Virtual Retreat - Ongoing (started January 2019)

[wendy w.]

Ha ha no way am I making a mug rug a day. It would be fun to get a challenge going when the new forum is up and running

[Eileen K.]

Wendy, I hope you're talking about January for the Doodlewash challenges! I'd have to be a lot more organized in my life before I attempted something like that.
Terry, I hope your birthday was fabulous! I've saved your blog so I can read all about your creativity.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Today, I'm off to Poughkeepsie to start researching my Mom's family. My grandmother was adopted out by her mother to an uncle when she was a child. We know nothing about her father, only her mother who started a whole new family and reentered my grandmother's life when she was an adult. Weird, right? Wish me luck.

[Geneva C.]

Terry, thanks for sharing all your drawing and embroidery work. It's very interesting and I'm giving you a pat on the back for completing them all!

A challenge when the new forum is up and running sounds good. Does anyone know when that will be? Hopefully some of our friends will come back to hang out with us.

Have fun investigating your grandmother Eileen. Life is more interesting than fiction....

Happy weekend everyone! geneva

[Geneva C.]

I think I said I’d post something soon,,, that was probably 2 weeks ago! Time has a way of flying by,,,,
Here's what I’ve been working on:






Next up,,, pillow covers to go with this one and the bookcase quilt from a few months ago.

[Eileen K.]

Luann, that is a very cool lion! Did you design it? Who's it for?

[Eileen K.]

It's for a grandson that lives in th UP of Michigan. He loves the Detroit Lions, even if they lose! I guess that’s a true fan, lol.
I printed out the teams logo onto 81/2x11 paper. Then folded it both directions into 8 segments, oh,,, what was I thinking??? If I had just done it by 1” squares my life would have been so much easier. I knew my center panel needed to be a finish size of 34x51, and my 'grids'were somewhere about 5x6 that I then drew each grid from the printout onto freezer paper. You think I’d have been smart enough after that to just put fusible all across the blue fabric I was going to cut it from, but nooooo! I iron the freezer paper on, carefully cut it out and then the panic set in! I was able to get misty fuse onto the back in sections, then iron it in place. Next I stitched around the edges before longarming it with a football design. I’ll show you a closeup of his front paw, I didn’t plan it, but a football landed in his paw !



Glad this one’s ready to go out.

[wendy w.]

Smashing Lion and ball catching Luann.

[wendy w.]

I’m 2 days late, but,,, I’m finally here, lol

I used 3 hanks of previously dyes clothesline for this basket. I hated the colors but once I added the variegated threads, I found them to be more pleasing to me.



I also made this one with fabric wrapped clothesline. The original dyed color should have been a golden yellow, but I got an obnoxious vomit looking color. I wrapped this cord before I stitched the other basket or I would have tried some variegated thread on the bottom area and decided after that.




I have made a pillow covering for each of the grandson’s quilts and included them in the box I shipped off to them.




Learned a new technique called ‘threading’ for keeping pieces/blocks in order as you sew a quilt together. I did NOT use it when I made the first blocks for this quilt and many of the units were upside down or backwards. Once I used the process, my blocks went together as they should have AND I actually sewed this entire top of blocks, sashings, and cornerstones together with it. Basically a chain piecing method, and when you have all the rows together, your columns are directly in line for the final stitching phase. I believe it’s a Bonnie Hunter method, she’s on the web, Quiltville, I believe.



And because I was on vacation during May, I didn’t receive any quilts to longarm for our charity projects, but I’ve already gotten 3 done for June and I have 5 or 6 sitting on my table.

I’m getting sooooo close to the 10 million stitches mark,,,,
Why this excites me, I have no idea, but it does....



My last photo came to me from a friend in northern Wisconsin. It is a yearling bear,,,



All the best to everyone,
Luann

[Geneva C.]

Luann, It's good to hear form you and see what you've been up to.

Love your baskets! So colorful. I'll be dyeing this summer. I think I will follow your lead and dye some clothesline. Thanks!

Love your quilt and pillowcases. 10 million stitches is a lot of quilting! It seems to me like you just got your long arm. Good for you!

Enjoy the rest of your June.... geneva

[Eileen K.]

Luann, I really like your baskets; a friend of mine did an area rug with that method. Very pretty! My longarm doesn't keep track of stitches, wish it did. When you reach 1M, does it reset or keep going?
I tried that method of piecing and got all tangled. What's your secret?
We haven't had any bear sightings locally, but they've been seen in the next county. Don't know what I'd do if I did see one!

Have a great day. I hope to have something to show tomorrow, which is my monthly day.

[Eileen K.]

Lotti, my mother's family is from Dutchess County! I live across the river from there.
Those quilts are amazing! Their families must have appreciated them.
Have a safe trip home when you go.

[Eileen K.]

Lotti,
Those are amazing quilts. And as for weeding, well, there’s a reason I’m not gardening here in South Carolina. They can grow a foot a week if the rain, humidity, and temps are to their liking. LOL

[Eileen K.]

Eileen,
After I got the first columns sewn together, I sewed the first two rows across and having all those 'half baked' pieces tagging along pushed me to the following. I carefully put it up on my design wall. Snipped between the 'junctions'. I left them hanging in order then proceeded so that the bottom layer was solid and the new strip was on top. When I do this the next time, I will do this again before sewing any of the created rows to each other. I also will be able to press odd rows to the right and even rows to the left to keep those seams nesting. Hope that helps. I would suggest to any one new to the method to do some 9 patch blocks first so you get the hang of it on a small scale before undertaking anything bigger than a crib size.
My machine keeps counting for me. I have a project stitch count, and a lifetime stitch count. On July 25 of this year I’ll have my Fusion for a total of 4 years.
I did a quilt today that had camper fabric, so I used a camper quilting design. Here's what the monitor read out was,,,



Quilt and design I used

[Geneva C.]

Lotti, Thanks for the pictures and history of the quilts. It's a good feeling to know that our "work" is valued even after we are gone.

And, weeding is icky!

geneva

[Eileen K.]

I'm a day late with my monthly posting, but I have something to show. I'm participating in Esther Aliu's BOM, Hold On To Your Heart. It began in January, but I've just finished stitching down Block 1. Since I love this quilt, I want to do it right, so I've done some fixes, probably from over handling. I'm finally done and can move onto Block 2.