VCQ's Celebration 2016

VCQ's biannual retreat concluded a week ago, and we are finally catching up and ready to post some pictures from this event.  If you're not familiar with VCQ, it is the Virginia Consortium of Quilters which is the state quilting guild in Virginia.  We were founded in 1984 to unite quilters all over the state and are still going strong 32 years later.  Every 2 years we have a 4 day retreat we call Celebration with 2 full days of workshops and other fun activities.  Since 2004, we have been gathering at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Center at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.  Both Elizabeth and Sue are active in this guild; Sue is finishing up her term as president this year, and Elizabeth has just taken on the role of Program Chair for the quarterly meetings.  In addition, Sue served as co-chair for Celebration.  Hence, our lack of time recently to keep up with regular blog posts.

Here is a photo overview of the retreat -  maybe you'd like to join us in 2018, the last weekend of April!

 Above is a view of the lake from the Central Activities Building, below.  This building houses the dining room and auditorium where evening programs are held, as well as the vendors and silent auction.

Check in was held in the Welcome Center, where participants received their name tags and welcome bags, as well as dropped off silent auction contributions, block lotto blocks, and challenge entries.

The auditorium stage featured a "gypsy tent" to go with our theme "It's Crystal Clear We Are Quilters".  Madam Crystal could be found here during evening programs to gaze into her crystal ball and make predictions for the weekend.

National teachers offering workshops included Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Rayna Gillman.

 Rayna Gillman also gave an evening lecture called "What If?"

On Saturday evening we had a few participants try out a new quilters' card game from Purple Moose Designs called Quilter's Block Party - it is modeled after Pictionary but with quilt blocks.

Here's one set of the Block Lotto blocks that were given away.  There were 9 or 10 sets of blocks drawn for; for each block contributed, participants received a chance at winning a set of blocks.

On the final morning we enjoyed class show and tell and gave away some door prizes - Gloria was the lucky winner of this SewEzi portable sewing table.  We had generous donations from a number of businesses and individuals that were given as part of the welcome bags, activity prizes, and door prizes. 

More to come in additional posts about workshops and show and tell of all the classes!

April UFO Busting

As you can tell from the limited number of posts in April, we have been kind of "MIA" - "missing in action" because we were derailed with other things when life got in the way as it so often does.  In early April, Elizabeth's mother (Barbara) passed away after several months of health issues which were further complicated by her diabetes.  We will miss her dearly.  Late April brought VCQ's Celebration retreat which Sue was co-chair of, in addition to being VCQ president.  It was fun and a great success, but involved lots of last minute tasks.  Now we are hoping for things to calm down a little and to get back on track with more frequent posts.

At least Sue is able to report two completions for the month of April.  One is the challenge quilt that was made for our Virginia Consortium of Quilters biannual retreat based on our theme, "It's Crystal Clear We Are Quilters". This is a whole cloth piece that she snow dyed this winter - her first attempt at a mandala style fold.  It is machine quilted with Superior Thread's Glitter metallic thread and has hot fix Swarovski crystals added (which are hard to see in the photo).  She is happy to report it won 1st place in the challenge!

The second finish is a new start as well as finish for April, which was shown in our last blog post on April 13.  It's a Fat-Quarter Pop-Up designed by the Fat Quarter Gypsy and is made with a piece of snow-dyed/thermofax printed fabric.  Sue will be teaching a class in making the pop-ups at Artistic Artifacts in June.

So the stats for April are:
Starting UFO count: 11
New projects started this month: 1
Projects finished this month: 2
UFO count at end of month:10

Go to Vicki Welsh's blog - Colorways by Vicki Welsh (note new website/blog address) - to see what other participants have reported for the month of April.

Fat Quarter Pop-Up

We know you've seen these pop-up collapsible containers - they're in quilt shops everywhere! 

They were designed by Joanne Hillestad (aka The Fat Quarter Gypsy) who we met at CABS (Creative Arts Business Summit) last year, and again this year.  Well, after much procrastination Sue finally got around to making one yesterday using a snow-dyed/screen printed piece of fabric.

She used 3 screens that are different versions & sizes of a black eyed Susan, and printed with ProChem opaque textile paint in teal.

This is the small size pop-up, which is 6" tall.  It also comes in medium and large sizes.  You can check the Fat Quarter Gypsy website for a link to find shops near you that carry the pattern.  A piece of elastic is stitched into the seam to hold the pop-up flat when you want to collapse it.

Joanne's instructions are very clear and easy to follow, and her method for inserting the spring is very clever.  What a fun way to showcase some of your own unique screen printed fabric!

Fiber Artists @ Loose Ends

This post is a bit of a flashback to Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival in February, but we recently realized we hadn't shared what was our favorite exhibit at the show.  A group of art quilters known as Fiber Artists @ Loose Ends debuted a new installation exhibit they call Wind Chimes: Elements.  It features the 4 elements of fire, earth, water and air and is an immersive experience.  Each of the 10 artists created a panel for each element in their own unique style.  The panels are suspended from bicycle wheels which gently turn with the air currents.  What a delight to walk around and through the 4 segments of the installation and experience this art work rather than viewing it against a flat surface!  This is definitely an exhibit to see!  Below are some still photos, and a brief video to give you a better flavor of the exhibit.

Be sure to visit Fiber Artists @ Loose Ends for more information about these talented artists!

UFO Busting in March

We're a few days behind with the UFO Busting report for March.  Vicki forgot to post last Friday (April Fool?), so did her post Monday.  Which is fine, we were at the Creative Arts Business Summit so would not have had time to post anyway.  Now getting back in the swing of things, so we're really only a day behind.  How did Sue in the month of March? 

She claims 2 finishes (or maybe 1 1/2?) for the month.  The first is the completion of her 3 block lotto blocks that were featured in the recent tutorial.  (counting all 3 as one project)  Since these get turned in as blocks, there is no sewing them together into a finished quilt (unless we win a set of blocks!)  Here's one of the 3.

The second finish Sue claims is the mock mola hand stitching from last month.  All the hand stitching is now finished.  True, it's not been made into a completed project yet, but finishing the stitching is an accomplishment, so she's counting it.  (or maybe its a 1/2 finish) Maybe by the end of April she'll have decided what to do with it.

April is the month for finishing Sue's Celebration challenge quilt, so there will be something to report next month.  Here's the link to Vicki Welsh's blog so you can check out what everyone else is doing.

Starting UFO count: 12
New projects started this month: 1
Projects finished this month: 2
UFO count at end of month:11

From Sue's beginning of the year UFO list: "Two are hand stitching projects, one of which is almost done, and then will need machine quilting."  She has now finished the hand stitching on both of these projects!  

Making the Crystal Facets Block

For any VCQ members making the block lotto block, here's a tutorial Sue put together. It's specific to this particular block, but there might be some tips that help with paper piecing in general.  Hope you find it helpful!

Start by cutting your pieces; a quarter yard of each fabric is needed.  The background was cut as a long quarter (9 x 44); the jewel tone can be either a long quarter or a fat quarter.  From each fabric cut 4 pieces of these three sizes:  6 x 9, 6 x 2 1/2, 4 x 2 1/2.  (The 6 x 9 is actually larger than needed, 5 1/2 x 8 would be big enough to cover section 3.)  When you have everything cut, separate into 2 piles along with the corresponding paper pattern.  The pattern piece with the 1" test square gets the large & small jewel tone pieces and the 6" background strip.  The remaining pieces go with the other half of the square. (Step 1 below)  I found it helpful to make all 4 of the same section before moving to the second group.

Some basic rules of paper piecing:

• fabric is place on the wrong side of the paper, wrong side of fabric against the paper (this will be the right side of the finished piece)
• always sew on the lines on the printed side of the paper
• hold the paper & fabric up to the light to check placement
• when placing the first piece of fabric, use a glue stick to put a small amount of glue on the paper to hold the fabric in place until the first seam is sewn
• use a smaller than normal stitch, about 1.5 cm, to make paper removal easier

In step 2 above, piece #1, the background is placed against the back of the paper with a bit of glue to hold it in place.

With piece 1 in place, fold and crease the paper along the stitching lines.  Then, fold the back along the crease to expose the fabric.  The add-a quarter ruler is a big help here.  Use it to trim a 1/4" beyond the folder paper.  If you don't have this ruler, any ruler will do if it is held securely in place. Flip the piece around and trim the other edge the same way.  Now you have 1/4" seam allowances for both stitching lines.

Step 5 shows placing the 4 x 2.5" piece right sides together on piece #1.  Notice how much it is offset so that after it is sewn, it will flip over and cover the point of the triangle.  Step 6 shows stitching it on the lined side of the paper.

After stitching, flip piece 2 over the seam allowance and press with a wooden iron.  Note that I have labeled the bottom edge of the paper as the straight grain.  This will be an outside edge of the square when 2 triangles are sewn together.

Step 8 is placing the large rectangle over section 3, right side up.  The challenge here was to establish the angle for the stitching line.  Also, there is a lot of waste with this piece, but it does make it easier to start with a rectangle that completely covers that section.

After placing the fabric on the back side of the paper, flip it over so the printed side is on top.  Then fold the paper and fabric pieces 1 & 2 back along the 1-to-3 stitching line.  The white background fabric already has the 1/4" seam allowance added, so trimming the dark fabric along this edge gives you the angle and seam allowance you need.

Trim along the white background edge.  Then unfold the corner of  the paper and carefully flip the whole thing to the back (fabric) side.

On the fabric side, flip the dark (purple) right sides together against the white matching the edges.  Turn it back to the paper side and stitch on the line.

Flip back to the fabric side again and finger press the purple piece.  Then its time to trim along the outside lines of the triangle.

Here's a completed triangle.  You will have 4 triangles like this, and 4 with the opposite color placement.

Sew 2 opposite halves together on the diagonal edge to form a square.   A few pins can help keep the seams matched while stitching.

Here's the front and back of the pressed block.  Press the seam open on the back and trim the dog ears that stick out on the corners.

After making the 4 squares that make up a 1/4 of the block, sew 2 together in the center.  Sew the other 2 for the bottom half of the block.

Finally, sew the 2 halves of the block together in the center.  Again, pins help keep your seams lined up.  If you have to un-stitch a seam, the paper will start to tear off the seam allowance (ask me how I know that?).  Press all the seams open on the back.

One thing Sue did when sewing the seams at the center of the block was to pull some of the paper seam allowance out before sewing.  That is the hardest part to get to when removing the paper, especially if its been stitched over a couple of times.  But the rest of the paper should stay in place; the lucky winner of the blocks will have the pleasure of removing the paper!

Hope you found this tutorial helpful!

Block Lotto Blocks

At our Virginia Consortium of Quilters (VCQ) biannual retreat we call Celebration coming up at the end of April, we have a "block lotto".  Whoever is in charge of this activity has selected a block design and fabric and created kits that participants can purchase for a nominal fee to make blocks.  Upon arrival at Celebration, blocks are turned in and for each block you have made, you get a chance to win a set of blocks.  If you make one block, you have one chance; if you make 5 blocks, you have 5 chances.  The number of blocks in a set will be determined by the total number turned in, but will be enough for at least a lap size quilt.

Last weekend (National Quilting Day), Sue set about making her blocks.  She completed two.  The block pattern for this year's event is paper pieced and is from the Quilters Cache website.  They call it Night and Day; we are calling it Crystal Facets, since our theme for the retreat is "Its Crystal Clear We Are Quilters".  Participants are to choose gemstone color fabrics to use along with the provided background fabric.  These are her two completed blocks, which ended up not being as difficult as she anticipated. (Figuring out a method to keep the largest piece on straight grain was a big help.)

She has one more block kit left to make, so plans to tackle that this afternoon.  Who knows, maybe a tutorial will follow?  Stay tuned.