Starting Up 2018

Hello hello - seems my break over the holidays turned into an extended silence.  
                 But I'm back baby! 
And ready to share some updates on all the buzz around here.   :)

 Last month kept me pretty busy at work getting our annual School Block Challenge exhibit up in the galleries. It takes a lot of organizing but is always worth the effort - seeing the kids' blocks is inspiring.  

School Block Challenge exhibit prep

This year was the 25th annual Challenge and we had 209 entries & 262 participating students from 20 states! Check out our website for details.

We also had a snow day here in KY - always exciting.  An extra day off meant I started a new quilty project, but can't share it here yet.  It's for the International Mini Quilt Exchange through The Quilt Show. My partner & I decided to make something indicative of where we live so I'm having fun playing with design and quilting. 

This weekend Momm & I hosted our annual #winterquiltretreat at the beach. Views of ever changing Lake Michigan, trips to the hot tub and quilting All Day! We bring whatever we want to work on and have a grand time chatting, laughing, cutting & sewing.

I help Momm make favors for the retreat which we give out at each meal. Here's this year's set: snazzy biscornu pincushion, a clear zip bag, journal, fabric bag & I already ate most of the chocolates.  :) 

We watched a group use fat bikes to ride along the beach - looked like fun, minus the single digit temps and those waves crashing into the beach!



This year I assembled my Quilt Camp Sampler blocks into a quilt top finally - so happy to see this one come together. 


It includes blocks from all 21 projects over the last 7 years I've run Quilt camp. So yes, it's supposed to look a bit chaotic Ha!

Worked on some paper pieced blocks for my Junior Quilters block swap project and can't wait to give them out to my kids. Using the Tall Tales pattern which is fairly quick to piece.  It's got me wanting to make a whole library of these blocks!

Looking forward to sharing more of this as it comes together, but it's a slow process so be patient.

Quilt Retreat at the Beach

My Momm & I host a quilt retreat each year at a Beach Resort on Lake Michigan & this was our 8th year!  We spend all weekend inside (because it's usually snowy outside) working on whatever quilty projects we want - all with a great view of the lake! This was the first year that there wasn't any snow on the ground, but it was still cold out there.  

It's nice to stay inside and sew as much as I want and only stop for meals or sleep. Since I fly to retreat, my carry-on usually consists of 98% fabric and 2% comfy clothes. Ha! I wasn't entirely sure what I'd want to work on and I brought several options of both WIP & new projects. :)

twin quilts & quilty pillowcases for sweet dreams!

First up was finishing my remaining mini charm blocks - I ended up with 14 total. Each block uses a different mini charm pre-cut and I'm using the free Moda love pattern. It's been fun using up some of my mini charm stash with this quilt! I played around with the layout before deciding to set the blocks on point. The background is Kona silver, mini charms include: Ticklish, Moxi, Tucker Prairie, Block Party, Gardenvale, Chance of Flowers, On the Wing, Boat House, Poems From Pebbles, Sewing Box, Beach House, Good Karma, Miss Kate, Summer Fest.

Then I pulled out my #pineappleblockswap blocks and added some sashing to bring these into a quilt top making this a quick finish.  A friend has already claimed this quilt so I'll need to get backing to finish this one up soon. :)

 Lastly, I worked out the measurements and technical bits for one of my own designs. I doodled this last Fall as part of the #30daysofquiltdesign and once the math was figured out started cutting & stitching. 

I'm using a Flow charm pack and a tonal grey print for background. It'll be a little smaller in size than I originally thought, but I'm happy that the math worked out to fit my design! Here's my color layout -->


Linking up at CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it Friday with my 2 quilt tops. Linking with AQuarterInchFromtheEdge for TGIFF this week too!

Leap Day

Leap day makes me want to write the date on everything! I've long thought it should be a holiday- because who wouldn't want an extra day off every 4 years?  Since that is not the case, I'll use the bonus time to share my retreat projects (as promised several weeks ago...). 

In addition to the table topper block I made, I brought enough fabric for more projects than I had time to work on. Retreat is the perfect chance for me to start new quilts and this year I finished 2 quilt tops.  The first is a pattern from a blog hop via Fat Quarter Shop using their Jolly Bar pre-cut, found at From Bolt to Beauty. 

This picture is still just blocks on the design wall, but I do have the finished top together.

Did you know a layer cake cut in half is the equivalent of 2 Jolly Bars? With the extra fabric, I added several rows and columns to the design and used a layer cake of Aspen Frost for the quilt, with assorted whites cut for the background. 

Making the Half Rectangle Triangles (a new to me skill) took some time but it went smoothly and I love how they create diamonds and diagonals in the quilt. Here's hoping it'll be finished before Christmas 2016!

