Virtual Retreat July 2015 - Join Anytime

[Lois B.]

Rita, I've missed you. The wedding quilt is just beautiful. Marianne, you embroidery is so delicate. It looks as if the fairies made it. I love the openness of it. So fresh and light in comparison to the machine embroidery we see so much of now. It's beautiful in its own way, but so nice and refreshing to see the handwork. Thank you!

[Rita C.]

Thanks Lois, but you know the way life sometimes has a way of interfering with one's quilting. :lol:

Marianne, love the look of the hand sewing too and look forward to seeing more.

Geneva, I like the look of it too and am downloading the instructions but not sure I will have the time to make it immediately. I'm sure I have some spare hexagons hanging around the house that I could use for the flowers in the borders though. :lol:

[Judith A.]

Geneva,
I am thinking about Blossoms for Julie. I like the light whimsical look. And I really like the border.
I am not sure about the center. I have had vertigo for the past few months. The tilted center blocks twirling around in circles and spinning off into space remind me too much of when the vertigo gets bad and everything in the room starts swimming around!
I wonder if I could modify it so the blocks do not appear to be tilted and spinning off the side of the quilt.

Marianne, You would not bore me with your dressmaking projects. What are you making?

Wendy, We are anxiously waiting to hear what you think of the virtual mild duds.

[Judith A.]

I was wishing there was a place that I could just give a quick "thumbs up" to a post. The Thank You button has a thumbs up on it so I guess I'll start using that when I am in agreement with what someone has posted but don't have anything significant to add. Or time is running low for me and I want you to know that I've read your message. If anyone has a better idea for me, please let me know.

I want to say 'thanks' to all of you for just being what you are, friendly! I appreciate YOU.

Luann

[Lois B.]

Good point, Luann. How are you aware that someone has said Thank You other than the totals under your avatar increases. I seldom pay attention to that. Its nice, but I don't know who is responding to me. At the same time, it seems to take too long waiting to make sure a short comment has posted.

BTW am I the only one having trouble with the links in todays newsletter. It just sends me to a bunch of computer code. I sent a note to tech support hours ago.

[Nancy R.]

I had that, too, and just decided that they weren't important enough to follow up on.

[wendy w.]

Marianne the embroidery is lovely.

The milk duds hmmm. I've got one now and trying to get the chocolate and caramel flavour..............no I'm off to sweetie shop this is torture :lol:

[Rita C.]

Yes Lois I had the same problem. But I got around it by going to the home page and downloading the BOM from the classroom and also the summer project.

[Rita C.]

my milk duds have been just that 'duds' _{in UK something that is a dud, is "a shell that fails to explode/a futile person or thing/bad coin/worthless - according to my dictionary}today, it has been far to hot for any chocolate to survive nicely - except in the fridge... For a drink, a nice cold cider, or a few years ago we were able to get lemon flavoured Martini - that was great with tonic & ice for a long hot day.

My threads turned up today - took a guess as to which colours to order (bought 2 alternatives) and they both look as is they could be good to go, very pleased about that. Just cannot decide what to use on the back yet. :blink:

Good to know you are still alive & kicking (or should that be sewing?) Rita, your quilt centre looks great and I look forward to seeing what else you have devised to go around it. I hope we can meet up again at FoQ - I will be going on the Friday this year.

Marianne, your hand sewn feathers are lovely, the colours make me think of peacock's feathers, even though they are missing the 'eye'.

Luann, you are quite right, it is great on this forum, where we can meet up with friends that we have never met before, and most likely not meet in person, but they are still friends that we can share and discuss our common passions with.

[Marianne G.]

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement regarding my hand embroidery! Hope to have more to show soon.

Judith, you kindly ask about my dressmaking adventures - I'm rather late in the year working on a summer capsule. Done two pairs of trousers, 2 sleeveless tunics and one with elbow length sleeves as well as one skirt. Need to make a second skirt and some sleeveless tops especially now the weather has turned very hot here in the UK. I have bought 2 cardigans to go with the stuff I make myself because I'm not a knitter. If I'm lucky this capsule should take me well into autumn. I've never done a capsule before but DD1 wanted company for a wardrobe challenge and we have followed a couple of blogs and worked through their suggestions. DD2 has got in on the act too from time to time although she finds it very easy to find well-fitting RTW. This week-end we are getting together to tackle the dreaded knit fabrics. So far I've cheated and supplied with RTW t-shirts for our me-made year but have gotten increasingly frustrated by their skewing tendencies after wash, unravelling hems and general one-wear-only properties whether you spend little or a lot. We'll see if we have to put-up and shut-up or never buy another RTW t-shirt after the week-end :P Thanks for asking

Yesterday I started work on my July list and started putting together blocks for the embroidery machine cover. Will try to post pic later
Marianne

[Lois B.]

Marianne, It is so interesting to hear about your dressmaking. I got here/quilting via garment sewing. I am always surprise when I return to it at how quickly a project goes together. I envy the fact that you have 2 daughter wanting and willing to sew with you. Mine is a geologist and athlete. Once in a while she'll sit and knit with me. I must say she does have many other useful skills and talents. Most importantly she is a very nice person.

Rosemary, Hope things go quite well with your project. I haven't tried working with silk thread. Eager to see and hear more.

[Judith A.]

Marianne, Your dressmaking capsule is interesting.
Lois, I started with with sewing clothes too.

