Quilting by the Lake - 2012

So I finally made it to Quilting By the Lake!  I have been wanting to go for the last 5 or 6 years, but neither time or money seemed to work in my favor.  Well this year the stars aligned and I got 2 friends from my art quilters mini group to go with me.  Thank You Donna Chambers and Sandra Parrott!!

Together we attended Session II and took Philippa Naylor's Studio Workshop.  We were closed out of both of her classes for session 1, so a word to the wise....  if you see a class given by Philippa in your area, jump on it quickly!!

Well, I couldn't have been happier. First, Philippa is a wonderful person and an equally wonderful teacher.  She has such a sunny personality and such quick wit.  But boy, can she work a room.  Her teaching style allowed her to address everyone's questions in a timely manner, while still leaving enough time for you to progress your projects and for her to give numerous demos on things the students requested or topics she thought were appropriate for the class.  What a great style.  This is definitely NOT an independent studio!!  Especially since the projects we worked on were so varied in nature.  Folks took advantage of the fact that Philippa started in the fashion design business.  So while many of us worked on quilts, others worked on pants, jackets, dresses and such.

My goal for the 3 day studio workshop was to learn how to transform my sketches into full size patterns and then turn the pattern into a quilt.  Well, my mission was accomplished.  We started by looking over photos of my quilts, so she could get a feel for my style.  Then we looked over some of my sketches.  We discussed the various techniques she would use to make each of the quilts I had sketched and decided on one that would give me the opportunity to learn a technique I had not used before.

This is the original sketch @ 12" x 18".  Sorry it is a little light, but the pencil lines aren't showing up very well.  I just wanted to give you a clue of what I walked in to the workshop with :-).....

This is the quilt in progress on the design board @ 40" x 60"  (I tried taking a picture of the full size pattern, before I started placing fabric, but that was even lighter than my sketch in the picture :-(.

This is a picture of the center partially completed, without the applique or side 4" panels :

And here is a picture of Philippa and I in front of the quilt as we wound up the 3 days : 





Unfortunately, I have deadlines on other pieces that I need to meet before I can pick this quilt back up.  But, I am anxious to get back to it.  I have side borders that need to be added to complete the top.  We discussed how it will be quilted, including trapunto and embellishments.  Oh yes and hopefully with the tips I learned from Philippa, I won't cut through my quilt top when cutting away the batting around the trapunto.  But guess what ....  yep, she taught me a trick for that too!!!




I'll share photos of some of the other pieces folks worked on later in the week.  Including the gorgeous piece Donna is working on.
  WooHoo!!

Until next time, Cheers :-) !!

One of my newer projects ...

Here is a piece I started at CG Fall Retreat 2011 a few weeks ago.  I am loving this piece...  I know, I love them all :-) 

This will be a tribute to my Mom who has taught me to be a strong, confident woman.  As you can see the profile is generic in nature...  it could be me, Mom, or even you.  The message here is that Women every where can all possess these traits.  






I have already added the quilting to the hair, using just a touch of grey.  I think such knowledge is viewed as wisdom.    And NO, I do not think you need to age or be grey to have wisdom, it just seems I was greying before I appreciated my Mom for what she was and what she taught me, so I thought it only fitting :-). 

I also added trapunto to the piece in the corners not occupied by applique.   I echoed the paisley applique shapes for the trapunto and created sort of a trapunto boarder in those corners. 

I am now in the process of quilting the piece.  Unfortunately, last night after an hours worth of quilting, I realized the tension was off, so I spent the next 1 1/2 hours ripping it all out.  I still have about another 1 1/2 hours of ripping tonight before I can get back to quilting.

Once the quilting is done, I plan to add wording down the center along the striped lines.  Right now I am thinking:  "Proud Confident  Passionate", each on their own line.  They will be in a heavier, darker thread than the background quilting to give them prominence. Since I added a layer of wool blend felt in the sandwich between the batting and backing, the quilting is pretty pronounced, so I want the wording to stand out as well. 


I will post more pictures as I progress.  Hope you enjoyed!

Hugs, Renee

CQ Retreat Fall 2011

Well, it has been a busy month and I had a lot going on, so I guess I am going to have to start posting more regularly again :-)....  I finished the clown quilt that I started during Hurricane Irene, I have finished a top I started over a year ago at Mary Anne Ciccotelli's 3D workshop and I am almost finished quilting a piece I started at this falls retreat....  but I will share all of those in separate posts, hopefully within the next week :-).