My second quilt utilizes a good selection of my sketch print fabrics and is a pattern from the book Quilt Lab. I grumbled about the method for piecing these curves and the wording of the instructions, and tried to do it my own way. Sigh, that never really works well does it? >Thanks Momm for helping me try to do it my way even though it didn't work.< 
Ultimately, I followed the book as printed and it worked out beautifully- of course. While the book pattern pulls the design from sound wave echoes, I see it as radar waves since I used to work at an Electronics Museum.  This will be a quilt for my entry-way wall once it's finished.

Hope your Leap day was extra fun readers and full of good thing!

WIP Wednesday:: 2/3/16

Had a great time at Quilt Retreat last weekend!  It's always fun to spend a whole weekend sewing with Momm! Not to mention seeing quilty friends, a stellar view of the beach and not having to stop sewing except for sleep & food.  :) Of course, I brought a whole suitcase full of fabric (no joke!) with a bunch of projects to work on during retreat. 

I managed to get three quilt tops together and will share more on them soon. Here's a sneaky peek at one in progress!

Today I want to highlight this block I made on retreat.  It's from Jaybird Quilts Park Bench book and will be a topper for my hexagonal end table. I'll be choosing backing fabric next so stay tuned!  Linking up at the final (for now) WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Choosing this as my OMG goal for February - getting it finished and on the end table! Linking up with Red Letter Quilts for the month.

July Goal

With a great finish in June on my Swoon quilt (see more here!) it's hard to come down from that thrill and pick the next project for this month.  I'm also preparing my list for Quarter 3 of the Finish a Long at The Littlest Thistle and will have plenty of projects to be working on over the next few months!

As my one project for July at A Lovely Year of Finishes I'll be hustling to get one of my Nancy Drew quilts backed & basted.  Even though the picture is still in blocks, the top is already completed on this one!  Linking up over at Fiber of All Sorts it's #81.

quilt retreat : the extended version

"Let me s'plain.  No there is too much - let me sum up." - Inigo Montoya, the Princess Bride

February is by far the quickest month - retreat is already  2 weeks over as I sit down to share my adventures with you!  This was our 5th year and as you may recall I had some big project plans for this retreat.  It's a work on 'whatever you want' type of retreat and I usually try to sew until my eyes can't stay open any longer.  I've learned to pack all my materials really well so by this year my suitcase was full of fabric and patterns and ideas and notions - I managed to fit the clothes I would need into the small zipper section usually reserved for socks.

lake michigan

I was up for my early morning flight out, but had to wait 3 hours! while they dealt with a mechanical issue before heading north to Chicago.  I worked out an idea for the Pantone quilt Challenge though and then nabbed a few pictures of our approach as we swung over Lake Michigan in it's wintry glory - so pretty.  Then it was onwards to the beach and our indoors sewing extravaganza!

winter sunrise

Momm & I set up our work station quickly so that we could jump right into the sewing and I started with my charm pack Twister quilt.  It was really fun and quick to put together too!  I've got some fabric ready for backing and should have this in the to-be-quilted stack pretty quickly.

Then I cracked open most of my mini charm packs, tossed them in a bucket and went to town stitching them to strips of Kona Glacier.  These will be a postage stamp quilt (or two…) and it was fun to get the first step going.  I've got these trimmed up now as sets of 2 squares and will continue to piece them together.

quilt #1

I also pulled out my layer cake of Nancy Drew fabric, coupled with Kona Shadow and the Impromptu pattern by Rachel at p.s. I quilt.  I decided to make two lap sized quilts instead of one giant quilt and had a fun time choosing fabrics.  By sewing every minute I could manage I got both of the quilt tops pieced together - borders included!

quilt #2

 Let's see, we took breaks for meals, got some awesome table favors, ate a lot of good food, watched it snow all day on Saturday, started each day with a trip to the hot tub, won fabric in door prizes and a game, and generally had an awesome time with Momm and other quilty friends.

M&D dropped me at the airport where I caught some of the Super Bowl.  I boarded my plane and we flew all the way here to Paducah before the Captain comes on to say the runway was too icy and there wasn't enough visibility to make a safe landing.  So he turned the plane around and we went back to Chicago! That's never happened to me before and I wasn't too stressed about it.  I did have to call M&D to say I was still in Chicago - no joke! - and they came to pick me back up.  

empty airport

 So Momm and I had Quilt Retreat: the extended version as I was on the night flight again.  We went to the quilt store naturally, and I picked up some of the Nancy Drew book cover panel print to use on the backing of my quilts.  Then I got right back to sewing on my mini charms and enjoyed time with Dad.  This time the flight home was uneventful and I made it back to a snow covered town and my own bed once again.

