Heading into the Holidays

The Benton Avenue Christmas Fairy has successfully made the transition to the Oak Brook condo.  He has had to be creative with wall space, so our blingy quilty Christmas tree is now in the kitchen but seems peaceful there!

Meanwhile the nonChristmas Fairy continues to work on a project she’s in love with - the Left-handed Liberal quilt of Leftovers.  Avert your eyes if you are a political conservative.

I’m struggling with how to finished the upper right corner.  I still have time to figure that out!

Meanwhile, there are always purses.  This box to the left has 12 kits of purse parts and three purses in various stages of construction, all ready for a workshop in February.  I'll continue adding to the box as I make more purses.

Below are the latest eight.

And there is always a project that should be done, even if I don't want to do it.  This quilt on the table is an unfinished family heirloom of my stepdaughter's best friend.  There has been a lot of work invested in this quilt of appliqué.  Brenda's grandmother, the grandmother's sister, and their BBF all worked on this.  Brenda thinks this work is from sometime in the 30's.  While I'm not sure about this (I would estimate 20 years later, like the 50's), this quilt top need to be honored and completed.  These fabrics are fragile.  And despite using steam, there are some wrinkles that probably will not come out.  My plan is to back with with a light yellow, bat it with wool, and pin baste it all.  I am going to try to machine quilt in the sashing and then hand quilt around the appliquéd bits.  We'll see...

Guild Retreat

 

To state the obvious, our guild hasn't met much in person for the past two years.  There was a retreat last spring, but participation was determined by a lottery.  And I didn't get in.  But the recent retreat was held at a hotel near O'Hare and participation was not limited.  I've been feeling a bit disconnected from the guild and my mates.  And this retreat took care of that feeling.  So good to reconnect with the oldies and meet some of the newbies. 

Guild retreats mean unbridled sewing.  Instead of 6 hours a day, one may sew for 12 hours without getting odd looks!  And so I did.

See those strips in between the big blocks consisting of two dark strips separated by a middle light strip?  I made 72 of those units but waited until I was home with a design wall to construct the quilt top.  It is now 80" x 100".  The big fabrics are by e bond and her Glyph line.  

Before leaving for the retreat, I did the heavy lifting of cutting out all the bits.  So at the retreat all I had to do was assemble.  The two darker colors run into each other more than I envisioned, so I am thinking about how some hand stitching in all areas might bring out the beauty of this pattern, which is Shuttle by Glad Hand Sews.

A really fun part of the retreat was sewing with Ellen.  This fellow guildster has been so supportive of my work with Sew Powerful, and she came to this retreat prepared to make her first purses.  Look at the photo,  Can you count six around Ellen's neck?  Nothing like sewing with someone to get to know them!  

I'm heading back to purses soon.  In fact, I found several fabrics on the retreat scrap table that are perfect for purses.  I have an opportunity to lead a workshop in the new year and am about to put together purse kits!