Quilting Retreat/Panda Quilt

Well, I actually started the process of packing for the quilting retreat next week. I had to organize my things so my sewing stuff is all together in certain bags and my clothing, bedding, and personal grooming products are all in different bags, because the two things are located in 2 different buildings. I also have to have my name on everything. Needless to say, with packing so many things, it is taking me awhile to get everything labeled too.

Today I counted my kits that I'm taking to work on, and I have 12 ready to start sewing. I'm sure I will not get all of them done, but I assue you I will make a valiant effort. The hardest part is going to be deciding what to do first... such a nice problem to have. Tonight I'm going to work on the blue bird appliqued top and do the sandwiching of layers and get that all pinned together and ready to quilt, so that will be one more.

This little panda quilt is one I did a few years ago for a friend who collected pandas for her hobby. It is all paper pieced and was pretty easy and very cute I think. It was a kit I purchased somewhere (I don't remember where I got it). Enjoy!

Reach for the Stars Quilt

This quilt was my first large paperpieced quilt and I had so much fun working on this with all the jewel tone colors. It was made with the "Star Galaxy" pattern which I found in a quilting magazine in 2003. I'm sure I still have it somewhere, but I don't remember which one it was right now. I finished the quilt in 2004.

Then I added the sashing and small squares of dancing people fabric. To really set it off, I drew 2 of these people shapes out on paper and scanned them into my computer. Then I converted the graphic to a machine embroidery pattern and saved that to my embroidery machine's disk. Then I embroidered them on lightly spotted black squares in different jewel tone colors for the 4 corners of the quilt.

Lastly, I added pink piping around the edge of quilt before binding. Then I machine quilted it on my sewing machine. Even though it was one of the first big quilts I ever made, it is still one of my favorites which I won't give away.

Preparing for Quilt Retreat

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.

Stained Glass Quilt

Today I want to show you my first stained glass quilt. It was much easier than I ever thought it would be because the entire black part of it is one piece just laid over the top of the printed piece of fabric and sewn down with machine applique stitch. There is a lot of detailed cutting to do but it went a lot faster than I thought it would. I have done some pieced stained glass quilts using bias tape to make the black lines and it can be tricky, so I really liked this method.

My Eagle Quilt

Here's one of my first quilts that I attempted to quilt myself. It is simply a panel of fabric that I did stitching on freehand. I found out really quick that this is a lot harder to do than it looks. If you look very close at it you will see some long stitches and a bunch of tiny tiny stitches. Oh, how I wish I had $5,000 for that Bernina 440 Aurora sewing machine with the stitch regulator on it. (I can dream can't I?) Even though my stitches were pretty irregular, I did enjoy trying my hand at this. I haven't done much of anything else since trying this, but I'm getting ready to try again, hopefully armed with a bit more knowledge about what I'm doing this time. Of course, there's no guarantee that the outcome will be any better. But I keep trying anyway... It's just so much fun!