Bonnie Hunter Workshop!

I have been wanting to take a class with Bonnie Hunter for years. I've tried on various occasions to get out guild onto her calendar, but she is so incredibly popular that she is booked years in advance. So when I saw her post on Facebook last week about flying into to Bloomington, IL, I checked her calendar to see where she was headed. On a whim, I contacted the host guild in Champaign, IL on Thursday to see if there was any room left in any of Bonnie's workshops and lo and behold there was one spot that had opened up on Saturday due to a cancellation. I  figured it was meant to be! I signed up for the workshop and hit the road.

The workshop was fantastic! It was hosted by the Illini Country Stitchers, an incredibly friendly and welcoming group.  I absolutely loved Bonnie and had such a great time with the group.  I did a lousy job of getting pictures....I was too distracted by sewing (although I can't say that I accomplished a whole lot). Bonnie showed us a different way of strip piecing nine patches.

She also showed us how she creates "bonus" half-square triangles by sewing an extra seam before trimming off excess fabric.

The bonus squares for this project end up 2" (1.5" finished). I'm not convinced that I want to deal with around 300 of those..sounds like a lot of extra work!

I haven't taken any pics of my blocks yet as I didn't really get enough accomplished to warrant a photo.  I am using fabric from my stash - a great roll of mixed reproduction fabrics and batiks that I picked up at The Back Door a few years ago paired with a bunch of neutrals from the stash I was collecting for the all neutral quilt on my "one of these days" list.  I decided to go with scrappy neutrals and a mix of different greens for the star points.  I'm beginning to rethink that decision after seeing these blocks from one of my classmates (picture borrowed from Bonnie's blog).  

I really love the way these look!  I may have to change my plan...or make two!

Home Alone

It seems like ages since I have had a weekend home alone!  It happened this weekend - everyone left except the dog, who occasionally requires more attention than the average toddler...and thinks something is terribly wrong if I haven't gotten out of bed by sunrise...  The solitude made for a fairly productive weekend.  Nothing finished, really, but I did make progress on a couple of projects.

One of the projects I worked is a hooked pillow for a magazine article Nola is writing. I started with a plaid wool and three complimentary pieces.

The idea is to show how different the plaid looks when hooked different ways. 

The top two squares were hooked with the wool cut perpendicular to the selvages (actually vertically in the picture above - in the direction of the colored stripes). The left square was done by sorting the strips by color and hooking a frame with the green strips and filling the center with the red and yellow. The square on the upper right was done by cutting the wool and hooking it in exactly the same order as it was cut from the piece.  The lower right was hooked in the same way - in cutting order - but from wool strips cut parallel to the selvage. The lower right was hooked randomly mainly from a mixture of strips cut in both directions.  This will be finished off as a pillow with the plaid wool on the back. Nola has a bunch of people doing these.  It is very fun to see all of the different effects that people have achieved with the plaids!

I spent some of the weekend catching up (or almost catching up) on prepping my SBOW blocks.  I still need to piece the background for week 7 but have all of the wool pieces cut. Blocks 1-6 are prepped and i am nearly finished stitching block 1. I have a LOT of stitching to do!

I also finally made a start on my first broderie perse section for my Rising Sun. I have been avoiding it - it is definitely not my favorite technique - but I really want to have it in progress to take to Baltimore on the Prairie. I didn't do any sewing....it is amazing how long it takes just to choose fabrics!  I am about half way through the prep.  I think a couple of the flowers I selected will be a real pain to applique...they may end up being switched out for something easier...but I am going to give it a shot.  I'm kind of liking how it is turning out so far.

I addition to taking several frisbee breaks to keep the puppy happy, I also took a little time out to dispose of some zucchini. 

Sadly, I barely made a dent in the pile on the counter, but the house sure smelled wonderful!

Long Weekend

Sadly it's time to get back to work this morning after an extended holiday weekend at the lake.  I wish I could say that I feel completely refreshed and ready to hit the computer this morning, but after three days at the lake with a neurotic dog that is scared to death of fireworks (which, by the way, can be heard going off about 20 hours a day down there), I feel like a need a really good night's sleep.

