Making Progress on my "Forever" Hexie Project

I have been diligently working on my "forever" hexie project. These are my latest two finished segments.

 

I worked on the hexie project at my last retreat (in Nashville). I added some of the newest finished segments to the large piece. The Nashville retreat turned out to be a good place to do that, because (this time) I had a whole table to spread the big piece onto. Adding these segments to the big piece is NOT a good "on-the-go" project because the main piece is getting so large. The individual  segments themselves, however, are. I'll be making a trek to Florida in the near future and plan to work on some segments in the car on the drive down and back. I need to do some basting, because I'm just about out of white hexies. I sure hope I get lots done.

This is what it looked like at Show & Tell. It is getting so big now that I'm having trouble pinning it up onto my design wall.

What are you working on during these dreary winter days?

Upcoming Fiber Arts Events of Note

There are some fiber-related events coming up that you might be interested in getting on your calendar. Here are a few. At the 2017 Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, (IHQS), March 2-4, at the Monroe Convention Center, 302 College Av. Bloomington, IN:

• Karen Hampton, from Evansville, IN, will have an exhibit of her art
• All of the "177 National Park Quilts" exhibit will be featured at the show
• Several special exhibits will be located in the city including, The Quilts of Southwest China at the Mather’s Museum

These exhibits are at no additional cost with an IHQS admission. The Monroe County History Center, 202 E. 6^th St. Bloomington, IN, will exhibit Dialogues – Contemporary Responses to Marie Webster Quilts, February 3 -April 30, 2017. This exhibit will then be on display at the Quilters Hall of Fame, Marion, IN, October 5 through December 2, 2017.

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2017 AQS QuiltWeek Show Dates

Mar. 1 – 4, 2017 Daytona Beach, FL Mar. 29 – Apr. 1, 2017 Lancaster, PA Apr. 26 – 29, 2017 Spring Paducah, KY Aug. 16 – 19, 2017 Grand Rapids, MI Sep. 13 – 16, 2017 Fall Paducah, KY Oct. 4 – 7, 2017 Des Moines, IA

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The quilt I made about my Mom and dealing with her Alzheimer's and her death is still traveling with the Sacred Threads 2015 Traveling Exhibit. The next exhibit location is at the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, Texas, but all 40 of the quilts in the traveling exhibit could not be shown there. I was informed that my quilt WILL be there on display from January 5 through March 25, 2017. The following information comes from the American Quilters' Society blog. If you'd like to see the entire article, check out their blog.

  SACRED THREADS 2015 explores themes of spirituality, joy, inspiration, peace, grief, and healing in a beautiful collection of 20 art quilts. This biennial juried exhibition was established to provide a venue for quilters who see their work as a connection to the sacred and/or as an expression of their spiritual journey. “I hope that the exhibition will resonate with the spirituality of our visitors and provide a healing environment following the recent period of intense societal divisiveness,” Museum Curator Dr. Sandra Sider offers.

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I have already signed up for a class at the IHQS in Bloomington. It has been awhile since I have taken a class, so I'm excited about it. I DO hate to drag all my supplies to a class, but that is a small price to pay for a good class. 

If you know of any fiber-related events I could include on my blog, please let me know. I would be happy to add it.

Nashville Retreat--January 2017

I just got back from a quilt retreat held in Nashville, Indiana, at the Cornerstone Inn. What a wonderful time with some wonderful women. The weather even cooperated this year--no ice and snow like we had last year. One of the many reasons I love this retreat is because I get to spend some time with some of my "far-away" friends. 

Debby is from Tennessee, and Robin comes in from Minnesota.

Robin and I spent a bit of time checking out the Life Is Good store (and several other shops in Nashville).

 

Another big draw for this retreat is the Cornerstone Inn itself. This is a wonderful place with wonderful staff. The food isn't bad either! The breakfast is fabulous, and we are treated to an afternoon "snack" and evening dessert. It is REALLY hard to stick to a diet here. This is the afternoon "snack," and they keep refilling it when a container gets low.