There wasn't any progress on my honeycomb or jelly roll projects but those are still high on the list for the year.  I'll be ready to deal with those soon enough!

retreat! retreat!

It's almost time for Quilt Retreat again and I've been gathering fabric, patterns and quilty bits together.  I've got several new projects in the works and while making my list I decided this is the year of the Pre-Cut in my sewing!  Each project involves a different type of pre-cut and I can't wait to break open these pretty bundles.  :)

#1 - test layout postage stamp

Project #1 - Postage Stamp quilt
 I'll be using a good number of the mini charm packs I've collected pair with Kona Glacier.  It'll be fun to mix all the different lines together.  Also, I won't have to cut hundreds of little squares myself to make a patchwork quilt! (win!) 

all my mini charms!

Project #2 - Twister
Actually I've already started this one - couldn't resist!  It uses a charm pack of High Street and the Twister ruler.  Super excited about this one - just need to get some border fabric and I'll be ready to go twisting again.

charm layout

Project #3 - Get a Clue!
A mash-up of P.S. I quilt's Impromptu pattern & a layer cake of the Nancy Drew fabric line & Kona Shadow as the background fabric.  I plan to make 2 lap sized quilts and gift one to a friend who loves to read.  (pix to come)


Project #4 - Hexies
A fun little project to try my hand at Y-seams again.  The first go round with these didn't work too well, but I've learned a lot since then so I'm hoping it will be easier this time.  I've got a Honeycomb of Happy-Go-Lucky and matching solids.  (pix to come)


Project #5 - GS Quilt
Already a quilt top, this is on the list because it uses a Jelly Roll of Girl Scout fabric.  I told you it was the year of the pre-cut! (remember this?)

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Lots going on over here so stay tuned for more!

zip - zip - zip

My January goal was to finish up some zipper bags to bring along with me.  I finished them up this weekend and wish I could keep them all!  Aren't they fun?

I'm linking up this finish over at Fiber of All Sorts for the Lovely Year of Finishes 2014 goal.
This is also a finish from my Q1 list for the Finish A Long at the Littlest Thistle - #223!

a whole weekend of quilting!

Last weekend was the 4th year for Quilt Retreat with Momm!  It was lots of fun as always and we even got snow on Saturday.  The views of Lake Michigan from our sewing room are spectacular.  Good food, good friends, lots of laughs, and lots of quilting!  This year Momm & I decided to make the same pattern in different fabrics.  I ended up with 3 finished tops at the end of the weekend, even though my goal this year to to finish up some WIPs!  Hopefully these won't be waiting too long before they get finished.

I started with a baby quilt for baby BAM!  That was quick to piece together and is super cute. There's no pictures because it's a surprise for a certain Queen C.  :)   First up, Science Fair by Jaybird Quilts - what a fun pattern!  Originally I had a solid royal blue to use for the background, but once I put it up on the design wall it didn't work as all the colors got muddied.  Luckily momm  had enough of this grey print that I could use.  Thanks momm!  :D 

These are X plus blocks I got in a Flickr swap last year and are on my 1st quarter Finish a Long list.  It was fun to arrange and sew them together into a quilt top just the right size for using in the car or hanging on my entry way wall.

sew sew sew

Another awesome quilt retreat this past weekend!  It's nice to hang out with my quilty friends in IL and with momm and be inspired by all the great projects everyone brings.  The only guild around here meets during the day so I like having a weekend to be around other quilters and talk shop.  It also doesn't hurt that we get away to a nice resort where there's a great view of Lake Michigan (we were even able to see the skyline of Chicago on the horizon!), meals are prepared for you, comfy beds you don't have to make yourself and lots of good fun.  

All those mug rugs I made were used as favors on Friday night - everybody got one to take home.  I was sad to see a couple of them find new homes, but I can make more.  Each meal comes with a favor planned by momm so we not only go home with completed projects, but also a fun little tool or goody as well.  Mini fabric fortune cookies, a tea cup saucer pin plate, chocolate (of course), cool little key fobs and more!

It was cold and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground, but we got to stay nice & cozy inside sewing away.  The best part was being able to sew all weekend - with no interruptions except when it was time to eat!  This year there were a couple other events/meetings going on at the resort too.  Friday was a murder mystery dinner party and Saturday was a 12 hour paranormal event.  We weren't quite sure what that was all about, but I was hoping to see flashing lights outside!  Instead, C & I entertained ourselves with the Ghostbusters theme song & some great ideas of what would be paranormal about the evening.  

