Pinnie Parade

There's a pincushion parade over on Instagram this month, and I have joined in!  What I love about this #pinnieparade is the pincushions can be ones made already - gifted to a friend, gifted from a friend, newly constructed, vintage - you get the idea!

Here's a rundown on week one:

Graphic made while trying out Canva

Day 1 featured my newest pincushion acquisition, gifted by my friend Caroline.  She pieced tiny pieces to make this adorable pinnie.

This pincushion for Day 2 was made following Heidi's pattern from her Sew Organized for the Busy Girl book with leftover Carolyn Friedlander fabrics and mailed to a friend.

Day 3's pincushion I kept for myself.  I used a thin leftover strip of solids from Chawne Kimber's Small Pieces workshop.

Day 4 was a gift from my friend Jackie.  She made this pretty hexie pincushion with all Cotton+Steel fabrics.

I pattern tested this cute scrappy pincushion for Amanda Jean's Plenty of Pincushions Volume 1. Posted on Instagram for Day 5.

This long skinny pincushion gifted by Amanda Jean was shown on Day 6 and is perfect for placing right in front of my sewing machine when chain piecing.

Leslie sent her new Urban Artifacts fabric, and I made this pincushion with her selvages for her market booth.  That's Day 7!

I am pretty sure I can play along for 31 days using pincushions already made!

If not, then I will have an excuse to make MORE pincushions.

I see that as a win, win situation!

Gruber's Retreat 2017

Warning: this post is quilt-picture heavy as I just returned from our eighth annual quilting retreat in Minnesota. Four full days of sewing with friends!! I look forward to this get-together at Gruber's All.Year.Long! In most cases, I only see these amazing friends once a year, but we pick up right where we left off the previous year like we just saw each other yesterday.

 Once again, I traveled with my featherweight in the Sew Portable Travel Bag.  Jewell got lots of sewing hours in as I assembled the remaining 96 log cabin blocks for my daughter's graduation quilt. Listening to the machine sing stitch as I chain pieced (and chain pieced and chain pieced) each log cabin round was therapeutic.  I really should use this machine more than I do.

My goal was to have the quilt top assembled by Sunday, but I settled with having all the blocks completed and a final layout decided.  The design wall was not large enough to show all the blocks and work on the final layout (I did that digitally and then confirmed on my design wall when I got back home), but it was sufficient to see enough of the pattern to make sure I was on the right track.

In addition to our usual laughing, chatting, and snacking, there was some beautiful projects in the works.  I'll leave it to my friends to share their own photos.  Cindy was doing her magic with solids and Anna Maria Horner prints; Amanda Jean whipped up a quilt top worth of blocks and her adorable pin cushions; Doris completed TWO quilt tops, worked on Heather Ross fussy cut paper pieced star blocks, and made an adorable 3-D unicorn for her niece; Stephanie finished her Metro Rings quilt top started in a retreat from just two weeks before, kept up with her #100Days100blocks project, and made quick progress on the Local quilt; Mary made adorable owls and firebugs to add to her other Elizabeth Hartman Fancy Forest critters; and Shelly worked on THREE projects simultaneously including adorable Elizabeth Hartman flamingos.  We missed having Michelle and Terri with us this year; it's sure not the same when we are without one (or two) of our friends.

Since I wasn't sewing much before retreat, I created Lego sewing machines for my friends.

Exchanging happies has become a ritual at retreat, and I'm always amazed at what my friends create year after year.  Below is the amazing collection of happies I received from my friends this year. 

Having other quilty friends who are in the area pop by is another tradition of our retreat.  Brooke,  Victoria (who invited me to the first retreat but has been unable to attend in recent years) and her daughter Beatrice joined us for dinner at Granite City.

Maria (@QuiltMomofFive on Instagram) came by to meet Stephanie and Shelly as they all follow each other on Instagram and then invited us all to her new lake house for dinner.  Coincidentally Maria is good friends with Heather who I got to meet at our very first retreat in 2010.  

