Virtual Retreat 2016

[wendy w.]

Annis...beautiful quilt!!!
Lotti, Andree, and Terrie...how fun!!! Glad you all got to meet up

Dorothy

[wendy w.]

So fun to see pics of you all getting to visit!

I was busy this week -- finished my March row to mail off, and began & finished a baby quilt top (planning to quilt today) that is my first ever commissioned quilt. Fun!!! A friend from high school messaged me to ask do I sell quilts, I explained I never have but would, here is what it would cost (roughly) and explained the break down of materials cost, time spent/hourly rate, etc, to arrive at a reasonable total. She didn't hesitate, the planning began, I sent her the EQ7 drawing and photos of the fabric, she loved it, so here I am.

It was quick to piece, and should be relatively quick to quilt as well. Since she's a friend and my first customer, I'm not charging her for the fabrics that came from my stash (the butterflies, and the backing fabric only), nor the thread (a cone I had on hand in the right color) but I've also explained that to her so she knows/anyone who asks knows that normally that would be charged as well. I feel excited to have a paying customer, and rather in awe that I was able to explain a fair price w/o scaring her off! Fair meaning not minimizing the effort, etc.

Anyway, here's the top, and a close up showing also the backing fabric I'll use. I bought this originally to be the back of my Diary Quilt, then decided it was too modern for that quilt and also too busy, and bought something else instead, but have had this ever since.







The color is truer in the larger photo of the whole quilt, not the close-up of the bottom. I plan to outline quilt around the initial & around the butterflies, then just inside & outside the frames, with some corner detail in the large square with the initial, then a ribbon in the large border (with a bow in one corner and just the ribbon itself going around the border) and then mock piano key lines in the small outer border. That is the project for today.....wish me luck!

[wendy w.]

What a great looking quilt, and so pleased for you that your first 'customer' hasn't quibbled about the cost of these things even with 'mates rates' thrown in.

[wendy w.]

Love the quilt Heather!!!

[Geneva C.]

Heather, Congratulations on your first commission quilt! And good for you in requesting and receiving adequate compensation!

The quilt is so wonderful! What a lucky baby this will go to.

geneva

[Geneva C.]

I've been lurking. And enjoying all of what I've been seeing on here! You all are truly amazing!!
I just looked and it was way back in January that I showed anything I've been working on!
Well, I've not been put out to sea in a dingy. And I have been reading all the posts, just trying to keep up with all the STUFF I've gotten myself into. lol
To start with:
the OBW was pieced together. It wouldn't lay flat so, I unstitched a portion of the border, made a slice into the body of the quilt top, and re-stitched the border. It will now be able to be quilted and be square when done. You ask, but what about the 'gash'? I have a plan, we'll see if it turns out. But for now here is how it looks.



Then I got busy cutting out tumblers. A friend had gifted me some gorgeous fabric and I felt compelled to get this going! I could have saved myself considerable time if I had just gone scrappy, but NO, not me, gotta do the synetrical method! It is quilted, just needs binding.



During February, I took a class from Elaine Quehl.




Taught a class in marbling on fabric in February also



Also taught some ladies a fabric manipulation technique at another group, can't find the picture today!
And the last one I'll take up your time with is what I accomplished in a workshop and the following 5 days!
It was a Judy Neimeyer paper pieced quilt. Needs to have the backing finished before I can quilt it up



I've got to get this stuff up, along with the rest of what's been happening, on my blog. Seems like there's just so many interesting things to experience in this world! Now that I've done this paper piecing method, I may just revisit my rowers desires! Hmm?
PS I've checked for typos but autocorrect sometimes surprises me, so if I have erred, please excuse it.

[Geneva C.]

'We've all erred, ducky' so don't worry about it.

Some beautiful work there Luann :cheer:

Got cutting on my mystery quilt and managed clues 5 & 6, now I've just got to sew them :whistle:

[Annis C.]

Heather, it's always nice getting paid for doing something you enjoy. Love the butterflies. The quilting plans sound perfect for the quilt.

Luann, beautiful work as usual. I'm looking forward to seeing how you fix that slash.

