Rene Creates: family

Showing posts with label family. 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,

Friday, May 15, 2015

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spring 2015

Welcome to the Spring 2015 edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival! It's the perfect time to showcase a favorite quilt, and best of all no sewing on pesky quilt sleeves is required!

"Soar" flying geese quilt

This time around I am sharing the flying geese quilt I made for my son's college graduation quilt. As soon as Carolyn Friedlander's Doe fabric was released, I bought every print in every color way with a quilt for my son in mind. I eventually went with flying geese as it seems appropriate for this milestone. I have to say though, family members (the nonquilty ones) were confused as they didn't see any geese pictures in the quilt;-)!

This ledger print is one of my all time favorite fabrics.

While most of the fabric in this quilt is from Carolyn's Doe line, there are also fabrics from her Architextures and Botanics lines. The binding is a ledger print and the backing is the wideback widescreen in black.
{{How cool that the fabric for his Florida State University graduation quilt is designed by Carolyn who is a Florida local?}}

Accuquilt for cutting

I cut all the flying geese blocks with my AccuQuilt Go! This was a huge time saver.

wall basting

After playing around with various design ideas, I went with a basic alternating columns of geese going up and then back down. I originally wanted something more unplanned if you will, but in the end it just looked a mess.

I pin basted the quilt on my wall. Has anyone ever tried that? This was a first for me, and I really liked the method. If anyone is interested I could do a more detailed post later.

The quilt needs to be in the picture too?!

I used my walking foot and Aurifil #2846 40wt to quilt organic lines going down the quilt. Matchstick quilting was my first choice, but as I was determined to bring this quilt with me to graduation, the lines were spaced a bit further apart ;-)

Photo shoot on campus

Quilt stats:
Name: Soar
Pattern: Flying Geese block
Finished Size: 54"x 72"
Fabric: Carolyn Friedlander Doe, Architextures, Botanics; binding Architextures Ledger print; backing Black Widescreen
Quilting: Organic lines with my walking foot; Aurifil #2836 40wt for quilting; Aurifil #2021 50wt for hand stitching binding

Contemplating the universe

I bragged about my son in yesterday's random post in case you're interested. I'm linking this post to Blogger's Quilt Festival {large quilt category} and Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday. Be sure to check out all the beautiful finishes in both locations.

Thanks for stopping by,

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Really Random Thursday: Celebrations

I'm so happy Cindy has reinstated her weekly random posts. My life is a series of randomness!

Saw this on Instagram...I NEED this!

This past week we celebrated Mother's Day, a couple of milestone birthdays and my middlest's graduation from college.

Proud family!

We weren't all together on Mother's Day Sunday, but the next best thing was seeing the grandparents attend Eric's graduation. Here we are at the Honors Medallion Ceremony prior to the graduation.

Vanilla, Italian Creme and Red Velvet

Making the honorees serve their own cake

A few days prior to graduation was cousin Zach's 16th birthday...a few days after graduation was Ally's 16th birthday, so it was only natural that we celebrate with three cakes!

I think that's Eric!

Back to the graduation...our son is right there...can you spot him?! Not content to graduate Summa Cum Laude, he was only one of thirteen that graduated with a perfect 4.0 (did you know an A- is not a 4.0?...crazy). He worked extremely hard and earned every one of those A's.

He did it!

Thank goodness for the jumbotron when it came time for him to receive his diploma!

Class of 2015!

Eric's ceremony took place at night, so we had to get the classic picture in front of Westcott Fountain another day.

The school could make a lot of money by providing professional photographers here.

We waited until Sunday when the line wasn't that long.

Throwback Thursday to when I graduated from FSU.

Thirty-one years ago the line obviously wasn't an issue. I told my husband we started a trend...ha!

Found on Facebook

At another college graduation ceremony there's a trend to decorate the caps. I scrolled through quite a few to find our friend's son's cap and found this one that is my favorite.