Retreat report...

My satellite group, "Hearts and Hands Quilters" arrived back home on Monday afternoon.  The drive back from the Cowichan Valley was beautiful with extraordinary fall colours lining the highway home.  Soon snow will be here amongst us and a new landscape will be ready for our enjoyment.

I am going to experiment with a slideshow in my blog post because there were a ton of pictures and it would be easier that way.



Some of the highlights:
Nov 11 at 11:11 a.m. - Thread passed from person to person (we are all joined by a common thread) and we observed our minute of silence.  It was also Heather's birthday so we also enjoyed some Mimosas and cupcakes from Oo La La cupcakery in celebration of Heather's birthday.

Some of us went for walks throughout the weekend down to the lakefront.  The colours were amazing and the fresh air and exercise were welcome after our sit-and-sew times and all the feasting that happens during our retreat.  The Honeymoon Bay chef is beyond amazing.  Our three meals a day plus snacks and daily happy hour made for a b-line to my scale when I came home.  Oh dear.  Well fruit for the breakfast the next couple of days and back to portion control and daily routines.

I finished three quilt tops during the four days and the photos, while in the picture album above, are set out here as well just because I'm so darn proud of my accomplishments!

Carolina Christmas

First across the UFO finish line....Carolina Christmas!!!!  Yay!!!  It is a Bonnie Hunter mystery from about 2 years (?) ago I think.  I was going to quilt-as-you-go but I just wasn't happy with it.  So, my friend Pam and I reverse stitched the 6 or so blocks that had been quilted and I was way happier after that was done and I was on a clear path to my traditional piece then quilt existence.

Next was a quilt kit of layer cakes plus 2 borders that I received from my friend Terry for my birthday.  I did a slice and dice (take the 10" squares, slice off at 3 1/2", shuffle and re-piece, then slice at 5" the other way and then reshuffle.  It doesn't take long, evidenced by the fact that I did this one in one day:

Slice & Dice

And LASTLY....I took apart a mystery quilt that I did at the last Quilting in the Trees at Pearson College in June, 2011.  I love the pattern but didn't think it worked well with my fabrics at all.  It seemed to be a modern pattern but I was using traditional fabrics.  I should really show you the before:

And the new version:

(now this one makes me happy!)

Much better!  I made string blocks out of lemon yellow to surround the blocks.  I took the original kaleidoscope blocks and surrounded them with a darker yellow border with navy blue cornerstones.  I then repeated the navy blue inner border with a dark yellow flange and then the floral border that made up the kaleidoscope blocks.  I'm so happy with this quilt now.  I'm glad I persevered and reinvented.  Sometimes I think it's too easy to toss something in the garbage because it didn't turn out like we hoped.  I decided there was a quilt there somewhere and I'm glad I found it!

Enjoy the photos.  We will be back next November.  Until then, I need to continue the momentum of getting some UFOs done.  Now that I've got a quilt frame, I need to get it set up and start turning some of these flimsies into finished quilts.

Until next time, happy quilting!

Mavis

Retreat Time !!!

3 work days until my November quilting retreat with my "Hearts and Hands" Satellite Group.  After our lunch at The Dog House in Duncan, we are checking in at the Honeymoon Bay Retreat Centre in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island on Thursday, November 10th (http://www.honeymoonbayretreat.com/index.html)

and will return home on Monday.  That's 3 full days of sewing plus Thursday afternoon on our arrival and Monday morning before we head home.

Here are some pictures from last year:

By the time we arrive the place is decked out with Christmas decorations.  This is a gathering place where we play our quilt bingo, fellowship around the fire with hand sewing, or watch for bears out the back window.

It's a time to help friends with their quilting challenges...or simply stand back and admire their work.  Love the colours in Kelli's quilt pictured here  We have a wonderful room (former gymnasium) to work in with lots of bright lights, plenty of wall space for design walls, and easy access to washrooms, coffee and snacks.  Sounds perfect, wouldn't you agree?

