Working on the Go

Last week was spring break week for my grandchildren; we made a trip to Branson--Silver Dollar City. I am still working on my never-ending hexie project, so I got some hexies ready to baste while I was traveling. Here are the fruits of my labor (done in the car). I spent about 2 1/2 hours basting these hexies.

Of course, I'm also going to have to include a couple of "gratuitous" pictures of my grandchildren. I always feel that time with them is precious.

This is a picture of the older kids--left to right Holland, Sebastian, Bianca, Lula, and Cade. (June Beth, my youngest granddaughter, wasn't interested in being in this picture--she doesn't like to share the spotlight!)

This is June Beth.

I'm already looking forward to spending spring break with the kids again next year. I AM hopeful, however, that the weather will be a little better. For the last two years, the weather has been in the 30's and 40's. That's a bit nippy for spending the day at an amusement park. We never let that put a damper on our fun, though.

 

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Ahhhhh...Retreat!

I feel very fortunate this week; I got to attend another retreat. This is a bit different from my usual "quilt retreats;" though, it is more of an art retreat. This is a retreat with some friends from my LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) group. This is such a diverse group; each of us really has very unique areas of emphasis. There is some machine sewing that goes on, but there is a wide variety of activities going on--haiku writing, knot tying, beading, hand stitching, computer designing, stenciling, fusing, sketching, piecing, painting, drawing up patterns, etc. I always feel like I learn SO much and get SO much done when I attend this retreat.

Each time we get together, we update each other on the progress of our work. Some people have quite a show and tell of work they have completed since we were last together; others show current work. Some have pieces in progress and would like a critique of their work. I don't photograph these things because many of these artists will be entering shows where the pieces cannot have been shown ANYWHERE before. I certainly don't want to screw up anyone's chances of getting into a show because I inadvertently posted a picture of their work.

When I put up my "show and tell," I finally had a chance to take a picture of my hexie project progress. I have been putting in a lot of work on this project and finally reached a point where the two separate pieces could be joined. (I won't actually be joining them until I am TOTALLY finished with ALL the rows in these sections.) You can see that I have some work yet to do on them.

I happened to take a picture of my work space. You can see what is important to me by taking a look at what is on my table.

You see my hexie project on the chair and the pieces in the green boxes scattered over the table. Of course, I have my iPhone, iPad, keyboard, and books handy. I have a beading project and task lamp at the ready. And who can do without coffee, wine, and Atomic Fireball candy?

Here is a picture of the room we had to work in.

What a nice space it is! The large room is well lit (with extra table lamps if needed). Extension cords, irons and ironing boards, rotary mats and rulers are provided. There are also two large design walls and smaller individual design walls available. Each workspace has a nice large table and a comfy, padded, swivel chair.

What a pleasure it has been to visit with friends and work on what we love. I can't wait till next year.

 

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Finished!

I have been pretty good about posting my most recently finished "Penguin Cheer" Block of the Month block. Thanks to a recent guild retreat, I have finished the quilt top. I know it is a "cutesy" pattern, but I had a certain little girl in mind as I made it. My quilting group (Stitch & Bitch) decided we would do it together. We were supposed to have our blocks done in time to show at each of our monthly meetings. I don't think any of us actually had the blocks done each month, but two of us HAVE finished our quilt tops. This is mine; I'm happy with how it turned out. Now, just when do I think this will get quilted?

If you are interested in purchasing this pattern, you can find it at FatCat Patterns. Right now (for this month) it is $10.95; the regular price is $14.95. (I am not affiliated with this website in any way.)

Do you have a little one who would like a quilt like this?

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Progress!

I have really been working hard on my hexagon quilt and wanted to show you an updated photo. Because this is a SLOW project, there isn't much progress to show from day to day. I work on this piece all the time--this quilt goes with me everywhere. It has gone with me on every trip/vacation for the past two years. I think I have enough done, now, that you (and I) can see a bit of progress. The top picture is my progress to date; the bottom picture was posted on November 22, 2014.

I know it is hard to tell from the picture, but the width of the quilt is 70+ inches. It will be a large piece when I finish it. (Notice I said WHEN and not IF!)

