North Carolina Quilt Symposium

Got back yesterday after spending a great weekend in Charlotte at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium. This was a first time event for me although the symposium has been going on for a number of years. It's an interesting concept in that the event moves round the state of North Carolina yearly with a different guild hosting each year. I understand that usually the venue is a college campus. This year we were on the campus of Johnson & Wales university which is a culinary college.

The class offerings from a variety of nationally known teachers were excellent. The enrollment fee included 2 days of classes and a lecture (as well as food and lodging) It was difficult to decide which classes to take! On Friday Janice, Cindy and I took Happy Villages with Karen Eckmeimer. It was lots of fun constructing our villages.

Here's Janice's village. She plans to add more doors and windows. I like her larger buildings. (click photos for larger view)



Cindy wasn't enjoying her work in the morning but after lunch when her piece started looking like a real village she started to like it. I love her trees.



I don't think my water/sky fabric works in my piece. It's just too dark for my bright buildings although I do like the illusion of a beach at the bottom.



Once the villages are complete we are supposed to top the work with a layer of tulle and perhaps I can use the tulle to tone down the brightness of the buildings.

On Saturday morning all 4 of us (Joanne was with us too) attended a lecture with Carol Taylor whose work has always impressed me.

On Saturday afternoon & Sunday morning I took a class with Robbi Joy Eklow, whom I've "known" online for years. Robbi is part of the Chicago School of Fusing. She shared her technique of fusing (yes there can be more than one way to fuse a quilt top.) I only made a small element in class as I didn't have the right fabrics with me at symposium.



There were a number of vendors at the show and I picked up a cool new (to me)set of rulers. They're called Double Diamond rulers and come in 3.5" and 1.5" widths. Here's their website. Last night I made a sample with each size of ruler. I like the smaller version best but both are kind of neat.



The ribbons at the show were very interesting. Each ribbon had an extra small yo-yo flower mounted to a hair clip. These were meant to be removed by the winner and worn on her name tag so everyone would know she won a ribbon and what color it was. The information cards were clipped onto each quilt with clothespins. Attached to each clothespin was a tiny yo-yo topped with a button. As I walked around the show I noticed that the clothespin yo-yo coordinated with the quilt. Turns out the woman who made them just had a big box of them and once the show was hung she walked around and tried to match the yo-yo to the quilt. She did a great job. Some of them looked like they were made specifically for the quilt.







It was a great weekend and I'm already planning to attend next year - especially since I WON A SCHOLARSHIP for next year's symposium. How cool was that??

More beach retreat

Every year our beach retreat has a theme. This year's theme was travel. We were issued a challenge during retreat to make a post card - an obvious travel related item!

We voted on our favorite and the winners each received a big bundle of fat quarters. (click on photos for larger view)




Many participants raided the scrap table for their creations!

Beach retreat projects

I spent most of retreat working on this paper pieced daffodil wall hanging. I've had this for at least 10 years and finally pulled it out to work on. Since this photo was taken I've added a small 1" border (which will finish to 1/2") in the darkest yellow. I still need a wider outside border, but will have to go shopping for just the right fabric. The pattern is by Eileen Sullivan. I've done a couple of her other paper pieced patterns which look complicated but aren't really all that hard. (photos are clickable for larger view. If you enlarge the daffodils you might notice the registration marks showing through the fabric. Those marks are on the paper pattern and were to assist in getting each segment joined to the next correctly. The paper-and the registration marks-will be removed)


After I finished the daffodils I cut out two more four patch swirls. This first one is out of some incredibly cheap fabric that I stumbled across in the stash the other day. I was going to donate it to the silent auction, but decided I'd see if it would work as a 4 patch. It actually made some interesting blocks but the fabric is still really cheap!


I then cut out this one. These blocks are smaller than the other blocks because the repeat on the fabric was smaller. I haven't decided what to use as sashings for either of these 4 patch swirls, but I expect a shopping trip is in order!

