Just getting ready for a Quilt Retreat

I've been asked to do a Trunk Show and teach a class at a quilt retreat in a small place in Nova Scotia. I was asked in the spring, I think.  The theme of the retreat is Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. So my friend, Helen, and I talked about what I could teach in the class that would work into that theme and be fun and useful, besides.

And we settled on a bag in which you could carry all your stuff to and from a class or a retreat. AND while we were at it, the quilted pockets on the bag would be made from Chop Suey blocks. The blocks are scrappy - they are made from strips. If you cut billions of strips from fat quarters in your stash, you can, with time and patience enough, make a wonderful scrappy quilt AND use up some of that fabric that you just don't know what to do with. So you would learn two techniques at the same time. (And I have created a pattern with just that idea in mind!)

Remember, I said this was all arranged back in the spring?

Okay, I didn't leave EVERYTHING to this week. I had to design the bag. So I made a HUGE bag - too big, really. I was very pleased with my huge bag, and I'm going to digress to tell a story about it. I made the bag and brought it upstairs to show my hubby. I left it on the counter overnight and Molly (one of the cats) slept on it. (More on this in a moment.)

My daughter lives in Calgary, and she and I use MSN Messenger (or Messenger Live) to do face to face chats with each other. The thing that I thought she would especially like was a divided pocket inside the bag - one the exactly right size for an iPod. I couldn't find my iPod, at the time, so I popped my camera into the pocket. I put a water bottle in the loop and managed to hold it open for her to see. (She agreed that that was a handy option, and announced that she liked the bag.) We finished our chat and I took my water bottle out of the bag and tsked at the cat hair on it, and decided to pop it in the washing machine.

After the washer was running for about 30 seconds, I became aware of a thumping sound! MY CAMERA!!!! The washer is a front loader, and so the door locks when it is on. There is a cancel button - and on my washer, if you hold it long enough the machine shuts off, the washer drains a bit and you can reach in, in a big panic, and find the empty bag. What? I ran into the kitchen - no camera! I ran back to the utility room, splashed around in the water in the bottom of the washing machine and found my camera!

I bought this camera because I canoe - and it is waterproof to 6 feet and shockproof. I dashed into the kitchen, washed the soapy water off of the camera, and turned it on. PHEW! All was well, dried off the camera, and turned the washer back on. Close call - glad I couldn't find the iPod!

Anyway, back to the bag. It was really too big, so I made a smaller one - a prototype. And when the size worked out, I remade it with the chop suey blocks, took pictures of it, wrote up a proposal and was accepted.

So I have 6 students taking my class and 19 people have signed up for the retreat (the Trunk Show is open to the public!)

I sent out, a month ago, a list of things that the students needed to do for homework (the reason that we are making the bag, not the Chop Suey Quilt is that they wanted something that would be done by the end of the weekend. I have made two Chop Suey Quilts.

This is the first one I made. I took a class in Ottawa. (I'm looking at the background, and I realize that the quilt is being held up sideways! LOL)

And here is the second one I made:

These scrappy quilts take a LONG time to make. Each block is made of 4 Units and each Unit is made with 4 different fabrics. So that is 16 fabrics per block and when it as scrappy, you want each of those fabrics to be different! AND there is a secondary pattern - a hidden pinwheel, and it should have 8 different fabrics too! So you cut LOTS and LOTS of units before you make a block.

For the bag, we need 8 blocks, 4 for the front and 4 for the back - so we need 32 units - 16 different ones per side. I have a little box in my basement labelled Chop Suey Parts and when I opened it today (ummm, Tuesday - and yes, I leave on Friday for the retreat.) to make my sample bag I discovered to my intense joy that I actually had enough units already made to make a few blocks. So I put a Wedding Cake, a Square Strip, a Pair, a Unit and a Block in my sample box - and then I started making more units! I need to have 64 units, at least. So I finished 32 - which is enough for the sample pockets of my teaching sample...

 They aren't exactly different - there are fabrics that repeat, between the two sides. I used only a pair of units from each Square Strip/Pair, one for the front pocket and one for the back pocket. (Who knows which one is which!) I was careful not to duplicate them.

What do you think? These are on my (lovely) design wall (a striped flannel sheet) and have not been assembled into the two 14 1/2 inch squares. That's tomorrow.

I also, while I was making enough of these to have some variety, I made about 25 more units. In order to have enough variety, I am planning to have the students exchange units. (Keep your fingers crossed for me!!)

I have all the parts of two complete bags cut out. For ONE of them, I labelled all the parts with pinned on post-it notes. For the other, I have assembled the two interior pockets, the two bottle loops, AND the darned zipper plackets. I have the false bottom and regular bottom of the lining ready, and the lining itself is ALMOST finished (one seam left and the bottom to put on, after the zipper plackets are sewn in.)

I have the straps assembled, reinforced, and I'm ready to go with them. I can't decide whether to put them, actually ON the outside, or whether to demo that - maybe demo. I need to finish these two pockets, and get them bound... I'm not feeling panicked yet - I am almost ready.

I have 25 of the remaining 32 units done (I may have to go back downstairs and make more units when I am done this.)

