Fodder for Landscape Quilts

Bar Harbor, Quebec, Cornerbook in Newfoundland - what lovely places these are in the fall. The 10-day cruise was wonderful, and I'm all fired up again to work with a landscape quilt. Meanwhile, I'm working on a jacket with 12 fabrics. Reviewing my photos helped me with the Autumn Palette - rich reds and fabulous purples.

Reversible Workshop at The Sewing Room

Today was the 4th and final session of the Reversible Quilt workshop at The Sewing Room in Lombard, and it has happened again: I learned something from each one of the women. From Dottie I learned to use transparent scotch tape to label the rows of my reversible quilts. From Ginger I learned about bias binding and free-motion stippling. And Sue so graciously shared the pattern for a strip-pieced sweatshirt jacket. Kim wasn't with us today, but the other three finished their quilts, which was their reward for so diligently doing all homework assignments. These quilts are gorgeous, and the past four Tuesday afternoons have been rewarding! Ginger's quilt is a study in wintry blues. Keep checking back for pictures of completed projects.

Celebrating the Weather

For the most part weather doesn't matter much to me. Quilting is, after all, an indoor sport. But yesterday was one of those glorious days that I would love to bottle. And as luck would have it, John and I had planned a Segway tour of Chicago's lakefront to celebrate our October birthdays. We had a wonderful time going through Grant Park and the Museum Campus. I had never been to Soldier Field, so it was very special to not only be there but to see the memorial to the various armed forces. Mastering the Segway wasn't difficult and provided a unique way to get around. What a great way to spend three hours!

The Jim Dandy Project

The Jim Dandy quilt is ready to be mailed to Fran Dunn in Spartanburg, South Carolina. From there it will go to the beach house in Litchfield, just south of Myrtle Beach. Fran and Jim were so generous to Mani as we celebrated Dodie's 58th birthday in July. Our use of beach house helped to make a difficult week a bit easier. This quilt is for the master bedroom - I hope to see this quilt in its home someday.

Here's What I Learned at Camp!

The Quilting Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, was so much fun. Neighbor/sewing partner Susan and I immersed ourselves totally in the culture of the convention, attending lectures, participating in hands-on workshops,listening to the "keynote" speakers, and supporting the vendors at the show.

This convergence piece is from one of my workshops. "Converge" means to mix and remix fabric. In this case it was a piece of hand-dyed fabric. The woman who shared my table and I swapped quarter-pieces of our hand-dyes. That's why there's a bit of green in mine. This morning I finished the top and am auditioning borders - this is a tricky piece. And I'm hoping to machine-quilt it without using any straight lines. We'll see...

Field Trip!

Tonight neighbor/sewing buddy/fellow WW Susan and I are driving to Madison and participating in a 3-day conference dedicated to all things quilting. There were over 200 various lectures/hands-on workshops/demos/guest speakers from which to choose, and there's a huge exposition center of award-winning quilts and merchants/vendors. We were lucky enough to get a room at the Clarion, right next to the Alliant Center where everything is being held.

I been wanting to participate in something like this for a couple of years and think it's going to be great fun. I hope my brain doesn't - like it has at various education conferences - get full and shut down. I'm going to be learning about convergence quilting, embellishing quilts with beads, using paint sticks as a quilting tool, the variety of threads available to quilters, and "sketching" with thread.

My first workshop at quiltfabric.com went very well. And so far the reversible quilting class in Lombard is fabulous (the other class was cancelled). I think this emphasis on learning and the field trip fits in great with the teaching I've begun to do. (And, of course, John is being a great sport about my going to Madison.)

Summer Vacation is Over!

Well, this is my third fall that I've been retired. My third fall that I've been able to watch others go back to school. But it's my first peaceful Labor Day. Two years ago I was in Indianapolis with Dodie as she was doing her first round of chemo and radiation. Last year at this time her days were numbered. This year, with her death none months ago, I'm at peace. The current quilt I'm working on is the for Mrytle Beach beachhouse that John and I stayed at this summer when we went to be with Dodie's family at what would have been her 58th birthday. It's a lovely piece with a familiar process, and I'm enjoying doing it.

