Batting Buds Retreat

I'm blessed to be a member of the Batting Buds small quilt group. The six of us are best buddies, and share much of our lives with one another, beyond our mutual interest in quilting. We call ourselves the Batting Buds because just like when making a quilt, it's the part on the inside that's the most important... batting is what makes a quilt what it is, and what's inside each of us makes us special friends with one another.

This weekend we retreated, and we're all grateful that Mary opened her home for our long weekend stay -

from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon!

When Mary asked for input on the t-shirt quilt she's making for her daughter who will graduate from high school in May, we were all happy to respond.

Quite a bit of time was spent on the floor, analyzing and testing various aspects of this quilt's layout and assembly process. Such a bright and fun t-shirt quilt!

Lola (Her real name is Linda, but with two of us named Linda, it's less confusing to call her Lola.) worked exclusively on a 144-block quilt called "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler."

Lola's making it with her mom, and between them they've made about 100 of these six-inch blocks made from Aunt Grace type 1930s reproduction prints.

Kim mostly embroidered on "Snowmen A to Zzz" blocks, a pattern from Crabapple Hill Designs.

Susan decided to begin something new, reading up on and then starting to English paper piece tumbling blocks. Susan's already hedging on how far she'll get, referring to this project as a "coaster."

Michelle worked on hand-appliqueing a Joseph's Coat block that she, Kim and I are slowly making along with Kellie of Don't Look Now.

After two and a half days and two nights of sewing into the wee hours, lots of laughter, a good movie (Australia), some wonderful eating, drinks, and chocolate... we don't look much the worse for wear, do we?
I'm very grateful for my Buds! They are the stuff of a beautiful life.

Friday Flaunt - One Joseph's Coat Block

Free time this week involved dabbling a little bit in four different projects! Just enough effort on each to make a little progress, but not enough to deem any of it flaunt-worthy.

During last weekend's Hope Quilters retreat (see post below), Kim, Michelle and I spent time fine-tuning our Quilt-Along projects. Kellie Wulfson who's leading this through her blog, makes it look so easy! I can't say that's been my experience thus far, but the three of us are determined to persevere. We compared the shapes of our plastic templates; compared how we're cutting petals pieces from Floriani Stitch N Wash Fusible; inspected one anothers' applique stitches, and decided we're on the right track.

My first, imperfect, Joseph's Coat block is appliqued. It was a good warm-up for getting the hang of gluing the fabric over the petal-shaped Floriani, and learning how to create sharp points.
After trying several glue sticks, I've decided the Elmers Washable School Glue Stick works best for me. The next dozen petals ready to be appliqued have sharper points than my first effort. Practice, and lots of rejected petals, makes perfect.
I hope you'll forgive this long-distance Nana's grandson flaunt. Tay is 3-1/2 months old now. After spending five weeks with him in Sydney, Australia, beginning when he was just three weeks old, now whenever I see him via Skype I yearn to pick him up. He looks so huggable!

Instead I sing and motion "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" song to him. We're also learning sign language together. Tay seems intent as he watches me on the computer screen. We're learning "Nana," "big boy," and "see you."

How ever did we communicate with our children 30 years ago!?

Blizzardy Blog

It's another stay-at-home sort of Monday. Right now it's snowing (again) on top of Sunday night's drizzle. This morning plowed or shoveled sidewalks, driveways, and streets were coated with a layer of ice. Wearing a pair of Yak Trax over boots are the only way to safely get around on foot. Bundled up to endure 16 F (-9 C ) with the wind making it feel like -1 F (-18 C), I managed a 50 minute walk with the dog whose bumbling along on the ice gave me something to giggle about.

Quilt-wise, it's time to deal with "point problems" with the Joseph's Coat Quilt Along. Though Kellie (www.dontlooknow.typepad.com) has an excellent photo tutorial showing how she achieves sharp points, gluing fabric over Floriani Stitch and Wash petal shapes, it's not so easy to do! The first time I arranged my petals, the points looked like this. Yikes! There's a hole!

After scrapping those; sanding down the edges of the petal template; drawing and cutting new Stitch and Wash Floriani pieces; and gluing Floriani to new fabric petals - taking extra, extra care with the points - there was a slight improvement. After I hand-appliqued them just a"scosh" of white background fabric shows, but I think I can still improve upon this.

