Virtual Retreat - Ongoing (started January 2019)

[wendy w.]

Wendy,
I too think you’ve made an awesome quilt. The colors that you chose are stunning.
I’m not jealous, but I do admire your ‘eye for color’.
Luann

[Eileen K.]

Wow, Lotti, that is super cool! They provide a necessary service, don't they?

[wendy w.]

Thanks Lotti, and for the story about the helicopter lifesavers. Your equipment must be pretty compact for this situation.

I think that the elephant is calling you :lol:

[wendy w.]

Wow Lotti pretty quilt. It'll be so delicate, keep going.

Elephant is fab has he got a name. The purple in there really makes the greys work smashing

[Lorna B.]

Wendy,
Your wall hanging is beautiful. I'm sure your son loved it!

Lorna

[Lorna B.]

Lotti,
I didn’t notice a mistake in your starburst but my husband did! I say if you didn’t notice from 30 feet away forget it!

I agree with Wendy the elephant looks great!

Barb :-)

[wendy w.]

Hello Lorna good to see your smiley face. Are you doing the Sizzle quilt. Can we see what you're making now?

[wendy w.]

I got a bit busy in the sewing room and missed ‘my’ day to post, lol

I went to a 4 day quilting retreat at the beginning of March. I had the opportunity presented to me at the last minute and because I was completely unprepared, and I haven’t been to one in several years, I decided to just take my serger, and jelly rolls (precuts and my own strips). I put together 9 lovely tops that have been evened up, and some have had borders added. I’ve decided that after quilting most of them they will be handed off to the binding people. These will be given to the children that attend Royal Family Kids Camp in August. Two are already off to the binders. And a third one was finished by me for a ‘grandma in waiting’. I’ve been doing a lot of longarming for the camp quilts and a few for Doors To Freedom. DTF is a house for young girls being rescued from the sex-trafficking in our country. Each young lady gets a quilt to call her own, and take with her when she moves on to the next step in her healing process.
I also have been requested by the grandkids for more specific quilts. Sometimes it’s their mom that instigates the concept of the quilt, sometimes me, and sometimes the child,,,, lol. I have an ‘elephant’ on my horizon,,, Lotti. HELP ! ! ! ! I will be sending you some specific questions, as I have an alternate way I’m thinking of going with this pattern. After seeing how many pieces each section needs,,, wowsers.
So now for the pictures: First up will be a piece I made at a workshop in mid March


Next is a the Grandma in waiting piece


I did a podcast with Leah Day on Wednesday, it should air this week on her YouTube channel

This is an oversized version of her block#3 in the Friendship Quilt Along



Things sometimes go awry and I have to find Jack the Ripper,,, lol



The dogwoods are blooming and the pink ones are not all that prevalent so catching a photo like this can be rare.



Hope you are all enjoying your days.
I did put a quarterly review up on my blog in case you’re inclined to check it out.
http://letscreatetoday.blogspot.com/
Until next time, let’s create with gusto!

[Eileen K.]

Today is my day, but I'm getting ready to leave for Manchester, New Hampshire to go to a quilt show called MQX. I'll have a lot to talk about after the classes I'm taking. I'm doing Machine Embroidery for Beginners, and a class on my cutting machine Scan n Cut. I'm also taking 2 classes to do customized quilting with my Intelliquilter which is a computer I use with my longarm. I'll be back here by Sunday or Monday to tell you about them.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Sue Garman's quilt collection. It's the same one that was in Houston this past November. Her daughters will be there with the quilts.

[wendy w.]

Eileen now you've really got your quilting head on again. Have a fab time and come back fired up with loads of inspiration .

[Sharon E.]

Hi all from snowy Colorado. We have had 2 blizzards a month apart and it snowed again last night about 2" more. I am pretty sure Mother Nature isn't taking her meds, hehe.

In quilting news, I entered my Barn quilt into a show in Lindsey, CA (which is south of Fresno). It was awarded Celebrating Agriculture and Viewer's Choice!! What a lovely surprise. I am currently quilting an applique quilt, which I decided to double bat. What was I thinking! While the loft is nice my shoulders are feeling it. I hope to have it quilted by the middle of May, fingers crossed. I will be mailing my Colorful Colorado Medallion to Everett, Wash. for a show the last weekend of April, which we plan to attend. It is just north of Seattle and we have a stinking cute grand daughter that lives there. Geneva, how far is Everett from you? I hear its a very nice show. Let me know if you want to meet up. We are going Friday.