I was able to get quite a bit accomplished while keeping the dog company.  Most is not picture-worthy - I caught up on all the prep work for my summer BOW and summer freebie and managed to get most of the stitching finished on block one. I still have a little way to go before it is finished. I have to say that I absolutely loathe the new Steam-A-Seam 2 Lite that I purchased when it came back on the market briefly last year. I hate how badly it gums up my needles. Lisa Bongean said that steaming it more would help so I tried steaming for a second time with loads of steam but it doesn't seem to make any difference.  I find that I have to keep alcohol wipes handy and clean my needle frequently. Very frustrating.

I finished the next block for our guild BOM. The taupes do not look great in pictures, but I am really loving how they look.  I didn't do a wool version this month - I have enough wool applique in the queue with my BOW! 

I worked on one of my hand-pieced LeMoyne Star blocks on the drive and managed to finish another couple of diamond wedges. It was fun to work on it again - I'm inspired to get back to that one in hopes of finishing it for our quilt show next year.  I think I am down to only a couple more 12" blocks and then seven or eight 6" stars. I need to unearth that one from one of the UFO piles and start working on it again.

Speaking of digging out old projects, I was inspired to get back to my last Dear Jane over the past week or so due to a lot of new activity in one of the online groups I am in.  I managed to finish two more blocks.

I keep thinking that I want to start over (again) but then I go back and look at what I have completed so far and actually like them - all done in Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  It's mainly the background that I don't like - white on white. I started this one a couple of years ago in hopes of finding a theme that I liked well enough to stick with it. My previous two attempts never made it beyond 40 blocks or so.

I'm looking forward to another quilt retreat this weekend.  I am hoping that I can finish my Celtic Solstice at this one...which means I will have to make a final decision the setting very soon. So much pressure!

Retreat Time!

I had a fantastic time retreating in Paducah with a few friends last weekend.  We stayed at the relatively new Quilt in a Day Retreat Center. Despite a couple of issues (spotty wireless and a leaky ceiling in one bedroom), the place was fabulous!  The sewing area is spacious and well-lit and there are so many wonderful places to eat.  We thoroughly enjoyed the food! It is difficult to get a good picture of the place because it is really long, but here's the view from my table...

I was able to get a lot of sewing done - not as much as I had hoped, of course, but I am very pleased with my progress. I managed to finally finish piecing my Orion's Star.

As luck would have it, they had the perfect batik for my backing in the Quilt in a Day store (and it was only $8 per yard - a steal for batiks these days!).

I'm hoping to be able to drop this one off with the quilter at the beginning of July along with my Easy Street top which has been laying in my sewing room floor for ages.

My second project for the weekend was my Celtic Solstice.  I started by piecing the 40 blocks with the 4 patches.

I managed to finish all of these and then moved on to finishing my chevron pieces for the alternate blocks.  I did take a break to lay out the two setting options and gather opinions from my friends.

Three votes for option one, one for option two (the original layout).  I'm still torn...I really don't like the lack of contrast in the center of the stars in the first option so I am leaning toward option two.  I suppose I still time - I still have 150 chevrons to make before I need to make a decision.  I know what I am working on at the next retreat!

Making Progress...

May was a crazy month - four trips in four weeks!  I am looking forward to a much more quiet June. All of the travel and work has definitely limited my sewing and hooking time!  The girls are home for the summer now, too, so cooking and general chaos has also been cutting into my "me" time....

I did manage to make a quick stop in Harriet Hargrave's quilt shop when I was in Denver. It was a nice shop with good variety. She had a nice selection of Japanese and Australian magazines and patterns - I resisted the urge to bring any home, but they were tempting! 

I had hoped to get to another shop while visiting Denver but between the insane traffic and crazy weather (daily hail and tornadoes) I decided the best place for my rental car was the hotel garage. I use the term "car" loosely - Avis couldn't come up with anything smaller than an Expedition for me....the perfect car for attending an environmental sustainability conference in a city with horrible traffic, right?!?

I have been making progress on a couple of projects. I decided to stop waiting for a retreat (I need one!!) to get back to working on my Orion's Star blocks from a couple of summers ago.  I have half of the quilt assembled and all of the strips put together for the other half.  Ann is absolutely in love with this one and is pushing me to finish it so she can have it for her room.

I've also made a little progress on my rug from Anita's class last winter.  I actually have more completed now than when I took this picture (I had high hopes of finding time to update the blog last week).

I have hooked the leaves on the left and am close to having the background filled in...then I can move to the other half of the rug not shown in the picture.... Did I mention that I need a retreat?

