Quilt Retreat in Leavenworth

This was the 12th year that Tink and I have gone to Leavenworth on a quilt retreat with friends from our online guild, WASIQ.    It is such a treat to spend 4 days quilting and having fun.   Leavenworth offers other diversions that take me out of the sewing room......shopping, of course....food....and a fabulous spa just 2 doors down where I enjoyed a 90 minute massage!

One of our favorite restaurants is South...yummy Mexican.  Actually they say its Latin.  We went three times this year!  Twice for dinner and again for happy hour.

Here we are with our server Jessie, who remembered us from last year...including where we sat!  I didn't think we were that rowdy!  LOL!

Something new we did this year was have a "Jelly Roll Race".   This link best describes the race.

Here are the gals with their quilt tops right after they finished...I labeled who came in 1st, 2nd & 3rd.  You can click on the collage to see it bigger.

Here we all are with our tops:

A better shot of mine:

I also made this quilt top at retreat:

Another great retreat over.   Can't wait for next year!

Bottled Rainbows - Block 8

Oh gosh....my picture taking has degenerated!   All those wrinkles!

This is my pink block....number 8 of 12.  Getting there.   :)

I found this fun "rainbow" fabric at Hawthorne Threads for the backing for my Bottled Rainbow quilt.  It's Ann Kelle's line called "Remix".  I love it!  Unfortunately it had bad company in the washing machine and is now dingy looking with some smudge spots.  I considered buying more but then changed my mind.  Fabric is too expensive these days and it is just the back.   

Seeing Blue

I sewed with my co-workers from Pink Chalk on Thursday.   Kathy let us finish up early and we sewed the afternoon away....each working on their own projects using a pattern from the store.  I chose to make a quilt using a Blue Underground Studios pattern called "Green Glass Door".   As you can see below my "doors" were blue!   :)

I had collected quite a few prints in various shades of blue and decided this would be the perfect pattern to showcase them....and be fast!  I got half the top done at our sew-in and the other half at Yaya day on Friday. 

A little close-up:

My camera (and the operator!) doesn't take great pics but you get the idea.   

This was a fun quilt to make and would be perfect for that stash of fabrics you don't want to cut into little pieces.  

Me with my Lampshade hat on

I've had requests to see me in the Lampshade Hat.  Here's the only picture I have...taken by the owner of the tea house.   Not all the Red Hatters were brave enough to wear theirs!      :)

Quilted Lampshade Hat

I am a Red Hatter and for this months luncheon we were to wear a hat made from a lamp shade.   I decided mine had to be quilted!   Of course!    I made a template of the shade and cut it out of batting. Glued down red squares of fabric till the batting was completely covered and then machine quilted it to hold it all together.  Added binding to the bottom  nd top edges.....added some pom-pom trim and a fabric flower....and voila.....a cute hat!   I wore it today for lunch and now it proudly sits a-top a lamp.
Fun project!    

Quilting and the Olympics

The XXII Winter Olympics will be held in 2014 in Russia.  The organizing committee recently revealed their visual concept for the games.....logo and such.   I'm so excited about it!     And I love the story behind the concept.....such a cool historical reference.

Can you tell why in the pic below?  :)

Quilting!

Who would have thought quilting would become a design concept for an event as large as the Olympics!

Check out this website for even more pictures.   So gotta have one of those t-shirts.

I wonder if the international quilt community will use this for any special exhibits or shows or contests in the coming years?    Hummmmmm.  

Lunch Bag

I bought this book over a year ago so I could make myself a bag.  I take it out every month or so and browse through it but that's as far as I've gotten.

Till yesterday.

When I made this adorable bag to take my lunch to work with.  Isn't it cute?

I used laminated cotton for the bag exterior and interior...and regular cotton for the top cover and handle.  I had a teeny bit of trouble with the directions but eventually got it.   It seems like whenever they have books with lots of projects in them that directions get edited (for space?) too much.   There were things not written that someone with more bag sewing experience would probably just know, but I didn't.  

Anyway.   I like how it turned out.

Bottled Rainbows - Block 7

I was on a roll!   Got another block done in this pretty color...it's either Kona Raspberry or Kona Cerise....can't remember.   :)

Bottled Rainbows - Blocks 4, 5 & 6

I've been lax in the sewing department lately which means I'm even more behind on this Bottled Rainbow sew-along than I was!   I think by 3 blocks now....maybe 4.   I'm only making 12 of the 16, so maybe I'll actually finish with Rachel.

 Here are my fourth, fifth and sixth blocks:

Six more to go!   :)

Happy Mothers Day

Anita makes me laugh!   Enjoy!

Just for Fun

Bottled Rainbows - Block Three

I finally finished up my third block in dark green.  I couldn't get a very good picture this time....not sure why.....frustrating!     Even though I'm still a block behind in this sew-along, I am enjoying making them.  :) 

Celtic Machine Quilting

I finally got my Scotland quilt to the machine quilter (after about a year of thinking I'd hand quilt it....oh dear!) and now it's done!   I LOVE what Carol did and had to share.   She chose two designs....you can see them below.  She did them free hand....no computer.....it's quite excellent.