Heather, Amanda Jean, Maria, Shelly, and Stephanie, Krazina, Cindy, Doris

Amanda Jean brought quilts from her new book and we each picked one to sleep under.  I love this Remainders quilt which helped me have the best night sleep of the retreat! 

Here's a close up of the quilt made with tiny triangle trimmings.  Amanda will be teaching her Spin Class at our guild in September, and I think saving all those leftover siggy block trimmings may not have been in vain...haha!

For the last two weeks, I have received Facebook reminders of previous year retreats as they popped up in my Memories from years past.  I thought it would be fun to share them all here in one place.

2010:  Toni, Amanda Jean, Rene', Shelly, Mary, Victoria, Doris, Terri, Shelly

2011:  Doris, Michelle, Rene', Terri, Amanda Jean, Mary, Cindy, Stephanie, Toni, Shelly

2012:  Doris, Michelle, Rene'', Terri, Mary, Cindy, Amanda Jean, Stephanie

2013:  Stephanie, Cindy, Amanda Jean, Mary, Doris, Toni, Rene', Michelle

2014:  Rene', Doris, Toni, Mary, Terri, Stephanie, Cindy, Amanda Jean

2015:  Amanda Jean, Rene', Doris, Mary, Michelle Terri, Cindy, Shelly, Stephanie

2016:  Cindy, Michelle Stephanie, Terri, Shelly, Doris, Mary, Amanda Jean, Rene' 

I am so fortunate to call these ladies my good friends!!  Quilting is an amazingly creative outlet, but having such an incredible group of friends to share this passion is what encourages me to continue!

What's Up Wednesday: Fabric, Books and Hearts

Last Wednesday was our guild's February monthly meeting.  The Sewing Studio provides us meeting space and 15% off purchases.  I try and be good but I also think it's nice to support our LQS.

I wanted to buy at least a yard of every Blueberry Park print they carried (which is all of them!), but I "settled" for these seven and several yards of this gorgeous Alexander Henry black and white.

Our guild has a new library thanks to Lucky Spool Media.  I checked out Bedroom Style by April Rosenthal and plan to spend some time browsing while I am on vacation this week.  I enjoy listening to her on The QuiltCast podcast so I am really glad to have the opportunity to read her book.

I love mysteries and have discovered the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny.  I am on the third book at the moment and can't seem to put these books down.  The fictional town of Three Pines sounds lovely and I can imagine myself having coffee or wine at the bistro with a group of friends.  If you love murder mysteries, I highly recommend these.

My friend Caroline made this lovely heart mini for me!  Isn't it wonderful?!  I just love the varied sizes of the hearts overlapping, and her quilting is fantastic!

On the off chance that I get to do some sewing while in Montana, I brought along these fabrics to make a bee block for Cindy.  She is making a quilt for her sweet granddaughter and is requesting #booksforbabyquilt  blocks from Patchwork, Please!.  Several blocks have already been made, and it's easy to see this will be a special quilt!

Thanks for stopping by,

Festival of Trees

I am going to brag on the Orlando MQG some more.  For the second year in a row, our group donated a quilt to the Orlando Museum of Art's Festival of Trees which raises money for the Council of 101.

This beautiful wreath quilt was designed by our VP Debra.  Here it is hanging in the festival.  OrlandoMQG members designed and made the individual blocks that make up the wreath design.  Alissa assembled the quilt top, Frank did the quilting and Mary W. finished up with the binding.  

These blocks make up my contribution.  I love collaborative projects!

 Sadly I was not the lucky winner of this gorgeous quilt.  I even answered calls from unrecognized numbers on the day of the drawing hoping it was the museum calling with good news!  But...I can go here and see a video of the quilt on display when I want to get in the holiday spirit.

I do have a couple of Christmas quilts on display (i.e. draped over a couch or bed) in my home, but at the moment that is all the decorations I have out.  I guess I better get busy.  How about you?  Do you have any holiday quilts and/or decorations up already?

