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!

Friday Finish: Featherweight Bag

Hey and Happy Friday! 

I finished Jeni Baker's Sew Portable Travel Bag, and let me say it travels well on the airplane!  

Not being a bag maker, I was happy the sewing machine bag, as well as the drawstring pouch and tray cover, was not complicated to make.  I cut into my precious Carolyn Friedlander fabrics for this project.  The bag could have been quilted more, but I was in a hurry to finish before my trip.  The picture above shows the featherweight that traveled in the bag, but I should note that I used my Juki to make the bag.

I have wanted a way to carry my featherweight on the plane without having to lift it into the overhead bin (forget checking it in a suitcase), and I seemed to remember this pattern being described as such.  When I went to find the pattern, I did not see it described as being able to fit under an airplane seat, but it does which is awesome.

This was on a Southwest flight; I had more room on the United flight.

I brought my featherweight with me to Montana (via a quick trip to Chicago), and I had no issues going through security (no more than usual...I always give TSA a heads up), carrying the bag through the airport, or fitting the bag and machine under the seat in front of me on the plane.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  Soon I will travel to Minnesota for my eighth Gruber's retreat, and I am excited to have a better plan for traveling with my machine.  In the past, I would pack my sewing machine in my carryon bag and carry an oversize tote bag filled with fabric as my personal item to fit under the seat.  Well, you know how much fabric weighs!  Over the years, I have developed a pain in my left shoulder from carrying heavy tote bags and lifting suitcases (usually holding fabric and a sewing machine) in overhead bins.

Recently, I have switched to traveling with a backpack that slides on the handle of my roller carryon bag...nothing on my shoulder and seeking assistance with lifting my bag in the overhead bin.  For this trip with my sewing machine, I replaced the backpack with my Featherweight bag which had room to hold my wallet, iPad, and sweater.  My rolling bag was lighter without a sewing machine so lifted easily in the overhead bin.

On the return trip, my rolling bag had acquired some weight so I checked it in which meant carrying the Featherweight bag on my shoulder through the airport.  The structure of the bag was durable enough for this purpose, and I had no concern carrying the sewing machine around.  It was quite the conversation starter as well while waiting to board ;-)))  The funniest comment I heard was from a quilter's husband who referred to quilt guilds as "covens"!

So those are my tips and experiences when flying with a sewing machine.  What are yours?

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Friday Finish: Quilts for Pulse

I haven't found the words to describe the Quilts for Pulse project, the impact it has had on our community, our guild, myself, and I am not sure I ever will.  The QFP top that was started at our annual Gruber's retreat has now been quilted and photographed, so it's about time I at least blogged about that.

Nine of us made the retreat this year; each of us made an oversized heart block from Happy Zombie's Love Quilt pattern.  

We each selected a color; you know I don't even remember for sure which color I chose ;-)

Lovely Mary!

 Mary, of course, selected turquoise blue!

Coming up with the block layout was a group effort and was not taken lightly...sure wish I had input from eight others all the time!

Love these girls!!!

The quilt top was finished in July at our retreat.   It sat patiently waiting to be quilted while I helped with other aspects of the QFP project.  Due to the overwhelming generosity of the worldwide community, our Orlando Modern Quilt Guild set about making quilt tops from the incredible number of heart blocks sent in, quilting and binding those tops, photographing each completed quilt, distributing quilts to those affected by the Pulse tragedy,  and writing thank you notes.

As for the quilting, I quilted various patterns in the heart blocks and the phrase "love is love is love" in the negative space.  I didn't mark the letters or lines, preferring to quilt organically as if I were writing those words.  I have messy handwriting ;-)))

Serendipity has been a common theme when discussing QFP with my guild friends.  (One day I hope someone writes all about that.)  When it came to the binding, I was in a hurry and grabbed from my leftover binding collection.  While stitching the binding to the front, I realized the fabric was all from Amy Butler's LOVE fabric collection!  During our Gruber retreat photo with the quilt, Stephanie and I realized we were both wearing our Glamp Stitchalot t-shirts designed by Monica aka Happy Zombie (not planned).  The backing is Amanda Jean's Good Neighbor's fabric line.  Serendipitous, indeed!

photo by Paula Kennedy Photography

Our heart quilt was finished (just) in time to be professionally photographed (thank you Paula Kennedy!) for QuiltCon's Quilt For Pulse exhibit.  After the photo shoot the quilt was gifted to a 911 operator who had to listen to and transcribe all the horrific emergency phone calls from that terrible night.

Our quit label

Quilty friends definitely do rock!  I am so grateful to my retreat friends for helping make this quilt for someone in need and so appreciative of the generosity of the worldwide quilting community that made it possible for the OrlandoMQG to deliver almost 1,800 quilts.

If you will be in Savannah next week for QuiltCon, please stop by the QuiltsforPulse exhibit and see photos of all the quilts made and donated.  There is an official meet up at the exhibit Saturday at 12:30, but at least one member from our guild will be there during all hours of the show.  

Hope I get the chance to say Hi! and Thank You!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finish: Swap Pouch

Popping in to share the wide open zip pouch I made for my Glamp Stitchalot partner.  I used Noodlehead's free tutorial and made the medium size pouch.  

Leftover flying geese parts in favorite prints and low volume background paired with essex linen make up the top, and I cut into my Carolyn Friedlander Carkai prints for the bottom and the lining.

I will do just about anything to avoid using interfacing, so I quilted the outside panels of the bag before assembling to give it some substance.  

I also made my partner a thread catcher using Crazy Mom Quilts pattern and opted for the quilted version.  I love the notebook paper fabric that I recently found at my LQS in the bargain bin.

Both items were stuffed with lots of goodies, and my partner seemed happy which makes me happy!  Each time I participate in a swap, I say it will be my last ;-))

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  I'll pop back in later with all the fun details on Glamp.  Until then, have a fantastic weekend!

Spiraling Butterflies

Spiraling Butterflies is my finish for the QuiltCon Michael Miller Glitz Fabric Challenge.

The butterfly blocks were made using Little Bluebell's paper pieced Modern Butterfly pattern.  I just love this pattern and have so many other butterfly quilt plans!

The background fabric is Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Blush and also in Love.  The color variation is quite subtle, but I like the depth using two different colors provides.

I finished making the blocks and determined the layout while at our Orlando MQG retreat (still need to post about that!).  Having creative input from others was awesome!  After that, the top came together quickly.

I used my walking foot to quilt spirals (THANK YOU Jacquie and Craftsy for the refresher) starting a little offset from the center.  Aurifil 2410 in 40wt was the thread I used.  I had just enough left over from this quilt and the color matched perfectly.

Twice before, I quilted spirals, but one was a mini quilt and the other was just on a portion of the quilt.  I said I would never do it again, but this time I found the process quite therapeutic.  Crazy, right?!

The Cotton Couture solids are SUPER soft, so possibly that made a difference in the quilting?  All I  know is, the {continuous} turning of the quilt through my Juki didn't seem as difficult as I remembered.

 
The backing fabric is Michael Miller What's Your Angle? and the binding is the pink pearlized dot from the Glitz line.

 The binding was hand stitched to the back while on Thanksgiving break.  I finished just in time to photograph and upload before the deadline.  This is my first time entering a quilt into a show.  I must admit, it was quite exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

I saw on Instagram this morning that a record breaking number (1,810) of quilts were entered in QuiltCon 2016 and approximately 300-350 will be accepted!  What an incredible show it will be!

To me, it's a win-win.  If my quilt gets in...Cool!!!  If it doesn't....I don't have to make a hanging sleeve and ship it have to part with it!  Good luck to all who entered!