Virtual Retreat - Join Anytime

[wendy w.]

Hello Heather lovely to see you back and all your sewing. Love your colourful lamp it's so like you.

Fancy making a corset top as your first garment : :blink: :blink: :blink:

[wendy w.]

Hello Heather lovely to see you back and all your sewing. Love your colourful lamp it's so like you.

Fancy making a corset top as your first garment : :blink: :blink: :blink:

Well, luckily I found a very good tutorial online and a site that will print pattern instructions based on your own measurements. And it uses a one piece of fabric construction instead of joining a front, sides, back, etc. So, that part wasn't hard.....though I've yet to insert the grommets and see if it will tie properly and actually fit. More corset-ish, not a true corset. I'm not completely insane!

[Geneva C.]

Like others my day went slowly yesterday. I didn't get as much done as I thought I would. It was over 100 degrees outside, ugh!

I sewed down the black half circles on the 3" squares I made from 2 fabrics. Here's a picture.



Then I pulled two stratas from my stash. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing with them. I cut 2" strips from each and will sew them together, maybe this afternoon. This morning I will take my mom to another doctor's appointment.




Wendy, here is another language mix up story that I thought we would all enjoy. When you wrote out the instructions for adding the cool binding treatment, one step said to "whizz around the outside". When my 3 kids, husband and mom went to Nairobi in 1999 from San Francisco, we made a stop in London. (Thank goodness!) As I was standing in the aisle of the airplane with my 15 year old son waiting to deplane, the flight attendant announced "They are setting up blah, blah ( I don't remember what) and as soon as that is complete, we will be whizzing off the plane." My son looked at me and grinned. In America, to 15 year old boys, whizzing is urinating. (Hope I don't offend anyone.) I could just see my son laughing and imagining the possibilities! I gave him a stern look and then laughed with him.

Have a good day sewing my friends!

geneva

[Catherine S.]

I am really enjoying the virtual retreat posts. I will try to join in next week. Right now my sewing/quilting space is a mess. I rearranged some of the things. I moved my tall fabric storage cabinets across the room. I moved a twin bed out of the area and put my sewing machine under the window where the bed was. I moved my design wall to the wall where the tall cabinets were. Now I can take better pictures of things on the design wall. I turned the long arm around so the end I don't need to get around is closer to the wall. That gives me more space in the center of the room. I still need to turn my cutting table 90 degrees and move my ironing board closer to the sewing machine. In the mean time, the cutting table and the longarm table are both pilled high with bags of batting and other stuff. I have a crib I am going to move downstairs too. I saw a video on you tube where they turned one into storage inside the crib and a cutting table on top. I thought that would be a good place to store all the odds and ends of the batting I have intentions of piecing together someday for lap quilts, picnic quilts or whatever.
Besides moving all the stuff around I had to set up beds for 5 of the grandkids. My DD and her family came last night on their way to Nebraska. They left this morning, but will be back Saturday night. We aren't too far of the route and it saves them another night in a motel. Friday we are going to Omaha, for their oldest daughter's high school graduation. We will return home on Sat. Then next Wednesday our DS and wife will arrive for a weeks visit.
It doesn't sound like there is much time for sewing, but I am sewing tomorrow. My 10 year old GS is coming to spend the day with me. He is bringing his old Singer 99 for me to adjust the tension and he will be working on some 9-patch blocks I have ready for him to sew. I will bring my featherweight up here so I can work on a disappearing hourglass quilt I started at my state guild meeting in May. I will try working on my camera to see if it is fixable. I love you tube videos. They can teach us anything. If I get it working, I will post some pictures of my mess and the quilt I am working on.

[wendy w.]

Oh dear Cathy you must be exhausted, come to the retreat for an hour to rest and I'll get you a cup of tea. Then you'll have strength to sort out your reorganised room. I find changing my room or just tidying it up energises me ready for the next project.

Geneva fabulous shapes lots of movement. Must whizz off upstairs to wh..... :dry: :lol:

[wendy w.]

Heather I want to see more of the piece poking out from under your pile o placemats. It has a fork on it?
And the piece on your design wall that appears to have buildings on it looks very interesting.
So glad you've decided to join in the fun

Luann

[wendy w.]

I just want to say,
Keep me laughing! I love the little nuances of different languages.
I'm feeling more energy just by reading what everyone's doing.
Cathy, when did your GS start sewing? My little GD started at 5 and either ran the foot pedal or fed the fabric through the machine. I think kids are so much fun to sew with.
Today at retreat I took a yoga class, shopped at Joann's for 'meltable' fabrics, picked up 48 pounds of ice, and now have a set of sheets and cases in the ice melting stage. Also at that stage of waiting for the ice to melt and take all the dye into the cloth are 5 tshirts, 4 large dish drying towels, and a little square linen doily I found in a box of "stuff". I then enjoyed a large chef salad, made by a noncooking quilter, me!
And if the humidity goes down a bit I may pull out my knitting. Or go up to the sewing room and cut out some NEW rocks. I decided that I want to try larger ones. Funny how I agonize over making a quilt that doesn't need to please anyone else but me, and I like everything, so why the heck does it take me so long to make a choice???
I made contact with a friend back in Wisconsin and I will be purchasing her TWO extra sewing machines! I hope to set one up for free motion quilting and the other for thread play and bobbin work. I'm going to be able to rotate between activities and I hope this will help with the sore muscles and body aches. Course gettin younger would be the sure fix for such things, but I don't have a clue how to make that happen.
Luann

[wendy w.]