Today's post is about the CQ Fall 2011 Retreat two weeks ago at Interlaken Inn, in Lakeville, Ct.  As always we had a ball, just laughing, eating and quilting away!  A little smaller group this year than normal, only 48 of us, but still a wonderful time was had by all.  Somehow I forgot to take pictures of quilts in progress until Sunday, so sorry if I missed sharing some of the masterpieces of the weekend.

This is Claire Oehler on the left, the former owner of the Country Quilter, our hostess and her daughter, Jane Davila on the right...  both all smiles for the camera.

Here is Nancy Mirman, another of our hostesses for the weekend.  She is very talented and has her own pattern line for quilted clothing, bags and accessories.  Nancy is working on a paper pieced star from the new book she and Claire have just released!  Those of us at retreat were fortunate to be able to order a copy and they will be signed by both Claire and Nancy...  WooHoo!!!






Somehow I missed getting a picture of Noreen Lipolis, another one of our hostesses busy quilting, but I did get a shot of her from our Saturday night, Red Carpet themed dinner...

Noreen, is in black on the left.  Sorry Noreen for not getting a better shot.  But thanks to all 3 of you for a wonderful weekend!!  P.S...  no I don't dress up for theme nights..  so I played the roll of Paparazzi and took photos :-)....





And here is Donna Chambers working on her one of her mosaic pieces....

Donna, a goldsmith by trade, is so talented and has her own jewelry line.  Check out her jewelry website for a little quilting inspiration :-) 
This is Donna's mosaic technique.  She will be teaching it to some lucky quilters at The Storytellers Retreat coming up this weekend and at Hartsdale Fabrics this winter in December and January.  Her workshop filled up so fast at Storytellers that I am going to be her assistant.  This shall be fun, can't wait until Friday :-).

Gay sat next to Donna in the Patio room (we love the sunlight and view of the garden during the day).  Gay is part of the gang from The Pelham Quilters guild I belong to.  A bunch of us (Donna, Lorraine, Margaret, Jeanne, Evelyn and I) have been coming to retreat for years.  We even sit in the same seats.

   
Gay worked completely by hand this weekend.  She does stunning hand applique and hand quilting.  We were all so jealous when it was time to pack up.  No machine, etc... to load up!









Here is Lorraine busy at work...

Lorraine was working on Christmas presents for her grandchildren this year. Sitting next to her is Margaret.  Margaret always finds such lovely panels to incorporate into her work.  This year she was working on a Dahlia piece for her sister.

Remember, in my last post I mentioned I had won 2nd place in the Art Quilts category at the ViewArts Show in Old Forge, NY.  Well Marie won 1st place in the Wallhanging category and her lovely piece was used as the cover image for the Exhibit's Program.  Way to go Marie!!  Marie always works on very complicated paper piecing patterns.  Here she is taking the easy way out, doing a 'simple' cat paper piecing pattern....  lol.

On the design wall behind Marie is Ashley's circle quilt, seen here..

Ashley is my long time buddy and retreat roomie.  Can't believe I didn't get a picture of Ashley, but her gorgeous colors will have to represent her :-).

I also didn't get pictures this time of Jeanne or her Mom, Evelyn.  Guess I was so focused on quilting this weekend that my picture taking duties seem to have taken a back seat.  Sorry Jeanne and Evelyn.  I will remember to include you in April for our Spring 2012 retreat!

Well, now let's go next door into the room where we always here the most laughter coming from.  On the design wall right outside our door was Dory Higgin's house piece, made from all striped fabrics.

Actually, Dory sits in our room, but the design walls were all busy when she went to lay out the piece so she slipped next door.

Also in the room next door is Jane Davila.  If you are a quilter you know Jane's name.  She is the a well known quilter, teacher, speaker and author.  She teaches across the globe, has a great quilt pattern line and has written a number of "Sew Simple" quilt pattern books.  Not sure how she will use this pattern, but I believe it is being created using a Jelly Roll....








Barbara comes every year and works on very interesting patterns.  This year, she is turning a photo into a stunning floral piece...

 You can see her pattern on the table in front of her in the first picture.  It is an enlarged version of the photo in the bottom left hand corner of the picture below.  I can't wait to see what it looks like in the spring, at our next retreat!

Here is Jenny intent on laying out a nice blue and white top...  

