I’m working on a simple (large) Mendocino patchwork quilt. The top is actually completed, all 95×95 inches of it, but I have yet to take a picture of it. I think sometimes a pretty picture is all a post needs :)
But only because it was SO cute, and I didn’t have time to order one for their 50th wedding anniversary party last weekend?
My Aunt Barbara and Uncle John celebrated 50 (!!!!) years together! Nowadays it seems as though there should be as much hoopla for just getting to 5 months.
It’s not plagiarism if you cite your source, right? Well, here’s where this adorably brilliant idea came from. Maybe Melissa won’t be too mad since I give her credit AND she has a little tutorial on her blog of how to make her little pink house, AND since we have the same first name?
This was my very first felt project, and with the help of Darcy, it came together remarkably easy. I just wish I hadn’t done the names at 4am after a glass (or two) of wine :)
What started out as a a block intended to end up as queen sized quilt, has turned into a mini quilt. Its unexpected transformation was for two main reasons -
1.) I needed a mini quilt for the ATMQG‘s mini quilt display, and
2.) I didn’t think I’d ever want to make another one of these again, since this block took so long to complete :)
I decided that since my current love is hand quilting, I would embellish the mini quilt with lots of hand stitches, and really love the way it turned out! This, and many others, will be on display at Whipstitch Fabrics for the sewing world to see :)
The back is a simple Amy Butler pink, and the binding is Kona brown. I thought the front design and fabric were busy enough to warrant a simple back and binding.
Denyse, Heather, and Leisl (photo taken by Rachel)
In my last post I made a brief mention about how I was able to obtain a signed book for my swap partner, Lisa, and that I would elaborate on it in my next post. Months ago I saw someone’s post on flickr about going to a weekend sewing workshop with Heather Ross. I immediately looked this up, and emailed Heather, who got right back to me, with the great news that there were still spots available!! (I literally squealed.) Hubby, being as amazing as he is, totally supported me going, and with that my spot was secured!
As we get closer to the date, Heather emails us all fairly regularly to check in, and then just casually mentions that Denyse Schmidt will be attending too. Oh yea, and Leisl Gibson will be there too. OMG. OMG. OMG. Seriously? Then I see in our list of email recipients that the beautiful Rae will be attending. THEN, as if it can’t get any better, Ashley shows up. SERIOUSLY?!
Photo of entire group, taken with Rae’s camera
I was supposed to share a ride from the airport with Rachel, but her flight was delayed due to mechanical issues so I hopped in the car with Emily and Rae. It was a fun car ride to the inn, we just chatted and enjoyed the scenery, and even stopped at a couple places to take pictures. When we arrived at the inn, Heather, Denyse, and Leisl were having wine and cheese with everyone that had already arrived. We were one of the last few to arrive. We were showed to our rooms and then we all sat down to an amazing dinner! Fresh made pesto on fresh pasta was just the first course! *swoon*
After dinner we headed over to the sewing lab where we picked our tables and machines. Rae and I ended up sharing a table, and what a fun table it was! She was a great table-mate! Most of us stayed up til midnight sewing. We were told that breakfast would be at 8:30, so I didn’t want to stay up too late, especially after a long day of travel.
The grounds were stunning! The inn we stayed at was built almost 200 years ago, and was so sweet and quaint! Seeing it in the morning light made it all the more magnificent. After breakfast we headed to the sewing lab, where we busily sewed until lunch. We had yummy sandwiches by the lake and watched the inn’s dog play in the water. After lunch, we headed back to our sewing projects, with the plan of doing our “own thing” for a while in the afternoon. I had woken up with a headache that progressed to migraine over the course of the morning, and so I took a much needed 3 hour nap during our free time. I think it was the combination of travel, dehydration, and sleep deprivation that did me in. I woke up feeling refreshed, and found everyone out by the teepee with yet more wine and cheese! While I was napping, the rest of the crew entertained themselves with either more sewing, or a guided walk around the grounds, or a visit to the local magistrate’s vintage clothing and costume collection.
I’m sure you’re wondering what projects we worked on with these amazing women. We were told to just bring along whatever we wanted – just to pack the patterns and fabric that we wanted to work with. I of course waited til the night before to pack and figure out what I was going to work on. I had a TON of stuff that I was going to bring. Then I had a brief moment of sanity where I realized I would only have like 12 hours of actual sewing time, and there was no way I was going to change reality and get 20 sewing projects done in that time. I decided it would be a good time to try my hand at repurposing, and brought twi garments if mine that I thought would make cute girls clothes. I also thought it would be smart to just bring a little extra fabric in case something struck me that I wanted to make. In the end, I ended up making two dresses for my niece (almost finished with the second one), and a Mendocino sun dress (with the help of Heather) for Darcy’s daughter’s first birthday. I’ll post pictures of all the dresses soon!
