A Fun Weekend Workshop

I've spent a fun 2 days with the Santa Rosa Quilters Guild teaching a Pineapple Nine Patch class.  This was a super talented group of quilters and they did a great job learning a new technique and using new tools.

 As with all groups there was lots of chatting and laughing along with sewing.

 They helped each other press blocks and sometimes to un-sew.

 They shared fabrics and ideas.

 They made some wonderful food and we ate very well for 2 days.

 They cut and cut and cut and really achieved a lot.

 They encouraged each other and oohed and aahed over each others progress.

 They went home Friday night and raided their stashed to bring back more fabric on Saturday.

 At the end we put up all the blocks and created a beautiful collage.

I think they were all inspired to see what beauty was hiding in their efforts and they got a glimpse of the finished quilt.  I hope to be able to share pictures soon of finished quilts so keep sewing!!
Happy Stitching,
Karen

From Student to Teacher

Last Saturday I had the privilege to spend the day with some of the members of the Covington County Quilters Guild up in Andalusia, AL.  We spent the day in a workshop learning the pickle dish block.

And I'm sad to say I do not have a single picture from our day to share!! (These are from my workshop a few months ago.)

My students got to choose between making either Organic Pink Pickles or Purple Pickles.  There was a lot of purple, cheddar, pink, brown, batiks and B&W going on.  They all finished at least one block and I hope I made some PP pickle dish fanatics. 

 Today I'm putting what I preached into practice.  This is actually a hand drawn pattern.  It seems to be adequate since I'm only doing one arc.

I'm making this arc for a current project.

This is my second try.  The one on top just completely disappeared into the background.  After finishing it and appliquing it to the background I could tell it was not working.  So I decided to use the actual background fabrics instead of the yellow. I think I'll be much happier.  It's a good thing these don't take long. 

And speaking of being the student, my project from Jane Sassaman's class is still living on my design wall.  Jane said the yellow didn't go, so I took it out and now I'm stuck here.  I'll be making a few more rays and putting them in the upper corner.  This may take me a while.

I will share some student work when I get pictures ☺️. 

Happy stitching today,

Karen 

So Much to Learn

Thanks for all the encouragement about taking Jane's class.  Let me just say she is amazing and I am a very newbie Art Quilter.  Pretty much the whole day I struggled and felt very out of it.  While I do like to work organically and let my quilts grow as they speak to me, making an art quilt is something else entirely.

This is my class project.  This is a work in progress. I can guarantee you that it will look different and hopefully better than this when its done.  I'm really counting on that as it looks sort of pitiful to me at this point. I didn't bring enough fabrics to play with these colors so it's definitely lacking something LOL!!

Jane's work is is inspiring.

Even the backs are beautiful.

She is a wonderful teacher and I had a great day.  A lot of my class projects never get done, but I promise to finish this one.  

Happy stitching.

Karen

Preparing for a Workshop

Next week I will be taking a workshop with Jane Sassaman!!  I'm really excited but I never know what to take.  I think it's the hardest part of taking a workshop. 

This is the one I'm taking called Suns and Moons.  I'm hoping to have fun, learn a lot and get better at circles.  

I found this piece of her dot fabric on vacation last summer at the quilt shop in Waynesville, NC.  The bundle of RK solids is part of what I won as grand prize winner for Organic Pink Pickles.  Obviously I haven't known what to do with it as it's still intact.  I think it's time to cut some up ☺️

The directions say to bring dots, batiks and solids.  This is about as much as I can gather.  I need a few more supplies to round up and then I think I'm ready. 

Hoping for a great time and getting to know Jane.  I'll let you know how it turns out. 

Happy Saturday stitching,

Karen 

A Fun Weekend in Dothan, AL

I have been so remiss to not post pictures about my fun trip back to Dothan, AL and the wonderful girls of the Evening Star Quilt Guild.  Dothan was where I went last October when I judged their Quilt Show.   This time I was asked to present a lecture on Friday night at their regular meeting and then do an all day workshop on Saturday.  They picked Momoe's Star as their workshop (the same workshop I did last Spring in Morgan City, LA).

This is the most wonderful technique and I enjoy sharing it with new groups of people. 

It's interesting to me to watch each person find their own way and tweak the technique. 

I present it exactly the way it was written in 1986, and then we talk about how to apply 21st century tools and techniques and make it modern.  All over the room I would hear "What would happen if I did ......".  And off they would go trying something new.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with not changing a thing and staying true to the original ways.

These gals are just getting started setting out lunch, which was delicious, by the way :).

This sweet lady (getting another cup of coffee) is Bonnie, my wonderful "hostess extraordinaire".  She has a beautiful home, a very sweet husband and we enjoyed a lovely cup of coffee on her back porch early Saturday morning.  Thanks Bonnie for making me feel so welcome.

I loved seeing the fabrics each person brought.

Don't they look so serious??  Such concentration!

The lighting was wonderful, this was a great room for all 22 of us.

Thank you Evening Star Quilt Guild - I so appreciate the invitation to come back and I hope to see some finished projects soon!!

-Karen



Workshop Update

I spent the last 2 days in Gulf Shores, AL leading a workshop on my variation of the Pineapple Nine Patch Quilt.  I was invited by the Island Quilt Guild.  What a fun time we had.

 



  I'm pretty sure I got pictures of everybody - all at various stages of progess.

  In addition to the resident members of the guild, the "snow birds" had arrived!!  There were people from all over - Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Canada, Kentucky and probably some places I've forgotten.  There was even a permanent RVer in the group.

  They all look pretty happy :).

  And they look very serious about their sewing.

  Some worked in pairs,

  some worked alone.

  The variety of fabrics was so inspiring.  I affectionately called the one on the right the "Salsa" quilt - it was hot and spicy!

  There was lots of visiting around to check and see how everyone else was doing.

  These 3 really had their things spread out!

  These 4 from my home guild in Pensacola were little busy beavers - getting some progress made along with all the fellowship.

  These bright Kaffe blocks were really looking good.

  As Saturday afternoon wound down and people started leaving, I found these 3 willing to show their blocks. 

 

Thanks for inviting me - I had a ball.  And I hope to be able to share lots of these quilts in the near future.  Keep sewing!

Karen







Saturday Projects

We had a beautiful day to work on separate projects.  DH is coming along on his workshop project.  He has now decided to fix up the little shed for his lawn mower, etc.

I think it's going to look so cute :)! He's elevated it some (to prevent termites) and is replacing siding.  He may need to do a new floor and then shingles. So we will have two :).

I sometimes don't know how this happens! I pin so carefully and then when I put it up..... I had 4 blocks going in the wrong direction!!! But it's fixed now and I'm ready to add borders.   We had a dinner party for 13 last night, so I spent the day cleaning, shopping and cooking and didn't get a whole lot done.   Hope you all are having a wonderful day.

Karen

A New Project (not for me)

A week ago our backyard looked like this.  My DH had spent several days transplanting the grass from this 12 x 24 ft space.  He claimed his new bionic knee worked great!!

He has been talking about this new workshop for several years now.  We finally decided it was time.

He found a local company that would come and build it on site.  It's very difficult to get to our backyard so we couldn't have something delivered that was already assembled.

Within hours the floor, the walls and the siding were up.

This husband and wife team built this all by themselves.

By lunchtime of the second day, it looked like this.

They finished putting on shingles, windows and doors and by lunchtime of the third day they were finished.

It makes our old shed look like a doll house!

There is a 4 ft. loft on each end.  My DH is in the process of putting in insulation.

It will have electricity and A/C.

He's a happy camper and will have lots of projects to keep him busy for a looooong time :).

Until next time,

Karen