I believe those are called tumbling blocks.  There was another quilter working on a tumbling block pattern, but I didn't catch a photo of it.



Just like I don't remember whose top this is, I just loved the daisy fabric.  I think it is one of those BQ block patterns...

Love the polka dots fabric as well!

 

Here is my piece.  I stated it in a 3D Workshop with Mary Anne Ciccotelli over a year and a half ago.  The mariners compass as well as the circular flying geese are all 3D, using Mary Anne's folded fabric method.  I completed the circle after the workshop and then it just hung on my design wall, waiting for me to figure out what to do next.  It finally spoke to me a few months ago, so I drafted out the rest and packed it up for retreat.  The side boarder geese are folded as well, using the one seam flying geese method.  They aren't sewn on at this point, but I have finished the top since coming home.  More on that in another post.

Well I hope you enjoyed visiting with me today.  As you can probably tell, we have a great bunch of quilters who retreat with the CQ ladies every 6 months.  It is such an inspiration after a busy summer when I get so little quilting done.  

I hope to bring you up to date on my other projects soon, but until then, Happy Quilting!

Hugs!!

Country Quilter Spring 2011 Getaway...What a great time!

So last week was a whirlwind!!  I was in Mexico City, Mexico for work Monday through Thursday.  Then Friday afternoon, after only about 15 hours home, I picked up my friend Lorraine and headed north to Interlaken Inn in Lakeville, Ct for our bi-annual Country Quilter quilting retreat.  Along with 55 other quilters we had a wonderful 3 days of eating, laughing and quilting, thanks to the ladies of the former Country Quilter in Somers, NY.  Even though the shop is closed, Claire Oehler, Nancy Mirman and Noreen Lipolis (CNN to their friends) have kept the retreat going.  Claire was the owner of the Country Quilter for over 20 years, so she knows what it takes to make quilters feel at home.

As is the norm, I thought I would share some pics of the weekend.  For the life of me, I can't remember the names of all the ladies, but as you can see, we are a big group :-).

So if you are reading this post and I don't identify you, please know that it is merely a senior moment.  You know one of those times when the world goes blank and all the thread seems to just jumble up and clog the gray matter we call our brain.

At least these ladies by Donna Chambers have hats on to keep their brains together.  Donna is always doing something different to keep us on our toes.

Now completely different, Donna is working on a collage piece in prep for a class she is thinking about offering.  Just wait until you see the work she did on our Pelham Quilters Round Robin...  a collage heart that will blow your mind...  unless you pull your hat over your eyes :-).

 

And here's Ashley working on the back to her green and white quilt.  She was intense, determined to finish a bed quilt she'd started at the last retreat.

Eileen is just starting a new piece, squaring up her center for each square.

Maria is at the other end of her project.  All sandwiched up, by Sunday, Maria is beginning to machine quilt her weekends project.

Ever have a hard time deciding on baorders?  Pat is getting help from her fellow quilters (senior moment here... sorry).

This is a piece that I worked on this weekend, translating a picture of a parrot I took at Jungle Island in Miami into a quilt.  Still need to fix the beak and add more leaves....  but I love all the thread art used to create the parrot.  I will probably also add more definition to show his ruffled feathers.  I might even have to define his perch a little more, it seems to be blending into the background...  oh well, that is why photographing your work, can really help you to see what a piece needs.  Love having a digital camera :-).

Yes, we have hand quilters in the group as well.  Doesn't she look so relaxed...  hmmm maybe I need to take a page from her book.

Funny thing, while Mom sits peacefully with her hand quilting, daughter is busy at her machine creating a new quilt.  Will she machine or hand quilt it?  Guess we will have to wait until October to find out.

Smiles all around with this cheery yellow quilt.  With kaleidoscope blocks on her design wall behind her, she holds up her latest completed block.   Oh yes....  triple senior moment with the last three photos :-).

Claire is busy using the left over fabrics from two other quilts to make a third blue and white quilt.  The colors must agree with her...  she is all smiles for the camera.

Oh yes, here is our fearless leader.  As you can see by Sunday night many retreaters have packed up their machines and are relaxing with hand work.  Claire Oehler, the mastermind behind our wonderful weekend.... WOOHOO!..... is chilling doing some hand work on one of her quilts.

