda scissors in grey/white and green/white using paper piecing, and then I framed it in grey--using the polka dots on one side and the other grey (how's that for giving the fabulous fabric designer his/her credit--sorry!) fabric on the other.

I am, if I can actually be so bold to say, quite pleased with myself. I have only been sewing since June, so this time last year I would have thought a "feed dog" was a reminder to feed the pups. For some insane reason, I was crazy enough to start with paper piecing as my first sewing lesson, and I totally fell in love withit. I've realized, however, that almost no one teaches how to make patterns! There are tons of generous people all over blogland who amazingly share their techniquesand patterns, but everyone seems to learn on their own how to make their own patterns. Sigh. I think I'm going to make that my next mission!

Only other thing to report is that I finished and mailed off my zippy pouch for the Mouthy Stitches swap. I had precious little info to go on, as my secret partner was really more of a silent partner. Fortunately, I had one little gem of info--she likes Union Jacks. So here's what I made:

The non-Union Jack side has pintucks running down the turquoise fabric (it's hard to see in the photo). I hope she likes it! It was my very first Union Jack, and I'm fairly amazed that the paper piecing (mostly) lined up!