Back from the beach

As always, the guild's Beach Retreat was great fun. We had some ugly weather on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was beautiful. Saturday was a rare South Carolina summer day - the humidity was down and it was pleasant to sit outside and enjoy the soft breezes coming off the ocean.



Here we all are lined up in our retreat t-shirts. It's hard to get this many women lined up in such a way that everyone's head is showing, but they managed to do it! (clink on photo for a larger view)

Lots of beautiful work was done at retreat. I think everyone had a great time and we're already looking forward to next year!

Retreat Weekend

Friday morning I leave for our guild's annual beach retreat held on Seabrook Island at Camp St. Christopher. Craig attended camp there a couple of times when he was a kid and really enjoyed himself. I'm glad our accommodations are better than what Craig had when he attended! There are about 50 of us that attend each year and we spend the days working on whatever projects we bring along. We all set up together in one big room and have a good old time. I think we'll see a number of the swirling 4 patch quilts as it seems like EVERYONE is working on one! I'll be back on Monday and I hope I have good photos to share.

Asilomar

One of the highlights of my years living in California was being able to attend the Empty Spools Seminars held at Asilomar in Monterey, CA. I even attended two sessions the last year I lived there because I was afraid I'd never be back.

This year when I got the brochure I shared it with the TTT gang. (TTT stands for Trailer Trash Tuesday. It's a group of us that meet to sew at Karen's double-wide trailer/studio on Tuesdays.) By the end of that day 4 of us decided to go to Asilomar in April next year. Two others have since decided to attend so there will be 6 of us. Some of the people going have never been to California before so we want to do a little tourist stuff while there as well.

I'm really excited to be going back to a wonderful seminar held in one of the most beautiful areas of the country and it will be even better sharing the experience with friends. Of course my huge fear of flying may present a problem, but that's what they make booze for isn't it?

More Pigeon Forge

(as always photos are clickable for a larger view)
This is the gang just before leaving Pigeon Forge.
Back: L-R - Virginia, Janice, Sheila, Jolene
Middle: Joann, Maureen, Cindy (slightly lower than Maureen), Frances
Front: Corky, Betsy, Karen

Betsy's sister-in-law Janet took the photo. She joined us from Alabama.

Here are two of the three tops I completed while there.

Both of them still need borders attached. The orange/yellow/purple one actually wasn't supposed to have a border and I was going to donate it as a baby quilt to one the guild's community service projects. Lots of baby quilts are rolling in. We're also making lap sized quilts for our other service project and fewer are being turned in, so I'll add a border to it to make it bigger and then donate it.

The other quilt, using Paula Nadelstern fabrics, will have a black border. The photo makes it look like there is a lot of yellow in the quilt, but it's actually more of an olive color in real life.

Back from Pigeon Forge

I returned last night from a week in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to attend the Mountain Quiltfest. There were 12 of us and we had a ball. We didn't spend much time at the actual show, but we did spend a lot of times at our sewing machines. I completed 3 quilt tops.

Virginia, one of our crew, was a ribbon winner at the show! She won 3rd place for her beautiful applique quilt. Here she is posed with her quilt. Isn't it beautiful?

















Karen was the winner of a quilt raffle and was able to bring home this quilt. The colors don't show true in this photo. It's not nearly as dark in real life as it seems. It's probably about a twin size.






















We attended two dinner lectures and one brunch lecture. This is some of the gang at the brunch.

From left to right we have Janice, Cindy, Janet, Virginia and Karen in the front.











Here are Sheila (on the left) and Frances. Doesn't Frances look like she's having a horrible time? I assure you she wasn't.

Retreat photos

Here is Donna at the retreat working on her mariner's compass class project. Donna is always very enthusiastic about new techniques and she seemed to really enjoy working on this project. Isn't it nice? (photo clickable for larger view)















Karen, Jolene and Maureen brought a pumpkin block of the month project to work on and did some work on it. However, Jolene and Karen found another pumpkin project at one of the vendors and ended up finishing that quick project over the weekend. Here is Karen with hers. I missed getting a photo of Jolene's (who you can see standing behind Karen at the cutting table) however, hers looks similar to Karen's. If you click on the photo you will see the clock that shows Karen finished this after midnight Saturday. I went to bed about 1:00 that night, and Karen & Jolene were still going strong when I left.

