On The Way Home, But First.... Part 1 quilts

Classes were done, cars were packed and I had a long drive home... but this was going to be a two-part drive.  Leaving Williamsburg around 6pm and driving 600+ miles straight through would have me arriving home in the wee hours.  After 4 days of sewing and late nights I was tired and found a room to lay my head after about 200 miles.  The next morning was dreary, but I had another 400+ miles to go to get home. I was heading into storms and heavy rain driving through the mountains of southern Virginia.  So, when it was time for a break I looked for an interesting place to stop.  I discovered a pair of antique malls with hundreds of vendors each and pulled over to explore. I am also searching for a Featherweight.  I have been wanting one for a while, and Mom recently expressed interest in owning one also,  but haven't had any luck finding one yet.  Both malls were filled with a vast array of  quilts and tops, most hand stitched, in a variety of patterns and fabrics, and a several sewing machines (but alas, no featherweight) .  There were many interesting-to-me  and unique items, remaining relics of days gone by,  but they will be for tomorrow's post...except for just this one:

A real feed sack!  I've seen the fabrics before, but never an actual sack.  I can only imagine how excited women would be to go to the grain store with their husbands in search of just the right sack fabric for their project! LOL!

log cabin

red baskets on white

9 patch

Grandmothers Flower Garden

large 9patch

quarter fan

feedsack squares

I thought this one was quite unique and intriguing.  I'm thinking it might be some kind of wedding ring variation, but I cannot figure how it was put together.

Churndash

simple red and white

Pieced baskets

look at the quilted in flower on these baskets!

dresden plate

I loved the blend of grays and magentas and reds in this string quilt!

feedsack stars

9patch on point

I love how the maker put most of the lighter churndash blocks in the middle and bordered them with the darker blocks.  I think she may have switched the blocks on the bottom left.. see how the lighter one is in the border.

lone star

Pieced baskets

Pig

I still have my doll just like this one!

dresden plate pillow

one-eyed quilted bear

Quiltmakers Block Party Part 3

Saturday morning and our last day of classes with Bonnie.  This time, the block was Midnight Flight.

Once again we had a full class of happy women... shown here giving the Rotary Cutter Salute to Bonnie

We started with sewing strips of red/neutrals and cheddar/neutrals then sub-cutting and stitching into 4patches.  Next came the black/white half-square triangles (otherwise known as HSTs)

Here I have laid out two quarters of the block

After lunch we had to assemble the third unit of this block.... the parallelograms.  But there was a catch!  You had to remember to make half slanting up and the other half slanting down.

Each of the four quarters of the block are identical... what makes the block design work is that each quarter is turned  before sewing into the completed block.

One gal didn't pay close attention to the block assembly and rotated the four quarters in a different manner to create her own unique block!

 
 Even Bonnie was pleasantly surprised at the result!

Too soon our time together was over.  We all packed up our sewing machines and fabrics and headed for home.  One thing is for certain.... we all declared Quiltmakers first annual Block Party a complete success!

Come back to view my next post this weekend.... I'll be showing all the antique goodies I found on my way home!

Quiltmakers Block Party Part 2

Friday morning breakfast and on to my next Bonnie class.... Winston Ways!  Knowing there was a problem with my pre-cut fabrics I re-cut strips to proper size before beginning assembly and eliminated many of  the frustrations of the previous day's class. We started by sewing strips together... lots of strips!  and some strip swapping was going on too!  The strips were then layered and cut into sub sets then sewn into 4-patches. 

When Bonnie had to slip out of class for a few minutes to get phone reception to be able to talk to her husband we quickly decorated her demo table with a gift of strings!

 





Here are my block components laid out and ready to stitch together.

 By dinner time had two blocks completed!

Winston Ways

Friday night's dinner was followed by a presentation by Jennifer Chivereni.  She told us stories about how she came to write the Elm Creek Series. She only intended it to be a one-time story of women and their struggles and passions...but after her first book, readers demanded more and she was happy to oblige.  I've read several of her books and enjoyed them.  She ended her talk with a teaser.... reading an excerpt from her new book due out in October!  Laurie started something by shouting out an offer to purchase the copy in Jennifer's hands.   That led to an auction of the book, including a set of pins commemorating each book in the series, and ended with the winner writing a check for $300 to be donated to the Linus Project!... a charity project for volunteers to make quilts for sick children.

And no Sloanie Meet-Up  would be complete without Adult Beverages!

Laurie and I with our fabulous bartender, Jamie!

Quiltmakers Block Party Part 1

I am back from Williamburg, Virginia having had a wonderful time at the Quiltmakers Block Party. The ladies at Quiltmaker Magazine and the many sponsors really out did themselves.  I have lots of pictures to show from this trip and will post them in groups over the next several days as I have time to edit.


Beginning with a meet and greet on Wednesday night, we were each handed a tote bag full of goodies and a schedule of classes and given an opportunity to meet all the teachers.

Part of the reason for this trip for me was also a Sloanie Meet-Up.  I belong to an online blog... Pat Sloan's Quilt Mashup .  I've been chatting away and sharing quilting experiences with ladies from across the country (and some around the world!).  As things worked out... fellow Sloanie, Laurie, was also able to attend this Quiltmakers event and so we shared a room and signed up for Bonnie's classes together.

And of course, we had to have Bonnie sign some of her  books for our fellow Sloanies!

 
Thursday morning started with a breakfast buffet of coffee, juice, fruits and sweets before classes began.   My first class was Bonnie's Talkin' Turkey.  Step 1 was making string blocks, then  cutting them in half diagonally.  Next came 9-patch blocks and finally Flying Geese to make the star points.  It was a fun filled day with lots of chatter and laughter.  There were some frustrating moments for me when I discovered that all the fabric I had precut for all my classes was off just enough to make it difficult to fit components together properly. They were only off by a fraction of an inch, but with the multitude of pieces in each block all those fractions added up! I discovered, with Bonnie's help, that the ruler I was using was inaccurate!  It doesn't always pay to be the first to receive a new product fresh off the assembly line! After returning home and several emails later I discovered that there was a problem with measurements and markings on the rulers during the earliest production runs.  The problem has been corrected during subsequent runs and I will be gifted with a correct replacement ruler in the near future, but it really made for some difficult moments. I did manage to piece together two blocks by staying after class and working until dinner to fix the problem.

Talkin' Turkey

Thursday night dinner and a presentation by Bonnie on her Scrap Users's System complete with a quilt depicting her system....
1.5, 2, 2.5 and 4 in strips that can be cut into squares or bricks and made into a variety of blocks.  What a great idea!

A showing and discussion on several of her quilts... all made from scraps pulled from her system!  Believe me when I tell you, these pictures do not do justice to the quilts... they are all awesome!

Holy Toledo

Hawks Nest

Pineapple Crazy

Bow-Dacious

 Bonnie showed quite a few more quilts, but my picture taking abilities need improvement.

Winston Ways, Talkin' Turkey, Midnight Flight

 After dinner and Bonnie's presentation we did the Block Exchange.  If you wanted to participate, you signed up when you registered for the event and made 9 blocks of any pattern from the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks series in a certain colorway.  My group had 10 and we sat around the table identifying ourselves, the block we made and why we chose that block.  It was interesting hearing the various reasons for choices and seeing individual interpretations of the original designers block.

My 9 swap blocks #174 Bonnie Hunter's  "Birthday Girl"

Swapped Blocks  I think these will make a nice quilt once I find the right sashing and border fabric.