Lecture and Workshop in Normal, IL

I have been working on challenge projects, but cannot share those until May and June.  However, I was the guest lecturer and teacher for the Hands All Around Quilt Guilld in Normal, Illinois last week.  I visited three quilt shops in the area and even drove to Washington, IL to visit another.

The hospitatility extended by this guild to their guests is so refreshing.  It's a very large guild, but still fells friendly will efficiently getting all the tasks completed.  The program committee did a fantastic job.  Thanks so much for having me and I hope to see you again.

This post is a combination of photos from the show-n-tell of the guild members and works in progress from the two workshops I taught.

Show-n-tell:

Sweatshirt Jacket Workshop: All of them are different but gorgeous!

Finally, photos from the exploding star class:

-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

Back Home

I've neglected posting in the past 1-1/2 weeks.  I must admit that my schedule got a little overwhelming even for my standards.  First I was busy prepping for my upcoming road trip to Pittsburg, KS and Joplin, MO.  Here is a photo of me leaving my home with the car packed.

What?  You can't see in the car?  Get ready to be shocked.  Here my car is stuff with all my quilts and stuff. This shot is of the back passenger side.  The quilts on the left are for my Sampler Quilts lecture.  The ones in the middle are the remaining of the quilts for the Scrap Quilts lecture.  That's not it, hold on...

This is the driver rear area.  The red case has my clothes and remaining quilt supplies I couldn't fit anywhere else.  The tan container is holding everything I need to teach the Exploding Star class.  The Target bag holds Snapware containers I gave as door prizes.  The blue you see is my sewing machine cloth cover (car way too full to get the machine carrier in there. 

But that's not all, my friend Sarah has to get in their with her luggage and sewing machine too.  I don't have that shot, but here is Sarah sewing at the workshop.

Oh, but wait, you haven't seen the trunk. I had about 40 quilts in there, bottle water, and very minimum car tools.  Not an inch to spare.  These are the remaining quilts for the Scrap Quilts lecture.

The following pictures are of the workshop at the Little Balkins Quilt Guild in Pittsburgh, KS.  I'm in the photo with some of the participants partially completed projects.

I also gave the Scrap Quilts lecture in Pittsburg before going to Joplin, MO to present two programs.  For the Town & Country Quilters, I gave the Scrap Quilts lecture.  I got to see some familiar faces as some members of this guild are also members of the Little Balkins guild.  Then, I gave the Sampler Quilts lecture at the Four Corners Quilt Guild in Joplin, MO.  I'm sure you can guess that members of the Town & Country guild are also members at this guild too.  I again saw familiar faces!

I must thank Mary LeClerc of Quilting in Oz for recommending me as a speaker to the Pittsburg guild.  I was then able to offer my services to the other guilds.  I went to Mary and Tom's home where Mary gave me the most amazing quilt show.  She does beautiful work and must be the fastest hand appliquer (sp) in the world!  She blogged about my visit here:  Teajuana Mahone

Everyone I meet in Pittsburgh and Joplin were so nice.  I made so many friendships during my visit.  I have many contacts and have a few who are planning to come to the St. Louis area for a shop hop.  I'm going to try to convince them to make it a retreat at one of our facilities that's setup for quilters.  I'm looking forward to my next visit to these areas, even if I'm not hired to lecture.  Thanks Pittsburgh and Joplin for making me feel so welcome.

If that trip wasn't enough, I hopped in my car (after I cleaned it out) and headed to Paducah, KY for the big show.  It was a great show and I saw some familiar faces here too.  First, I ran into people in my guild.  Then a quilter in the guild where I taught at their retreat last June.  What was even funnier was seeing a group from the Pittsburg, KS area where I visited this past Monday.  I saw some beautiful quilts in Paducah, the food and weather was excellent, and the event was well attended.  I was glad I was so overwhelmed with my own schedule that I wasn't able to concetrate to leave TOO much money behind.  I left a little, but I left some things I would have liked.  I was so tired by then that I wasn't sure if I was being practical, so I just quilt.  I left the area around 4:15 and headed for home.  I'm glad I did as I had showers on the drive home.  I got home just as the rain was getting heavier.

Today was spent sleeping.  During my periods of alertness, I sorted and stored all the quilts.  I now need a vacation from my vacation.  Oh, but wait, I must go pack for Scrap Quilting Club tomorrow.  No rest in the schedule for now.  I've gotta go.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO http://www.teaquilts.com

Trip Around the Scrap Basket Class

Click on each photo for a larger view...

I'm sharing photos of quilts in progress of retreat class I taught.  I gave the option of making a crib or twin size quilt.  Some used the crib block size to make a larger quilt and will thus make more blocks than required.

This collage shows some of the layouts we discussed during class.  These blocks finish at 6" instead of 3.75" finished like in my class sample for the crib size quilt.  It was fun to figure out new settings.  I didn't get pictures of everything that was on the design wall, but the purpose is to play with your blocks until you get something you like.  My second quilt will be made with the center layout in bottom row.

This collage shows the first group of quilts in progress. Barb's was made in pastels for a baby-girl-to-be. Kathy used oriental prints. Elsie used batiks like I did but the coloring looks completely different. Laura used fabrics that appear to be fall related. Cynthia used reproduction fabrics that have a patriotic look.  Jennifer used fabrics from her mom's Hawaiian clothing and she used the setting I'm using in above photo to showcase the fabrics.  Karen and Lenore used various scraps.  Connie used various scraps but put a medium fabric in one of the light positions.  We had to get creative to come up with her layout.  I may have to make that "mistake" in a quilt for me as it turned out gorgeous.  Debby has a relaxing weekend walking the complex and she's holding up her blocks.

On the final collage, we have Kathleen who used both sides of batik fabrics.  One of the sides have gold stripping and the other side is plain - made a wonder watercolor effect and she plans to make the quilt larger using the smaller blocks.   Kathy has a quilt that look fall too.  Sue use various scraps.  Lee Etta had too much fun this weekend and is holding her blocks in her hand.  Judy decided to make "another" quilt with her blocks by accident but it should be pretty too.  Norma used a lot of southwestern and cowboy prints. Vickie used various jungle theme prints and the effect was awesome.  Jane used cool color batiks for her quilt and is make a king size quilt with the 3.75" blocks.

I love seeing class projects as it just proves that the fabrics will determine the final outcome of the quilts.  Hope you enjoy the show.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com