Rene Creates: fabric shops

Showing posts with label fabric shops. Show all posts

Monday, May 16, 2016

Medallion Making with Gwen

In a moment of weakness when I was feeling sorry for myself missing QuiltCon 2016, I registered for a three day class with Gwen Marston. Never mind that it was taking place on the other side of the country; that just happens to be where my grandson lives anyway!

When I wasn't learning from Gwen, I was hanging out with Leo! That's what I call a win win!

The Liberated Medallion was a three day workshop hosted by The Quilted Strait in Port Gamble, WA. Such a beautiful location on the water, with lots of natural light in the classroom. I was familiar with Gwen's liberated quilt making style but had not met Gwen before, and I was super excited about the opportunity. Gwen did not disappoint. This workshop was right on the heels of QuiltCon so I got the scoop from Gwen on what I missed ;-)

So, this was how my medallion started. I brought my low volume fabrics and some bright prints and a vague idea of where I wanted to go with my quilt. Gwen is all about doing "what makes you happy", so I kept that in mind while I worked.

Gwen was good about having us gather up front periodically so she could teach us new techniques, walk us through her book, and answer questions. This was my first three day workshop ever, and I can really see the benefit of more than one day of a class.

There was some show and tell by Gwen and even others in the class. These ladies are all so lucky to live close to The Quilted Strait and quite a few of them had taken classes with Gwen previously. She is a regular teacher in the area.

We each had our own design wall, and my table mates were encouraging each step of the way. It was great to bounce ideas of each other. There was such variety in the projects going on, and it was nice to take a break, walk around the room and admire what others were creating.

At the end of a long day at class, I would drive "home" and have dinner with Leo. We each talked about what we did at "school". I sure miss being so far away from him.

The last couple of times I have visited Leo, I rented a cute little bungalow on a farm which has plenty of room for Leo to run around outside. The horse wasn't around this time, but their rooster was a nice alarm clock in the morning!

After making a few rounds of my medallion, I realized there wasn't much "liberated" going on. Notice I changed that around border number 3.

This is as far as I progressed on my quilt top at the retreat. I have a lot of "parts" made for the next round; it's just a matter of getting back to it. The medallion and the extra bits on are on my design wall at home now, and I add to it here and there in between other projects.

Some of the ladies left before I thought to take a picture of their progress, but below are some who graciously allowed me to photograph their creations. I also apologize if I have any names and pictures mixed up. This was in February after all!

My "next door neighbor" Catherine

My "across the table" neighbor Eddie Jo

Carrie

Dana

Sue

Leanne

Lucy

and last but not least, Sharon who I "knew" from Tonya's Liberated Amish challenge. It's so nice to meet quilty friends in person...even if it takes a few years! Sharon's blog post about Gwen's workshop can be found here.

Leo's expression sums up how I feel when I am not with him. Fortunately, I will be back for a visit next month...with Leo...not Gwen ;-))

Thanks for stopping by my not so consistent blog!

Happy stitching,

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

What's Up Wednesday: Guild Day

Today was our December Orlando Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Always a fun time. Our membership has grown so much since 2010, and our meeting space is pretty much packed! We are so fortunate to have The Sewing Studio host our meetings.

Today was a special treat as Juki educator Karen was demonstrating the Juki longarm machine. She even brought goodies for all of us! After the meeting, members had an opportunity to use the machine. I must admit this was the first time I had ever touched a longarm quilting machine. I must say I liked it!

Do any of you have a Periscope account? The Orlando MQG does and is now broadcasting portions of their events. Check it out! After 24 hours, the broadcasts are stored on their Katch.me page. If you go to this link, you will find the quilts that I shared today for Show and Tell.

The guild is in a friendly "race" with a nearby quilt group to see who can make the most pillowcases for our local National Guard troops about to be deployed. I am pretty sure we are well on our way to winning the Pillowcase Challenge of 2015!

Our group also receives 15% off purchases on meeting days. Gabriela was sweet to let me take her picture while she was working the register.

As you can see, I exercised restraint in my purchases. I had to take advantage of The Sewing Studio's 33% off precuts sale though. I may have purchased more of the fabric lollipops than is shown here...they make cute "happies" for quilty friends ;-))

Do you belong to a local quilt guild? I hope you so. It's nice to find "your tribe"!
Thanks for stopping by,

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Good Neighbors Pincushion Party {and a giveaway}

Welcome to the party! Have you been following along this month with the Good Neighbors Pincushion Party?! If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you will find direct links to the stops before mine. The pincushions made with Amanda Jean's (aka Crazy Mom Quilts) new fabric line from Connecting Threads have all been fantastic. It's no wonder given the beautiful prints to work with!

When Amanda told me about her new fabric line, I was SO happy for her. When she asked me to participate in the blog hop, I didn't hesitate to say YES! When I started blogging in 2009, Amanda's was one of the first quilt blogs I discovered. Her generous spirit of sharing her love and knowledge of quilting with others hooked me from the start (not to mention the gorgeous scrappy quilts she makes). She is just as sweet and generous in person too, as I am fortunate to experience at least once a year at retreat.

Amanda's first line of fabric is the perfect combination of happy, cheerful prints and lower volume fabrics that all play well with each other and mix beautifully with other fabric lines. There are so many possibilities, and I immediately wanted to chop up the charm pack and start with scraps! However, I took some time thinking about what type of pincushion I wanted to make before pulling out my rotary cutter. I may have ~~gone a little overboard in the pincushion making~~ made more than one pincushion before settling on this design to share with you today.

It's difficult to pick a favorite print, but I must say these teal blue colors speak to me. I love the bright yellow center here to break up the blues and how it all looks stitched down on the gray stripe.

The Peaks print is available in five bright colors. I selected four of them for the hexies in this cushion. All the pincushions are stuffed with crushed walnut shells. I like the weight the shells provide.

This EPP block is stitched onto one of the lovely X's print. I ordered a couple of yards of this in the teal color way! I see this showing up in quite a few quilt projects.

And a third pincushion with dots, stripes, X's and peaks stitched onto a linen background.

Amanda Jean's Good Neighbors fabric line is exclusive to Connecting Threads and can be found here. As you can see above, the line offers a great variety of prints in cheerful colors as well as "low volume" fabrics. I love that one of the prints is available in 104" wide, making it perfect for quilt backs.

The Connecting Threads site also has a free download, patterns, quilt kits, fabric bundles and coordinating solids for the Good Neighbors collection all in one handy link. I think I need the coffee cup pattern!

When preparing this blog post, I noticed these cushions didn't use the cross stitch print. If I had to pick a favorite, the teal cross stitch print would be mine. I must have used it in one of the other ~~three~~ pin cushions I made!

Connecting Threads has generously offered a charm pack to one of my readers (open to U.S. and Canada). Leave a comment below and I will pick a winner on September 30th. I would love to know which Good Neighbors print is your favorite. Again, the entire line can be found here.