Quilting Retreat at Piece by Piece

Busy, busy busy.  On Friday, February 18 and Saturday, February 19, I attended an in-store retreat at Piece by Piece in Appleton with my girls Kathy and Brenda.  We had a blast and got MUCH done!!  I finished the top of a king-sized quilt with a pattern called Labyrinth from Calico Carriage Quilt Designs.  The designer is Debbie Maddy.  It's gorgeous and I'm posting a picture of it.  This quilt finishes 118' x 118', but all sizes are included in thie pattern from lap to king.  Super, super easy.  The whole thing is squares and half-square triangles.  There are NO Y seams!!  You can see my dog in the bottom right corner just couldn't help himself and had to be in the picture. 

Piece by Piece is an amazing store with an amazing group of women owners.  Anybody traveling to northeast Wisconsin should do their best to hit this store.  Check them out at http://www.piecebypiecellc.com/

I highly recommend going to a retreat with other women, whether it be for church, a women's club, or your favorite craft.  There were women of all ages at this retreat.  Each of them amazing in one way or another and full of life experiences to share and to learn.  The one thing I did learn is that all women basically think the same and want the same things, no matter their age, size, education level or their station in life.  If you aren't a member of a guild, craft club, church club or women's club, I highly encourage you to do things that occasionally surround you with women.  What an amazing group!!

I am off today to sunny Florida.  We are going to visit another amazing woman, Jan, and hopefully, weather permitting, watch the shuttle launch.  I will, of course, check out some Florida quilt shops and give you my critique.  Hopefully I will find something I can't live without. 

Sewing with Brenda

Yesterday I spent the day sewing with my friend, Brenda and her mom, Pat.  The project I took was a paper piecing project from the book Spellbinding Quilts by Maaike Bakker.  This books of full of wizards, witches and other really cool characters.  I HIGHLY recommend this book for the paper piece lover who may want to do a one of a kind quilt for any child.  Especially those Harry Potter fans.

But, alas, I was unable to finish.  Brenda and her mom were struggling with a project they had started in November.  Pat was making six, yes I said SIX, bags for her friends from a pattern called the Sonoma Swing Bag.  This is a Pink Sand Beach Designs pattern #108.  This is an adorable bag.  I have made several of them, but not SIX AT A TIME!!!  My review of this pattern is that the directions are not very clear, especially when putting in the zipper and lining.  However, if you make this bag, plan on making one as a prototype, mark down what you did, and then make a second that looks really, really great!!  To make a long story short, five are now finished.  One more to go, but not by me.  I think Brenda will need a new seam ripper as her was used so much it is now renegotiating its labor contract.

As for me today, I am off to finish at least one dragon!!!  Stay tuned . . .

Getting Started

So, I just decided to write this blog because my family and friends are so sick and tired of me showing and telling them about my quilting and my bags.  So, I will just send this out to the great unknown to see where it goes.  It is a great release.  No one says "uh huh, but you're in front of the TV" or the gratuitous "yeah, that's nice".  So cyberspace, here it goes.

I am off this morning to my friend Brenda's to sew for the day.  I have packed two machines.  I have a "loaner" machine that all my friends use when theirs is in the shop or "not quite working right".  My loaner machine is a New Home HF3000.  I have no idea what that means, but someone told me that New Home is a Janome brand.

The second machine I am taking is my Baby Lock Ellegante2, which I love and adore.  I love it so much that I hug it after I am done sewing for the day.  I am taking this one because my Baby Lock Espire is in for cleaning.  Yes, you guessed it, I am a Baby Lock freak!!! 

Today I am doing a paper piecing project from a book called Spell Binding Quilts.  I will post my dragons later.  Off we go!!