Retreats, Finished Quilts and Free Videos

I have come to accept that I will blog in fits and starts! I am amazed by folks who can put something up every couple of days with pictures etc. That's not me, and that's OK.

Machine Quilting Video
I am a charter member of www.thequiltshow.com (TQS) and I LOVE it!! Besides the new shows that come out every two weeks, there is other educational and fun information most often about quilting. Well, having just finished machine quilting on my home machine, my son's Turning Twenty quilt (see more below) I am looking forward to the video series on Machine Quilting  being offered on TQS. The teacher is Patsy Thompson.
Her videos on Texture Magic are fabulous as well.
Well the first video is free to everyone, even if you aren't a member of TQS.
So I thought I would post it here. If you haven't tried out TQS, give it a try - it is a fabulous community of quilters.
Here is the video



Finished Quilt
I will now get to update my UFO list. The Turning Twenty quilt top that was finished Christmas 2008, is now completely quilted and bound - just have to wash and dry it and put the label on it. It will go in the mail to DS- Steven  at college in western  MA on Monday - still some winter left in the Berkshires - so this massively heavy quilt - it is 80 X 90, flannel on both sides with a medium weight polyester batting - will come in handy!
I was going to have this quilted by a long armer, but when I lost my job in Feb09 - that went off the list of expenditures.
The thing that helped me finish was my new SewEZ table I got for Christmas09. The bigger work surface and having the machine at a lower level really made  difference. The drag and weight of this size quilt makes quilting on your home machine a constant tug of war.

Retreats
Last weekend (Feb 12 - 14) I went to what I hope is the first of many annual retreats sponsored by our little guild. We went to the Cape Point Hotel in West Yarmouth MA. We had two sewing rooms, and one of them had refrigerators (mini) sinks, and a microwave. Breakfast was included and we pot lucked lunch an dinner on Saturday. What a great time.

We did bump up against the February School vacation/Valentines Day/President's Day weekend crowd that apparently goes to hotels with indoor pools on Cape Cod!!!
Who knew.  I did not see the attraction to sitting around and indoor pool in February - but I think it is because:

1.  I am a dyed in the wool ocean person and indoor pool and Cape Cod is just an oxymoron even in February.
2. My daughter has been a competitive swimmer from the age of 8 - she is now 19 and still swims in college. College is close by and we still regularly go to meets 
3. To me sitting by a pool - is a parental activity to support a child's sporting preference - not a vacation!LOL

Oh well- my daughter tells me kids just love to jump in the pool, get out, jump in the pool , get out - ad nauseum!
Will update the post with a picture of the quilt shortly.
Peace
Mary

My Updated List and the New England Quilt Museum Guild Challenge and Teaching Quilt Classes

I did get my decorating done - we still have to buy a tree - I will only have a real tree.  But my creche is up - I made this ceramic set about 25 years ago and use it every year. Little Elfie is on  the dining room chandelier - he reports to Santa and has been around since my kids were little. The stockings (3 hand knit by me) and my husband's made by his mother, are on the mantle. I even got some shopping done. So Christmas preparations are progressing.
I made LOADS of fudge yesterday using my husband's uncle's recipe - it comes out perfectly every time.
I will post the recipe separately.

Quilt Lists and Projects
I, like most of us, struggle with a growing list of UFOs (unfinished objects/projects). I went through the boxes and bags in my studio and made a list of every project I had on index cards - it took 4 - 4X6 inch cards - LOTS of projects. I am determined to make a dent in all of these while I am still unemployed.
So to keep me honest I have posted the list on the blog. As they get done I will preface them with COMPLETED. The list is so long it doesn't all show. I have prioritized the first 6.

My issue is, I keep finding more things I want to work on. I have volunteered to chair the New England Quilt Museum Supporting Guild Quilt Challenge - to be shown at Images in Lowell MA in August 2010. The finished quilts will then be donated to the NEQM and used in a fund raiser at a future date.  The theme of the quilt is "From Lobstahs to the Green Monstah!" . For anyone reading this that is either not from New England or not a baseball fan  the Green Monster (in a Boston accent - Monstah) is the wall in left field at Fenway Park home the Boston Red Sox. I think Lobstah is self explanatory!

Well I had a light bulb moment , went to my EQ6 and came up with a very nice design - I won't post it til it's done - but I was very pleased.  The quilt is small  - only 36 Inches square. Our Guild is small, but I am planning to have the blocks paper pieced and lots of people will pitch in to make a block. So that will need to be added to the list. I will of course incorporate Texture Magic in there somewhere - it really adds to a quilt.

Then - I am doing two LQS block of the months, plus the www.thequiltshow.com block of the months - there are two - I still have to finish this years pieced one. Also, my quilting buddy Carol, and I will make a really cool bag - the easy on the shoulder design - I have a leather one from LLBean and I love it. I got the pattern at the Gathering in Nashua NH in November. She is a teacher so is off between Christmas and New Year and we will get it done then.

