Highlights and anticipation!

       One of my dear blog friends, Quiltdiva Julie, sent me present that graces a high spot in my studio- my very own squirrel!! It was such a surprise and accurate appraisal of what goes on in the sewing studio. He is always in the corner of my eye as I am working, unlike Rosie who likes to sit on my hands (why?). So grateful for my own personal squirrel, hope to make her proud of his shenanigans.

     Years ago, I was able to participate in a workshop at Quilting by the Lake with Victoria Finlay Wolfe. It was a great experience- the teacher, the other students and the sewing. Since Covid lockdowns, there has not been many affordable or close places to take a workshop. I am not real enamored with Zoom classes. I did some during the lockdowns to keep our quilt guild going, but it is sort of like living in a stainless steel sink.
    On a whim, I looked up Quilting by the Lake for this year and found David Taylor is offering a workshop on Animal Applique. My friend, Elizabeth, and I saw a him lecture years ago at the Houston Quilt Festival. We were amazed by his work, proficiency, enthusiasm and insights especially as none of it is raw edge applique which always makes me a little crazy (just my personal bias).
     I talked Elizabeth into applying with me, vowing we could find the cash. This year it is at Hobart College in Geneva, NY on Seneca Lake- just a gorgeous spot. Elizabeth is an ace appplique artist and animal lover. I have almost no applique skills. This will be a challenge for me, which is a good thing. I pushed her to fill out the scholarship application along with me and in the beginning of April, we found out that we won full scholarships for the tuition, just have to come up with the room and board. Wowzee! Better than winning a lottery.
     Some gorgeous spring flowers to celebrate:

Beautiful iris in Berlin, Ohio

Pink Tree Peony

Red Tree Peony

How about those goals?

     People thought I was nuts last year when I made 21 goals for 2014. My husband and I make goals every year together for ourselves, things together, financial and house projects. We take a couple of days to do this. My husband saves all the goals which we write on yellow paper and keep in separate file folders. This year, we did not accomplish what we decided was most important. I think because we were not specific enough and did not write down how we were going to do this and what strategies. We go away for a few days between Christmas and New Years and work on this over coffee. We usually go to Niagara on the Lake which is so peaceful and gorgeous. 

Just staring out at the Lake helps refocus and reflection

Great Skies

Shot through the window at Harbour House.
Knew I could not make it outside in time.

Past goals for 2014:
1.   Make more comfort quilts. I would like at least one complete with bag per
      month. Ideally, I would like to have others join me somehow.
     I continue to make and give quilts. I have a lot of unquilted tops. I buy the tote bags by the dozen. Only my mother is helping- she sews strips and all around squares that I cut and assemble into quilts. 
2.   Make a paper pieced quilt. 
     I started Sea Urchin by Judy Niemeyer. My friends, the twins, who are extradinary paper pieces taught me using the Charm Elements pack by Judy. I also helped with our guild's raffle quilt which is a paper pieced Karen Stone.
3.   Get a lot better at Free Motion Quilting. 
      I continue to get better. I use designs from Leah Day, the Inbox Jaunt, and am taking Craftsy classes with Angela Walters.
4.   Blog- regularly with information to help others along. Gain more readers.
     I would like to be consistent at least 3 times a week. I did get a lot of readers once based on a Giveaway link from Vicki Welsh. I have 15 followers which is up.
5.   Attend quilt retreats
     I went on retreats in February, May, and November.
6.   Take at least 4 classes.
     One block wonder with Cathy from my guild, Hudson Valley Art workshop with Rayna Gillman, QBL, Bonnie Hunter Crumbs class in September, and a Scraps class with Lynn Roddy Brown in Houston.
7.   Go to Houston for the International Quilt Festival in October.
    Done and totally overwhelmed. First time west of the Mississippi.
8.   Quilting by the Lake in July, class with Victoria Findlay Wolfe. Find a roomate.
     Was assigned a suite where I met Lynn Roddy Brown, Lisa Mason, and Encyclopedia Brown. Took 5 days of classs, met wonderful quilters and learned so much from Victoria.
9.   Teach people some quilt related skills, techniques.
     Did one workshop at my guild on the exploding squares. Was a guest blogger on Sarah Craig's blog. Want more opportunities 
10. Cut out, sew, quilt my daughter's choice of wedding quilt.
     All done, given on Christmas, at home on the bed in Meadville, PA
11. Equipment changes: one new large sewing table for machines, better lighting   (ceiling), better way to photo quilts, more fabric organization (did some scrap organization recently- photos to come), treadle cabinet refinish and machine installed, new large cutting mat.
      Bought a Bailey Home Quilter for the sewing table in May, new ceiling lighting. two Jansko lamps from Ikea, started using Bonnie Hunter's scrap saving system, refinished the treadle cabinet- just needs assembling as I can't figure out the spring mechanism, got a Martelli mat for my Christmas present, got a Featherweight for Christmas
12. More fabric- scraps, batiks, strips
    Did my share of shopping and lots of scraps and fabric donated to me for comfort quilts. Need to do more to keep on top of this and be better organized.
13. Serve my guild.
    Did a workshop, demo, worked on raffle quilt, worked on comfort quilts
14. Learn at least 3 new techniques.
     One block wonder, y seams, Lemoyne star, using Companion Angle, Easy Angle, Shape Plus cutter, paper piecing, made fabric
15. Sew purses/tote bags. I did a few, but want to expand.
     Only two
16. Do denim art quilts. One started on design wall.
     Need to cut the foam board to mount the backing and for pinning. Experimented with liquid thread instead of fusible. Learned some techniques from Grace Errea on the Quilt show. Got more denim. Pinned lots of denim ideas.
17. Make more scrap quilts.
    Lots more exploding squares, made fabric, Good Night Irene, strip quilts, Lemoyne Star, leader-enders
18. Do a challenge.
    Doing a guild mystery quilt, Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion, Vicki Welsh's HST challenge
19. Treadle more.
    Some, for made fabric, need to do more.
20. Do more art quilts- incorporate fibers, landscapes.
    Only managed a few small ones and ones for cards. Need to figure out how to make larger without fusible interfacing.
21. Keep my machines maintained and help others with vintage ones. 
   All machines are up to snuff. I cleaned/fixed two 66, a 401, a 301, an old Kenmore, two Whites, and my husband's grandmother's Red Eye treadle.