When I was engaged to my husband-to-be, near Thanksgiving, I asked him what he would like for Christmas.
He replied, "Can you make a quilt?" (He knew I sewed clothes and curtains, etc.)
I thought to myself, "That is just sewing." I told him, "Of course I can make a quilt!"

I had never made a quilt. No one in my family quilted. I had never seen anyone quilt. I thought making a quilt would be like making a dress ...Stop at the fabric store after work one day...cut it out the next evening...and sew it up over the weekend.
I thought I had plenty of time. After all, it was the end of November and I had three whole weeks till Christmas.

I knew I had an article I had saved years earlier from a woman's magazine about "How to Make a Quilt in a Day." (Eleanor Burns). I found the article and went to the fabric store one evening after work. I bought fabric and some very thick batting on sale - about 3" thick. (More for the money, right?) The following evening I started cutting out the pieces. I was still cutting fabric in the wee hours of the next morning.

That weekend I started sewing. The article said to use 1/4" seam. I thought, "That must be a misprint - everybody knows seam allowances are 5/8". I made my quilt with 5/8" seam allowances.

On Christmas Eve I was still sewing. Quilting it by machine was out of the question. I decided to tie the quilt. I found some yarn that matched pretty well. I laid the backing and batting and top out on the living room floor. Ginger, our Cocker Spaniel, came bounding in and thought the new stuff on the floor was great fun to play with. After banishing the dog, and cleaning and rearranging the quilt, I tied the quilt. It was very, very difficult to get the needle through the 3 layers with the 3" thick batting. So I spaced my ties about 3 feet apart. Right about then I began to realize why that super-thick batting was on sale. Nobody else wanted it.

Christmas morning, my son and I took the quilt over to my husband-to-be. He put it on the bed. We all stared at it, speechless. It was too small. (Maybe that 1/4" seam allowance wasn't a misprint after all.) And it was so thick that the edges of the quilt stuck out like the brim of a hat around the edge of the bed.

He put the quilt away. Later DS and the dog wrapped up in it on the floor as they watched sports on tv together.

After we married, my DH told me for years, "Quilting would be a good hobby for you." I was not interested.
Then I saw Ricky Tims demonstrate convergence quilting on Simply Quilts. I thought, "That is art. I want to do that!" I got up out of my chair and drove to the store and bought his book.

Been quilting ever since.

Judith

[Geneva C.]

Oh my Judith!!! That is hilarious! Thank you for the wonderful laugh.

My first quilt was an Eleanor Burns "Quilt in a Day". My roommate and I decided you had to be on speed to make a quilt in a day! I too, used thick polyester batting and tied it. I still have it. I drag it out when the grandkids need a picnic blanket.

My first sewing was in 7th grade home ec. I made an apron. It was awful! No one sewed in my family, so I had no experience with fabric, machines, bobbins etc. My teacher gave me a "C" on the apron. I think she was being generous. However, I loved sewing, fabric and all that it entailed. I sewed and sewed and made clothes for my siblings and I. My mom, who can't thread a needle, was very encouraging. She didn't understand why I wanted to sew, but she made sure I had what I needed. She bought me my first sewing machine. A Singer. I still have it.

I got into quilting when my roommate talked me into making the above mentioned quilt in a day. We butt and cut ourselves silly. But as they say, the rest is history!

When my husband and I moved to Indianapolis from Seattle in the mid 80's, I literally forced Kaye England to let me work for her at her quilt shop "Quilt Quarters". I could only work 4 hours a week as that is when my two little ones were in preschool. Kaye was/is an amazing mentor and a lot of what I am doing quilt wise is thanks to her. I was able to teach at her store, work there, have my quilts published in her books and meet lots of cool people. As my kids went to school more days I worked more and loved it. I was sad to leave my quilt buddies when we moved back to Seattle in the early 90's.

Whew! I'm not sure you all wanted to hear that!

Have a good day everyone!
geneva

[Lois B.]

Judith and Geneva, I loved those stories. I could have read more. I sewed clothes and things for our home since I was 10yrs old. Before that I made doll clothes by hand because my mother was afraid I'd put a needle through my finger using the sewing machine. When I was 40 my mother gave me a box of patches that had been made by my Grandmother. She made them for me and they were suppose to be my baby quilt. She never got them together and then she died when I was 5 years old. We lived in a double-house with my grandparents on the other side. She babysat me when my mother taught school. I followed her around like a duck. I dearly loved her. Anyway, at age 40 I made my own baby quilt and like the two of you, the rest was history.

Here it is.




Since the quilting is so visible I'll add a postscript reguarding the symbols. I like to put stars and hearts on baby quilts because I believe no matter where you go in life you will find hearts to love you and stars to guide you. It has been true for me and it is my wish for each new child who comes into the world.

[Carol G.]

You ladies are all inspiring me to get my act together. :-) The first few months of 2015 were the worst in my life, but holding my breath that we have turned a corner. I met a friend at the Shipshewana Quilt Fest & spent too much $$! So I am motivated to work on some WIPs. Started a greenwork embroidery pattern this week & it's going fast. Bought that at Shipshe. LOL I am thinking my niece will be up from Tennessee (I'm in Michigan) so I need to work on the Frozen panel I bought for her 4 year old. I did finish a baby quilt and gave that to a one-month old last night.

Right now, I need to get off the PC and mow the lawn! Supposed to be hot this holiday weekend.