Virtual Retreat 2016

[Renata L.]

Also known as piled higher and deeper...

[E.M. T.]

HAha ! Nice to "hear" from you Renata !! Whatcha been up to..??

[wendy w.]

Do you need digging out :cheer:

[Renata L.]

Hi Marilyn and all! I've been following the Forum but in the background for quite a while, haven't I? Actually pieced and quilted a few things this year--a table runner, a Baltimore Orioles lap quilt for someone who underwent a bone marrow transplant, and finally, after three missed tries (due to lack of self-confidence), I participated in the Hoffman Challenge this year and my quilt was accepted, so like Nancy, BJ and Dawn (are there any others that I've missed?), it will be considered in the final judging in August.

After finishing the Hoffman Challenge piece, Wendy, while I might not need digging out (don't have that many projects going), I definitely have to clean up my sewing room before starting anything else!

So, here it is: Memories of Sardegna--I spent part of my childhood in Sardegna, Italy, as well as a couple of years there about 30 years later and was always surrounded by Sardinian crafts--baskets, woven linens, carved furniture and wrought iron pieces. So my quilt is a Sardinian basket from a town about an hour away from where I grew up. It's actually a tray, rather than a bowl.

[wendy w.]

Wow Renata your quilt is gorgeous! Fabulous design thank you for the story. Have we seen your runner and Baltimore?

Good luck with the challenge, you clever lot.

[Renata L.]

Wendy, I've been absent so long, I'm pretty sure I did not post those two pieces. So I'm attaching here. Sorry I don't know how to make the photos come out smaller (if someone can tell me, please?).

As for Sardinian baskets, if you look at my avatar, my cat is sleeping in one of my baskets from the northern part of Sardegna (the quilt basket is southern Sardinian).

[wendy w.]

Yes they're small enough :lol: Thank you for posting I like your quilting and the colours.

My cat would do that with the basket! So they're quite big

[E.M. T.]

Great work, Renata... they are all beautiful ! Your Hoffman Chal. is just over the top.....with all those rows ! Good on ya !

[Renata L.]

Thanks, Marilyn. The rows are a bit deceiving as they are not traditional quilting but boutis work--I think you call it channel quilting (?)... I put two pieces of fabric together, made the spiral up to about 20" in diameter, then from the back, with a long needle, I filled those channels with yarn so that the basket would have a bit of the roundness of a woven basket--it still counts as quilting, right?

Good seeing you on the Forum too!

[Geneva C.]

Renata, it is so good to hear from you! Your Hoffman challenge is amazing! What a great group of artists we have in our midst. I like your other quilts also.

Hope all is well with everyone. I've been working on a Jinny Beyer table runner kit. I I'll post a picture when it's done
Geneva

[Renata L.]

All is well, Geneva--good to see you too! :cheer: Thanks for you comment on my quilts--I admit, I am not as prolific as many of you but I really have fun just playing and experimenting...

[Renata L.]

Renata, those are all beautiful! And the work involved in that basket....wow!! Really stunning, and no wonder it was accepted! Best of luck in the final judging!

Jen, yes, sewing room clean-up = nesting! Have fun, and don't overdo it. Like you I always have more than one project at a time, but I've managed to create proper storage so that the one I'm currently "touching/working on" is out on my table, and the others are tucked away. Or if I'm "touching/working" two+ at once, hopefully they are in different parts of the table....only when I'm quilting a full quilt (like now....) is my table completely covered and everything else is, out of necessity, put away. I was using my ironing board as "storage' for those in progress things, but then my husband uses my ironing board for, well, ironing (???) and moves my stuff. I think I need to get a 2nd ironing board for him to use for his clothes, so he'll leave mine alone.

I am almost done quilting my son's quilt; one little (relatively so....) section of the water part to quilt yet, and then the borders. I'm still deciding what that will be....I have an idea, but need to think it through. I am hoping maybe I can finish the water part today; I have an appointment for a haircut and then grocery shopping after that, but I have a few good hours before then, and should have time after, as well. I think I lack about 2 hours yet probably. I will probably post a picture once I finish the water, and you all can help me think through (maybe?) border ideas

Have a great week, everyone!

[Terry K.]

Wow! Love this quilt, Debbie!! Renata, your Hoffman challenge quilt is unique and ah. . .so wonderful!

[Terry K.]

Well, it is finished (except for binding). My son vetoed my more elaborate border ideas in favor of plain, simple straight lines down the sides, so I just did that, going 1/4" in from each seam (each side of each seam). My quilt mentor says it could have used additional lines in the middles of the wider sections, and probably so, but too bad. Those lines were an absolute bear to do (Lotti, I swear, I think your bear was over here tugging on the quilt while I was doing those parts...). I realized I should have pulled out my little card table to set up alongside my quilting table, to hold the weight of the quilt to the left. I will do that before I put the binding on the front.

But, it's done, and I think it turned out well. I'll take some better photos later, but here it is -- I just did sort of a wind texture in the sky part (Helen Godden calls them "zebra flames"), straight lines inside the infinity sign, and water-ish swirls and loops in the water (like pond ripples). I think it's a little denser than I was going for, and probably I need to work on scale of quilting in the future, but I like it, he likes it, and for being the second quilt I FMQed and the first this big, on my little Janome MC 3500.....I am really, really, really pleased with how it turned out.



Totally original design, and I call it Infinite Horizons. All Cherrywood fabrics on the front. I based it off of the Toy Story quote "To Infinity and Beyond" and also Psalm 139, where it asks "where can I go from your presence?" (answer: no matter where you go, God is there). Sort of a wish and prayer for him as he heads to college and adult life beyond. No longer will I be his protector, guide, etc, but I know Who is, and so I trust him to make his own path from now on.

Now I can get back to my Rows.....I owe June & July yet.....

[Renata L.]

Love how you dealt with the lights, mediums and darks--beautiful quilt--and the cherrywood fabrics are so nice, I bet nice to work with too, Heather. Thanks for sharing!!