On the upside, I made my name tag today! Wanna see?

It even has a pin on the back, and it looks good on too! I wonder how many times it'll go through the wash - I'm not good with pins! (Or washers, now that I think about it!)

And I have a To Do List - which is nearly all done. I LOVE To Do Lists - I highlight the things I have done - then you can see what you have accomplished!!! :-)

And I have a list of things to take! AND I have a list of the quilts that I am going to show in the Trunk Show! I'm getting there!!!!

Wish me luck!

Just a busy week - some quilting stuff :-)

The Beloved Dearly and I have a geothermal heat pump - I really like it. It cost the bomb to have it put in three years ago - but it is wonderful.

On Friday of last week (I only tell this because it pertains to the rest of the week) the thermostat was backlit in red and there was a message to call the contractor. We live in a small town in Nova Scotia - I love it here. But the town has a reputation for having contractors who say they'll be there sometime on Wednesday, and you wait around, and no one shows up. Our contractor said someone would be over in the afternoon AND he said the system was under warranty, and that it was likely a sensor.

It wasn't a sensor, but Ryan was here in the afternoon, figured out what was wrong and said that, although he was off on Monday, someone would be here. On Monday we got up before 8 am. (We tend to stay up late and sleep in - what the heck, we get lots of stuff done, just later in the day than everyone else!) So getting up before 8 am is a bit of a pain. Anyway, at 11 I called the contractor to see what time they thought they would be over. A hiccup. Ryan was off and someone had called in sick. BUT she would call me right back and let me know what was going on. And she did! Ryan had diagnosed the problem, they had the parts on hand and someone would come over on Tuesday to fix the system - and it would be all fixed by 5 pm. (I made one tactical error - I did not ask what time she thought Ryan would be back...)

Monday evening, I bit the bullet and finished the pattern I have been designing. I had been writing it for awhile, and I had plunked a zillion pictures in it - but it was 9 pages (NINE!) long without cutting directions, fabric requirements, cover page or directions for the pockets. So I took all the photos out, added directions for the zipper and printed it. Then I proofread it - fixed it up, and printed it again. Ta-dah! Here it is:

 I am teaching this bag at a Quilt Retreat in Berwick next weekend, so I need 8 for the students in the class. So I took the whole thing with me to morning coffee on Tuesday, bought the folders, and printed 15 copies of them. Apparently some of the ladies have asked, if they weren't taking the class for the bag, could they buy the pattern? Well, heck, yeah!

So, we have the bag pattern and the block pattern. Phew! One thing done. I'm also doing a Trunk Show and I have started a list of quilts and sort of figured out what I'm going to say about each of them -- FORTY minutes. (I have to admit, anyone who knows me knows that forty minutes as a minimum is NOT the problem... How will I get stopped? I may take my timer!!)

So Tuesday morning, we got up before 8 again. Beloved Dearly was in bed before midnight - but I had trouble going to sleep - and was still awake at 2 am. The alarm was not a welcome sound at 7:30!

On Tuesdays in the afternoon, my friend comes over and we quilt together. I try really, really hard to have some hand work to do - binding usually, but occasionally applique and sometimes knitting. Tuesday afternoon I didn't have anything to do though - so I did some cutting. I quilt by machine. My friend does a lot of applique and almost all of her quilting is by hand. One of my facebook friends had made a Ricky Tims Convergence. I have his book, which I love, and I had pulled 8 fat quarters - with the thought in mind that I would make 2 of them.

Here is the fabric for the first one: (By the time I took this picture I already had them cut into squares.)

 I have to tell you, in case you don't know - my design wall is a pink, blue, white and yellow striped flannel sheet. My mom gave me two of them in the 1970s - and we used them on the bed in the wintertime when we slept on smaller beds. Now I use one to wrap things in for transport, and the other is pinned on the wall in the Quilt Studio. It works BUT it does have those distracting and disconcerting stripes!

Here is the fabric for the second one. Aren't they pretty?

By dinner time I had such a headache! (A fatigue headache, I'm such a wimp) However, I did manage to get back into the Quilt Studio, and I got the centre of the first Convergence done. What do you think?

(The design wall looks worse and worse! Sorry!)

At 3 pm on Tuesday, the phone rang, they would be here in a few minutes, was anyone going to be home? By 5 pm, our system was all fixed, I had reprogrammed the thermostat, and everything was wonderful. I had the BEST sleep Tuesday night - no worries! :-)

On Wednesday, I went over to my friend Freda's house and she drove us to New Glasgow where we went to Atlantic Fabrics - and she picked up the borders, sashing and binding for the quilt that she is making entirely by hand for her grandson! We went in to get green (this was her second trip there, she has anxiety about picking colours.), and came out with absolutely gorgeous blue!!

I love fabric stores. I try really hard not to get carried away! However, I found one piece I had to have!!! Here it is:

This picture does NOT do it justice. Sorry, I'll try to take another one. In the meantime, it is sort of green on this end, turns darker at the middle where it mixes with dark blue, which fades to light blue at the other end. It is absolutely gorgeous - and I had to have a little piece!!

