Retreat

I took a couple days to sew with friends.  Since this is the only time I piece, I had a couple projects to work on.  This one was so quick and easy.  It started out like this...

and turned into this table runner.

I purchased this cute safari panel years ago and put some borders around it.  

  

And worked on three block-of-the-month's that I had not completed.  I'm all caught up now.

Last October 2011, at another retreat, I pieced the blocks together from a basket block exchange that I participated in.  I just had to put the final batik borders on it.  I like how it looks now.

Here's what others were working on.... a tote bag and blocks for a bed-size quilt

The Queen of wool, Ute!

This is a little basket embellished with wool.  So cute!

This log cabin block is only 8" square.  Jodie did some quilting.

 

Sue sewed this quilt with vintage fabrics and finished it with hand-quilting.

Irish Chain

This Irish Chain was made by Peggy Y. for her daughter's wedding.  The bride to be choose the Celtic designs that are in each of the white areas.  One is a cross and the other is a knot that kind of looks like hearts.

 

It start off with putting the design in the space, then I filled it in with background quilting.

I quilted a straight line and CC (continuous curves) in the "chain" part of the quilt. 

 A classic cable was quilted in the green and a feathered cable quilted in the 2 purple borders.

 Then I added a line of pearls in the white sashing.

I quilted their initials in one block.

When this quilt was hanging, it just glowed!  I hope the bride and groom like it!

Block Sampler

This is Jean's first quilt.  She did a block of the month sampler with big blue borders.

It was hard to get a photo of the designs in the borders and sashings.  They are big feather mofits

 I quilted each of the sampler block with lines or feathers.

 

Snake River Log Cabin

This big, beautiful, bright log cabin quilt (Pattern called Snake River) was pieced by Christine Heath.  It's a large quilt (95x113) and heavy because of all the seams.  Fun colors!

 Here is the center.

  

Corner

   

Straight lines were quilted over the green part of the log cabin blocks.  

The pink and white squares were SID (Stitched-in-ditch).

Thanks Christine for letting me quilt this beauty!

Picnic Lady Bug Quilt

Kathy Claes made this cute lady bug quilt for her daughter.  It was made for family picnics.  (It's almost too nice to put on the ground!)  She designed the quilt herself.  The lime green really makes it pop! 

Her husband printed out all the wording of the Lady Bug poem on a bubble jet printer. 

 

Of course I had to quilt it with a lady bug pattern...

 Great job Kathy!   This quilt will be treasured for years to come.

Autumn Splendor

This paper-pieced beauty was made by Christine Schwartz.  The orange, gold and purple batiks she chose are just beautiful!  Pattern (Autumn Splendor) is by Quiltworx; Judy Niemeyer and her son are experts at designing paper-pieced patterns.  The seams are staggered so everything lies flat.  If you ever consider making one of these pointy star patterns, Judy Niemeyer is the only way to go.

The first thing to do is have a quilting plan of action!  Decide what you want to show off - in this case the stars and flying geese.  Decide on a quilting pattern around those elements and stick to it on the rest of the quilt.  I sketched out a variety of designs until I found the right one.  Even then you are still entitled to change your mind, and start over.

The quilting is all freehand and everything has been stitched-in-the-ditch (SID). 

 

Three thread colors were used.  I started with gold colored thread and did all the quilting on all the blocks where gold/light fabrics are, then went back with purple and then one more time with a touch of monofilament to SID around the orange flying geese.

 

 

I quilted feathers in the dark fabrics and SID in the center of the star.

 I used an echo in the gold fabrics around the flying geese.  I wanted the fabric around the star to be quilted down, so it would be showcased.  I used a small stipple, swirls and SID.

The SID keeps the flying geese flat and gives it a more finished look.