What I can't abide is my outside points. Terrible! These will be redone.

Suffice it to say, this Quilt Along isn't fun at the moment. I'm so disappointed in myself, a supposedly experienced quilter. I'm eating humble pie. Well... I'll dig in again. Perseverance.

Choosing Joseph's Coat Quilt Along Fabrics

The fun part is all this was choosing fabrics. (Perhaps why we have more fabrics in our stashes than finished quilts to show for those selections!?)

Kim, Michelle, and I met to select help each other settle on fabrics. It was fun and educational! After a couple hours of deliberation here's what we settled on.

These are Kim's. The fabric at the bottom is the inspiration piece.

I thought it was important to consider value in our fabric choices. I've heard it said that quilters, especially new quilters, tend to gravitate to medium value fabrics. Check your own stash to see if it's true! We often neglect to buy fabrics with light, or very dark values.

We helped each other put fabrics in value sequence. When I turned the color photo into a black and white photo, it's easy to see the balance of lights and darks, and to see where fabrics fell out of sequence!

Michelle's fabric choices.

She'd like to paint a light raspberry color on two or three walls in her bedroom. Won't that be yummy?! She'll surely dream about raspberry sherbet!

My own fabric choices were inspired by an intertwined jacaranda and bougainvillea that I photographed while I was in Aus. (Given our weather, being in Aus seems long ago....)

Though each of us has more than the 12 fabrics Kellie suggests, we've agreed that more is better. We won't eliminate anything until we actually try it in a block.

Back to that humble pie, and perseverance to get those points figured out. Eventually, we'll have some gorgeous quilts to show for our efforts.

Starting Quilt Along

Don't you know how it goes? You see something new, get excited about it, and then feel like you have to jump into the foray and make it too? Well that's what happened when I saw Kellie Wulfsohn's latest project, a Quilt Along. It's a portable, hand-applique project to make Joseph's Coat blocks.

Though many quilters have already begun, since I've been home from Oz (Australia) for only a week, I'm just getting started. And luckily, it hasn't been too difficult to convince a few friends to Quilt Along with me. Doris, a blogger here in Des Moines who I first "met" through her blog, plans to make the Joseph's Coat quilt too!

So off we went, Kim, Michelle and me, to Quilter's Cupboard. It happens to be where Doris works, so it was quite marvelous to see Doris and rush over for hugs, just like we are old friends! She's a dear, and patiently spent nearly two hours helping each of us make our Joseph's Coat fabric selections.

Here we are (L-R): Kim, Michelle, me, and Doris. Doris is holding the Floriani "Stitch 'n Wash" we'll need to make our blocks. We're itching to get started, but the best part - by far and away - will be sharing this with friends. We hope to get-together soon.
Thanks, Kellie, for the inspiration!

Australia - Patchwork Shops

Jill, Tay and I had the car today so we visited two patchwork shops. This one, Patchwork Products, is in the garage of the owner's home in Rydalmere.
Australia's fabric prices are more dear than in the US, but if you can catch a sale, as we did, you can find some good deals. Here's Jill buying fabrics for her Kidillow business. And no, she isn't pregnant as she appears in this photo. She has Tay slung across her chest in a black "Bubzilla," the same color as the tank top she's wearing.

This was my favorite stop on Wednesday. The woman who waited on us thought Jill and I were sisters!

I'm not sure why November is a sale month, but we sure lucked out here and at the Craft Depot in Pennant Hills.

You never know when inspiration for a quilt will hit you. For me, it was two mornings ago. While I was walking through the neighborhood, I was taken aback by the gorgeous colors of an intertwined tree and bush. (Click the photo to enlarge.) I recognize the purple as jacaranda. And though the deep rose-colored one is a mystery, together, they're simply stunning!

I loved the colors so much that I decided on the spot they would be the colors for my next quilt. So, at the Craft Depot, when I came across this piece I had to purchase the 2.1 metres remaining on the bolt. It's called "So Sweet Pea" by Freedom Fabrics of London, England. Aren't the colors just about perfect?

This fabric will become the featured fabric and inspiration for the additional prints I'll use to make a Joseph's Coat quilt. I've joined Kellie's Don'tLookNow quilt-along. Her quilt-along began November 1, and I have a few supplies to get! It isn't too late for you to participate too.

Cheers!