Report From Retreat

Greetings from Martinsburg, West Virginia!  Sue's local guild is holding its spring retreat here at the Comfort Inn in Martinsburg, a new venue for our group.  Our previous hotel location in Winchester, VA, is under renovation so we had to find a new location.  This location seems to be working well.  We arrived (most of us) on Wednesday and will be staying through mid-day Sunday.

Here's our workspace before the arrival of any retreaters (except for the committee).

And here we are with many projects in progress.

Our theme is "Wild and Wonderful" and we chose this butterfly design as our logo;  we screen printed it on tote bags that  we used as our "goodie" bags for each attendee, and also on t-shirts for the committee.

This is an area set up as the "fishing hole". Folks bring fabric they no longer need, books, magazines, and patterns and then you can go "fishing" for anything you want!  Recycling at its best.

We also are collecting 2.5" strips for a "wild and wonderful" strip raffle; everyone who brings 2 strips gets their name put in the bowl for a drawing - the more you bring, the more chances to win.  We are also working on blocks for charity quilts using donated fabrics (samples on the board).  

And this is project #1 that Sue is working on, more to come on that.  

And more to come from retreat!  That's all for now.

March VCQ Meeting

Last weekend we were in Virginia Beach for our quarterly VCQ meeting.  VCQ (Virginia Consortium of Quilters) meets 4 times a year in various locations around the state.  This was our first meeting of 2019; other meetings this year will be held the 2nd Saturday of May, August, and November.  It's really a mini retreat - we have 2-3 workshops and a group in Come Quilt with Me working on their own projects.  It's a great chance to get to know and socialize with quilters from around the state and learn something new.  We always have a good time.  Sue took a class on making coiled rope (clothesline) baskets, and Elizabeth took one on making a small crazy quilt.  These photos are mostly from the basket class.

These are some of the sample bowls, coasters and trivets by Paula Harr, class instructor.  She has an Etsy shop called Patchwork by Paula.

This is the beginning of the first coaster.  We made coasters first to learn the technique.

Sue was able to finish 2 coasters in class before starting on a bowl.

This is the start of the bowl.  Sue has made some of these bowls previously, but the cord was completely wrapped with fabric.  Paula's technique uses randomly placed pieces of fabric and variegated thread to add color and interest to the bowl.  This saves time and actually makes the process more fun than when the cord is completely wrapped with fabric.

This photo shows the beginning of building up the edge of the bowl.  You have to hold the flat part up against the side of the machine for several rounds for the bowl to begin to take shape.

Of course, learning when to relax your hold is part of the process.  Sue's bowl shape turned out to be more of the flower pot variety than Paula's which are so nicely rounded.

Though it will not be a flower pot.  It will surely find a spot in the sewing room and will soon be a repository for "stuff".  Hopefully the next one will have a rounder shape!

This is the basket class holding Paula's sample baskets.

Here is the crazy quilt class taught by Karen Lee Carter.

The third class was wool applique done in the center of a churn dash block taught by Sandra Fraenkel.

About 25 people were in the Come Quilt with Me group.  We also had a delicious lunch prepared by the staff of the Doubletree Hotel where we stayed and had the workshops.  So if you're looking for a group that combines quilting with a mini-retreat weekend several times a year, consider joining us at an upcoming meeting.  The next newsletter with information on the May meeting will be out by the end of March.  If you are a member, you will get an email when the newsletter is available online.  If you're not a member, check on the VCQ website for the newsletter - links are on the right hand side of the page.

More QuiltCon Quilts

We posted a number of quilts from QuiltCon while in Nashville on both our Instagram and Facebook pages.  We will attempt to add some in this blog post that weren't shown before; hopefully that will give you a better overall idea of the show.  Several we are sharing today are prize winners.

Random Hexagons by the Block is by Catherine Redford of Naperville, Illinois and won 1st place in the Small Quilts category.  The hexagons are done with English Paper Piecing, hand stitched and appliqued, and finished with both machine quilting and hand stitching.

Double Sens is the 2nd place winner in the Small Quilts category.  It is by Sophie Zaugg from Le Sentier, Switzerland.  It is an improv work with the theme of triangles and plays with scale, direction and interaction between the triangles and background.

The 3rd place Small Quilt winner is You Are Here by Christine Yi of Portland, Oregon.  This quilt was made for an Alison Glass fabric challenge and is an improvisational design.

Double Crossed by Paige Alexander of Easley, South Carolina, won 1st place in the Quilting Challenge category (a challenge issued by the Modern Quilt Guild).  The inspiration for this quilt came from an eye chart.  Enlarge to see the very tiny crosses in the intersections of the lines.  No, they are not pieced, they are fussy cut from fabric by Anne Kelle for Robert Kauffman.

Hunt Harriot Quilt is the name of this quilt by Carolyn Friedlander of Lake Wales, Florida which won 1st place in the Applique category.  Carolyn is known for her handwork and says she enjoyed playing with values against the background which makes some blend in and others stand out.

The 1st place quilt in the Improvisation category is called Pathways by Tanya Munro from Dubna in the Moscow region of Russia.  The theme is support and came from an incident in which her husband fell off a ladder when there was no one there to support it. Making an analogy to life, who will be there to support you as you climb the ladders of life?

Prickly Path is by Sarah Sharp of Carmel, Indiana.  It is based on the Grandma's Fan block which is repeated on point with spikes added.  Be sure to enlarge to see the spectacular quilting by Angela Walters.

The 3rd place winner in the Use of Negative Space category is Lucy in the Sky by Alane Davis of Duluth, Minnesota.  Her inspiration was the 1960's Op Art of M.C. Escher, Victor Vasarely and Peter Max.  Her goal was to create a repeat pattern that became an optical illusion.

In the Piecing category was this entry called Sophisticate by Amy Friend of West Newbury, Massachusetts.  It was inspired by antlers,  and is constructed with improv paper piecing.

Log Lunacy in the Small Quilts category is by Laurie Sheldon of Washburn, North Dakota, and won a Judge's Choice award. If you think these blocks are small, your are right!  The quilt is composed of 1 5/8 inch improv courthouse step and log cabin blocks that are arranged in a larger courthouse step pattern.