Add to that I am learning to long arm quilt at my friends MaryAnn and Dora's long arm studio - Mad About Quilts.  They rent out time on their long arm - it is great - only done the intro class so far, and know it will take a lot of practice, but with all the quilts on the list I will get a lot of practice.

I am also putting together a list of classes I would like to teach. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Making all the samples for my Texture Magic business led me to realize I had a lot of techniques and info to offer. I will list the Texture Magic Bags (they make fabulous classes) and I am working on one of the Eleanor Burns quilts (that's not on the list either - so needs to be added!) using charm packs - it will make a great beginner quilt, but it also uses the  scallop ruler to make a scalloped edge - giving a more advanced look to the quilt when done.

My DD is coming home from college tomorrow - YEAH! and DS will be home next Sunday. It will be good to have them both home. I have three dinners this week and will try to get to some quilt stores for my Texture Magic demos. - Oh that reminds me of another project - the Texture Magic Festive Stockings - great new pattern. My friend Carol did one up very quickly - In fact I think I will go do one up tonight.
The Patriots are winning right now (4th quarter - 7 minutes to go) so life is good.
That also means I can leave my house and do errands in about an hour and a half.
The game is at home, and it takes about that long for the traffic to abate after the game is over. You learn to plan around these things when you live in a small town that hosts a NFL team!

I will post the Fudge recipe later this week
Peace
Mary

Quilts Actually Do Get Finished

I am famous for starting, but not finishing not only quilt projects, but most craft projects. Love to start, but there is always something new and fun to try--- So the old project goes in the dark recesses of my work room closet and the new one gets to be played with for a while. I do not do this in my work life, just my creative life!

BUT - I am trying to change that. As I move through this unemployed state, I am going to finish my UFO's interspersed with job hunting. Doesn't mean I won't start a few new things, but the UFOs are going to go away. In the last 6 weeks or so I have finished one longer term project, one old kit, and one totally new project. Earlier on, I showed the Turning 20 quilts I made for my DS and DD. DD's is FINISHED and on the bed in her dorm (as of today - went back to school today boo hoo!!). It was a BEAR to quilt. The quilt is 80X90 (approximately) and is flannel on both sides. But I did learn a lot about machine quilting a large quilt and I will use on finishing the one for DS - also a Turning 20 type same size, flannel on both sides.

Learnings from Quilting a Large Flannel Quilt on a Home Machine -

1. Make sure you have a lot of space to spread the quilt out to support it while you are working on it. I moved from my small table in my work room to the dining room table upstairs to support the quilt and lessen the drag.
   
2. Decorative Stitches as Quilting - I experimented using the decorative stitches on my machine in some of the blocks. The designs are made to stitch out with no drag on the fabric going through the feed. That is almost impossible with a quilt of this size and weight. The opposite issue occurred when I tried to support the quilt and help the feed process, - it "over- fed" the pattern. It was a very fine line between a drag on the pattern and an over feed. So about 30% of the time I got it right, the rest have some "unique" distortions to the pattern.
3. I would use the decorative stitches on a small quilt in the future, but not a big heavy one
4. Machine Embroidery Quilting - I used the quilting patterns I have in my machine embroidery - I have the Designer Gallery Ineractives for my Babylock Ellageo
   This came out fairly well. I did not stabilize the quilt sandwich and I got some stretching and didn't match the side patterns exactly, but I loved the finished borders. See a close up below.
5. I LOVE the label. I just use my MSWord program, bring in a border clip art pattern, and go to town. No fancy label program. Print it on fabric and off we go!! I put a picture of DD and me from my sister's wedding on the label. Perfect.

Here are the picutures of the finished quilt, some quilting detail and the label.

My Other Two Projects - A old colleague and his wife just had their first child - a baby girl, Lucy, born in June. I picked up two charm packs of Moda Water Garden series and the coordinating yellow fabric for the backing. Did a simple random layout of the charms, and VOILA! a cute baby quilt. I used a double needle with a wavy stitch (built into my machine) and it came out wonderfully. Took a while to get the tension just right so the back had a good zig zag, but I was very pleased in the end. Washed it and shipped it off on Saturday to my friends in Chicago! I hope the baby loves it to pieces!
The final project was a table topper and place mat kit I purchased at least a year ago either at the Lowell (MA) Quilt Festival or the Gathering (Nashua NH). Can't remember. I was going to give them as a gift for a friend, but decided they wouldn't go with anything my friend had in her house. The whole thing went together really easily as everything was PRE CUT!! Loved it.
The manufacturer is
Great Pond Quilts LLC, Campton NH (email louise@greatpondquilts.com, pohne 603-536-0094 http://www.greatpondquilts.com/)
My DMIL saw these the other day and loved them - I know what she is getting for Christmas - she is 83 and doesn't want many things, but has a circular table in her dining room.I am going to try to add to this blog about twice a week.
We'll see how that goes!

Peace
Mary