More on the Beach Retreat

Here are photos of my table mates at our Beach Retreat. In the green is Jolene. She does fabulous applique work and worked on several pieces during the weekend. Frances has on the tie-dye shirt. She did that cute train quilt on the wall behind her. She also did a darling sailboat quilt, which unfortunately I missed getting with the camera.



















This is Karen decked out in her flamingo attire for our Saturday night event.













This is also Karen after spilling a cup of (thankfully cold) coffee all over herself. Luckily there wasn't much damage to her fabric! Much hilarity ensued while she was on the floor trying to clean up the mess.

Beach Retreat 2007

I'm back today from my guild's annual retreat to the beach. I'll post more later, but here is a photo of the entire group. Every year we have a theme, and I think it's obvious that this year's theme was the 60's. Our tie-dyed shirts were so bright that we decided the space shuttle could see us.

(photos are clickable for larger version)















Here's a shot of the two cute boys that very kindly took our group photos for us. We must have handed them 8 cameras for photos and they did it all with a smile.

Houston, we have a problem

I got my car all packed up and took off for Houston just before 8:00 this morning. As soon as I got on the freeway I noticed that my coolant light was on. I got off at the next exit and investigated. I'll admit that I'm a car idiot so I got out the owner's manual to assist me in figuring out how to fix the problem. I was frustrated because the drawing in the manual didn't match the actual car at all.

I had been having second thoughts about the trip so after a while I decided that the powers that be were trying to tell me something and decided to just turn around and go home. I'm disappointed about not going to see my quilt in the show, and I feel badly about letting down my friend Janis - with whom I was supposed to room. Even so, I do feel like I've made the right decision.

On the Road Again...

I leave in the morning for Houston to attend the International Quilt Festival. I'll be driving because of my fear of flying. I could probably make the trip in 2 long days, but I'll do it in 3. I want to be there early on Wednesday so I can be refreshed for the early opening on Wednesday night.

I'll be rooming with my friend Janis. We originally were going to be staying at the Doubletree but lucked into a room at the Hilton which is connected to the convention center. I hope to be able to blog a bit from the show, but I'm not making any promises.

Until then, here is a photo (clickable for a larger version) of the sun project I started the other day. I'm not sure I'm happy with it and may be taking some of it out, but heck, at least I'm sewing.

Jerry has said all along that it looks like an eyeball - among other things - and I'm beginning to agree with him.

See ya from Houston - quilter's mecca.

Beach Retreat

I got back this afternoon from 3 great days sewing at the beach. About 50 members of the Cobblestone Quilters were in attendance. Here we all are. I'm the 2nd person from the right in the front row of standees.

The organizers did a fantastic job. The theme was "Pajama Party." Upon arrival on Friday afternoon we each received a hand made pillow case with a number of goodies inside. Just before lunch on Saturday we each received our "bag lunch" which was actually an assortment of fat quarters. The ones I originally received were not my style, but I was able to trade with someone. She loved what I had and I loved what she had.

Saturday night we had one of those gift exchanges where you either steal a gift from someone or select one of the wrapped ones on the table. (I know there is a name for that, but can't remember what it is.) I had items stolen from me several times! It was fun. We all wore our pj's and were given a pillow for our new pillowcases. Those that didn't want to sew Saturday night could watch the special movie - Pillow Talk!

I started and finished 2 quilt tops. One is a Spiderman quilt for Noah. I don't have a photo of that one yet. This is the other:



I can't figure out a name for it. Can you help?

The painted center zebra panel was purchased at our quilt show in March. It's on a fairly loosely woven fabric. I had about a yard of the squiggly black & white fabric that I wanted to use as a border. When I put the panel on top of the squiggly fabric to audition it, one of the other quilters there pointed out that the squiggles made an interesting pattern showing through the panel fabric, so I went with it. I was lucky that matching the diagonals on the outer border just fell into place. I'm pleased with the result.