Here's me sewing on last year's UFO project.  What I love about having a retreat in November is the chance to finish off quilts for Christmas gifts.  This one was finished in time to give to my pastor and his wife for Christmas 2010.  What a good feeling of accomplishment!

and here is the finished quilt:

This year's UFOs that will hopefully be completed:

Roll Roll Cotton Boll - Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from last year.  All the blocks are finished, but I need to piece the top and then work on the pieced border.  BUT I have to find it first!  I think it might have found its way into a packing box in the garage when I was packing up my sewing room for staging the house for sale.  I know it's somewhere!  I have 3 days to find it.

And this...

This is a baby quilt for my grand-nephew Quinn.  I need to applique a monkey on it and then finish it off.  I'll be happy if I can get the applique done on the retreat.

and lastly, my Carolina Christmas (also a Bonnie Hunter Mystery UFO).  I am doing 'quilt as you go' on all of these quilt blocks with different Christmas fabrics on the back.  I have to finish cutting the wool batting for the squares.  It will be the bulkiest kit I take with me but I would really love to finish this quilt for our bed this Christmas.

These blocks will have plain cream sashing in between for the 'quilt as you go' joining technique.

And, here is a sample picture of the gourmet dinners (and lunches) we enjoy...

I think I'll have a fun-filled time, don't you??  I'll post pictures when I'm back.

Until then,
Mavis

Aha moment and a 'new to me' aquisition today

So, I figured out the source of my frustration yesterday with thread breaking and stitches skipping all over the place on a baby quilt I was free motion quilting on.

It was this:

Every time my thread broke, there was a gummy residue on the needle that I had to pull off.  It reminded me of the glue that's on the back of the Avery labels.  Maddening I say!  Steer clear of this stuff.  I don't remember anything similar happening with 505 spray.  Anyway, it's now in the garbage.  I should really take it back to Fabricland because it wasn't cheap and I only used it this once on a baby quilt. But I have no idea where the receipt is...so my loss.  Good riddance!

Here is a picture of some skipped stitches.  Feel my pain?  This was happening every 4 inches or so.  It gave me an Excedrin headache so I finally quit for the day.

On a good note though...


I won't EVER have to use basting spray again because there is a new piece of furniture in my sewing room...new to me that is.  I am the happy owner of the B-Line Original Quilt Frame (from www.tobequilting.com).  I love what the Internet has done for bargain hunters who can connect with those with bargains for sale. I connected with a quilter who lives very close to me who was selling her second quilt frame.  She bought one with a friend and then when that friend died, she willed her quilting stash and equipment to this lady.  She decided to sell one and I was the lucky recipient.

It's not put together yet but in the next few days I expect I'll be loading it up with a quilt top and moving one or two of my UFOs to the IFFI (I finally finished it) pile.  So excited to get started.  I will need some help from DH to get it set up.  In fact, he'll be doing the majority of the work and I'll be helping him.  I can hardly believe I have a quilt frame now.  I've been wanting a long arm for a very long time.  This will be a good way to ease into it.

Until then, I will have to struggle through the problem quilt because I can't wash the  spray out of the quilt until it's quilted.  I always wash them before giving them away because there are so many people with sensitivity to chemicals that I want to make sure they are as pure as can be before landing on a darling little baby.

On my horizon is the promise of more machine quilting.  I can hardly wait.

Until next time,
Mavis

Frustration!! Where is my happy place anyway??

I started machine quilting on a baby quilt for a special baby today.  I started stitching in the ditch on the blocks vertically and then the plan was to start free-motion quilting on the resulting columns (Janome 6500).  I used a thicker Aurifil thread (don't know the number) on the stitch in the ditch portion and no problemo.  Tried to free motion with the same thread, not happening.  Switched to some Connecting Threads thread in the same colour in the hope that the problem would be solved.  Skipped stitches everywhere and temptation for swear words on the rise.

Off to Fabricland to buy some Gutterman thread in the same colour to see if that solves the problem.  Some advil and red wine to deal with the anxiety.  Haven't stitched anymore yet.  But the headache is gone and I've actually laughed at least once in the last half hour.  Good sign.