Now to get the binding on so I can call it officially finished.  :)

Beautiful Fabric

Just bought this beautiful fabric today.  The line is called "French Journal Collection".   Isn't it gorgeous?   I have no idea what I'll do with it cuz I don't want to cut it up!

What would you do with it?

Butterfly Garden block

I finished block 3 (out of 9) of "Butterfly Garden".  A soft and romantic quilt by designer Leanne Beasley of Australia.  It's quilt that includes simple patchwork, applique and embroidery.   Each 18 inch big block is made up of nine 6 inch blocks.  

Here's a couple of close-ups of some of the embroidery.

This one is on one of the 6 inch blocks:

And this one is just in that little square in the upper left hand corner of the four patch....so cute:

I bought this as a block of the month a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately I've been a bit crazy buying appliqued block of the months.....currently have 3 going!   And doing bits and pieces on all 3 means I'm not finishing any one of them.  So I'm putting Butterfly Garden away till I finish a different one that I want to finish first.   

Bottled Rainbows - Block Two

I finished my second Bottled Rainbow block yesterday on my new sewing machine.   Perfect way to try out the  new girl!   I also got the third block all cut out and glued and ready to sew.  Hopefully I'll get it done in the next day or two cuz we are on week three and I don't want to be too far behind.

Here's a picture of a finished Bottled Rainbow quilt:

Crystal made this one.   She is a quick finisher!     You can read more about how she finished it on her blog, Sonnet of the Moon.

Red Bottled Rainbow

I finished my first "Bottled Rainbow" block yesterday.   Once decisions are made on which scraps to use and where to put them and what shape/size they should be.....it sews up really fast.....just a zig zag around each scrap.   :)     Hoping the decision process goes faster with each new block.

Bottled Rainbows

 Isn't that a lovely stack of color?    It's my fabric for a new project I'm doing called "Bottled Rainbows".   I read about it on the blog Stitched in Color.    Rachel is doing it as a sew-along......one block a week....and I thought it'd be fun to participate.   I've gotten a slow start cuz I just got my fabrics from work (we were out of stock of so many due to the new Solids Club).  I washed and ironed it all last night and will try to get my first block done this weekend.

This is an example of the blocks we are making.  Rachel made this one.  It is done in the "Ticker Tape" style of quilt making....which is sewing small scraps down on a background....they are not pieced.  And often it is done with batting so that the sewing down of the scraps is also the quilting.    This is all new to me but apparently very popular in the Modern Quilt movement.

Hopefully I'll have one of my own blocks to show you soon.

Design Wall Monday - Lucky Stars

I can't believe I actually have a new project on my design wall so soon after the last one!

I've had the blocks done for quite some time and the sashing rectangles cut out too.  All I needed was to put them up and try to balance color.   It shouldn't take too long to sew it all together. 

The pattern is called "Lucky Stars", by Atkinsons Designs.   Another super easy quilt.

See other designs walls here.  

Belated Quilt Show

One good thing about procrastinating about showing you some pictures from the Kitsap Quilters show last month is that now I know who won ribbons and I can tell you!   Enjoy the mini show.   :)

"Kaffee's Quilt" made by Carol Olsen.  This won Viewers Choice!

So colorful....and so many blocks.

I took this close-up so you could see the itty-bitty blocks....they are only 1.5 inches....and there are 272 of them in the quilt.

"Hawaiian Honeymoon" by Barbara Thomason.   This took second place in the Viewers Choice.  Plus first for Best Hand Quilting and second in the Large Bed Quilt category.  Over 2000 hours of work to complete this.  Wow.

"Cabbage Patch" by Jetty Morton.   This won second place in the Medium Bed Quilt category.

What I loved about this quilt was the use of Kaffe type fabrics.  I used to have the pattern book for this quilt and it was done in 1930's reproduction fabrics.....this is a wonderful update to that, I think.  I love it and want to make it.  To bad I gave away the book!

"Batik Baby Jane" by Ann Trujillo. 

 Never seen a Dear Jane quilt done in Batiks.  Beautiful.

"Christmas Eye Candy" by Mary Polensky.   This one won Honorable Mention in the Medium Bed Quilt category.  This is a Piece-o-cake pattern and I love anything they design!

"Christmas at Grandmother's House" by Geri Vondersmith.  

I like how Geri used the "Over the River & Through the Woods" pattern by Crab-Apple Hill for the embroidery and lay-out but substituted swapped blocks for the rest.  

"Locally Grown" by Barbara Schultz.   

I collected food fabrics for years and wish this pattern (original pattern by Barbara) was around then.  Its so cute!    I'm glad Barb is selling the pattern now.  Maybe another food quilt is in my future.    :)

 There ya go!   Hope you enjoyed the show.