I recently spent 5 days at the Jane Stickle Retreat held in Shipshewana, Indiana. As always, I had a wonderful time. Some people say "What happens at retreat, stays at retreat", but I haven't done anything I need to keep secret. I'm going to share my retreat time with you on a day by day diary basis. Be prepared for a lot of pictures.
Wednesday - The retreat officially starts at 3 pm when we are allowed into the conference room. See my sewing space for the next several days. See how nice and organized it is? Hmmm, maybe it isn't so organized.
I received my tulip quilt from Lori Null who long arm quilted her. For a great photo, I draped the quilt on the buggy in display on the west lobby.
Lori did a wonderful job with the quilting. I did select this feathered pattern for the large spaced area.
I wanted something similar for the border and she pulled this design, excellent choice.
She came up with her own design in the tulip blocks and in the chain squares.
She did a wonderful job and I am very please with her talent and skill on my quilt.
Would you like to see the back? I had purchased the floral fabric several years ago for a different quilt and never used it. It wasn't wide enough so I added this section of white fossil fern fabric which shows the quilting quite nicely.
Another view. She used red thread to quilt the tulips. You can see the thread on the white fabric but not in the busy flower fabric.
I spent the rest of my day attaching the binding by machine then turning and finishing by hand.
I know the new have to have tool are the little Clover clips. I think they look like they could easily be knocked off. I use these hair clips and have for years. They cost a lot less too, at least in the area I live in.
I also sewed a sleeve on the back. When I went to hang the quilt Sunday afternoon, the sleeve wasn't wide enough. I removed the hand stitching Sunday evening, sewed a strip onto it and will hand stitch the sleeve this evening.
Thursday - Starting around 5:30 am, I spent most of the day Thursday sewing the square blocks I need to surround the Wilfred & Cloves Medallion center. This is a pattern from Carolyn Konig's book Creating Heirlooms, One Stitch at a Time. These blocks are stacked several inches high.
Of course I'm making it larger than the quilt in the book, so I've made double the number of blocks. Sometime this summer I will lay them out and then move blocks around; sometime, not this week though.
Also on Thursday, Nancy Mast Troyer, an employee of Yoder Dept Store, came and gave us a demonstration on applying misty-fuse to fabric.
She also demonstrated using specialty rulers.
She used the misty fuse and rulers in making the Kaffe Clam Shell Quilt from the book Hearts and More by Sue Pelland Designs.
Nancy did not make her quilt with Kaffe fabrics, she used her stash of 30's fabrics.
I and several other friends intend to make this quilt. My friends spent most their time at the retreat prepping for their quilts. I didn't. I do prepping in the peace and quiet of my home. I don't know what fabrics I'll use. I'm hoping to make a practice clam shell crib quilt sometime this summer using the rulers and see if I like this technique before I jump into a large size quilt. If I don't like them, the rulers and book will be for sale at the resale table at the November retreat.
Friday - I spent Friday working on 3 charity crib quilts. I always stick some projects into my kit bag just in case I need something extra to work on. I had prepped these crib quilts last November and took them to the fall retreat as just in case projects but I had enough to keep me busy. I decided to sew them this spring.
The pattern is titled Go Baby! and is found in the January/February 2013 issue of Quiltmaker magazine.
That year Quiltmaker was taking a block from a quilt in each issue and enlarging the block to be used as a Big Block Baby Quilt. I thought this was an easy looking pattern and it is.
I'm an early riser, so I was sewing along, making good progress when the lights flickered then the electric went off. I turned off my machine, then the lights flickered again and the electric came back on.
I decided to go for breakfast. I didn't like this on and off bit. As I was eating, the lights flashed on and off several times. This was strange; this has never happened before at retreat.
After eating, I went back to the sewing room and was considering trying to sew again when the power again went off. This time it stayed off. Then an announcement was made. There had been an accident on State Road 20 west of State Road 5, a vehicle had crashed into a transformer pole. NIPSCO had to replace the pole, hook up downed lines and repair the transformer. All of Shipshewana and the surrounding area was without power.
I had planned on driving to Caroline's later in the afternoon but quickly changed my mind and went in the morning. They were not in the outage area. {I forgot to take my camera along but here is link to Rosemary's blog where she makes a visit to Caroline's.} I purchased a some fat quarters for future projects and a few for my Nearly Insane quilt.
When I returned to the Farmstead Inn, the power was still off. I had taken along some embroidery, you know, just in case, so I sat, embroidered and visited with friends. I didn't get many stitches stitched when the power came back on. By then it was noon and I resumed sewing on the crib quilts.
At retreat, we often have an Amish meal or some other kind of activity at the Carriage House. This is a business run by Elaine Jones and her family. They are Amish and I enjoy visiting her place. She invited the retreat participants to an appreciation open house on Friday afternoon. Refreshments were her wonderful, delicious cinnamon rolls and coffee.