I have been having a hard time getting back to a regular schedule. And what's really motivated me to work on the Jim Dandy wall hanging is wanting to put away the piles of greens, purples, and neutrals. Also yesterday Cecilia and I made some final design decisions about her quilt, and it's ready to be finished and then off to the long-arm quilter.

Already there's a glitch in the teaching schedule. The Saturday workshop is a no-go. And I'm not terribly disappointed because the Tuesday workshop is off to a great start and is a technique that I'm much more enthused about. I have been wanting to experiment with some new techniques and of course actually do something about the landscape quilt I want to try. It feels good to get back to the work I want to do. There's something about "vacation mentality" even though I am retired and no longer am a part of an organized work cycle. Yes, summer vacation is over!

Busy Hands, Happy Hands

For the past few years I have said that I'd like to be teaching quilting. That is definitely happening this fall. Here's my teaching schedule:

Tuesdays in September at The Sewing Room in Lombard, 1:00 - 3:00 - Reversible Baby Quilt

Saturdays, Sept 8, 22, 29, at The Sewing Room, 10 - 12 - Baby Fence Rail (oops, this one was cancelled - maybe later...)

Sunday, Sept 9 - 1 - 3 at Quiltfabric.com in Willowbrook - "Make and Take" Reversible Holiday Place Mat

Sunday, Oct 27, and Sunday, Nov 4, at SusanMarie's - 135th and Ridgeland - Reversible BabyQuilt

These three shops are very different from one another, and it's going to be interesting and fun to get to know each of these shops better. I haven't figured out yet whether this kind of teaching will be financially worthwhile. But I do already know that I'm excited about each one of these workshops and look forward to each experience.

Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away on Cecilia's quilt, thinking about the quilt for the Jim Dandy, and wanting to make up more reversible quilts just because they are fun. There are a couple of new techniques that I want to experiment with. And neighbor Susan and I are going to a quilt expo in Madison, WI, to participate in some hands-on workshops and attend some lecture/demonstrations.

Words I couldn't say for a long time: I really love August and September!

When Quilting isn't Quilting

I've been doing quilting "tasks" but not necessarily with my sewing machine.

In preparation for doing a sampler of the "make-and-take" placement using the reversible technique, I discovered it's not that much more effort to make kits of all materials needed for this placement - the 12 fabric squares and coordinating sashings for the front and back, the batting, and the binding. It's a bit labor-intensive - the cutting, ironing the binding and sashing, the collation. But now I have 10 fabric kits which I'm selling for $20 each for the Sept 9th class at quiltfabric.com in Willowbrook. This kind of preparation is a much different way of spending time in my studio! Also, creating an accurate supply list and tweaking the directions have required some computer time.

Neighbor Susan of "Thursday Night Sewing" and I are planning to go to a Quilt exposition in Madison, WI, next month. Registering for various workshops and lectures required quite a bit of study and concentration. Really! That is finally in the mail.

My new summer quilt, a bigger version of what I made for Mani, needed to go to Debbie, the Long-Arm Quilter. So I took a morning drive to Tinley Park for a drop-off yesterday. When I pick up that quilt in five week, I'm hoping to have Cecilia's King Quilt ready to take. This quilt is in big pieces but we're still making decisions about some of the fabrics.

Meanwhile, I still have the fabrics out for the Jim Dandy project, and they are demanding some attention. Also I do want to do another sample of a reversible baby quilt. And if nothing else, I could certainly spend several hours putting away and organizing my sash. With our Wisconsin Dells vacation over, I think I'm reading to get back into a sewing groove.

My turbinates for a quilt, Part II

My sister and her husband are the soul of generosity. Really, look up that word in the dictionary, and there the two of them are. In my previous entry (see May 1, 2007)) I mentioned that Dr. Den did some work in my throat (Pillar implants) and nose (turbinates) to help my snoring issue. They are both nurturers and encouragers of everyone else in their lives - their children, their siblings, their parents, their church, their office staff, their friends. They share their time, talents, and goods freely and willingly. So it's nice to be able to do something for them. This quilt is for their audiologist's office and made from the scraps of the quilt that hangs in the Main Office.