Time with Family

One of the joys of going to the Seaside Stitchers retreat in March is the time I get to spend with my sister and her family.  Marian had her Powder Puff Football game on Friday, which the seniors won by the skin of their teeth.  Unfortunately, she had damaged some ligaments in her knee during one of their practices and wasn't able to play.  Although her cheering from the sideline surely helped, their winning margin would have been much greater had she been on the field, I'm sure.  No bias on my part as a doting aunt!  Charlie had a party with friends and other activities during the weekend.  But I did get to see how tall he's grown - taller than his Dad.

The reflecting pool in the courtyard, looking towards the Getty Villa.

Helen and I did go to the Getty Villa on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and the Villa is located in a canyon with a view of the ocean.  It's an interesting setting in which many of Getty's treasures are displayed.  We took the Garden tour and then wandered through the Villa. 

I loved the flowing vine from the vase on the wall panel in the covered gallery that surrounded the reflecting pool.  This would make a beautiful border for a whole cloth quilt.  I'm still collecting ideas!

Inside one of the galleries was this vase.  The design on the side of the vase is gorgeous.

The display of Greek and Roman antiquities are arranged by theme rather than chronologically.  Only a portion of the treasures were exhibited so there was plenty of room to walk around and view the statues and other items without feeling crowded - a wonderful treat.

After leaving the Getty Villa, we met up with Jim and Marian to see the movie Jane Eyre.  If you haven't seen it yet, do!  It's a wonderful presentation of the story.  I so enjoyed reading Jane Eyre one winter vacation - I can still remember curling up on the couch with a blanket over me, engrossed in reading Jane's story.

We followed that with a wonderful dinner at Louise's Trattoria in Old Town Pasadena.  Their food is wonderful.  As much as I liked my entree (and it was delicious), the taste treat of the evening was the Burrata and Beets.  I love beets and the way they fixed the roasted beets with Burrata cheese was a taste treat.  It was a truly enjoyable dinner, with plenty of time to hear Marian's retelling of the Powder Puff game.

I so appreciate the hospitality of Helen's family and the chance to catch up with the happenings in their lives.  Thanks for allowing me to disrupt your routine for a few days.  And thanks, too, to Marian for allowing me to borrow her sewing machine.

Cheers!
Margaret 

Seaside Stitchers 2011

I've recently returned from the annual Seaside Stitchers gathering in Cambria, CA.  I was fortunate last year to be invited to join the group as they relax and sew and shop for a week in a lovely area of California.

The weather was gorgeous this year.  Sharon and I arrived first and had time to unload our gear, get the sewing room set up, and sit out on the patio where we saw a pod of whales playing in the ocean.  The house we rent is located near the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, a large tract that has several walking paths, lots of wildlife and a wonderful view of the south end of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.  It's perfectly situated for oceanside walks and we went on several walks.  Sea otters were seen later in the week, playing in the surf near the shore.

Carol enjoyed knitting on the patio - so relaxing to hear the waves - and although the sun took away some of the chilliness, it was still cool.

 The first person to complete a quilt was ME!  Of course, I cheated by having it almost completed by the time I arrived.  I made this fracture, again using the technique from Brenda Esslinger's book Fabulous Fractures, before arriving.  The binding was sewn to the front and all I had to do was hand sew it to the back.

Here's the fracture completed this year.  It will be auctioned at the South Pasadena Foundation's annual fundraising event.

 I think Wendy probably completed the first project.  She was working on quilted books this year for new granddaughter Chloe.  She brought several panels with her and found several more at the local quilt shops.  Wendy also brought a book with instructions for making cute and cuddly little animals, again for Chloe.



Here's Wendy reading to Harriet Hedgehog.

 Harriet had a blast at the retreat, checking out different places around the house...


Harriet helps press material for the next project.



Harriet gets a ride in the hood of Carol's sweatshirt.



Harriet enjoyed reading the quilted books.

 We were able to welcome Loris, our Cambria quilting friend, to our retreat site.  She knew about when we were going to arrive but I hadn't remembered to send her a note with our exact arrival dates.  So...



Interfacing worked well as a sign.  She found us!



Loris stopped by another day with her Labs - aren't they a good looking group?  Check out her blog (http://www.luckypupquilter.blogspot.com/) to see more of their antics.

After shopping on Wednesday, it was time for a soak in the hot tub.  The soak was repeated later in the week after more shopping.

Sharon, Sherri and Margaret enjoying the relaxing jets of hot water while listening to the waves behind us.

  In addition to shopping, we really did work on sewing projects.

Marj with her Dear Jane blocks.  She's working on getting 42 done for her Dear Jane group's exchange later this year.  You can see another of her blocks, slightly larger, in the lower left hand corner of the picture.

Carol went as far as she could on one project (not pictured) and then sewed up a storm.  She completed 36 of the blocks that will go into this quilt.  The fabrics were chosen to coordinate with the beautiful border fabric.  It gave me an idea for the wonderful border fabric I puchased last year on my Shipshewana trip.

Sharon worked on several different projects, including Mayo the Wonder Dog.  She completed Mayo's mouth, nose, eyes and the hair of her forehead.  This quilt design is the product of a David Taylor retreat held last year.  She thinks she can get the remainder of the work done before David returns in May for part 2 of the retreat.

