Every six months, six dear quilting friends and I join about 45 other women for a quilting retreat hosted by The Country Quilter in Somers. It is always an enjoyable weekend of quilting, eating, laughing and sleeping (and in that order... we quilt and eat more than anyone could imagine) in a Connecticut country inn. Many nights we don't leave our machines until 2am in the morning, only to be up, dressed, fed and back sewing by 8am.
I have been enjoying these retreats for about 5 years and during the last 2 years have decided to make Friday night a freeform, create something, quick, easy and fun type of evening. My only two requirements are no pattern, and it must be able to be made and quilted before 10am Saturday morning.... Think about it, create an idea, choose fabrics, design, piece/applique, baste and quilt a nice wall hanging between 5pm Friday and 10am Saturday, leaving time to eat, laugh and sleep. Well, here are a few of the results... Let me know what you think....
I call this one Shimmering Circles... it is inspired by a Ricky Timms piece and to be honest it was the first one made on these Friday night freeforms..... and when I finished, I realized it wasn't really original... sorry Ricky! I used Superior Thread metallics and love the way the quilting shimmers in the light...
The next is called Curly Cues and for me has no rhyme or reason. It is based on an image I remember seeing somewhere at some point, but I think in my dreams. It is quilted with a variegated brown and orange thread and all the applique is raw edge. It hangs in my basement in my quilting studio.
The one I made at the last retreat was inspired from seeing photos on one of those HGTV design shows. It was a picture carried over across four picture frames. I liked the idea of a collage that was really one piece. Making this piece I received a lot of interesting comments from the other quilters at the retreat. First they mentioned the circle theme I had going..... (a theme I hadn't even realized, except as you look at these three quilts, you can see the circles... oh well). Next, once I had the piece quilted, they were all amazed I was actually going to cut it up. Many called me 'brave'! Saturday night at Show 'n Tell, I told everyone that I didn't think
it was quite brave to be able to cut up something I had made in 6 hours... they just chuckled :-)
The only problem with this piece that my husband named "LP's and 45's", because it reminds him of old records, is that I am going to have it hang them separately. Otherwise, as you see in this picture, they just slide back together on the rod, no longer showing the clear delineation of the three pieces. Oh well, quess I will have to find a new home for it.
Ok, that's it for today... hope you enjoyed seeing my lighter side .... these 3 pieces did teach me a bit in composition and now I am working on a much more complicated piece, but totally originally and oh yes, still circles. I will share that one as I make more progress...
Enjoy your day... Cheers!
Renee
I have been enjoying these retreats for about 5 years and during the last 2 years have decided to make Friday night a freeform, create something, quick, easy and fun type of evening. My only two requirements are no pattern, and it must be able to be made and quilted before 10am Saturday morning.... Think about it, create an idea, choose fabrics, design, piece/applique, baste and quilt a nice wall hanging between 5pm Friday and 10am Saturday, leaving time to eat, laugh and sleep. Well, here are a few of the results... Let me know what you think....
I call this one Shimmering Circles... it is inspired by a Ricky Timms piece and to be honest it was the first one made on these Friday night freeforms..... and when I finished, I realized it wasn't really original... sorry Ricky! I used Superior Thread metallics and love the way the quilting shimmers in the light...
The next is called Curly Cues and for me has no rhyme or reason. It is based on an image I remember seeing somewhere at some point, but I think in my dreams. It is quilted with a variegated brown and orange thread and all the applique is raw edge. It hangs in my basement in my quilting studio.
The one I made at the last retreat was inspired from seeing photos on one of those HGTV design shows. It was a picture carried over across four picture frames. I liked the idea of a collage that was really one piece. Making this piece I received a lot of interesting comments from the other quilters at the retreat. First they mentioned the circle theme I had going..... (a theme I hadn't even realized, except as you look at these three quilts, you can see the circles... oh well). Next, once I had the piece quilted, they were all amazed I was actually going to cut it up. Many called me 'brave'! Saturday night at Show 'n Tell, I told everyone that I didn't think
it was quite brave to be able to cut up something I had made in 6 hours... they just chuckled :-)The only problem with this piece that my husband named "LP's and 45's", because it reminds him of old records, is that I am going to have it hang them separately. Otherwise, as you see in this picture, they just slide back together on the rod, no longer showing the clear delineation of the three pieces. Oh well, quess I will have to find a new home for it.
Ok, that's it for today... hope you enjoyed seeing my lighter side .... these 3 pieces did teach me a bit in composition and now I am working on a much more complicated piece, but totally originally and oh yes, still circles. I will share that one as I make more progress...
Enjoy your day... Cheers!
Renee
2 comments:
I can't wait to see what you do this year!
Don't fret about the circles - that's called "developing personal imagery" and you should go with it if it feels right.
jane
Lovely work! I'm especially drawn to the small LP's and 45's quilt. Instead of hanging them separately, you could put a spacer on the rod between them. Use a large bead, or cut a piece of clear plastic tubing.
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