Rae took this photo – this is the very tree on the cover of Heather’s book, Weekend Sewing!
Rachel’s amazing photo, showing back of Inn and lake.
The weekend was over in a flash. Before I knew it, we were heading back to the Burlington airport, already missing my new friends. I can only hope that Heather will put this on again next year – I will sign up in an instant! If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it! It was the perfect setting of great company, great sewing, and great wine, all set on a great landscape.
Flickr is an amazing resource for sewing enthusiasts. Up until October I thought it was just where folks stored photos. Little did I know the COMMUNITY that takes place there – tons of inspiration, conversation, and lots of action :) There are always new quilting bees starting up, and there are always new swaps taking place.
I was just part of a new swap, called Modern Swappers. This was so much fun! A lot of swaps have the format of being “blind” in that I know who I am creating a package for, but have no idea who is creating one for me; and that information is kept top-secret until you receive your package in the mail! Fortunately, though, we get plenty of “teaser” photos to drool over, and that makes it all the more exciting!
My partner, this round, was Lisa, and the information that she provided was that she had a pink and yellow sewing room, and that she would love anything handmade! This swap was to include modern fabric (at least 1.5 yards), a handmade item, and something useful (either for sewing room, or in general). I made for her a sewing machine cover, a coordinating pincushion, gave her lots of yummy fabric (she loves polka dots!) and the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross (but it was signed by Heather Ross, Leisl Gibson, Denyse Schmidt, and Ashley W.!!!!!!)
Lisa insisted that she loved everything – I hope she is able to make beautiful things out of the fabric, and gets tons of use out of the sewing room goodies, and enjoys the book for years to come!
More about how these signatures came about in the next post :)
Such exciting news!
Dolls made by Darcy!
My dear friend Darcy and I are launching a Modern Sewing Guild in Atlanta!
Our first meeting is going to be Saturday, October 9th @ 10am at Whipstitch Fabrics downtown near Tech and Ikea.
The owner, Deborah, has been instrumental in helping us get started. For now, our hope is that we will have a theme each month; something along the lines of: apron month, bag month, applique month, felt month, etc, where we can explore the broad and diverse avenues of sewing, as well as do quite a bit of show-n-tell :) Who doesn’t like lots of that?!
Anyone with an interest in modern sewing is welcome to come see what we’re about, and help us to create an amazing group!
San Francisco.
The combination of the food, the weather, more food, friends and family, great shops, did I mention weather?
My husbands company is headquartered there. He’s often traveling there for training, meetings, etc, and whenever I can, I tag along. Here’s our view from the front entrance (gasp!)
Usually we stay at your run-of-the-mill hotels near his office, but once in a while, we’ll arrive early, or stay longer, and venture into the city. This most recent time we stayed at the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental. It was wonderful! Here’s the (blurry) view from the very top of the hotel (“the Top of the Mark”) where Hubby and I enjoyed some coffee and Creme Brulee.
This most recent stay was so much fun, thanks to my new friend Jennifer! She and I spent two whole days driving around the Bay Area, fabric hunting! I think its safe to say that we both liked Peapod Fabrics the best, and I can’t wait to go back!
Once place that we’ve stayed a few times and really enjoy is the Inn 1890. Located in the Upper Haight district, its a very eclectic mix of stores and people. Hubby is thoroughly entertained there because of the Haight-Ashbury Music Center, and we both really enjoy Cha Cha Cha’s sangria and tapas!
**update – Inn 1890 has closed :( The sweet owners have decided to sell – hopefully someone will take on the challenge of re-opening!
Aahhh…. Pincushies. Whenever I come across one I feel the strong urge to squeeze the living daylights out of it. That sounds a little violent, doesn’t it? It’s only violent if there are pins that have managed to hide themselves from plain view.
I have a problem with, well, overcommitment. It’s just that all of these swaps sound like so. much. fun.!
One of these found their way to my partner, and the other was made for my mother-in-law as part of her birthday present. They were so fun (and quick!) to make – now I need to finally make one for myself :)
I decided to finally take a chance on a Dresden plate, which has a richly traditional feel to it. I used the “sew, mama, sew!” tutorial, which was incredibly easy to follow.
**sorry for the blurry pics – I was just starting to get the hang of my new camera phone, which is very cool as it can upload photos directly to flickr. Now just to master picture quality… :)
For the Modern Quilting Bee, May was Shea’s month, and she wanted us to help her make an alphabet quilt for her daughter so they can practice her letters. I loved this idea, and plan to do it one day myself :) I was assigned “F” and “S”. At first I was really nervous, but she gave us adequate graph paper, and with a lot of erasing, I found a plan that worked. I was pleased with how they turned out to be so consistent – I hope Shea likes them as well!