I am no longer adding the hexies to the piece in entire rows. (I WAS piecing an entire row of hexies together and then adding that long row to the big piece.) I have found it is easier for me to add around eight to ten hexies at a time. I have found there is less chance of making an error. I'm following the pattern I drew up almost like you would a cross stitch pattern. I also am no longer using silk thread. I LOVE how the silk thread was almost invisible, but I kept unintentionally unthreading my needle because the silk thread is so slippery. I am now using a 50-weight So Fine thread and/or a 60-weight Bottom Line thread (both made by Superior) in neutral colors. I like both of these--they, too, are almost invisible, and I have no trouble keeping my needle threaded. I'll continue to pass along what I'm learning as I'm making this piece. If there is any progress to show, I'm going to try to post every week.

Just for fun, I got an app that can be used to keep track of how much time I spend working on this piece. It allows me to clock in and clock out, and it calculates the accumulated time for me. I have been faithful about keeping accurate records for this piece since February 5th; and since that date, I have spent 58.54 hours on it!

 

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Spring Mill Winter Quilt Retreat

This past weekend was my guild's annual winter retreat held at the inn at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, IN. We were extremely lucky weather wise. We had really bad weather right before we left to get there and while we were there, but it cleared up nicely for us to get home.

Retreats are a nice break from routine. I get traditional work done that I don't really have time for at home. It is also a really nice chance to get to know some new people and renew friendships with old friends. Here are some photos of some of things people worked on during this retreat.

I finished this top.

Here are a few more pics. (They take forever for me to load to these blog posts, so at the end of this post, I'll give you a link to see all the pictures I had posted to our Patoka Valley Quilt Guild Facebook page.)

Becky Fuller brought this along to quilt. She does some MAJOR paper-pieced patterns!

Robin Walston made this sweet top.

Lora Nale finished this quilt. She LOVES to make quilts with thousands of small pieces.

Sandy Russell finished this quilt top. THIS WAS NOT A KIT; she picked out all these fabrics herself!

There are SO many more beautiful quilt tops, wall hangings, and table toppers to see. Be sure to check them out here--Patoka Valley Quilt Guild.

 

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Noooooooooo!

In January, I spoke to the Lake County Quilt Guild in Florida. My talk consisted of a trunk show and lecture about my journey from traditional quilting to art quilting. I thought I should show one full-sized, hand-quilted quilt. My best example is a quilt I made for my daughter's wedding. She brought it over to me; and since I knew it had been hung on a quilt rack for quilt some time, I decided to wash it. When I took it out of the dryer, this is what I found.

I couldn't figure out what it was, but it was VERY sticky. Now, you must keep in mind I had already washed AND DRIED this quilt. I called my daughter to see if she had any idea what the offending stain could be. She consulted with her husband and found out he had used duct tape--YES, I SAID DUCT TAPE--to stabilize the quilt on the quilt stand. In my son-in-law's defense (if there is one), he is from the "duct-tape-can-fix-anything" school.

Now my dilemma was how to get this nasty, very sticky stain out (if possible). I finally worked up enough courage to attack the stain. Here is what I tried.

• I started with my trusty Resolve Stain Stick. I use this for all my "regular" laundry stains. It didn't work.
  
• I tried a baking soda/water paste and worked it into the stains with a toothbrush. This approach did not touch the stains.
  
• I tried Kiss Off stain remover, which I had used before. It had worked VERY well on an art piece (that couldn't be washed). This stain remover didn't work.
  

At this point, I was getting pretty discouraged.

As a last resort, I decided to try Goo Gone. I read the directions on the back of the bottle, and it mentioned using Goo Gone on upholstery, carpeting, and clothing. (I have to admit, it was REALLY scary to put Goo Gone on my precious quilt.)

This is what happened.

As you can see, I used safety pins to mark the stains. IT WORKED; the stains were gone! I can't tell you how relieved I was. I must tell you, though, that getting these stains out with Goo Gone was not easy. I would say I spent a good 45 minutes scraping the adhesive from the surface of the fabric (after applying the Goo Gone) before putting the quilt back into the washer. The stains still smell a bit like the Goo Gone, but I think the smell will lessen as time wears on.

With instructions to use NO MORE DUCT TAPE on the quilt, I gave it back to my daughter. Hopefully, the quilt will survive many more years.

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