Well, the crunch is now on to get ready for my upcoming Kaye Woods Quilting Retreat in Southern Missouri. My two sisters from the St. Louis area are going with me so this should be a lot of fun. They have both been before, but this will be my first time. They've printed out a packing list for me and given me all kinds of directions on how to prepare my sewing projects for the week. This is not a convention with a bunch of classes and vendors. It's a private retreat in a quiet, out of the way location for a Yahoo group that I belong to and we can do all the sewing we want on our own projects. It sounds wonderful to me. So I've been pre-cutting my pieces to several quilts and pinning them together so all I have to do is stitch when I get there. I've got high hopes for finishing several quilt tops there, so be prepared to see some more photos when I return.
One of the quilts I am currently working on is called the Baltimore Bliss and it is a quilt of all applique. I've not done much applique before but I'm really enjoying working on this. Here are pictures of the first 2 blocks that I've completed. The only thing I'm still struggling with is the tiny narrow points. I hope there's someone at the retreat that can show me a better way of doing those. But for now I'm happy with these. I figure by the time I've done 12 different blocks, I should be getting pretty good at applique. It's a block of the month pattern so that will force me to pace myself. I am trying different methods of applique for each block. So far I am liking the English paper piecing method the best. That is the method I used for these two blocks and I like the way these came out. You just basically copy the designs only copy paper, cut them out and then use a small dobb of water soluable glue (stick) to fasten it face down on the back of the desired fabric. Cut around that with a 1/4" seam allowance around edges. Fold over the seam allowance to the back and using a contrasting thread, do a running stitch around the piece to hold the folded over seam allowance snugly against the paper. (Start and end on the right side of the fabric). Starch and steam iron the pieces flat. Then when you are ready to applique that piece, take out the stitches and the paper, and repress the folds and applique it only your background. The is very easy and goes a lot faster than you might think. It also makes a great "carry with you" project or hand project while watching TV.
I'm also going to be doing a short demo on my travel sewing pin (see photo below) at this retreat, so I got all that ready to go tonight. I also put together 40 surprise gifts to give to each attendee. I'm starting to think that my car is really going to be packed with all the stuff I'm planning on taking.
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