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!!

OK... I think I have made all my decisions

Ok, thanks to all the input from Teri, Jeanne and Mary Anne... and of course my DH.

I have decided on scrolls instead of feathers, although I changed the ones I had experimented with. I realized two things. First, I was shying away from the scrolls, because they meant more tedious applique, but then that is what makes the quilt more interesting. Second, the experimental scroll was too thin and too short to fill the space. So I enlarged them and changed the direction of the points, so that it flows better in the shape.


The scroll samples made out of the white paper are the final shapes and sizes. I will use the blue/shrimp batik for the smaller applique and the gold/shrimp batik for the larger outer applique. I have also decided on the thread and the stitch.

So now with all my decisions made. Now I have to cut out all the shapes to prepare the applique.

Whew.... now to the real work.


Cheers!

Well one decision made...

So I decided tonight while watching the World Series... wait a minute... it was a busy night. 5pm Mass, dinner, "The Secret Life of Bees" movie (definitely worth going to see), home to watch the World Series (thanks to the rain delay), but ended up quilting my Alzheimer's Art Quilt.... more on that in a sec.

Anyway, while listening to the Phillies vs Rays game, I played with the applique fabrics for my medallion quilt. I was so happy to see that if I used blue thread, the shrimp/blue fabric does indeed stand out enough to use on the shrimp fabric. I am happy, because it is the shrimp/blue batik that first caught my eye, and caused me to buy the other Moda Marbles fabric to complement it. It would have been a shame if I couldn't use it.

But which applique to use on the blue fabric is still a mystery. I am leaning to the feather for the symplicity. My DH likes the scroll, since it is more 'airy'.... ughh decisions.

All comments, suggestions are welcome. We can make this a blogger design conversation.

Please help!

Renee

Decisions, decisions....

Ok, I am back to my medallion quilt that I started at retreat. I decided at the time that I had to put the top together before I choose the applique designs and fabric, because I needed to see what the pieces looked like relative to the space and colors. Not sure that is the right way to go about it, but it seems to work for me. I also decided that I wanted to leave space to work on my quilting, getting comfortable with small/dense free motion around a motif, so that the motif almost looks raised. Not quite ready for trupunto, but getting there.

Well, I love my medallion center applique design. I created it using the old paper doll method.


I think I am going to leave the gold round without applique so that I can practice that quilting. I would love to have areas that look like applique swirls, but are just outline quilted, with dense free motion quilting around them.

For the bright shrimp color round I have played with two different applique patterns, one made out of the same fabric as the center applique. And another as you see below.

I like these feathers best, but I am not sure of the fabric. So I will have to let it sit for awhile to decide.

The next decision is how to treat the blue round. I am still auditioning the applique shape, and then I will have to audition the fabric. I am using plan paper for the evening to decide which I like best. I'll go back at it tomorrow night and hopefully one will jump out at me then. For now, I like the feather on the left, better than the scroll on the right...

















I do like them both.... so how is a girl to decide ?? decisions, decisions !! Well, I guess it will have to sit for a little bit. I am sure it will come to me.


See ya later!

Renee