Monday, May 11, 2015

Mod Retreat and White Backgrounds

Sleeping was not high on the priority list of things to do while on a fabulous quilt retreat with members of my own Central Florida MQG, and the Gainesville MQG. At least four of us stayed up into the wee hours, each of the three nights we were at Luther Springs, a delightful Lutheran Bible camp in the middle of nowhere Florida. To see lots of retreat pictures, go to this CFMQG blog post

In the big scheme of things, my accomplishments aren't so grand. Though I went on retreat intent to put together piles of finished string-pieced diamonds to finally assemble my long-standing UFO "Picket Fence" quilt top, there just wasn't enough room to lay out that quilt. So, it's a good thing that I also took along my homemade kits to sew blocks for two quilts. Those two are the ones I nearly completed.  

My first quilt top finish was "Triangle Tango," a pattern I saw at Missouri Star Quilt Company, when I was there with friends on April 17. Jenny Doan's (Missouri Star) version uses a layer cake collection and jelly rolls, neither of which I ever buy. Precuts aren't my thing.

So I sewed mine scrappy using prints from my stash along with 2-1/2"-wide strips cut from my bolt of Kaufman Kona white. It's fun to point out the variety of designer prints and collections.

My Triangle Tango quilt top measures 65" X 73", and is ready for basting and quilting.

The second quilt top I nearly finished is "Prism" by Zen Chic. I'm a pushover for any bright and rainbow-looking quilt, so this one makes me very happy. Right now, this design measures 55" X 72". Yet to add to this quilt design are top and bottom solid white borders that will make lots of negative space for quilting.

Prism is sewn from unfinished foundation paper-pieced blocks that are 9-1/2" square, using prints and Kaufman Kona white as background fabric. The FPPed blocks were a stinker to join together so the angles meet-up. It took some unsewing and resewing to get them all right.  

However, the bigger angles were much easier to meet-up. I made sure to add one solid piece of each bright color.

Love these prints! Left: Sphere by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic. Right: The Linen Cupboard by Emma Jean Jansen of Ella Blue.

So that makes two more quilt tops to add to the three quilt tops I already have that need quilting! That's five fairly large quilts to quilt! Guess you can figure out what I should be doing whenever I find myself at home for a few hours. And it is good to be home for a while. Linda

15 comments:

  1. Sleep is highly overrated I believe! Especially when you have such pretty tops to show for it!

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  2. Both quilts are stunning and so "you"!

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  3. Beautiful Linda. And all that negative space to play on!

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  4. sounds like a really fun retreat ! love, love, love Prism - your fabrics are fabulous (as usual!!)

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  5. Both quilts turned out great. Your choice of colors and prints made dynamic quilts.

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  6. The quilts are beautiful! I can't wait to see how you quilt them. Im standing by...:-)

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  7. These are both fabulous but I love the second one. Haven't seen that design before.

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  8. Sleep?? What's that! I'm with you when it comes to retreat, I never get to bed before 2 am. I really love your 2 quilt tops that you completed on your retreat. I may have to copy the idea whenever I got some of my UFO's under control. yeah, right! lol

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  9. Perhaps sleep is one reason retreats don't appeal to me! I'd rather get up and start sewing at 5 a.m. than stay up until the wee hours of the morning! I start winding down at 4:00 and only accomplish handwork during the evening hours. Glad you had such a fun time. I love your quilt tops and look forward to seeing how you quilt them!

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  10. Just getting through my blog reading and so pleased to read all about your retreat and what you accomplished! I really like both of your quilts and your colour and fabric choices as they all are bright and cheerful. The half square triangle quilt is really effective. Happy quilting!

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  11. Wow.....you really made a lot of progress to finish two quilt tops, Linda!! I love them both, but the Prism quilt is just so "YOU"!! Hope you have caught up on your sleep by now.

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  12. Love your prism quilt! Looks like it is a perfect canvas for some of your great quilting.

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  13. I like them both and can't wait to see them all quilted up.

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  14. Oh my goodness, they are all so pretty I don't know which I like best.

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