1st Retreat of 2018—Nashville, IN

I just got back from my first retreat of the year. Friends from several different states meet in Nashville, Indiana, for this retreat. It is so much fun to catch up with everyone. This year, the weather was a little questionable with bad weather right before we were supposed to go and more snow while we were there. 

Most of the quilters at this retreat are very traditional quilters. They are VERY supportive of what I do, though. I appreciate that very much. We have a Show & Tell night, so I have lots of pictures to share.

I showed my “In the Eye of the Hurricane” (which I’m still working on—at this retreat, I cut the foundation fabric from the spikey edges of the quilt), I put together my Train Car quilt blocks, and I finished a quilt top made from HOT Kaffe fabrics. I also made another kennel quilt. (I didn’t take a picture of that.)

Here are some other pics from the retreat.

(Debby’s Urban Abacus, Sue’s Bunny Town block, Bernice’s Falling Stars, and Cathy’s pants for her granddaughter’s doll)

(Sue’s Belle Meade quilt and Barb’s “improv” quilt—her own design)

(Bernice’s TN quilt blocks, Teresa’s wool appliqué, Jean’s charity quilts)

(Sherry’s baby quilt, Susan’s purple baby quilt, Della’s basket quilt and block for a new quilt)

(Teresa’s quilt, Karen’s blocks for a quilt called Sangria (I think.), Mary’s rail fence quilt top, and Mary Tim’s blue and white quilt blocks)

(Mary Tim’s autumn quilt block and tote, Cathy’s African Star quilt and purple modern quilt)

(Annette’s brown quilt, modern log cabin quilt, and Urban Abacus quilt top; Lavana’s autumn-colored quilt)

(Lavana’s small sampler quilt top, Cora’s heart quilt—beautiful batiks, Rebecca’s patriotic block, Barb’s quilt)

(Barb’s sampler quilt, Cathy’s robe for her doll, Karen and Sue with their Bunny Town blocks, and Rebecca with her new quilt top)

I had a wonderful time at this retreat—I loved catching up/visiting friends, doing a bit of shopping, and getting some work done. I can’t wait till the next one!

 

Quilt Planner Update

Well, so far so good with my new Quilt Planner. I think one thing that is helping me focus on using the planner is the Instagram Challenge that is going on right now. Each day of January has a new “challenge.” Using #qpbestyearever2018, we have used Instagram to post pictures addressing the following topics so far:

1. Intro & Selfie
2. What Makes You Sparkle?
3. Top 3 Goals
4. First 2018 Project
5. Plan for Success
6. Motivation
7. Top Tip
8. Weekly Spread
9. Favorite Pattern
10. Quote & Photo
11. Project Planning

There are 20 more topics for the month. Most of the topics delve into ways to use the pages in the planner. By checking out the hashtag, I can (and you can) see how people are using the planner. If you want to check out my posts, you can do that (along with other posts I’ve made) here.

I also received my new planner cover this week. (I hired a friend of mine to make it for me. She did a great job. Thanks Debbie!) It is a perfect way to protect my planner. 

I think the gray cover will help to keep me from getting the planner too dirty. That is important, because I plan on dragging it around with me all the time. I really like the zipper pocket. Right now, I’m using it to hold some of the ink pens I’m using in the planner. I may discover (as I use the planner more) that it could be better used for something else.

There are lots of things to like about the planner and the planner cover.

(Inside front cover)

(Inside back cover)

The little bottom pocket is the perfect size for business cards. If you’d like to check out the Quilter’s Planner, you can find out more about it here.

Why Do I Like the Quilter’s Planner?

In my last post I told you about my purchase of The Quilter’s Planner and promised I would post what I like about it. Well, here it is. The Quilter’s Planner is 240 pages cram packed with ways for you to organize your quilty life.

First, I like that it is spiral bound. It opens out really flat so you can see two pages. You can also fold it so that only one page is visible, which takes up less table space. It includes a laminated cover and nice tabs separating each section of the planner.