One of the activity she provides is an old fashioned quilting. People can come and hand quilt at the old style sticks and stands frame. Everyone who quilts is allowed to put their name and phone number in a box for a drawing that is held at the end of the season. The prizes are one of the quilts that were quilted by the varying groups through the summer and fall.
She had several of the quilts to be quilted on display at the open house.
This quilt is in the frame and was standing on the sticks again the wall right now. There is a light colored border on the edge.
She said there was also a 4th quilt which was not yet pieced.
All of her quilts are made with solid fabrics, no prints.
She also has wall hanging for sale made by Amish women from her community. I asked permission before taking these photos.
Soon after I took this picture, the blue bargello was purchased and now resides in California.
I tried to get the pictures to be several across the page, but blogger and I are not agreeing how to do that. They will trail down the center of the page.
I loved this one, maybe I'll try it someday.
This one is my favorite. It looks a little dark here but the colors just glow.
These two were hanging on the west wall and the sun was shining in very bright which makes the colors look off.
This is a full sized quilt. A lot of the quilts use light gray instead of white.
The fabrics in this quilt are blues, not gray.
There were more wall quilts but they were in a different room. There was a group in there who eating and I didn't want to interrupt their meal.
Show & Tell is held Friday evening. I didn't take any pictures, Rosemary always does and here is a link to her smilebox pictures.
After show & tell, I finished the 3rd crib quilt which I forgot to take a picture of.
Saturday - Every month Amber of Gigi's Thimble and Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl have a Five Fat Quarter Fun project. Before I left home, I packed the January pattern, Cabin Fever, a bundle of fat quarters along with white background fabric I had on hand.
Because I hadn't done any prepping ahead of time, I cut my pieces early Friday morning. (I like early morning cutting, there are very few people in the sewing room up that early!)
I sewed during the day and had this top completed by 1:30 pm. This was a very good pattern, good directions and simple to make. I highly recommend it. However, there is 1 correction to the pattern. The directions say to mark all the 2 1/2" blocks with a diagonal line. You only need to mark 96 of the blocks with diagonal lines.
After I finished sewing this project, I cleaned and packed up my space. There were thunderstorms and heavy rains headed our way. I wanted to get my sewing things loaded into the car before the rain started.
Sunday - I had completed all the sewing projects I had brought so I pulled out the knitting needles and finished this dishcloth I had started at home.
I like using up leftover variegated yarn with a coordinating solid yarn.
I visited with my friends and finished it shortly before it was time for me to head home around 2 pm.
I hope you enjoyed my review of the retreat. I had a wonderful time and have many great memories. I really appreciate the great pictures Rosemary Youngs takes so I can link up to her blog and you can view what I miss.
Linking to - Show & Tell With Bambi, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished Or Not Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict
I've returned from my retreat. As always, I had a wonderful time. I will give a more detailed post about the retreat later this week.
My Tulip quilt is finished! I sewed the binding on at the retreat.
I also took a straight photo so you can see it more clearly.
The light green in the picture is too light.
I also sewed a sleeve on the back. I couldn't wait to hang it up so the first thing I did when I got home was to hang it, except my sleeve wasn't big enough. I had measured but not correctly. I'll unsew the stitching this evening.
I had a great time and will post later this week about the retreat.
I finished quilting the 5th row of the white blocks on my churn dash quilt before I left on retreat.
These are a repeat of blocks you've already seen. Left side border.
Left two quilted white blocks.
Center two blocks.
There are 7 white rows in this quilt. Rows 3, 4 and 5 are exactly the same. These two blocks won't be in the next two rows.
Right two quilted blocks.
And the right side border.
Just a reminder, I don't do slow stitching only on Sundays, every day can be a slow stitching day. Every little stitch is an accomplishment towards being finished.
Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Quilter's Monday, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Show & Tell Monday with Bambi, BOM's Away, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished Or Not Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts
In several posts this last winter, I talked about the projects I was working on. In November 2016, I started out with a list of 8 projects. Then in January 2017, I updated the list. Now it is spring and my wintertime sewing is over. Most of the same projects are still on the list but I've made progress with most of them.
1. Blue Churn Dash Reproduction Quilt - She is in the quilting frame being hand-quilted. The quilting is more than halfway done.
2. Pastor's Attic Quilt - The center has been completed. I need to get the borders prepped for applique. This will happen after I finish quilting the blue churn dash quilt.
3. Sweet Surrender - Haven't touched it. I'll get those pieced triangles pieced sometime, maybe this summer if there is time but Nearly Insane is more important. I'll work on her rows first.
4. Nearly Insane - I pieced 4 rows this winter including the center row. Each row will now decrease in the number of blocks. I hope to have time to work on more rows this summer. I would really like to have the center of this quilt all pieced by the end of this year.
5. Wilfred & Cloves - This is a pattern from Carolyn Konig's book Creating Heirlooms, One Stitch at a Time. I appliqued the center medallion of this quilt several years ago.
The fabrics have been pulled, pressed and prepped. I sewed 4 of the square blocks together just to see what they looked like. This project is going along with me to the Jane Stickle retreat this week-end. I'm hoping to come home with the all blocks pieced and rows sewn together.
