More from Blue Ridge Quiltfest

We were a small group--made smaller because of some last minute cancellations--but that didn't stop us. We had workshops. We shopped. We won door prizes, lotto blocks and Lou won the featherweight.



Becky Davis' handpiecers were focused and after class, they continued to work on their blocks all weekend.



Janet's Carolina Byways class was fun. I think everyone had a different vision for their quilt. Krista made a mini; Ellena brought wonderful Civil War repros; Lou had wonderful fabrics, too ... I brought pieces from my scrap bin. Krista finished her mini quilt the next day. I brought home a pile of light half-blocks and dark strips ... but I have since made some progress. I'm auditioning border fabrics now. You can tell that the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains made an impression on me.



Friday night we had Show & Tell in the Living Room.



Click the photo of Dorothy and Becky (with the vintage quilt top that Dorothy is finishing) to see the rest of my Show & Tell photos.

On Saturday, a bunch of our crowd headed to the galleries and quilt shops in Asheville, while three us spent the day with Meg Manderson making miniature landscapes.



Meg is a local fiber artist who creates beautiful landscapes (and other interesting work.)



Saturday night, we gathered for more door prizes and the block lotto drawing. I still can't believe I won.



Afterward, Krista pulled out her big box of fabric and made a few baby quilts from some I-spy swap fabrics.



The first top went together quickly and after a bit of excitement with a shattered needle and some EMTs, a second top was completed.



By the end of the evening, two quilts were "birthed," and ready to be quilted and a third top was almost completed.



On Sunday, some of us were on the road early, some spent a leisurely morning at the country club, packing up, checking email and saying goodbye.

I was a little worried when my suitcase seemed quite full when I'd only packed the fabric. Everything fit ... just barely.



Janet and Dorothy and I headed into Asheville to check out a possible venue for next year and lunch before I headed to the airport and home. On the way to the airport, I picked up a new pair of travel scissor so I could work on my landscape.



The longer my flight from Cincinnati was delayed, the happier I was to have handwork to do.

Blue Ridge Quiltfest

I came, I saw ... I won the lotto blocks ;-)

It was a great get away for me. Janet and Donna picked me up at the Asheville airport and after minimal shuffling--to put the wonderful fudge which all the participants received in a cool place and to pick up Dorothy along the way--we headed to the legendary Mary Jo's Cloth Store about two hours away in Gastonia. Krista and Colene had left Virginia earlier that day and with no planning at all, we all arrived at Mary Jo's within 5 minutes of one another. How's that for synchronicity?



Everything you have heard is true--they seem to have every fabric in every line and it's all irresistably priced. I went looking for Asian prints to make Oriental Lantern blocks for Kate's swap and found an entire aisle of them.

Later that night we travelled back to Asheville for greek food and then on to the country club to check in and unpack.


Most of us stayed in the main building, but four forum members opted to share the villa. I never actually saw them rocking and stitching in those rocking chairs, but I like to imagine them there. For the weekend, quilters happily co-existed with quilters ... though on at least one day, some of us were awakened by the sounds of these two guys chatting beneath our balconies.



I thought it would be fun to pack up with golf cart with sewing machines, fabrics, quilting supplies and quilts, but ... we just ran out of time.



Inside, the place had the feel of a comfy lodge. The living room was one of the public spaces--we held show & tell there Friday night and and after Becky's handpiecing class Friday morning, many of the students hung out and continued to work on their sampler blocks.



One floor up there was another space, which turned out to be a great place to sew together in the evenings. Dorothy brought a quilt stand, so we even had our own design wall.



Yep, those blue & white stars are some of the lotto blocks that *I* won. It was so unexpected and will make a beautiful quilt filled with memories for me. The design wall also came in handy when Janet brought out the blocks forum members made to celebrate her first anniversary as the quilting guide on about.com.



Of course the best part of the weekend was putting faces and personalities with names from the forum.



Mark your calendar for next year:
Blue Ridge Quiltfest - March 7-8, 2008 in Asheville.

Blue Stars for the Blue Ridge Quiltfest

I have no one to blame but myself for this one ... I suggested a block lotto for Quilting Forum members at the Blue Ridge Quiltfest. We are making blue & white star blocks. Here are mine:



Maybe it's the locale, but I seem a little stuck in blue land . . . The florals I am taking for Janet's Carolina Byways quilt workshop are predominately blue and I found this Blue Ridge Mountain photo to use as inspiration for the landscape workshop on Saturday:



I think a blue-gray gradation I dyed last summer is going to be perfect for this project.

(Tedious) Work in Progress

A few years ago, I sorted through all my stash and started storing things by color ... which made it so much easier to use (and also to see which colors I always buy and which colors I never buy). For a while, I've wanted to sort my scrap bin and I've finally made a start. Already I know this is going to be so much more usable ... but the sorting is tedious!



On the not-so-tedious front, I'm about to attach the label for the Quilt Studio charity quilts--thanks, Jeri, for getting the embroidered labels to me so quickly. I should be able to send this quilt on it's way this weekend.