Freda came over on Thursday evening, and I cut the fabric that we bought. She does traditional quilting - cuts with scissors, pieces by hand, quilts by hand!! She would like to have this quilt done by Christmas. I cut her sashing and borders (all 4 inches wide, all the same fabric) and then I cut her binding - which we sewed together with a mitred seam, and then we trimmed it, I pressed it, wrapped it around an empty toilet paper roll, and she was all set.

We had a discussion of hand quilting versus machine quilting. And I showed her some of the quilts I have ready for the Crestive Faft Market, and she asked me how I quilted those patterns on there. So I showed her. And I think the picture came out! I had a block ready for some class that I took or taught - who knows. So I stuck it in the machine, put on my white gloves and did this:

She couldn't believe I didn't draw it on in advance. I told her that I drew it on with the machine.


Fun anyway!! I think she is happy to do hers by hand!

I have the Hugs and Kisses quilt loaded on the frame - and we'll see how that goes on the weekend!

 Happy Quilting and stuff!

Just a Festive Craft Market

My friend Alison and I have been quilting together on either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons for a couple of years now. Last fall, we decided that we should try to sell some of our quilts. We designed a webpage, made some quilts and posted them on it. More on that in another Blog Post.

THIS blog post is about the 'stuff' that I have gotten ready for the Festive Craft Market at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Bible Hill, NS in November 2012.

This, I might add, sounded like a REALLY good idea when we thought of it in July!

I have stopped posting new things on the webpage, as we signed a contract saying we would have enough things to keep our booth full for two days!! TWO DAYS! What were we thinking??

Alison has made a million small things. So many small things that she is getting sick of it. I don't have pictures of her things - she has also made a sale, as a fan showed up at her house and purchased some of her items.

I have been finishing things. I want to tell you that these were not UFOs (UnFinished Objects, in case you aren't a quilter). They weren't buried, they weren't dusty, they were piled up. We also have 2 partners in this quilt business - they make quilt tops and I quilt them. One of them is quite prolific! I have SEVERAL quilt tops from them.

I spent a LONG time making bags this year. (More on bags later too!)

So I was elated to get to actually quilting. :-)

I decided I'd better finish the things that Bern and Mandy gave me in March. (See that was THIS year!) I had finished one of them already!! So I had 3 more.

First I did Bern's Birds and the Bees. Here it is:

 The reason for the name is that the fabric is called Le Poulet Rouge (the red hen) - and it has pictures of chickens and bees on the various pieces. Sure enough... The Birds and the Bees.

I thought I ought to be giving Mandy and Bern equal time - so Mandy's Chopped Apples was next. It is below.

 Mandy collected the apple fabric over many years - and she collected and collected. Finally she decided she ought to make it into a top. Isn't it pretty?

After that, although I have 4 tops of my own done, I figured I'd better do another one of Bern's. This quilt was made for a colour blind boyfriend who jilted her. Ha! Do you think he is going to get this lovely quilt? I THINK NOT!! In any event, Compromised Values is depicted below.

 I added the border to the quilt. I think Bern had meant to add this short piano keyboard border. In any event, she had a couple of pieces of it done. I had fabric left over, but I decided when I got the border made that it really was all the quilt needed. It isn't huge, but it is kind of pretty. (Much prettier than I thought it would be when Bern showed me the fabric initially. She and I took the Lover's Knot course at the same time. Mine is hung in the spare room on the wall above the headboard of the spare bed. I did NOT arrange my colours as well as Bern did hers!

Finally, my guilt expiated, I decided I should quilt one of the three things that I had made - ready to go for the show. Except. I watched this funky tutorial on the Missouri Quilt Co. youtube channel and there was a video to make a Christmas Tree Skirt. Picture me rolling my eyes. There was nothing for it, I had to make one. So here it is, all quilted and bound.

 I'm really happy with it - I quilted holly leaves and berries on it, and I think it is gorgeous. So, look, something Festive for the Festive Craft Market.

I still have three things of my own ready to quilt. SO. I decided I'd better get them done. First is this.

This is a quilt made entirely of batiks. I called it Batik Sunset. (or alternatively, I mis-call it Batik Sunrise. My friend Kate suggested I should call it Sunrise, Sunset - and that would have solved my problem, but it was too late - the label was already made!) This quilt is actually much brighter and I'm going to post a picture taken with the sunset setting on my camera - the only issue is, that while the colours are truer, the picture is a little blurrier... anyway, here is the blurry picture.

This picture is before the binding was put on.

I still have a lap quilt called Hugs and Kisses - the top is made and the backing and batting are cut out and ready to go - hanging, in fact, over the railing of the quilt frame.

I have a Sampler Quilt that I am not sure I want to sell - I will ask a million dollars for it at the show - it is all houses, and I love it - I still, however, have to put the three inch border on it.

Yesterday I made a Convergence Quilt - this will be a table topper.

I now need to make some small things! Mug Rugs, Cat Mats, wall hangings and Advent Calendars. I daren't plan too far ahead - it is a bit overwhelming! However I am still having fun! I'll post more Crestive Faft Market stuff as soon as I get it done! LOL
Just Crestive Faft Market...