Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Quilt Retreat and an Upcoming Facing Tutorial

Last weekend I attended a quilting retreat (put on by Lora Nale) here in my hometown. About forty women descended upon the Days Inn for a three-day retreat. We had lots of food, fun, uninterrupted quilting time, and camaraderie. It was really nice to meet some new quilters and spend time with old friends. I had been busy working on projects for my Jane Dunnewold class and my post for the "And Then We Set It On Fire" blog, so (needless to say) I had nothing ready to take to retreat. I ended up frantically cutting out some "modern quilting" blocks--very simple using "modern" fabric. I had won lots of fat quarters of "modern" fabric and wasn't quite sure how I would use them, so I decided to do a very simple quilt with squares and rectangles. The quilt consists of six different blocks. I also pieced some little blocks that were already cut out and in my retreat bag. Here are samples of some of the blocks.
The "modern" blocks come from the "Fresh Lemon" blog. Be sure to check out the finished "Lemon Squares Quilt." The fabric I used for the "modern" blocks is Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley Fabric Collection from Westminster Fibers Lifestyle Products. I used scraps from my stash (and there is a lot more where that came from) for the little blocks. The "modern" blocks finish 9". The small blocks finish 4".

I mixed the fabrics I won with some Kona Ash fabric I purchased. My bedroom is gray, and I thought the quilt would make a nice bedcover for the spring (like I might ever have it finished by then).

Also, Marti Plager (http://www.martiplager.com/) was kind enough to give me a lesson on how to face a quilt (rather than bind it traditionally). I took pictures and will be posting a tutorial on two different facing methods, so be looking for that later on.

What are you working on? Has the cooler weather put you in the mood to quilt?

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