Retreat Success!

Well, this week ended our 3rd Annual "Sew Much Fun" Quilter's Retreat in Jerome. We had 4 days of quilty fellowship, too much good food, lot's of laughter, late nights, too little sleep, too much food, early mornings, learning new techniques, playing with new fabric, too much food, new friendships and too much food. Did I mention that we ate too much? The monks at the monastery where the retreat was held took very good care of us!

Carmen Geddes was our instructor for two classes: "Lone Star" the Quiltsmart way and "Over the Edge Borders & Bindings". I also taught a class of the use of our new GO! Cutter. The "Lone Star" class was the star of the retreat in my opinion. Most of us were able to finish our quilt top during the retreat. The borders and binding class was very comprehensive and covered how to insert piping into your seams and bindings. The GO! Cutter class seemed to be well received by all, and the Cutter was in use during the whole retreat.

Deana's "Colors In Fall"

I  just wanted to share this beautiful applique artquilt that my friend Deana pieced.  She was inspired by a photo of the quilt "Windswept", originally made by designer Nancy B. Dickey. I quilted it with Superior Metallic and Variegated Rainbows threads to simulate the veins in the leaves.  The background and borders are quilted with SoFine thread.  I also extended the leaves out into the outer border to draw the eye out to edges.  Interesting enough, I did not see Nancy's original quilt prior to quilting Deana's quilt.   Hope you enjoy.....

A sweet quilt to share on Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all.  I just finished quilting Evelyn's sweet Pink Fuchsia quilt last week and wanted to share it with you today.  She hand appliqued everything on the quilt and hand beaded it with tiny seed beads.  She'll be entering this darling quilt in the local quilt show in May.

Quick Table Runner

I just wanted to share this quick table runner idea.  I took the batik fabric left from my sister's quilt and cut everything into 2-1/2" strips using my Go!Cutter strip dies.  Randomly sewed the strips together, subcut the strip sections to 15" wide then kept sewing the sections together.  I also made a very long table runner/dresser runner for her to match her quilt.  This little runner is a leftover from leftovers!

Here is a picture of the original quilt that I made for her.  The pattern is from Karla Alexander's book "New Cuts for New Quilts"  It's made from all batik fabric and is quilted with the pantograph pattern "Waterworld".

New Toys!

My new Oliso iron finally arrived!  I just love it - it has little feet that retract when you touch the handle.  This allows you to leave your iron in a horizontal position at all times.  When you are ironing large pieces of fabric or small pieced blocks that allows you free use of your hands.  Takes a little bit of getting used to, but once your're accustomed to it you'll find it very hard to go back to a conventional iron.  It turn itself on and off and steams like a dream.  This is my 2nd Oliso; the first one is 5 years old and was beginning to show it's age a little.  When you use an iron everyday in your studio it does take some wear and tear.  I will be taking both Oliso's to the retreat so that everyone can play with them too!

Last night during "Cupcake Wars" I decided to cut out a project that I could sew during our retreat free time.  I used my Go!Cutter "Tumbling Block" die and cut up all the red and white fabric left from my stash.  Using the free pattern that came with the die I will make a twin size quilt to use as a quilted sample for by booth in April.  I was curios as to how long it would take to get organized, iron the fabric and cut:  1 hour!  Just enough time to hear the end of "Cupcake Wars"

Last weekend I started this table runner project using the Go!Cutter "Rose of Sharon" die.  It's very quick, as you only have to make 3 blocks, set on point with a nice focal fabric.  I finished the fused raw edges with a very small zig-zag and Superior Rainbows thread.  It's still a little puckery, but that will go away when I quilt it!  Love that fused applique!

Dixie's Exploding Pineapple

Just thought I would share Dixie's quilt with you.  A beautiful purple and cream batik quilt.  The purple blocks are "Exploding Pineapple" blocks.  Dixie made this quilt in a class at the local quilt shop.  She brought it to me for quilting, wanting to display it on the back of her sofa.  Her custom quilting includes modern feathered wreaths designed especially for this quilt.  The borders are quilted with feathers and piano keys.

Go! Cutter and a new cutting studio....

Well, after an intense weekend of spring cleaning fever I now have a new cutting studio; a separate ironing and cutting area to house our new Accuquilt Go!Cutter.  If you are short on space and cutting gumption you can come use my studio and Go!Cutter for $5/hour.  Seriously!  Bring your fabric and come visit.  Give me a call at 324-6838 to book your time.  And remember that the Go!Cutter with all my new dyes will be at the retreat in February for you to use also.

Unidentified Sea Creatures

I thought I would share an update on my beaded piece.  It's been very slow going, but nice to have some hand-work to play with.  The one thing that I didn't think of is my eyesight!  Boy, are these beads tiny.  It certainly takes good light and strong glasses but I'm enjoying the work.  I've tried to make my creatures similar to sea anenomes and various corals and it's been fun to just imagine what they should look like.  I've also added some beads to the fish, but I'm not sure that I like that yet.  enjoy....

Times Flies....when you're having fun!

Last week was was a busy one  with customer quilts.  This southwest beauty was made by Sue Isreal.  Sue chose a southwest edge to edge pattern called "Shades of Anasazi" by Diff'rent Strokes.   I quilted it with Superior Rainbows thread with Quilters Dream blend batting.    

To bead or not to be....

My wonderful mother and sister heard about this upcoming project and sent me a mountain (well, may just a small mountain) of seed beads to work with.  I have this Batik panel that I bought in Hawaii a few years ago with the intention of someday making it into a small wall-quilt for my bathroom.  Now that I have Friday's free to work on hand-work (while my daughter is skiing) I decided to work on a bead project.  I just recently received Nancy Eha's new book "Bead Creative" and decided now would be a good time to practice beading on a small quilt.  Not having the time (or patience) to actually piece something I decided that the Batik panel would be the perfect practice recipient.   Stay tuned for more updates.....

After a quilt quilting session with Quilters Dream blend batting and Superior Threads the batik is ready for beading. 

A small section; partially done after 7 hours of beading.  I'm sure glad that I decided to start with a small panel!

The selection of seed beads that my mom and sister mailed to me.  Jackpot!

Nancy's book is a wonderful resource for quilting on art quilts.