Like others my day went slowly yesterday. I didn't get as much done as I thought I would. It was over 100 degrees outside, ugh!

I sewed down the black half circles on the 3" squares I made from 2 fabrics. Here's a picture.



Then I pulled two stratas from my stash. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing with them. I cut 2" strips from each and will sew them together, maybe this afternoon. This morning I will take my mom to another doctor's appointment.




Wendy, here is another language mix up story that I thought we would all enjoy. When you wrote out the instructions for adding the cool binding treatment, one step said to "whizz around the outside". When my 3 kids, husband and mom went to Nairobi in 1999 from San Francisco, we made a stop in London. (Thank goodness!) As I was standing in the aisle of the airplane with my 15 year old son waiting to deplane, the flight attendant announced "They are setting up blah, blah ( I don't remember what) and as soon as that is complete, we will be whizzing off the plane." My son looked at me and grinned. In America, to 15 year old boys, whizzing is urinating. (Hope I don't offend anyone.) I could just see my son laughing and imagining the possibilities! I gave him a stern look and then laughed with him.

Have a good day sewing my friends!

geneva

Love your color choices. And those little wispy black circles. How did you do them?
Luann

[wendy w.]

Getting a bit bored quilting loops and squiggles. What else can I do for boys? I've added footprints slug, snail and puppy dog tails, their names some other random writing. Any suggestions please

[Geneva C.]

LuAnn,

It was very technical making those little crescents, doncha know? :unsure:

I made the 3" two fabric blocks and then wandered around my sewing room looking for a circle. I happened upon a cone of black thread and viola! It fit perfect in the square. So I pressed wonder under onto the black fabric, drew circles onto the wonder under paper, measured the halfway mark of each circle, and a 1/4" in from each side, then slid the cone of thread circle maker to the side a little, matching up the center mark and 1/4" mark and drew another half circle. I cut them out, 2 to a circle, and now have an interesting circle/oval shape to use for something. I carefully measured the seam allowances on the 3" squares and placed the crescents and pressed them. Then I sewed them down with the above mentioned black cone thread with a 1.5 stitch. My eyes! :blink: Next time I make some I'll take pictures. I got the idea from an upholstery fabric at a restaurant.




I've posted pictures of my sewing room before, but in case you didn't see them here's my view from my sewing machine.




and the messy work table



Cathy, I believe I brought 300 pounds of chocolate to this retreat, so please have some while enjoying Wendy's cup of tea.

LuAnn, can't wait to see your new fabric. You'll be whizzing along making amazing colorful things in no time!

geneva

[Susan S.]

Oh what fun. Ya'll make me laugh and inspire me - what more could a girl ask for? The convergence piece with the appliquéd flowers measures 26" square.

I took a picture of my sew happy area. You can see I have my strips of fabric ready to sew.



I watched Ricky fold and dye fabric. I love the way they look. Yep. I have everything I need waiting for me in the studio. Early tomorrow morning I am going to do some folding and dyeing. I live in SW Arkansas so it is just way to hot right now. Besides after an active day running errands and exercise class I am ready to sit quietly and sew strips!
I played with a fun dyeing technique last year. I wrapped fabric around a gallon can, wrapped cotton cord around the fabric and got it all scrunched up. I then paint fabric paint on top of some folds. This piece makes me think of a jungle scene. Someday.........



I thought I would share another piece that I ice dyed. That is my favorite technique.



Sew Happy, Susan

[Susan S.]

Getting a bit bored quilting loops and squiggles. What else can I do for boys? I've added footprints slug, snail and puppy dog tails, their names some other random writing. Any suggestions please

Wendy,
Check out Lori Kennedy, she has all kinds of free motion ideas. www.theinboxjaunt.com
Luann

[Susan S.]

Oh what fun. Ya'll make me laugh and inspire me - what more could a girl ask for? The convergence piece with the appliquéd flowers measures 26" square.

I took a picture of my sew happy area. You can see I have my strips of fabric ready to sew.



I watched Ricky fold and dye fabric. I love the way they look. Yep. I have everything I need waiting for me in the studio. Early tomorrow morning I am going to do some folding and dyeing. I live in SW Arkansas so it is just way to hot right now. Besides after an active day running errands and exercise class I am ready to sit quietly and sew strips!
I played with a fun dyeing technique last year. I wrapped fabric around a gallon can, wrapped cotton cord around the fabric and got it all scrunched up. I then paint fabric paint on top of some folds. This piece makes me think of a jungle scene. Someday.........



I thought I would share another piece that I ice dyed. That is my favorite technique.



Sew Happy, Susan

I really like ice dyeing, but I think I've just done the last set of sheets. They are just too much volume to deal with. I think I'll stick with a yard or two of cloth. Much easier to handle.
Luann

[brenda h.]

WOW! Who would have thought that my trying to dissipate some of the stress at work would lead to this :cheer: :cheer: I am work again tonight, so tomorrow when I get up I will get some shots of my current projects. Tonight, I am just imagining that I am in Annis' retreat center instead of a very busy neonatal intensive care unit.

[Lois B.]

LuAnne, Love the forest like piece of fabric. I think it would be great in a convergence quilt. In the background iPhoto is at work streaming pictures from my phone. Hoping there is stuff there that can show you what I have been up to. Brenda, Take good care of those babies tonight and enjoy your sewing room tomorrow. Loving checking out the retreat. Hope to join soon. It's summer so I am all over the place. Garden, sewing, house guests, trips… & etc.