Quilting Friends Retreat - 2015

My friend, Joyce, e-mailed me to tell me that my middle name is trouble.  She went on to say that last year at our 2014 retreat to her "cabin in the woods", I introduced her and friend Diane to hexie punches and showed them how to make hexies.  We are ALL now making English paper pieced hexie quilts.  Yep, I did that. 

This year, I bought them each a ruler and showed how they could cut tumbler shapes with it.  I had already been making these tumbler shapes for a quilt.  Yep, hooked them again.  By the end of the three days together, Joyce had already cut each of us 300 2-1/2" squares and we had decided each of us would exchange 300 squares with each other to make commemorative quilts to celebrate our 30th year as friends which happens in 2016.  We had been talking about exchanging New York Beauty blocks - making 10 each so we would each have 30 blocks.  Now, isn't cutting 2-1/2" squares easier?

You can see some of the strips of 4 tumblers in between the boxes that hold the parts and pieces to the quilt I was working on there.  One of those boxes holds the squares for the tumblers. I have to thank Bonnie Hunter for choosing the tumbler block for the leader/ender challenge for the year.  You can read about it here in case you would like to join in the tumbler fun. I also need to thank cousin Sheila who gifted me with a tumbler ruler along with her stash several months ago.

During the 3 days I finished putting together 444 four-patch blocks.  I had about a lot of them all done and the rest were pairs that just needed the final seams.  Then I started adding the half-square triangles to make them into square in a square blocks. This project was found in the April issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  I just could not get that quilt out of my mind. Usually I don't do projects from magazines, but that one just appealed to me.

After she completed the machine binding on 5 -- yes 5 charity quilts, she brought out this beauty to work on. I wish I had photographed the charity quilts before she packed them up. She had also done the long arm machine quilting on the jelly roll quilts as well as the binding.

After completing the units she was working on for her bow tie quilt, Joyce started joining the blocks that will be the borders of her Civil War quilt.  These blocks are much smaller than they appear in this photo and the quilt is to die for!  Did I mention that my friends are very talented quilters?  You may have noticed that we all love the scrappy look in our quilts.

Our retreats are fun as well as productive.  We take turns making the meals so no one has to spend all of their time cooking.  It rained every day which may not sound like fun to you, but for Diane and I who live where 100 plus days are the norm, retreating to Joyce's cabin where it rains and the high during the day is in the 70's, well, it was refreshing! We sewed and slept with a breeze coming in the open windows!

I hope you have been having some sewing and quilting fun this Summer!

Until Next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Thousand Pyramids - The 30 Year Wonder Qluilt

According to my research, the Great Pyramid took about 20 years to build.  This quilt top took about 30 years from concept to last row joined.  Hmmm, maybe not so bad considering there are actually 1,175 pyramids in this charm quilt.

I think there were five of us who did an exchange that took about 18 months.  We had 4 templates (2 people used the same template).  We planned to exchange 10 fabrics a month in a particular color family.  Each of us drew around the templates and cut out the shapes with 1/4" seam allowances for hand piecing., Fifty quilt pieces were made and exchanged each month.  We were loose on the color families - red meant anything from deep burgundy to the lightest pink, blue was navy to pale blue, etc. Colors like rust might fit in either the orange or brown category.

The templates included a half-square triangle which was used by two quilters.  One (our East Coast native) used a clam shell, one shape was a diamond and then there was mine that was a pyramid shape.

I moved cross country during the exchange and found that 10 of the fabric shapes could be sent in a #10 envelope for the price of a first class stamp, so each month, I continued to send my shapes to each of the others and they sent theirs to me.

A little Amish Influence.

All types of fabrics were exchanged.  There are a few that probably  aren't the best quality and maybe should have been left out, but our stashes weren't as big back then.

Christmas fabrics including a fussy cut Christmas bear were exchanged.

Even a vintage Holly Hobby fabric made it into the top. Notice that it is next to an Irish clover leaf.

There is even an "A" for Arnold in the top.

There may be a point or two that need to be "fixed" or maybe they will be left in even if they are slightly off.  Maybe it's more important to have this quilt done and quilted than it is to have it be perfectly pieced after 30 years or so!