A good time was had by all (and a lot of work was done) as you will be able to see in the following pictures.

This is one of the "work" rooms. We also have people in another room called "The Chapel."

I'm thinking the little animal quilt will make a sweet quilt for my new grand baby (coming in June). I LOVE the wonky houses in the other pic.

Jean works with lots of little pieces. She is the "leader" at this retreat.

 

Some people worked on whole quilts.

Some people worked on blocks and other small projects.

This retreat is so much fun that people even left vacations in Florida to be here! We also had a couple of women who came in casts. This is a "dedicated" bunch! I can't wait till the next one.

First Virtual Quilt Retreat

This past weekend my quilt guild ran a "virtual quilt retreat," on our Facebook page, for members of the guild. We worked on various sewing/quilting projects for four days. As we worked, we posted pics of what we were doing. It was fun for a variety of reasons--I got to "go" to a retreat and didn't have to pack up all my stuff, I could sew in my pajamas, I got to see what everyone else was working on, I got to share pics of what I was working on, I could ask questions/opinions of my fellow virtual retreat participants, and I had a little "push" to get some things finished. I'm happy with what I got done. I think the thing I'm most happy to have finished is the addition of the light border to my 365 Challenge quilt. (I still have a couple more borders to go.) It takes a long time to match seams when there are LOTS and LOTS of seams. This top is heavy already because of all the pieces in each block. The finished top will should measure 90" X 90"; I can't imagine how heavy it will be when I get it finished.

The largest block (not counting the central medallion) measures 6" finished. All of the dark blocks measure 3" finished. If you zoom in on this quilt top, you can see how many pieces are in some of these little blocks. I'm really happy with it so far.

I am still working on the rest of the blocks for this quilt and got several of those finished.

I included the dime in many of the pictures to show how small these blocks are. (All but one of the blocks finishes to 3". The one "big" block finishes to 6".) Let me just say...these blocks take a LONG time to cut and sew, so I was glad to get these finished. I got some hand sewing done too. I have to make four of these blocks for my "forever" hexie project--I already had two finished, and I worked on the third one.

I got the binding made for the baby quilt I'm working on along with three more 365 Challenge blocks.

All in all, I feel like the Virtual Retreat was a success (especially for the late notice I gave everyone). We had several participants--some of those getting whole quilts (notice I said "quiltS") pieced together. (I have the feeling that some people "attended" the retreat but didn't share any pictures along the way, too.) If you would like to check out what everyone did at our VR (virtual retreat), enter #PVQGVR1 (Patoka Valley Quilt Guild Virtual Retreat 1) into the search box in Facebook. I'm planning on having another VR (virtual retreat) in February.  

Quiltathon

I recently read Judy Laquidera's blog post about her first Quiltathon of the year. I really liked the idea and decided I would participate (as much as I can) and share the idea with my quilt guild. We are calling our Quiltathon a "PVQG (Patoka Valley Quilt Guild) Virtual Retreat." Judy has a good explanation for what a Quiltathon is--"If you’ve never participated in a Quiltathon, it’s basically just a time we set aside to sew as much as we can. We do everything we can possibly do ahead of time to free up our time for sewing." Our first virtual retreat will be held (in conjunction with Judy's) on January 5-8.  I have asked our guild members (and you--you don't have to be a guild member) to set aside as much time as you can, during those days, to sew. Share your progress on our Facebook page with comments and pictures. We'd love to see what everyone is working on and what everyone gets finished. I'm hoping at least SOME of the guild members will be sharing their plans and progress on the Facebook page. I'd love to share your progress with my blog readers too. Send me pics (or give me permission to use pics you have published on Facebook), and I'll publish them on my blog.  I have a few of these "PVQG Virtual Retreats" planned throughout the year. I'll post the dates in subsequent posts. Let me know what you think. Is this a good idea? Will you "play" with us?