Nancy, one of the N's in CNN, is 'chilaxing' as well....  yes, I picked up some slang from my great nephew.... I think she is working on a binding, winding down a quilt, as we all wind down for the weekend!

Now it is count down until Oct 14th, when we all head back up to Interlaken Inn, for another wonderful weekend with good friends, lots of food and laughter and all the quilting you can imagine.  Interested in joining us?  Just email the ladies at cqgetaway@gmail.com.  I think I heard there are only 17 spots left!

Hope to see you there!

I took 1st Place in the Storytellers 2010 Challenge!!!

So I am finally getting back to my Storyteller posts. As promised, here is the posts on Storytellers 2010 Challenge.  The subject was African American History over the last 15 years, to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of Storytellers.  We were asked to pick an event in African American history and make a 12 1/2" block, that was made up of white or white on white fabric, with no more than two other colors.  Each block had to include crystal as it is the symbol for a 15th Anniversary, but we could add any other embellishment.  Those in attendance voted to select the Viewers Choice.  1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons were awarded, along with scholarships to next years retreat.

Out of the 75 quilters only 10 submitted entries...  Lucky me... I won 1st Place....  YEAH!

Here are the winning entries:

My tribute to Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe and "Revelations"..  both celebrating 50 years.  The creation of the Dance Troupe in 1958 and the Premiere of Revelations in 1960.

And here is second (Color in the White House) and third place (Storytellers Anniversary, by Joann Shelton):

....  and here is a smilebox with the other 7 entries:

Free slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

Hope you enjoyed the show....

Storytellers Show-n-Tell

OK, here is installation number 2 of my pics from the Storytellers Retreat.  Today I am posting pics from Show-N-Tell.  It is always amazing to see the different styles of work, but for me what was unusual for 75 women from all over the US, was the similarity of the fabrics.  They were all beautiful, it was just interesting to see such a consistent theme.

For easier viewing I have made a Smilebox.  I would appreciate your comments as to whether or not you like the Smilebox postings or would prefer if I attached the pics one by one.  Just leave a comment :-).

Ok, here you go:

Personalize your own photo slideshow

Hope you enjoyed the show!

Renee

What a weekend @ Storytellers!!

I came home on Sunday with such a HIGH.  Nothing better than being surrounded by other quilters, who are all so supportive and nurturing.  There was 75 quilters in attendance with a few husbands sprinkled in, to help with technical aspects of the weekend.  This was my first time at a Storytellers retreat (some have been going for 15 yrs!) and I will definitely be going back next year.

I took more than 70 pictures over the 4 days, so I will break my posts up by subject....  and no I won't post all the pics, but will do another Smilebox for those who want to see more than a few.  I should start with my ribbon for the Challenge ...   I WON 1st PLACE  :-)....  but since that was on the 3rd day, it will have to wait....  I will post all the challenge pictures together.

Ok, first thing Thursday morning was the first segment of Juanita Yeager's 2 1/2 day class, Paint It... Quilt It...Finish It...  I took the first 2 days, paint/quilt it, and am I sooo happy I did!  You can take a look at Juanita's blog here.  She is such a talented fiber artist.  In fact, while we were there she found out that she had won Best Machine Workmanship Award at Mancuso's  show in West Palm Beach over the weekend....  way to go Juanita!

Juanita uses watercolor pigments to create the most stunning floral quilts.  She stepped us through the materials she uses, including how she prepares her fabric and then guided us through a day of painting two different floral designs.  Here is a picture of my first flower, that we drew freehand and then painted:

and here is my second flower which was first traced from Juanita's pattern and then painted....

On the second day, we learned all of Juanita's tips and techniques for machine quilting our flowers.  The class was geared to anyone from a novice to someone like myself who has machine quilted for a while.  I always find it amazing that quilters everywhere seem to have little tips to make quilting easier and Juanita had a few that I had never heard before.  I love her tip on burying threads...  oh my gosh so simple!...  but you have to take her class to learn how (I can't just share her secrets with the world.. hehehehe...)

So here is my first flower after quilting:

All the quilted is done free motion, with no marking.  She had us sign our piece while quilting in thread, like an artist signs their paintings.  Notice the thread painting that provides more depth and contrast above the stem in different color Sulky Rayon threads.

I had such a wonderful time with Juanita and the other ladies in the class.  Here is a short Smilebox with a few pictures of the other quilters work...

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

I hope you get to take a class from Juanita one day...  it will be well worth it!