It's been a long time coming...

Sandra from India posted a comment on my blog last week, asking me why I stopped blogging.  To be honest, I hadn't planned to stop posting.  It is just that I really only blog about my quilting.  Not the other myriad of things that go on in my life.  Unless that is, they relate somehow to quilting :-).

Well for the last 2 months, I have done very little quilting of my own.  My son graduated college... WooHoo...  we went on a family vacation early this year as I now have two 'working, supporting society' children.  My son started work on July 2nd :-).  Then 3 days after we returned from vaca, I spent two weeks in Mexico, Argentina and Chile for work.  It was all fantastic, but that meant in the month between Mary 25th and June 24th, I was home for a total of 7 days.  No quilting then.

Once I returned, I had to get back to the quilt I am quilting for a friend of a friend, who brought it on Etsy to give as a wedding present.  It is huge and it is a traditional double wedding ring that he wants quilted traditionally, so you know it is taking me a long time...  :-(.  So of course, I can't post progress pictures of someone else's quilt until it is in their hands.

So that brings me to this weekend, when I realized I will be having dinner at my best friends house (we have known each other for 39 yrs ...  yikes) on her birthday.  Neither of us picked the date.  It was picked by another women, she wants me to meet.  But in this revelation, I realized that the quilt I started for her almost two years ago, could really be finished for her birthday if I focused.  So today, a good friend (Thanks Teri Lucas !!) dropped me off a piece of wool batting and tonight I basted it and got all the in the ditch work done, as well as the free motion quilting in the center Mariner's Compass square.

You may remember this quilt, as I made the center compass in a class taught by Mary Anne Ciccotelli, using her 3D, folded fabric technique.  I then used the folded flying geese around the center medallion and then again for the outer boarder.  You can find more info about the top here, here and here.  Told you it's been a long time coming :-)...

But for now, here is the quiling progress for tonight.

I like my corners.  I can't believe I did them without a single marking.  I started to mark at least the straight line from the corner to the tip of the flying geese and decided against it. :-).  The photo's are a little blurry (or I am soo tired, they look blurry to me).  But either way I will try to take better pictures tomorrow and share it with you.

Night!

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!!

3D Mariners Compass and UFO Update..

Ok, so I just had to see what this thing was really supposed to look like, so I spent about 3 1/2 hours recreating my center (printing the templates, cutting the fabric and sewing it all together).

I don't know about you but that's not alot of time on a technique you are just learning.  Think about how long it would be to draft and do this using paper piecing?

Now I will work on my circular flying geese that are folded and go on the outside.  I don't think I will stop there as Mary Anne did.....I think I will set mine in a square and add more folded points as I set that square in a square.....  well we will see....

Still working on my 15 month old UFO that I picked back up 2 weeks ago.  Designed my trapunto shapes and am now stitching them in with water soluble thread. ....  not used to working on 2 pieces at once...  not sure I like it either.... 

But hey, gotta like variety :-)....

Pelham Quilter's 3D Mariner's Compass Workshop

This past weekend my local quilt was fortunate enough to have one of our own guild members, Mary Ann Ciccotelli, host a folded fabric 3D workshop.  Most of those in attendance chose to work on the gorgeous Mariner's Compass that Mary Anne made as the class sample.
But one adventurous quilter decided she wanted to use the technique to make a sunflower.  So the usual suspects gathered for a fun filled day of fabric folding and friendship.

Lorraine, our guild President, was the adventurous one in the bunch.  Here is a picture of Lorraine working away.  Tell me she isn't having a great time!

Here is Lorraine with half of her sunflower completed.  While in Lancaster last month, she brought a fuzzy piece of brown wool to use as the sunflower center.  Can't wait to see the finished result.  Knowing Lorraine, I won't have too wait long!

Donna and Paula, two of our newest guild members, worked really quietly on their pieces.  I had to sneak over and try to catch Paula at work.  She was a busy beaver...

I can tell you she is working in blue...  but unfortunately she left too early for me to get another picture. :-(.

Donna, always has such wonderful fabrics in her stash.  Makes you wonder where she get's them all from. 

She is sooo busy at work here, she didn't even bother to look up, when I came by.  I can see the blues and reds, with a hint of something dark...  hmmpphhh....

                                                                                                    
I see light and dark blue with gold, in this stage it looks almost like an oriental fan....  especially with the way she is peeking over the top :-).

(Pop on over to Donna's website.  She is one gifted jewelry designer.)




Blue must have been a popular color, because Millie also worked in blues.  The background to her compass points was blue as well.  Here you see Millie preparing her background pieces before sewing the compass points into the background.

Here is Millie with a quarter of her compass sewn together.  She used rust and bieges as her compass points.






Jean and her mother, Evelyn, worked side by side all day.  Jean choose black, white and red as her colors.  They really looked sharp together, even though Jean doesn't like to be photgraphed, so I don't have great pictures....

You can see her here pressing one of her seams.  Don't you love her fabrics!  Those points are going to look sharp on the black.













Evelyn was just getting started when I took this picture, so my apologies..  but here is Evelyn sitting calmly working on her first wedge.....

Evelyn took the time to fussy cut her print fabric, so that all four of her front compass points will have the same design positioned in the center of the point.


Here is a picture of my day's work.....  of course, no picture of me.  As you can tell my compass is on much more complex than the class sample.  I wish I could say it was by design, but it is called a slip in directions. 

So you will have to stay tuned for a finished picture of mine.  You see, my background wedges are cut too small, so my circle is actually a half circle :-)....

Either way...  we had a ball.  Mary Anne is a fantastic quilter, who enjoys finding new, easier ways of  tackling complex patterns.  She has many quilts using this basic technique...  the mariners compass, the sunflower, a color wheel and even a highly decorated turkey!  Take a look at her website or her blog  to see some of her work, and of course if you or your guild are looking for a fourth generation quilter to teach you a new technique, give Mary Anne a call!