I really like the calendar. There is a full month at a glance with nice, big boxes for each day.

On these full-month calendar pages there is a reminder about the block of the month (included with the planner). There are also places to write out Monthly Goals, list Personal Projects, and list Quilting Projects. Space to write out notes and a bit of graph paper (to do a bit of doodling if you want) are at the bottom of the pages.

Each week is shown in detail. For each week of the month, there is a “Habit Tracker” and spaces for a weekly Personal To-Do List, Quilting To-Do List, Shopping List, and Notes. As you can see, I have a retreat coming up.

You may have noticed the stickers on the full calendar page. There are lots of cool stickers included—4 pages of them by Artist Alison Glass. I LOVE them (although they didn’t include enough “Quilt Retreat” stickers for me, and I could have done without all the “Bill Due” stickers).

There are pages for everything, and these are just a few of them.

Did I mention I love coloring? This planner even has 15 pages to color; of course, I couldn’t wait. These are two pages I’ve done so far (and I’ve started others). I find coloring to be a great stress reliever.

In addition to the pages I pictured, I like the following:

• Reference section
• Graph paper
• Pocket on the inside back cover
• Instagram “challenges”
• Facebook page

I hope I have given you a good idea about what the Quilter’s Planner is all about and why I like it. Maybe you will want to go ahead and get one or check it out next year.

Starting the New Year Right (Hopefully)

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a very organized person. One of the things I would like to do this year is improve on that. I have some things I would like to accomplish. (I hate to call them “goals,” because that puts too much pressure on me. LOL!) Of course, this is NOT a list of ALL the things I’d like to get done, but it is a start.

1. Organize (at least some of) my scraps 
2. Organize my UFOs from “most likely to finish” to “never going to do it”
3. Organize my studio—label, put away, sell, give away, throw away
4. Write and post at least one blog post per week
5. Spend at least one hour a day in my studio
6. Finish a quilt for the 70,273 Project
7. Send some kennel quilts to the TQPM Small Kennel Quilt Team
8. Finish a quilt for my guild’s Comforts for Kids project
9. Finish the three art quilts I have started
10. Finish my big hexagon project

To do this, I didn’t think it would hurt anything to have a little help. This year I purchased a Quilter’s Planner. (I have not been paid by Quilter’s Planner to write this post. I’m just telling you about my experience with it.)

I looked at them last year and decided not to purchase it. I thought it was too pricey. Well, this year it is still pricey, but I bought it. 

You DO get a lot for your money—a nice planner/calendar/organizer, “The Quilter’s Planner Magazine” with 14 patterns, a free pattern for a journal cover, a Facebook group, Instagram group, lots of prizes, and lots of inspiration.

If you would like to join in the fun, it is not too late. You can still get a planner here. If you would like to see some of the things I like about the planner, I’ll post about that in the next couple of days.

Pieceful Haven—Winter 2017

Each year I have the opportunity to attend an art retreat with some of my friends at a place called Pieceful Haven. It is a chance to visit with artist friends and get some much needed, uninterrupted work time in.

Everyone works on different things—some art related and some not. This year the projects ranged from making gifts for Christmas to catching up on computer work. We also have a “Show & Tell” (sometimes critique) at this retreat. I took a few pics along the way.

I have one project that I finished but can’t show yet. (It is a surprise gift.) Besides that, I made these 4 kennel quilts for TQPM Small Kennel Quilts. I hope they don’t keep the cats/dogs awake. These kennel quilts are desperately needed by organizations that take in cats/dogs that have been displaced for some reason—fires, floods, etc. The fires out West have really increased the need for these small kennel quilts. You can find out more about this great cause here. These small quilts are quick to make (and you can do some stash reduction). Maybe you would like to make a few too. I also made 4 blocks for the 20,273 Project mentioned/explained in this post.

