Mini Asian Influence

Just a quick post to document my completion of the Mini Asian Influence quilt.  I still had the binding to hand sew which I completed at work during my lunch periods.  This quilt is 17" square.

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

SSBQG 2010 Retreat

Here are a few photos from our annual retreat.  We go to a bed and breakfast that set up for quilters/crafters in Greenville, IL.  This is our 6th year and as usual, we had a lot of fun.

We worked on x- block quilts.  To see my x-block quilts, go here.  I'll also show one of my x-block quilts that I worked on this week in which I pieced the border tomorrow.

Here is the photo of the miniatue quilts made for challenge.  Click the photo to enlarge it to see the quilts better.

Seven of of attended retreat; here are 5 of them at work and the sample for class.

Here are the other two participants; I'm on the left after just getting 3 hours of sleep.

Here are a few x-block quilts; I realized as I was editing the photos that I did not get a photo of everyone's quilt, so I can't share them all with you.

At retreat, the hostest put on a fashion show for us.  I won't spoil it for other groups that go here, but I wanted to share one photo.  This is the block pleated skirt with Peter Pan collar.  It was so hilarious.  They had a lot more outfits too.

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

Miniature Challenge

ere is my miniature quilt I finished last week but could not post.  The pinwheel blocks are made from leftovers from the "Love is..." border.  The quilt measures 16" x 20".  The quilt actually tied for 3rd place with 2 other quilts.  I was so happy that my little piece of work paid off.  To quilt it, I first stitched in the ditch to stabilize it.  Then, I used my embroidery machine to quilt little hearts in strategic areas.  I have a little free motion quilting in the last border to help keep it flat.  I love my little "Valentine Miniature".

Here is a collage of all the challenge quilts.  Click the photo to enlarge it.  The 2nd quilt in the 2nd row won 1st place and was made by Debby Hughey.  Go girl!

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

Retreat Weekend

I had a productive "extended" weekend. I was hired to present two classes to a local quilt guild during their quilt-away. I hadn't gotten around to visiting the facility so that was another advantage as I'd wanted to see the facility for consideration of use by two quilting guilds I'm a member of. I did get my banner made that I mentioned in my last post.

I taught the Exploding Star class. Most of the participants made about 1/4 of the quilt. The themes ranged from 2-color quilts to feed sacks to controlled scrappy. They all had their own personality. One of the students in class wanted me to upload a photo of a half-square triangle quilt I started. When she last saw it, I had only the center pinwheels pieced. This baby is now HUGE.

One of the benefits of being at retreat is that I got to attend three lectures by Marti Michell. She gave great handouts and if you love her templates you would have enjoyed her presentations. I have 2-3 sets of her templates but don't use them too much - just depends upon what the project and process involved. And before you ask, yes, Stacey Michell was there as well. Stacey does a magnificent job with hand dies. I purchased two of her "hula hoops" to use on some Hawaiian applique patterns already in my stash.

During retreat I was very productive. In addition to teaching 2 classes, I put mitered borders on my scrappy 3-d stars quilt. I worked on the knotty purse, getting to the point where I was to add a magnetic snap. I did not have a snap so that project was put on hold. Marti Michell had so many log cabin quilts that I started another one, never mind that I have two that need quilting in my UFO pile. The off center log cabin squares were cut from scraps I'd taken to the retreat so these four blocks will not be actually pieced to each other. I have lots of strips cut at home that I plan to use to make this a really scrappy quilt. I plan to make eight large blocks (64 small log blocks). I got a tad further on my class sample for the Charm Tote class as well. I enjoyed the retreat and the guild members. I had so much fun (other than an attack of "the ants") and look forward to working with this guild in the future.

I plan to finish the purse and tote this week to get them off my UFO list. We'll see...I also have to get ready for a class I'm teaching Saturday on the X-Block ruler. Oh, and before that I have a quilt guild meeting on Thursday that I'm the president of and it's challenge quilt night. And then, Friday I have a craft guild meeting. Hopefully I can cut logs for my log cabin quilt. In addition I have to put back the things I took to retreat and do a little housekeeping to get me through the week. Gee, I'm tired just typing of all the things on my to-do list this week. Come back and see me some time.

Don't be a stranger.

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