My happy place was not so happy today.  Hoping for some victory later.  And I'm going to look at a B-Line frame tomorrow, second hand.  That would be nice as one of my pet peeves is the pin basting that still results in puckers on the back of the quilt.  I'm SO done with that!  I'm hoping that the frame will be suitable.  We'll see tomorrow!!  Pretty excited!

Until next time,
Mavis

My first experience as a pattern tester and Penelope Garcia...

I had a chance to test a pattern created by Deborah Cohen to be published by Arbee Designs.  Watch for this pattern folks!  It's adorable and was very fun to make.

Giraffe at Kilimanjaro

Pardon my toes in the picture.  I had trouble cropping this photo!

I haven't followed the pattern exactly.  I evened out the borders which were odd sizes and added the green piano key border because I wanted to make the quilt bigger...big enough to give away as a baby quilt without feeling cheap!

I have yet to sandwich and quilt it.  In fact, I'm VERY behind on sandwiching and quilting a lot of quilts so I think I should sign off and hit my studio for some sewing time before my birthday party tonight.

I also have to sew a zipper into my costume.  I love theme parties and decided that for this birthday we would do a theme "Penelope Garcia and Friends" - in costume of course.  I am going as Penelope.  For those who don't know, Penelope Garcia is one of the characters on Criminal Minds, the show about the FBI profilers.  Penelope is totally opposite to my personality (I'm more an Emily Prentice character in real life) but it's fun to have an alter ego for a night. This is her:

I'm excited to see what other costumes show up!  Pictures may show up here tomorrow.

Until next time!

Penelope...um...I mean Mavis

A new experience...

I've heard about people who see colours when they hear music.  I don't pretend to understand how that works.  I would think that it would be an amazing experience though.

But here's what happened to me last night.  I'd love to know if something similar has happened to you.  We were watching the end of a movie.  I was laying down with eyes closed (because I am fighting a cold).  The credits were rolling and the song playing was by Sting, called "Not the shape of my heart".  It's a hauntingly beautiful melody.  As I said, my eyes were closed and I was just listening to the song.  Suddenly as I heard the music and Sting moved from chorus to bridge and toward the end, I could see patterns!  It was like an art quilt with swirls and definitely some colours but the shapes were the important thing and it was fluid and moving and had 'grout' like stained glass windows dividing the different sections.  Oh how I wish I could put it into fabric! 

I told my husband about he and he got me a piece of paper and a pencil to see if I could draw what I could still see in my mind's eye.  As I tried to put the pencil to paper the image faded.  I would try drawing but it just wasn't what I saw in my mind's eye.

Oh well...I guess it was a gift to be enjoyed in that moment.  But I'm curious...has this ever happened to any of my fellow quilters?

Hole in One!!

I had the privilege of attending a class taught by Bettye Sheppard yesterday.  Her pattern was called Hole in One.  It's a four-patch posie style design, a sort of stack'n'whack style quilt but done in squares which is much easier.

Here's some photos of the pattern and my quilt under construction:

I love my fabric!

After ripping our fabric to find true grain we looked for repeats and sliced strips!

Sub cut into 3.5" squares (strip set is 4 deep identical)

Stacks of four squares ready for twirling into kaleidoscopes

Sample block

 

Making progress

All 48 blocks done.

What I noticed from the first block is that they remind me of Italian tiles.  I love it!

I will likely set my blocks 6 rows and 8 rows.  There is still the sashing to be added and the corner blocks.  I've not yet decided on my sashing fabrics.  The ones I initially chose may not do the quilt justice and I want it to really pop!

Not yet sure how I will finish this quilt.  Stay tuned for future posts!

It is a quick and easy quilt.  All the blocks were done in class between 10 am and 4 pm without breaking a sweat.  And there was plenty of gab time with the girls, and lunchtime when we sat and enjoyed some of Bettye's life stories.  If you ever get a chance to take one of Bettye's classes, do.  She's a great teacher!!

Until next time,
Mavis