6. 182 Day Solstice Challenge - I haven't posted about this quilt in a long time. I have many of the blocks pieced and fabrics pulled for several of the others. I'll get back to her sometime.
7. Rainbow Challenge blocks - I have 2 separate blocks I'm making for the challenge.
The stars are for the Star Dance quilt.
The 4-patch blocks are for a Summer Quilt.
People often tell me I accomplish so much. I don't think I do, I just try to keep focused on my projects and not be distracted by all the other wonderful quilts out on the internet.
Winter is over and spring is here. The outside work is calling; sewing/quilting will happen when it does. I don't know if I will make much progress any of my projects this spring/summer. I also have some smaller quilts I would like to make if there is time.
Every growing season is different on the farm. We'll see what the spring/summer is like this year.
Linking to - Em's Scrapbag, BOM's Away, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW, Sew Fresh Quilts.
I'm over halfway finished with the quilting on the blue churn dash quilt! The very center row of white blocks and the row 5 of blue blocks are quilted. Now I'm working on another row of white blocks between blue rows 5 and 6. There are a total of 8 blue churn dash rows so I have a ways to quilt yet.
A close up of where I am working right now.
We have actually had some warmer weather last week and I could work outside without a sweater or sweatshirt. I've put a towel along the edge of the quilt so if my shirt has any dirt or anything on it, the quilt won't pick it up.
Quilting is going to go slower now since I have outside work again. I love the springtime and all the beauty of springtime blooms.
Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Show & Tell Monday with Bambi, BOM'S Away, Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts
I've finished the center row of Nearly Insane so I'm halfway through the piecing of the blocks of the center section.
I normally take a several week break between piecing rows but I wanted to get the center section completed. It wasn't fun and I had to force myself to keep going. Just a reminder, these blocks finish at 6".
First of all, the replacement block from row 4. This block fits in with the rest of the quilt. So much better than the previous block.
And the blocks in the center row.
Some blocks are brighter than others. That makes the quilt more interesting.
If you have a good memory, you will notice the octagon block is made with the same fabrics as block #18, the one with over 200 pieces. Remember, I've told you I can't seem to be able to count. I way over cut triangles for the other block so I used them up in this block. This beauty has 100 pieces in it.
The star in the top right corner has 87 pieces but it took hours to sew. She turned out pretty nice.
The bottom left block is just one of those weird blocks Salinda threw in to use up fabric scraps. That's my opinion anyway.
The bottom right block has the largest number of pieces in this row, 112. I am very tired of 1/2" HST's!
The top block has the fewest pieces, only 9. Quick and easy. I've been looking for a small striped fabric to use in this quilt and used it in this block.
The bottom left is another different block.
The bottom right is one of my favorite blocks. The pinwheel had more 1/2" HST's though.
And these are the last two blocks in this row.
I am so glad to be halfway finished with the center of the quilt. Now I will be decreasing blocks in each row.
The next section will be sewn separately then sewn to this section.
The triangle blocks on the center row will be added after the next section is attached but they are already pieced. I am so glad to have gotten this much completed this past sewing season!
Linking to - Show & Tell With Bambi, Fiber Tuesday, BOM's Away, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew Fresh Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework!
Much progress was made this week with the quilting on my blue churn dash quilt and the 3rd row of white square are completed.
Left side borders.
Left quilted squares.
The two center squares.
Right quilted squares.
Right side borders.
I rolled and then quilted row 4 churn dash blocks.
Left side border. It doesn't look very different the above photo.
Left 2 churn dash blocks.
You can see I am quilting part of the white square block in between the churn dashes.
Next 2 churn dash blocks.
The only thing different is the quilting in the white squares.
Churn dash blocks 5 & 6.
And churn dash block 7 and the right side borders.
I rolled again after taking the pictures. The next row of white square blocks is the very center of the quilt. When they are quilted, I will be halfway finished with the quilting!
Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Show & Tell Monday, BOM's Away, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, sew, stitch, snap, SHARE, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished Or Not Friday, Crazy Mom Quilts
I've been working on the tulip wall quilt this week. I think she's going to make a lovely spring wallhanging. Three of the five sets of tulips have been completed.
These blocks are set on point so I took the picture that way. Edith and Janis did such a great job pulling the fabrics for this kit.
I want to get the hand work completed so I can send her to the long arm quilter. I'm not even considering hand quilting this one, too many layers of fabrics.
I took it easy hand quilting this week. Row 3 of the churn dashes has been quilted. I forgot to take a picture before I rolled, but the quilted churn dash blocks look the same as the other times I've shown you before.
I did go to the center of the row and quilted the new quilting design. It looks a little off center, but it's OK. I don't think you'll notice when the quilt is out of the frame and, as I have often said, perfection is over rated at times. Hopefully next Sunday I'll be able to show you all the white squares in this row are quilted.
Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Fiber Tuesday, BOM's Away, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts
