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!

2012 Spring CMQG Retreat

The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's spring retreat ended yesterday.  It was our third retreat at the Siena Center in Racine, Wisconsin, and we have already booked for next fall and spring 2013.  It is such a lovely place for our work.  Our spacious room had three walls of windows overlooking Lake Michigan. 

The 24 of us retreatants attended this weekend for various reasons.  Some are full-time working women; some are full-time moms.  Some fall into both categories.  I have a lot of dedicated sewing time, so for me this retreat was about working out of my safe zone and trying something new -. in this case light and a bit off-kilter This first project has sixty 8" blocks so far - here are 16 of them assembled.  I ran out of the Kona Bone background, and our lovely treasurer Sarah Evans sold me some of her extra yardage (because she's just that kind of gal who travels with bolts of fabrics).  Now I think I want to add some plain fabric blocks and work with the whole negative space concept. 

The other project I worked on was a Drunkard's Path that I die-cut at the retreat a year ago but never finished.  Ebony gave me some tips about piecing this block, and now all the small blocks are done - I just have to work on the layout. 

This weekend I was inspired by the work of our veteran quilters and definitely by some of our newer quilters.  I am constantly surprised at how much I love this group of multi-skilled, multi-aged, multi-racial women. 

Quilting Retreat

I went to my first one ever and had the best time. 15 of us from the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild were at the Siena Center in Racine, WI. One highlight of the weekend was just seeing how others work and what they were working on. Another was getting to see and use a fabric die cutter, thanks to Ebony Love.  Best of all was getting to know the women in this group.  The CMQG is fairly new, and this was its first retreat.  It went so well that there is already the planning in the works for one in November and one in March 2012!

I worked on three projects and found my biggest challenge was space.  Although I took a big box of scraps, I only worked with my reds.  My stopping point was a space issue - I need now to border these pieces to a uniform size and then go through the same process with other colors of scraps.  I'm thinking this will be the row of a quilt. Paula's t-shirt wall hanging was another project I had with me.  It's all assembled and now ready for the outer borders, which is part of a quilt-as-you-go process.  And these borders have to be centered and mitered.  So again, I reached a lack-of-space stumbling block and will finish it in my studio.
 

Because I knew Ebony was bringing her AccuQuilt Die Cutter, I grabbed two batiks at the last minute and used them for Drunkard's Path pieces.  I cut as many 12" squares from the two fabrics and ran them through the die cutter.  Within 10 minutes I had all my pieces.  Notice the notches!  I'm so impressed with this machine.  The rest of my retreat time was spent piecing these squares.  At some point I'll figure out exactly how many blocks I have and plot my layout on my Electric Quilt software.

Saturday after dinner CMQG President Beth divided us into three teams of 5, gave each team the same number of 2.5" strips, and told each team to make Fence Rail blocks.  My team did it in 22 minutes!  Each team's blocks are making a baby quilt like this.  I pieced this one together and will quilt/bind it for Project Linus.  Two other guild members are finishing the other ones.

I can't wait for the next retreat.  But meanwhile today I'm working on Christopher's Bradley Quilt. This quilt is my priority for the week!

Check out fellow retreater/blogger Karen's post for more details about our terrific weekend. 

Remembering Kenya

Look! Two of our favorites - grandchildren and travelling - in the same picture! We had such a terrific time in Kenya, and this wall hanging from two t-shirts, the flag of Kenya, and two great ethnic prints will always remind us of our Kenyan safari with my sister Paula and her husband Dennis. It hangs above our entertainment center, which serves as an everchanging display for the latest pictures of the grandkids and the latest travel souvenirs. 22" x 47"

Tomorrow begins a 3-day retreat with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  15 of us are heading to Racine, Wisconsin; and I'm pretty excited about going.  Since I have a studio and sew all the time, this retreat presents a special opportunity for me to do something out of my comfort zone.  So far I know I'm packing my scraps and the "ingredients" for Paula's Kenya wall hanging.  Stay tuned for what actually emerges from this weekend!