I've spent the past few days cleaning and organizing my country home. Closets have been rotated, boxes have been emptied and I've barely put a dent in all that's left to do, but at least most of the stuff is in closets so I can take my time doing the rest. My goal was to get the guest room finished so I could get the comforter out of the package it came in and make the bed. This was a temporary fix until I have time to make a quilt in the right colors. When I unfolded the comforter imagine my surprise to see an ugly tear on one side and a smaller tear on the other side. What to do!!! I've had it for several years so can't take it back to the store. Those European shams (on the left) will be the answer as I don't have pillow forms for them anyway and the headboard isn't high enough to use them. So I will cut them up and patch the holes, maybe with diamonds or strips, time will tell.



I did find an hour last night to cut a few fabric strips using my new Quilter's Select cutting mat. I bought the smallest size mat and ruler from Sew Many Quilts and Threads to try them out. They appear to be out of stock now so I must have bought the last ones in that size. I like the mat so far. It's thick and sturdy and the cutting lines barely show. The darker side also works well for light colors. I wasn't sure about the colors at first, but the light gray was a perfect match with the stainless refrigerator in my retreat center where I want to use the mats. Sold!!! The ruler was not to my liking though. It was too sticky to slide across the fabric, especially when you are making long cuts and want to move it without lifting. I liked the numbers going both directions but not the location of the numbers. They were covering the 1/4" marks that I use to square blocks. There were a couple other things I didn't like about the ruler, but that's just my opinion. You are free to make your own. It definitely doesn't slip which would be nice for fussy cutting.

[Geneva C.]

Luann it's good to see you. I've missed you. I love foundation paper piecing. Glad you like it too. Your tumblers quilt is very nice. But I really like the obw. Especially the slash. It gives it a devil may care look. You may have started a new quilt sensation!

Annis, what a bummer! Here you go buy a comforter for the ease and you must repair it! Argh!

Take care everyone!

Geneva

[Geneva C.]

Heather - love the commissioned baby you did a great job!
Luann - great to see what you are working on, I've missed you too.
Annis - I agree with Geneva what a bummer to have to repair a bought comforter! Looking forward to seeing your repair.

[Annis C.]

I tried cutting diamonds first but didn't like them, so cut up the 2nd sham into rectangles and will hand sew one on each side. If I fold the top down like the picture the gold on the back side will hide the patch. For the slit on the back I will slip a piece of fusible under it and hope for the best. It will be on the far side of the bed and won't be seen anyway unless I decide to use the reversible side of the comforter which I probably won't. I should use the leftover fabric to make a throw pillow. We'll see.

[Annis C.]

Luann...great to see you again :side: I've missed you! Love the stuff you've done

I'm really busy trying to get all the things I need to do done before I leave to visit my son for a month hmy: I'm excited to go, don't see them nearly often enough

Dorothy

[Annis C.]

I'm glad to be back, too!
I'm going on vacation for a couple of weeks but I'll be lurking if I can get online in the remote areas I'll be traveling to!

I just finished my third post for the blog challenge that Terry Knott nominated me for. I've included a giveaway so you might want to check it out. www.letscreatetoday.blogspot.com I look forward to your comments on my dilemma.

Thanks for all your encouraging words.

[Annis C.]

What a shame about the comforter needing repair! ugh.

I quilted the baby quilt, and reorganized my sewing room. Yay! I had to undo some of the quilting, and fix other parts, but it is now done and just needs a label (waiting on the customer to say what she'd like back there) and binding. I'll take close-ups later on, I'm satisfied with the bulk of it, and very pleased with the corner design I came up with. The rest is good, just nothing fancy/special.

The sewing room is lovely in it's makeover; new cabinet, moved the table to the middle of the room and stood my design boards up against the wall and now I can walk all the way around everything and nothing's in the floor in the way (except for cords......need to see about a solution for that).

Barb, I am just finally mailing your Row to you today, as I never made it to the post office last week as planned.

Off to take kids to the eye doctor.....have fun, everyone!

[Annis C.]

Thanks for the heads up Heather!
Barb :-)