One of the neatest things about the fabric is that even though the original exchange was with a small group of dear friends in Iowa, as I was finishing the quilt, I needed more fabric to make it large enough.  Of course, I used some of my newer stash, but I still needed unique fabrics in some colors, so asked two of my dear Arizona friends if they would contribute the colors I needed and they did!  So this quilt includes fabrics from not only over time, but from more friends than the original group.  

Isn't that part of the culture of quilting?  Neighbors exchanged fabrics, friends contributed fabrics to fill a need and relatives shared their stash.  Today just like in the past, these traditions continue and I'm very happy they do, aren't you?

Here's to Quilting Traditions!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Other People's Fabric - Sheila's Stash

Scrappy quilts are just the best!  To get all those fabrics takes time.  It takes time to build your own stash, but if you have friends, you can get other people's fabric.  Sometimes we have formal exchanges of fat quarters or fat eighths.  Sometimes, it's specific blocks or strips or squares. Sometimes, it's a gift from someone. Whichever it is -- it's fun to play with other people's fabric mixed with your own!

Last week, I received this box.

Inside was this.......

Oh, my! A Longaberger Basket!

A BIG basket full of.......

Make that jam packed full of........

Yep, fabric!

And other stuff, too!

Lots of fabric and stuff!

A tear might have fallen!

Sheila's greens, red and purples!

Patriotic prints and patterns.

Neutrals, golds and yummy blues!

It was Sheila's stash and all she asked was.....

that I quilt and bind this small quilt she made.

She's decided to give up quilting.  She's discovered

Skydiving and Zip lining!

I guess those are sort of exciting, but I'd rather play with other people's fabric adding it to my own rather large stash!

Thank you Sheila!

Do you love other people's fabric as much as I do?  It's the variety and they choose differently than I do which adds to the spice in a quilt.

Until next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Bonnie Hunter Class - Cathedral Stars

Here is a look at some of the class I took from Bonnie Hunter a couple of weeks ago.  It was a fun class - no stress as none of the methods were new to me and I was among friends!

Bonnie is a great teacher - one who gets out among the students and helps those who need it and chats with those who are doing okay.  She demonstrates the rulers she recommends the students use and makes sure they are using them correctly.  She is friendly and warm.

She is out among the students, but not too busy to stop and pose!

Strips are essential for a BH class!

Some end up as 4-patch units, others as half-square triangles and others as star points in the Cathedral Starts class.  The pattern is free on Bonnie's Blog. Other patterns are in one of her six books which you can order from the blog or her web site.

The morning was spent on this block.

Some chose high contrast fabrics.

Others chose low contrast fabrics.

And we sewed!

And we sewed and visited!

Amazing how many different people's blocks just go together! The star was the alternate block which we worked on in the afternoon. Sorry no pictures of that - I was sewing!

We shared quilts we had done or were working on.  This one is my friend Diane's quilt she is making for her daughter.  Almost the same star block with slightly different placement of squares.

And Joyce's Lego quilt.  This was made from 1-1/2" strips!  Wow!

And my Autumn Chains quilt.

I know - crazy -- that is the back of the quilt.

Diane brought us to tears with her presentation of these t-shirts.  They say, "Friends don't let friends quilt alone!"  We've been quilting friends for 29 years!

With Bonnie's quilt as a backdrop, old friends and new including Bonnie came together.

The whole class and lots of new friends were made!

Thank you Bonnie for a fun class!

Until next time,

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

While Making Plans, Life Happens!

Yes, I know!  I've been missing in action for some time now!  You know how that goes -- while you make plans, life happens.

Here are a few of the things that have kept me away.

First we had a big celebration.

When we all get together, it is quite a party without additional guests!

Many family photos were taken on Friday night and then there was a dinner the following night with lots of family time in between.

Then there were a few projects that kept me busy.  I made bunting for the Church nursery.

Nursery B windows. These are double.  There will be a tutorial in the future.

This is a mirror for the kids, but a window for the parents who can check from the hallway without being seen by their precious babies.

Nursery A has the same type window.  This is the infant room.

The little curtain hides the collection of DVD's.

Then before I knew it --

It was time to get ready for Christmas!

Lots of presents exchanged!

Fleur de Lis was the theme this year.

The cousins love to get together and there is drama!

And a little fashion help.

And finally, last week, I got to take a quilting class with Bonnie Hunter.  More on that later, too!

That is what happened -- Life!  I've missed you, but plan to be a regular blogger now that those things are in the past!  I missed you all!

Until Next Time!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois