Zip Up Tray Pouch

Last week Sue posted a Facebook picture of a zip up tray she made for her retreat.  Since it got lots of curious comments, she decided to make another using some of our printed fabric and share here on the blog about the process.  This is the pattern by Aneela Hoey of the UK which can be found at this link (there appears to be a pdf download).  Sue bought the pattern from a vendor at QuiltCon.

You start with your exterior and lining pieces for the body of the box, which has inserts of a stiff fusible stabilizer such as Timtex, Peltex  or Stiffie (all various brands of the same type) - it is the kind of stabilizer used for hat brims.  This gives the box its shape.

The marked lines are where the divisions will be for the inserts.  Another aspect of the project was to see how this piece of printed fabric would work in a project, since it is an overall large design.

 Attaching the zipper was the next step.  The pattern requires a 10" separating zipper.  Unlike other types of bags where you can use a longer zipper and cut off the excess, this requires an exact size zipper.

After applying the zipper, the marked lines are stitched through the 2 layers in order to insert the stabilizer.

Binding strips are sewn to the long edges before adding the ends of the box.

Adding these ends is probably the trickiest part.  I did make a modification here. The instructions call for sewing partial seams and stitching the part around the corners by hand.  I felt that machine stitching would be sturdier so I clipped all layers into the corner to be able to stitch it by machine.

Here is the finished tray/box from the outside,

and from the inside.  You might be able to see in this picture that the ends contain stabilizer as well, a square and 2 triangles to allow the end to fold when it is zipped up.

I like how the printed design works in this project, as well as how the commercial print lining coordinates so well.  If you're looking for a container that holds your tools and transports easily for your next retreat, check out this pattern.

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.

QuiltCon 2019

If you follow us on Facebook, you already know that we attended QuiltCon last week in Nashville, TN and have shared many pictures of the quilts.  QuiltCon is the annual quilt convention of The Modern Quilt Guild. We attended our first QuiltCon in 2017 in Savannah, GA; this was our first visit to Nashville. The winter storms brought significant rain so the weather wasn't great, but it finally stopped and the sun came out on Sunday which we saved for sightseeing.

This was a welcome sign in the airport.  We took an Uber to our downtown hotel which was just a couple of blocks from the convention center and Country Music Hall of Fame.

The front side of Music City Center was designed to resemble a guitar - you can kind of see that here.  (Apologies for the thumb blocking the corner.)  In this post we'll try to give you a feel for a mix a quilts and some of the sights around Nashville.

The Best in Show quilt above is called Smile by Leanne Chahley of Alberta, Canada.  The blocks were made by members of her international quilting bee, who she asked to make colorful improv blocks.  She quilted it herself on a longarm, and says it never fails to make her smile.

Burst, by Marge Tucker of Norwell, Massachusetts, is the winner of Best Machine Quilting done on a frameless, needle stationary machine (domestic or mid-arm).  She challenged herself to improvisationally piece Dresden plate blocks.  The half Dresdens are completed by the quilting in the border. The mosaic look is the result of using the gray background in the center and layering it over navy blue which makes the seams stand out.

The Modern Drunk is by Jodi Robinson of Enon Valley, Pennsylvania.  It is the winner of Best Machine Quilting done on a framed machine where the needle moves (longarm).  This is her modern interpretation of the traditional Drunkard's Path block.  She wanted to create quilting that creates movement, in this case radiating from the center.

On Thursday evening we met friends for dinner at BB King's Blues Club, which was a great recommendation and one of the highlights of the trip.  We were treated to live music by the Mike Hayes Band and they were fantastic!  If you want a sampling, Google "Mike Hayes musician" and give a listen. Have you ever seen anyone play guitar behind their back?

The AT&T building is the tallest in Nashville and it's twin peaks can be seen from anywhere.  It is fondly referred to as the bat building.

One of the corner bars contains a very large mural of Legends of Country Music - here is just a portion of it.  How many legends do you recognize?

On our Sunday tour, we visited the former Marathon Motor Works building that now houses various shops, among them the Nashville location of Antique Archaeology.  If you're not familiar with them, this is one of the shops of American Pickers (Mike & Frank) whose TV show airs on the History channel.  Their original shop is in LeClaire, Iowa. Check out their show if you haven't seen it.

We hope this gives you a taste of our Nashville experience, and will share more in the coming days.

New Cork Project

Last November at Quilt Festival in Houston Sue bought 2 pieces of cork fabric, gray and black, to use in making a cross body bag.  She knew she had a pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs that she previously used and hoped it could be adapted to work with the cork.  It's called the Barbados Bag.

After studying the pattern and parts of the bag, she came up with a plan she hoped would work. The problem with using cork fabric is that is thicker than cotton fabric which could pose a problem when sewing multiple layers.  The front and back pocket pieces both are intended to be folded in half, and since she wanted to make them from the cork, she knew that double cork would be too thick, so she made a fabric lining instead.  She chose to use cork for the main body of the bag as well, thinking that 2 layers of cork wouldn't be too thick. So, here we go.

This is the front pocket and accent fabric section above and behind the pocket.

Here the pockets are layered over the bag pieces (gray).  Wonder clips are great for holding the pieces together, since you can't pin the cork without leaving holes.

These are all the pieces ready to put together - outsides on the left, linings on the right.

Here the front and back are sewn together at the bottom.  The cut outs at the sides form the gussets for the base of the bag.  This is where it started to become apparent that the thickness of the layers might be a problem.  You might be able to see the topstitching along the seam; rather than decoration, the purpose was to hold the seam allowances open and flatter!  For the most part, sewing parts together was not a problem till it came to those gussets on the bottom corners.

Because of the bag body and pockets both being cork, that meant 4 layers of cork in the side seams, plus the lining layers.  There's also some décor bond stabilizer in there.  When it came to the gussets, there was also that seam at the bottom of the bag adding into the equation, and that's where the difficulty came in.  It was just too thick for the Baby Lock machine to sew through.  So Sue got out the old faithful Pfaff and was able to get across - carefully - all the layers.

The previous picture is the front of the bag, above is the back.  The final challenge was turning the bag right side out.  It was a bit stiff, but as you can see - success!

Here's the final result with the strap made and attached.  If she were to make another with cork fabric, Sue thinks she would stick to just one layer of cork rather than 2.  Since we are headed to Nashville next week for QuiltCon, Sue will get to test drive the bag and see if it performs as she anticipates. Of course, we'll have pictures to share of our Nashville adventure!