I had to break away from Orion's Star (much to my daughter's dismay) to work on a new BOM for our quilt guild this past weekend. We will be launching the BOM at our next guild meeting and I needed to get my sample completed. The pattern is an old Kansas City Star series designed by Eveline Folind. I did this one in Japanese taupes and hope to put together a second one in wool. Our guild president has done a version in William Morris fabrics and is working on a blue-work version....we are hoping to inspire lots of members to play along.

I am considering outlining the applique with embroidery a la Suzanne Marshall since I have always wanted to do that on a quilt, but I will focus on getting the wool version finished first.  Of course, that means I will have to resist the temptation to start my summer BOW when it arrives...first one should be here this week and I can't wait!

All Work and No Play

It's been such a long time since I posted!  I have been working on a couple of really big projects at work and have been putting in long hours, leaving very little time and energy for getting anything creative done!  I did take a small break to spend a few days at Paducah, shopping (I actually didn't buy that much, but had a great time looking) and taking a Sashiko class from Pepper Cory.  The class was wonderful!  I'm not sure if I will ever use the technique but it was incredibly fun to learn the history and give it a try.

I would highly recommend taking a class from Pepper.  She was a fantastic teacher!

We also had the opportunity to attend a little get-together with Lisa Bonjean of Primitive Gatherings at a cute little barbecue "boutique" in downtown Paducah.  Lisa shared her tips and tricks for wool appliqué and answered questions from the audience. The highlight of the night was a sneak peek at the 2014 summer BOW.  It is gorgeous!  It just posted this week and I'm already signed up.  I can't wait!

Lisa gave everyone who attended a great little pin cushion kit and also drew names for door prizes.  I was lucky enough to win one - a great kit and pattern for a table topper.  I finished stitching my pin cushion tonight.  I still need to fill it, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's a fun little souvenir from the event.

The day after returning home from Paducah we attended Hook-in St. Louis.  I actually managed to finish my Wool Club challenge piece on time (not counting the label...). I am not thrilled with how it turned out - it is okay, but not my favorite rug.  Thankfully it was a small piece and didn't take all that long to do.  

The hook-in was a lot of fun and I did a great job of restraining myself... until the end. Red Barn Rugs had a couple of rugs I absolutely loved - one that is fairly reasonable in size and the other is ridiculously huge. I resisted temptation until the last hour of the hook-in...then went to look again and she didn't have either of the patterns. I should have taken that as a sign and walked away...but in an incredibly weak moment told her to send them to me.  I am not sure what I was thinking - that big one will take me five years to hook!  I can only hope that she will lose that piece of paper with my information...

Inspiration Overload

The past few weeks have been filled with inspiration - frequently interrupted by reality, but inspiring nonetheless!  There were so many beautiful quilts shared during show & tell at the Academy.  The pictures are not all that great due to the lighting and the fact that the ladies holding the quilts seemed to be in a hurry - they were even more incredible in person.

This quilt was done by Rita and her "girls" for Elly's re-release of "Spoken Without a Word" (supposedly due out sometime this year).

Here's a gorgeous version of Esther Aliu's "Love Entwined" center:

Shifting from quilts to rugs, I traveled to Lenexa, KS this past weekend to attend the Rock Creek Hook-in. It wasn't a complete shift...I did stop by Quilter's Station and Prairie Point Quilts and managed to find several things I couldn't live without (including some Jo Morton fabric that I have already started a new project with)...but the purpose for the trip was to see Nola's president rugs on display.  It was definitely worth the drive - it was so great to see them all hanging! This panorama shot doesn't do them justice.

Nola completed all of these rugs in 8 months.  Here are a few close-ups that give a better idea of how amazing these rugs are...

There were many other beautiful rugs at the show, including this sunflower that I absolutely fell in love with. I am going to have to add this one to my list.  Isn't the border incredible?!?

I really liked the colors in this one:

With all of this inspiration I couldn't resist starting a new project, so I spent Sunday in my sewing room getting a start on a project from Jan Vaine's latest book, "Embroidery and Patchwork Revisited".  I am in love with the fan quilt in the book (you can see the picture here).  Here are my first two blocks ready for embroidery:

And a third block that needs to be appliqued.  I'm not sure I love the way the instructions call for putting these together - the background is appliqued onto the fan - but I figured I would see how the first few turn out before trying to create a template and piece by machine.  The first two look pretty close to the same, and the curves look fairly smooth.  I'm hoping once the embroidery is added the slight difference won't show.

I can't wait to start stitching!  How many more days until the weekend??