I also got a new pattern drawn up for an art quilt I’ve been thinking about and completed the stitching on my “In the Eye of the Hurricane” quilt top. I was the last person to leave the retreat; it was a lonely place that last day. However, I was DETERMINED to finish the stitching on my hurricane piece. I watched “John Adams” on Amazon Prime while I worked and really enjoyed that.

You may (or may not) remember that I taught an “Extreme Embroidery” class for LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists). The first piece Kathy made was sold. She recently finished the stitching on this one that will also be for sale. I just love seeing pieces my “extreme embroidery” students make.

This was Vickie’s first time at the retreat. She got A LOT done, and I think she enjoyed herself. (Don’t you just LOVE these pieces?)

Debby worked on several projects.

Felice didn’t get to stay very long, but made some good progress on one of her pieces. (I didn’t get a picture of the new piece.)

Pamela is always VERY focused during the retreat. Often, she spends time making gifts for friends—this time she made beautiful purple rocks to brighten up a friend’s garden in winter.

Debbie worked on a Christmas gift (among other things).

Robin finished a quilt top for a baby quilt and got a good start on another project.

MJ worked on original patterns.

Wendy brought a scarf to show. It is made from of silk from old kimonos.

This is such a good retreat for me. It comes at a time when stress (about the holidays and other things)  seem to be prevalent. I have time to wind down and also get some work done. If you need some time away, you might check out going to a retreat.

Spreading the News—70,273 Project

Have you ever “gone down the rabbit hole” while surfing the Internet? Well, I have done it many times. The last time I did this I discovered a project in which I am VERY interested (and I hope you are too). It is called the 70,273 Project.

Let me give you a quick description. This is a project that will use white quilts with red Xs to commemorate the lives of the 70,273 physically and/or mentally disabled people that were murdered between January 1940 and August 1941 by the Nazis. Each pair of red Xs on the quilts represent one life. To explain—after three Nazi doctors read the medical files of a disabled person being evaluated, it only took two of them to make a red X on the medical form to condem that person to death. The 20,273 website says that “most were murdered within hours.” 

Jeanne Hewell-Chambers decided she wanted to commemorate these 70,273 voiceless, powerless people who were so callously and casually murdered by gathering 70,273 blocks of white fabric (representing innocence and the paper the doctors read), each bearing two red X’s (representing one person) and stitch them together into quilts. She knew she couldn’t do this alone, so she has created a world-wide project in which you can participate.

This past weekend I was at an art retreat and made some blocks to contribute to this project. I used recycled sari silk strips and stitched them down with red embroidery thread. I stitched Xs to hold the strips down. I thought that was both meaningful and attrative—adding a nice texture to the blocks.

I am an Amazon Prime subscriber and have enjoyed some of their original programming. One of the programs I have watched is “Man in the High Castle.” “Man in the High Castle” is described on the Internet as a “series, loosely based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. It takes a look at what the world might look like had the outcome of World War II turned out differently. In this dystopian scenario, the Axis powers won the war, leading to the United States being divided into three parts, an area controlled by the Japanese, a Nazi-controlled section, and a buffer zone between the two.” 

One of the episodes in Season 2 is about a child who has a disability. The child’s father is a Nazi officer and is asked to give his son a shot that will kill him simply because he has a dibilitating disease. (I won’t tell you what happens so as not to spoil the story for those of you who haven’t yet watched the show.) That episode was SO heart wrenching for me that I couldn’t get it out of my mind. When I saw this project, I knew I HAD to participate. 

As you can see above, I have made some blocks so far, but I am thinking the REAL need will be putting the blocks together into quilt tops and quilting these quilts. I’m hoping, at some point in time, I can help with that too.

Check it out. You can read more about the project here http://thebarefootheart.com/introducing-the-70273-project/.  Maybe you will feel moved to participate too. (You don’t even have to be a “quilter” to contribute. There are LOTS of ways to participate.)