Friday Finish: Dresden Blocks Top

I have a lot of friends to thank for this one!  Thank you MCM Bee friends for the blocks; thanks to several quilty friends who put up with my constant texts asking for background fabric and layout advice; our guild secretary took the only photo I have of the entire top; and a big thank you to Frank and his polling random salon customers to weigh in on the background color!  It takes a village....ha ha!

blocks patiently waiting....  

These gorgeous Dresdens have brightened up my design wall since last December while I contemplated their fate.  In the end, I decided to stitch them randomly on a widescreen print by Carolyn Friedlander in Pacific blue.  It's difficult to capture the color on "film".  You will notice it looks different in every picture here.

my block...still without the center ;-)

My friends may have selected the background color (between Pacific, Flame, Yarrow), but Max had major input on the block placement.  I wanted to complete the top before Wednesday's guild meeting for show and tell and completely forgot to get a picture with all the blocks stitched down.

see what I mean about the color?

Ede was kind enough the share the photo she took at the meeting.  I think we were holding it up sideways :-))  It's on the large side to fit the bed in my guest room.

There is so much negative space and my shoulder is still giving me trouble (that's my story and I am sticking to it!), so I have outsourced the quilting.  I'm excited to get this one finished!

I won't forget to take pictures once it is quilted!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finish: Studio Redo

I've wanted to show pictures of my studio as a Friday Finish ever since I moved my space upstairs, but before I could take decent pictures, it would either get messy again or I would rearrange it.  I'm constantly repositioning my sewing table, ironing board and cutting table.  I think I finally have it where I like and now our house is on the market ;-)  My studio is as picked up as it's ever going to be, so let's take a look:

planning area

to-dos and inspiration board

Right outside my room is an alcove with a desk, shelves, bulletin board and an extra design wall.  This is where I sit when participating in online guild meetings which happen about once a month.  There's also room for a laptop, printer and quilting books.

Design wall

Usually the latest quilt project(s) is on this design wall as it is easier to stand in front to rearrange blocks and then step back to get a better look.  The design wall has been taken down temporarily so as not to overwhelm prospective buyers....ha!

the left side of the room

When you walk in my studio, my sewing machine in on the left as well as another design wall and a bookcase.

my Juki, Janome, and Featherweight

There are also some lovely handmade gifts from friends all around my sewing space!  More gifts have been added since this picture was taken....I'm still going through my mail and unpacking from retreat.

the right side of the room

On the right when you walk in is my fabric stash, directly in front is my ironing surface and then around the corner is a small closet.  I love looking across my machine and seeing the lovely fabric eye candy and more handmade quilty goodness from friends.

closeup of shelves

Most of my fabric is folded around comic book boards and "filed" on the shelves by color.  Additionally, I have shelves dedicated to precuts, novelty and favorite fabric lines.

Pegboard

My pegboard above my ironing surface is a favorite feature of my studio.  There's a container to hold my Flatter spray, various size baskets for notions and patterns, a magnetic board, and pegs for rotary cutters, scissors, rulers and small artwork.

small area for displaying notions

Under the ironing surface is more storage.  I also have a foldout cutting table that I rarely use.  Now that my fabric is on mini bolts, I find I can cut yardage on a smaller cutting mat right on my ironing board.

one of several turquoise rolling carts

Several aqua Ikea rolling carts hold WIPs...the idea being each bin holds a different project.  If that were the case, I would need twice as many carts!

beautiful minis gifted to me (other than the far left)

Above and below are updated pictures of my mini quilts after rearranging to accommodate my sister's latest gift!

wall hanging made by Michelle - pattern from book Paper Pieced Modern

Now that summer is almost over and school is about to start, I am spending more time in my sewing space, and I love that!  The hard part is keeping my area clean while creating....I'm a messy quilter!

currently on my design wall - two different MCM Bee quilts in progress

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  I like seeing where others create so I hope you don't mind me sharing my little creative area.  Thanks for stopping by,