I worked like crazy to get my Swoon blocks together and ended up with 7 out of 9 finished!  hooray!  I have #8 ready to piece together and then have to cut out #9.  I have to double up 1 fabric and wasn't sure which one at first.  It was easy to fall into a rhythm while piecing these together and didn't have to rip much out.  Just a couple seams when I sewed on the wrong side - easily fixed. Once the blocks are finished, I can sash them and then see how much of a border to give 'em so that it fits my bed nicely.  Can't wait!

stardot

I also put together a mini quilt to hang in my sewing room.  It was inspired by In Color Order's giant Vintage Star quilt, but mine is scaled down to 6.5" HSTs.  I used all dot fabrics that I collected in Houston and from my stash.  Even the white has dots!  I'm thinking a black & white binding - perhaps a small stripe just to off set it.  

Sunday Snapshot #8

It seems you can't read through a quilt blog these days without running into the stunning Swoon pattern by thimble blossoms.  I finally got it for Christmas and found just the right fabrics from my stash to use for this!  It's a mix of fabrics I got as a gift & some I bought as a birthday gift for myself.  They play so well together and I added in a blue & green solid (Konas, but not sure which colors now) to help round it out.  I so wanted to use something other than white for the background, but everything else I auditioned just drowned out the other colors.  

So I went with Kona Snow - it's not exactly white, right? Right. ;)

ready, cut, sew!

Anyways, as you can see, I have all the pieces cut out - no easy feat for all 9 blocks - but here they all are cut, labelled, bagged and ready to go to quilt retreat!  Can't wait to start putting these blocks together!  I've joined the Swoon Along on Flickr and there are some wonderful blocks already up - go check it out if you haven't yet!

Quilting Bee

This week has zoomed by and I find it hard to believe that it took me so long to post about my adventures last weekend!

view of Lake Michigan from work room!

Last weekend was the 2nd Quilting at the Beach retreat that my mom has planned.  About 25 quilters from around the area get together at a resort on the shore of Lake Michigan and we quilt all weekend long, stopping only to eat & sleep!  I'd spent the week or two prior, planning what fabric and patterns I would need for the projects I was going to work on there.  I'm limited to what fits inside my carry-on suitcase [keeping in mind that I did need to bring basic things like clothes!] and I managed to pack it all in with a little wiggle room for the way home. I'm super lucky that mom has an extra machine and would have extra tools for me to borrow for the weekend - rulers, cutters, mats, pins, threads, etc. (thx mom!) 

With such a small airport [ 1 gate] getting there early means sitting around until they open up security 40min. before the flight departs.  As per usual with taking the afternoon flight, I picked up lunch at Panera en route to the airport and was super glad I did since they don't serve snacks on the plane.  The plane was delayed out of Chicago due to a crew member getting sick so we waited for the plane to show up, and then waited on the runway for clearance to depart.  In the end, we were about an hour later than scheduled so it wasn't too  bad.  Everything went smoothly though getting in to Chicago and it's always nice to be home with M&D.

Friday mom & I headed out for a 3 days of non-stop quilting; setting our stuff up & greeting friends as they arrived.  This year was fun because I knew people from last year, everyone wanted to hear about my new job and my aunt [who got me & mom hooked on quilting] came too! Hooray!  The food was wonderful again and after the first night it seems all we do is eat & quilt.  (Although that is pretty accurate for the weekend).

I picked up some great ideas from Cheryl to use at work with the kids and I love to see what other people are working on and what fabrics they chose.  Last year we played a game where everyone brought 2 1/2" strips of batik fabric.  I ended up winning most of the strips and convinced mom to give me the strips she had won ;)  had enough to make a jelly roll of fabric!  This year I turned them into blocks and brought the blocks to put together into a top.  Now I can put it together, quilt it and hang it up in my apartment!  This year's game involved 10" squares of batiks, but I didn't win this time around.

start of the sunflowers(there are 3 in the design)

I also got my Sunflower applique started and have been working on that in the evenings this week.  It's really starting to look like the picture and I can't wait to see it all finished!  It's from the Pacific Rim company and they have a lot of great applique patterns that I will probably try after finishing this first one.  I got another quilt top finished & worked on some paper piecing for a set of blocks that I've been slowly working on over the last several years.  Even took a break from sewing to get a back massage which was fantastic! 

Then it was home again on Sunday with a few hours to see dad and watch the last half of the All-Star hockey game (awesome!) and have another home cooked meal.  Dad even sent me home with some of his homemade deep dish pizza....yummm. This was then brought to work for lunch during the week and is the type of thing that makes co-workers jealous - several commented that I always brought such good lunches in! So thx for the pizza dad. :)

Then it was back to work on Monday and a busy week preparing for workshops, hands-on, Girl Scout programs and Board meetings.  Busy, busy, busy.  Of course, after having a weekend of quilting now all I want to do when I get home from work is to keep sewing; especially now that I have some new quilt tops ready to be finished.  However, these will be added to the end of the list so I can finish up some overdue projects.