Take a pause

I had a lot of fun at the Quilt Symposium of Alabama! 

The first day I took a class, after checking in, with Cindy Blackberg. We quietly hand-stitched.  It was a good way to relax after unloading my car.  On Friday I had a full day with Sally Collins and I fell completely in love with her miniatures!

These little tiny pieces

go at the corners of little tiny wedding ring intersections.

Like so:

She is serious fun to learn from; I think you can tell:

I can't wait to get one of her books!  

Saturday I sat with Pat from Spirited Quilters, and we worked on Mariner's Compass with Brenda Henning of Bear Paw Productions.  We aspire to learn this:

 One of the other students found a good use for her partially completed Compass:

And here is another student's nearly completed Compass:

Lovely! 

The grounds of the Abbey in Cullman are lush and peaceful. The food is wonderful.  I swear my pants shrank two sizes while I was there.  Think of blueberry white chocolate scones for breakfast and prime rib and tiramisu for dinner. Yeah, really, that good!

Next year's teachers were announced:  Peggy Barkle (see previous post here ), Lisa Bongean (see previous posts here and here), Karen Kay Buckley, Pepper Cory, Beth Ferrier, Anne Lullie and Helen Squire. I hope the vacation fairies smile on me again next summer.

I went walk-about with my camera yesterday. At the Ave Maria Grotto I found this whimsical composition:

On a pedestal of sea shells and marbles

and a pretty kitty-kitty.

I leave for Kansas City Tuesday morning early, so I'll have to visit with you again next weekend.

Free Motion Baby!

Yes, I have been practicing free motion quilting. And also, yes, I hated what it looked like when I was doing it, but, darn, the result isn't bad....How does that happen? I started this little practice gem in Peggy Barkle's free motion class at Patchwork Cottage. The piece was to be (I thought) a throw away. Then my co-worker, Rachel, had her little baby boy, Giancarlo. That created a mission for me: Finish the baby panel and see what it looks like. I want to remember, next time I do a baby gift, that it takes 3 hours for me hand-stitch the binding down. Perhaps I could use the machine on that too? Duh! The quilt is on its way to Rachel and Giancarlo today. (Happy dance in progress.)

Practice, practice, practice

Yesterday was my last machine quilting class with Peggy Barkle. She is an incredible teacher, so if you need help learning free motion machine quilting, she is the bomb. She covered everything from batting types, straight line and free motion quilting, to design elements in pattern choice and quilt planning. But, if you have been following this blog, you know I have had some sewing machine issues and I now have a new sewing computer (yes, the don't call them machines anymore). Today I have been practicing and learning more about my 1 week old Bernina. Next Saturday I have my first Bernina class, and I will be hanging on every word. The great thing about having played with the machine is that I will know something of what I want to know. It is like how I tell the math students to read next class' section in the math book BEFORE you go to class. Everything is more meaningful if you have some idea of the terms and subject to be covered. I hope some students listen. Good habits (and preparation) make a big difference.

Back to today's practice. I put binding on some of my practice pieces (the black thread is from practicing on my old machine), and then it hit me; I need a pad for the cat to lie on for the back of the sofa. I found some leftover flannel, some leftover stripes and a chunk of batting and VIOLA'; kitten proofed sofa. I practiced free motion quilting and binding secured by a decorative stitch. It is certainly not perfect, but the first thing kitty said when she put her paws on it was "Meow." That makes my practice project the cat's meow, and that's certainly good enough for me. Note: I posted the YouTube binding video I mentioned to the class below. It is the one with lavender binding. Also, one of the binding pieces I used for practice was a waist band from a pair of Talbot's suit pants. I save and use just about anything to practice on.

Cabin Crazy

Yesterday, in a workshop by Peggy J. Barkle for her Blendable Curves (sponsored by the Spirited Quilter's of Duluth), I was exposed to an amazing amount of useful, practical information about piecing quilt blocks. Most important, I gained some sewing experience and learned a cool new technique. My machine was a challenge though. Last weekend, for some puzzling reason, my New Home decided to stitch all funky, so I sent it out for service and haven't picked it up yet. For the Blendable Curves workshop I brought my Singer Featherweight. I had pieced on it before, so I didn't think I would have any problems. The throat plate was just plain slippery and I couldn't see the quarter inch guide very well (I use a quarter inch foot on the New Home). I now realize how cool those fancy gadgets on the new machines are; like "needle down" and "bobbin alert." When I get my New Home back, I will probably be just fine again, but the only 100% cure for "machine deficit disorder" is a fancy new one (Janome, Bernina?).

While I was still sewing log cabin blocks, other participants were finishing and putting their reassembled curved blocks up on the wall. They were all so beautiful! My table-mate, Sandy, used the most vibrant pink and green. Her reassembled blocks were amazing beautiful! When I finally got two blocks up on the wall, I listened to the supportive comments from others, but I wasn't really hearing them. I didn't fall in love with my blocks until I got them home on my own design wall and away from all the others. I may never piece on the Featherweight again, though. Too much frustration!

It's that birthday time of the year

I had lunch with Eron at Ted's Montana Grill in Forsyth County and the food was super-delicious! It was Eron's (29th) birthday lunch; Crit was out of town, so Eron and I walked around The Avenue Forsyth afterwards. I said good-bye to Eron and drove over to the part of the mall that had JJill, but I also discovered 10,000 Villages where I treated myself to the trivet and leather-handled basket in the picture above. I like the store's concept: marketing handmade things from around the world. If you can tell from the picture, the trivet is out of twisted newspaper. They also had some beautiful reverse applique flanged pillow shams that were a nice butterscotch on yellow. Oh yeah, and a mother-of-pearl button covered silk purse to die for. I love the earthiness of their products.
I am pretty sure Wren missed me. I was supposed to stay home and cut fabric all day, since I have two classes next Saturday. I am taking a machine-quilting class (Peggy Barkle) and a T-shirt quilt class, so I will be at the Patchwork Cottage on Sugarloaf all day next Saturday. I will let you know how it goes. I am excited about the machine class because I will be using my own machine. I need to know what I can do with my own machine before making the decision to invest in a new one.