Thursday, August 14, 2014

Kansas Troubles Fun

Let me begin with saying that I am terrible at remembering to take pictures for posts!  I started off strong Tuesday night at our guild meeting but quickly became wrapped up in everything that was going on and just stopped taking them. I didn't take a single picture at the workshop I attended yesterday, either. I really need to do a better job of remembering!

Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters spoke at our guild meeting on Tuesday. I have always liked a lot of Kansas Troubles' fabric and the look of her work, but up until recently hadn't really followed her work all that closely. When I was working with her to set up the workshop I began following her blog and reading up on her "layered patchwork" technique. I was on the fence - not sure about the raw edge thing, which I absolutely will not do in applique. I decided to take the workshop, but wasn't convinced I would ever actually do a quilt with her technique.

And then there was the trunk show.  Lynne's quilts were gorgeous!  I absolutely loved the cozy look of those edges and was really impressed by how she makes something that really is primitive look really sophisticated.    Her program was very entertaining - and inspirational, judging by the people that were lined up at her table for the rest of the evening.  Below is a shot of Lynne with some of her wares before the shopping chaos began.


















And here is a picture of one of my many favorite quilts she showed in her program. It is on the cover of the current issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. The quilt features her new fabric line coming out in September.  I think I might have to add this one to my list.















The colors aren't really showing well - the mercury-halide lighting in the room where we meet is hard on photos. I love Hunter's Star quilts and was intrigued by how she put this one together.

I worked on the 30-Something pattern from Lynne's latest book in our workshop yesterday. I managed to take a very simple technique and make a mess of it - sewing things upside down and backwards... I spent more time ripping than actually sewing!  It was really a fun technique!  I decided that would prefer a darker thread as Lynne recommended - while it shows up on the neutrals, it seems less pronounced than the lighter threads look on the darks - so I only completed one block. It was a great day of getting to know Lynne and learning more about her business. I did a LOT of shopping - I'm a total KT junkie now - and can't wait to get back to my project.

A quick update on my last post - my pillow is finished.  It should be somewhere at Sauder Village right now. When I took it over to Nola there was another one that was done with the same plaid and it was amazing how different they looked!


















I'm not sure what I will do with it but it was fun to do.  My husband didn't seem all that excited by it...when I showed him the finished product his first response was "Do we have to keep it?" Glad to know he's such a fan!