Check out the pretty flannel fabrics Deb used for the backing ... and her wonderful, whimsical quilting.

Objects, Finished, Unfinished and Almost Finished

Yesterday, a box from Deb G. arrived ... containing the first of three quilts I am binding for the Quilt Studio Ring's 40 Quilt Service Project. All it needs is a binding and a label and I'll be sending it on to Amy to take to The Children's Inn in Bethesda Maryland. It's a charming quilt and the quilting is fantastic.



Here's the WIP QOV I mentioned earlier today. Several of us in my small group brought them home to finish.



And here's a--can you believe it--finished object: the Wacky Westerner's silent auction quilt. All the blocks were made before I joined the group, so I volunteered to do the binding. There are also a couple of detail shots of the cowboy's face and Coreen's quilting in my flicker album, here and here.

Birthday Blocks

My small group is exchanging birthday blocks (of the birthday girl's choice) this year. Here are my blocks for January, February, March.



The basket block was Danita's choice. Carmella took a chance and let us make blocks of our choice (in colors of our choice) that were either appliquéd or pieced (based on drawing slips of paper). Nancy asked for batik stars on white-on-white backgrounds.

I didn't get to see the other basket blocks, but I got a peek at Carmella's set on Monday, at the sew-in at her house.



Quite an interesting set of blocks, isn't it?

Quilting Bee & Tractor Pull

On the President's day holiday, my small group met at Carmella's lovely house to continue our work on Quilts of Valor.



I didn't get many photos--I was too busy sewing. Click any of these for the larger versions.

We finished two more tops and ended the day with several more WIPs--one came home with me ... and will be one of the things I share in my belated WIP Wednesday post soon.



We also finished up our quilt for the Guild's silent auction and the raffle quilt for the American Cancer society.

It was a perfect, beautiful, sunny winter day. We enjoyed a great potluck lunch. Around four o'clock, we packed up and were ready to head out ...

Then the excitement began. While backing down the driveway, Nancy's car went off the long driveway and into a snow-filled ditch. Only Alicia had left before her; the rest of us were around and tried to help ... without success.



After trying and failing the usual approaches of putting something under the wheels, rocking the car, digging out some of the snow under the car ... it was Carmella's son to the rescue.



Boy and dog really seemed to be enjoying this more than the rest of us ...

I missed the beauty shot, because when all the wheels were spinning and going no where and it wasn't looking promising ... I slipped inside to see Carmen's Birthday Blocks, laid out on the living room floor. When I came out, Nancy's car was out of the ditch and chains were being removed.



And there were smiles all around.

The Animal in You

Everyone in blogland is having fun with the Myers Briggs personality test and comparing themselves to the most amazing people. For a different perspective on personality, check out The Animal in You.


My results said I could be a giraffe or an elephant. In my youth, I probably was the giraffe--coincidentally, I used to collect them--but now, the somewhat underwhelming ... plain gray elephant seems a better fit.

Since first taking the Myers Briggs test a couple decades ago, I have seen the results for a couple characteristics shift over time. I attribute those changes to life experience. I wonder if others see those small changes in me (or in themselves) over time.

Playing With Dyes Again

As I explained to a frustrated fiber artist at the dye workshop on Saturday morning, the results of my first ever trip to Days to Dye For at Alice Brinkman's studio were so spectacularly disappointing that now I come with low expectations. It allows me to play (and often fail) as I learn and experiment with new processes and chemistry. Here are the results of my most recent efforts.

Saturday we focused on pole wrapped shibori methods. I brought back the once purple scarf that I'd discharged last fall with the intention to overdye it--I expected the navy dye to be darker, but I think it's moving in the right direction.

I also overdyed a hand-dyed yellow fat quarter--I think this is going to make great tropical leaves.



I'd recently seen some fabulous shibori socks on Flickr and had to try some of my own. I went on a last minute hunt for white 100% cotton socks on Friday night ... and came to the studio with low expectations. I think these need more color, but have possibilities.



I think everyone in the studio on Saturday wished we'd had more time to wrap and dye and add more complexity to some of our pieces ... I came home thinking I needed to make my tiny space workable as a micro dye studio and work in a less distracting environment. I also decided I needed Karren K Brito's book on Shibori. I often love my accidental results and really should figure out how to reproduce them ...

A Journey of 10,000 Steps Begins With ...

... a new pedometer.

Last summer when I started walking after work with a friend, I picked up a pedometer and managed to lose it within 10 minutes of clipping it on for the first time. I found it later, in the driveway ... AFTER I had run over it with my car. Bye, bye pedometer.

Knowing that MOVING more is always a good response to a funk, I picked up a new one yesterday, with what looks like a sturdier clip. Only time will tell ...

Yesterday, on my way out the door to work, I clipped it on, curious to see how much walking is part of my normal day. As you can see in my sidebar, it's a little over 6000 steps. Maybe getting to 10,000 won't be as tedious as I feared ... tedious because taking a walk during a snowy, frigid Michigan winter can only mean one of two things: treadmill or mall walk, neither of which hold great appeal to me.