I have been super busy with my 85 y.o. mother and her 89 y.o. hubby who has Alzheimers. We are moving forward to getting him into a home and her moved out of their home of 32 years. She has been his caregiver and its wearing her out.

Hope all of you have a lovely day. I will be anxiously waiting the judging from Paducah on how my mini did.

Sharon in, waiting for the snow to melt, Colorado

[wendy w.]

Congratulations Sharon 2 awards! Lovely to get viewers choice. Good luck for the mini

Hard to move your parents but it'll bring peace of mind and take pressure off your mum.

Do show us your applique quilt. Good luck for that one too

[Geneva C.]

Hello! I'm a day late reporting in but I wanted to finish the quilt I was working on to show you all.

But first, Sharon, I live in the Eastern side of Washington. I won't be going to the Everett show. Everett is about 3+ hours over the Cascade mountains from me. If you are driving I-90 across WA, you will have to wave at me when you reach Vantage. If you'd like to come by we are in the Tri Cities which is where the Yakima, Snake and Columbia rivers meet to then flow south west to the Pacific Ocean. The Columbia River is the border between Oregon and Washington. Everett is on the "wet side" of WA. We are on the "dry side." It is a desert here. Quite the opposite of the wet side, where it rains..... a lot! All the produce that Washington is famous for, wine, apples, peaches, pears, hops and much more are grown over here. I bet that you are all probably bored with my geography lesson! Sharon, I would love to see you if you'd like to stop by. PM me!

Also Sharon, congratulations on your two ribbons! It's such a nice feeling to be acknowledged by other quilters. And as Wendy said, a viewers choice is especially nice. Well done!

Eileen, I'm so glad you are out and about quilting again. It has been a tough year, but isn't it nice to see the light shining on us again!?

Ok, so February and March were really snowy. It is unusual to have this much snow here. But because we were housebound for 8 weeks, I spent a lot of time in my sewing room. We live off gravel roads and have a 600 foot driveway. There is a mid section of the driveway that gets 4-5 foot drifts that are impassable with even a snow blower. Luckily we have neighbors who have tractors and are willing to spend hours digging us out.




I found a charm pack of Op Art Reflections in my stash. It has to be several years old. I bought the QCR mini ruler at a quilt show last year and have had fun playing around with it. Then at our guild meeting they had a QCR book in the library! I'm not good at following a pattern. I'd rather make stuff and put it together in my own design. I started cutting up the drunkards path blocks using solids I had in my stash. I cut some, sewed some and did it again.



And I got closer and closer to some sort of setting.







Making the center pieces the same length as the on point and straight set blocks was tricky, but I did it! Here is the finished quilt







I don't have enough "add file" to show you the backing. It's a teal grunge fabric and has a center using up all the left over drunkards path pieces.

It was fun to make and I enjoyed the quilting. I used Superior Rainbows white and black for the majority of the quilting and then another variegated Superior thread for the in between lines. Found the binding in my stash. Except for the backing, it was all made from my stash. It's about 50" x 50".

In between I have been helping to sew together one of those butterfly quilts. The one that is huge and has many individual blocks and a right side and left side. One of my small groups is making it for the guild raffle quilt for the 2020 show. I hope we can get it all pieced in the next few weeks and pass it off to the long arm quilter. It's been interesting. Sewing together a large quilt with small pieces made by a dozen other people is tricky! :dry: I'll post a picture when the top is done.

I planted zinnia seeds in seed pots to grow and plant in our outdoor pots a little later. Spring is finally here!

I don't remember if I told you, but I hung some of my quilts at the Department of Ecology in Union Gap. To be perfectly frank, it's a soul-less building, with seemingly acres of gray cubicles. June Cleaver on Acid was hanging there since July. I went to pick up the quilts a week or so ago and yesterday I received the kindest thank you note! Several people had written how much they enjoyed my quilts, especially June, and hoped I would bring some more to hang. It made my week! We artists love to hear about how our art makes people feel good, huh?

I hope the rest of you quit getting snow. I wish you fun times in your sewing rooms!

Take care, geneva

[Geneva C.]

I forgot to tell you! The quilt is called "4 Ring Circus".

And here's the back.





gc

[Geneva C.]

It’s so good to hear from everyone!

And I can totally agree with Geneva, it’s nice when another quilter compliments you. It means they are confident in their own methods and can freely recognize someone else’s!

I have the large/original size QCR and one of these days,,,,,, lol. Your quilt is very inspiring.