It really helps when you include all of the pieces - there are close to 100 - as you are putting them together.  Sometimes working late at night causes us to miss what is obvious in the light of day!

Sherri finished her 42 Dear Jane blocks.  She just sewed and sewed and sewed on those blocks.  She even got them all trimmed.  Now for the fun task of removing the paper from the backs but she has several months to get that completed.

I forgot to upload the picture of my completed quilt top - have to catch it on the next post!

Cheers!
Margaret

Quilts and More Quilts

This past week was the annual Indiana Heritage Quilt Show at Bloomington.  It's always fun to see the quilts at the show and shop at the vendor booths.  Deb, Kathy and I have been going for the past several years and it's a wonderful tradition.  I missed part of that tradition this year because I took a class on Thursday but I did get to eat lunch with Deb, Kathy, Lois and Jan.  It took on a special glow this year as Deb and Kathy mentioned that the quilt I entered had received a ribbon!  I'd been in class all morning so hadn't even had a chance to check that out.

I snuck under the tape barriers protecting the quilts so that Kathy could get my picture.  It's a Third Place ribbon in the Pieced Wall Hanging Category.  And to think I almost didn't enter the quilt in the show!

Lois, Jan and I took a class from Sue Nickels on Stitched Raw Edge Applique.  Although applique is one of those techniques I never thought I'd be interested in, I've come to appreciate how much it can add to a quilt.  I had heard about what a good teacher Sue is and after taking her class, I wholeheartedly agree.  She has a wonderful syle of presenting information and a great setup for ensuring everyone can watch her closely.

Sue has a small camera in front of her, just under the white Ott light.  She works so that the camera projects what she's doing on the screen behind her.  This is a terrific way to demonstrate techniques in a way that everyone in the classroom can see what is happening.

Jan and Lois are working on their applique pieces.  Lois has a great travel iron with only one flaw...the handle sometimes will just decide to collapse to one side.  Make it interesting!

We learned how to do applique with fabric hidden under adjoining pieces of fabric...

...several layers of fabric, sharp points, and embellishments, including the small thread flower stem...

...and this happy flower with a type of reverse applique in the middle.

Sue's tips were really helpful and I found a button on my machine I didn't know I had - the start of pattern button!  While I may have read about this button when I got my machine, I obviously hadn't used it until this class.  My machine applique isn't quite up to snuff but I was pleased with the results after this class.  I just need to figure out what my next project will be after I get done with the quilts in waiting.

Cheers!
Margaret

CSQ Annual Auction

Each year, the Columbus Star Quilters Guild has an auction to raise money for our educational programs.  The other purpose for the auction is to give us an opportunity to clean out our sewing rooms.  Members bring in those items they've outgrown, fabric they liked several years ago when it was purchased but no longer fits in any future sewing plans, books not referenced in several years, and so the list goes.

Jan looking over just part of the stash.

Another section of items going up for bid.  And there's yet another row of tables filled with books, magazines and more fabric.

This year we were blessed by a gentleman bringing in items from his deceased mother's sewing room.  She apparently had indicated that the Guild was to get these items for their use and he showed up the day of our auction.  How fortuitous!  The boxes included several quilt tops, lots of fabric, patterns, silk scarves and other sewing materials.

Prior to the auction, we did hold a short business meeting and had our Show and Tell session.  Lillian, one of our newer and obviously quite ambitious members, had completed 8 UFOs - a record number!  When asked by a show of hands, most members had completed at least one UFO on their list so the UFO Challenge seems to be taking off.  The Calico Team is in the lead with 30 projects reported complete out of their total 309 UFOs.  The Batik Team isn't far behind this early in the Challenge with 21 of their 310 UFOs completed.  This is only a rough count and there's plenty of time left to get those UFOs completed.

Jamie, Lois and Jeannette standing in line with their completed quilts for Show and Tell.  You can see by Jamie's stack that she's made quite a bit of progress in reducing her stash. 

Melissa, excited about having completed her redwork quilt.  Beautifully hand quilted and a lovely quilt.

 Then the fun begins.  Bidders with their paddles are ready to bid on their selected items.  You can see the stash of magazines and some fabric bundles already in front of the winning bidders.

This picture was taken AFTER we had taken most of Ruthanna's items to her car.  Ruthanna's pile was equally as big as the stack in front of June, which keeps getting bigger with auctioneer Cathy adding another item to her pile.

 I wasn't planning to buy anything but couldn't resist this antique quilt top.  This was one of the items from the items donated by .  It's a simple block pattern but nicely done.  The fabrics are wonderful to look at and there are loads of different fabrics, most seeming to be from the 30's - 40's.  It will be fun to learn more about the fabrics that make up this quilt.

Why the blog picture is sideways from the way I took it remains a mystery.  But the thing I noticed in the picture more so than with the naked eye were the dark runs of fabric down the quilt top.

Here's a close up of some of the fabrics.

So another auction comes to a close having raised $880 that will be put to good use for our upcoming educational programs.  We're having Terry White as a speaker in June and she'll be giving a day long workshop on Threadpainting - I'm excited to learn her techniques.  Then in October, Mary Buvia will be our guest speaker and will provide one of her superb workshops on machine quilting.  I've taken classes from Mary in the past and know she's an excellent teacher so will be looking forward to this workshop as well.

Cheers!

Margaret