Retreat 2015

This past week the Seven Sisters Quilters went on their First Annual Winter Retreat. It was so great to have an entire week. It was relaxing and at the same time I got a lot of sewing done.

The first thing I did was to put on a binding. First project done in no time.

My next project was to start my challenge quilt. The Bayside Quilters are having a color challenge this year. The color I got was orange. I am almost done. I just need to do some quilting in the solid orange area. I will go into further detail in an upcoming post.

This is the back of my orange quilt. 

For the past year I have been working on Tula Pink's 100 Block City Sampler. I had decided before I began that I would be done in a year. I only got 40 of the 100 blocks done so my quilt only has 40 blocks. At retreat I sewed together 20 blocks that were previously cut out and I put the top together. 

This is the back of my Tula Pink City Sampler Quilt. 

I went to see Tula Pink in September. When she talked about her City Sampler she explained that it was her take on the Dear Jane Quilt. In 2004 I was in a Dear Jane Bee and made some of the blocks. I never did anything with them. I thought the back of my City Sampler would be the perfect place for them. I finished up these blocks and got the back put together. 

I started this quilt in a class at Bayside last Spring. The class was taught by Terry Kramzar.

I was not happy with the white flower on the light purple background. There was not enough contrast,  so I stitched around the white with a darker purple thread. I am not exactly thrilled with this quilt, but at least it is done. 

I made this for a shop sample to highlight some of our new fabric. 

This is my Alaska Quilt. In 2013 I went on an Alaskan Cruise. Of course I had to find a Quilt Shop everywhere we stopped. All of this fabric and pattern was purchased in Alaska. I am so glad to get this done. 

I made this Tunic with fabric from the Florence line by Denyse Schmidt. I am very disappointed that this is a bit snug. I might need to make another one a little bigger. 

I made this Three Yard Quilt for a shop sample using Gramercy by Art Gallery Fabrics.

We all had a great time at retreat. I will post more about it later.  

And the Winners Are

As everyone else began to eat lunch Chris and Lou were busy adding up the tallies for the challenge winners. 

Sandy won for "Best Interpretation of the Theme."

Margaret won for "Best Use of Technique."

Jeanne won for "Accessory and Wearable."

There were only 2 entries for "Miniature" and as odd as it is there was a tie. Donna and Nita both won a blue ribbon and a cash prize.

I headed up the Challenge this year. I guess I will do it again next year. As we were leaving the luncheon I was already thinking about what the Challenge might be for next year. The new Challenge will be announced in September for the luncheon next June.

"Twenty Something"

The 2012 Challenge for the Bayside Quilters took place yesterday at the 20th Anniversary Celebration.

This celebration was held at The Oaks and the dock area was used to display all of the Challenge pieces.

We were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny day but it was very windy.

We were worried that the clothespins would not be enough to keep the quilts from blowing into the water.

Elaine suggested that we use safety pins to ensure that nothing would blow off of the line.

Elaine was kind enough to run home and get her safety pins.

So with all of the clothespins and safety pins we did not lose any quilts.

We had a good turn out this year with 30 participants.

This quilt with the 20 stars is mine.

This year's challenge was "Twenty Something."

The requirements were that you had to use some of the challenge fabric, the bright turquoise batik, each side must be less than 40 inches, and must have something to do with the number 20.

Prizes were awarded in four categories:

Best use of Technique

Best interpretation of the Theme

Miniature (less than 12 inches per side)

Accessory and Wearable

I believe I got a picture of every quilt that was entered.

The weather forecast was for gale force winds in the afternoon, so the quilts were all taken down immediately after the voting, before we all went inside to eat.

Altered Photo Quilt

On Wednesday I hosted the Art Bee at my house. I chose to demo the technique of Altered Photo Artistry by Beth Wheeler. First we watched the episode of The Quilt Show featuring Beth Wheeler. This is the technique I used to make my challenge quilt for Bayside last week. There were questions and some good discussion as we viewed the video.

We opened Photo Shop Elements and discussed using filters to alter a photo. This is the photo I used for the challenge quilt. Even though I like the photo with this filter I decided not to use it because of how dark it was.

This is a picture of my challenge quilt, "Bare Feet at the Beach," finished.

I quilted this on my domestic machine. It has been years since I have done that. I got my longarm in 2004. It was really quite relaxing doing the tiny freehand stitching.

I used "firm" Pellon instead of batting so it would be very stiff and easy to hang.

The back really shows the quilting.

For some time now I have been wanting to make a quilt featuring a Gaillardia, maybe even doing a series of quilts. Several years ago I took many pictures of the ones I have in my garden. So, while the Art Bee was here I worked on one in Photo Shop Elements to demonstrate how you would go about manipulating the photo. I even printed one on 4 sheets of paper to show them how to do that.

Since I had gone that far actually working on a gaillardia I decided to continue. I played more in Photo Shop Elements with the filters, hue, temperature, and saturation. I think I have the photo where I want it for this quilt. I am going to make it 9 sheets, so it will end up about 24 inches square. 

I printed out the center sheet. This is what the center of my quilt is going to look like.

This is the actual image I will use for my quilt.

I am so glad I hosted the Art Bee this month and demoed this technique. It got me to work on a quilt that I have been wanting to do but had put on the back burner.