     Now, I need to list my goals for 2015. I think the more specific I am and try to say how I plan to do them, the better the odds at achieving them. 

Other gems at QBL

    I was privileged to be around so much talent and creativity pouring out at QBL. I took photos of some of my classmates work and will post a sample here. I did not take my good Canon, so I am a bit disappointed in the photo quality. I regret I did not take more photos, but I was so busy working, that I missed a lot of the progress. A few people, I forgot names (the quiet ones). I missed some more great quilts.
    Also, a suite mate in the dorm of mine was Lynn Roddy Brown, a very accomplished quilter and author from Houston. I signed up to take one of her classes at the Houston Quilt Festival after meeting her. She is a wealth of technical and design knowledge patiently explained. I bought two of her books, Simple Strategies for Scrap Quilts, and Simple Strategies for Block Swap Quilts. She has another. I am awe of her abilities and personality. If you live anywhere near where she is teaching, go! Here is one of her quilts at the QBL show.

Lynn Roddy Brown

    Quilters from the made fabric class were creating these.

Connie's Made quilt

Made House

Jenny's made work

Made Houses

Norma, an 80+ quilting wizard

Made fabric center

Center with HST border, just amazing

Pat's made column

Great design from the woman with the orange HST borders,
wish I remembered her name!

    Quilters from the Lemoyne class were creating these. For even better photos, go to Lisa's blog, The redheaded mermaid, for more eye candy.

Beth's carefully though out star

Simple fabric, strips bring it to life

E's cut up top making a star point, 4 times

Emily's dragonfly star, carefully laid out using a folding mirror to cut shapes

Emily's wild star

E's quilt top that she cut up for stars, photo on theredheadedmermaid blog

Holly's King, super size, star

Just the racoons

With the borders, amazing

Look at Lisa's arrangement 1, with purple centers

Lisa's Arrangement 2, with stripe centers

Marcia's elegant neutral star

The neatest worker in the class, nothing ever out of place

 

Barbara's Japanese fabric star

Lemoyne Star at QBL

     The three day class with Victoria Findlay Wolfe held lots of challenges and new techniques such as Y seams.

    I started with having to make fabric. Some people had quilt tops they hated and cut them up. Some had orphan blocks. I sewed 6" squares and 6" x 12" rectangles together to make it big enough to cut out the star pattern.

The initial blocks

The cut out shapes, these are extra for now

Assembly started with settings, polka dot added to settings

Trial border with black against star

Trial border with red against star

Laying out the HSTs

Border laid on floor with numbers to match up

All sewn, need backing now but what?

The week of Quilting by the Lake

   Because I won a scholarship to Quilting by the Lake, I was able to take 5 days of classes of classes. I took 2 classes, both by Victoria Finlay Wolfe. The two day one was sewing a quilt with made fabric, the three day one was the Lemoyne star with made fabric. I just had to cover the lodging in the dorms. QBL is at Onondaga Community College outside of Syracuse, NY. It is two weeks long with a host of teachers from all over. Most of the classes are very experimental and fabric dyeing and printing. The classes I took were exactly what I wanted to make. I had bought Victoria's book, 15 Minutes of Play, over a year ago and had made fabric using scraps and I had followed her blog. 
     I love sewing scraps together. The classes were about 12 people, and only 5 took the same two courses. I was amazed at the work of the other people in the class and all I learned from them. Victoria helped each person with their work individually. We worked from 8:30 in the morning, stopped for lunch and dinner, and sewed more until 9 or 9:30. I had to endure a couple of migraines and did not sleep well, but was able to keep going. 
     In the first class, I had brought a lot of scrap fabric I had sewn together in pieces about 6 x 10. Then, I joined them together and was inspired by a small quilt in the book. I added triangle applique, curved piecing, and flying geese- learning new techniques. I bought some polka dot fabric from a vendor at the Quilt Show there (Quilters Corner) and used that for the borders. I am going to make a new entry for the Lemoyne class.

Fabric scraps sewn together

Squared up with borders