It's Been a Crazy Few Weeks

I'm finally coming up for air........ after moving and then teaching at my first retreat last weekend.  

Here are a few photo's from last Friday....packing up and ready to go. Do you see that lovely quilt bag on top of my pile?  

Julia Oakshott surprised me with the loveliest bag to help me transport some of my quilts to the retreat. Thank you so much, Julia....it makes me smile every time I look at it 

 Here's a close up

Later that day, setting up for the trunk show is right around the time my knees started shaking a little....okay a lot!!

The ladies were welcoming and gracious. Once I got started....I believe I made sense (here's hoping).  

This is the lovely cabin I stayed at for the weekend....thank you so much Cathie. 

 My spectacular  morning view before starting the workshop

Such beautiful surroundings 

Here are a few hardy quilters spray basting one of their projects.

I had an amazing time, with the women, at the Seba Beach Retreat. Before I share anymore photos, of their work, I need to take the time to get their names matched up to the photos. Their work was so fabulous, especially since sewing curves and improvisational quilting was new to the majority of the women in the group.

I returned home to major unpacking and some basement renovations will be starting next week.....yikes, the craziness isn't over yet.

With a little Help from my Friends

Okay.....with a lot of help from my friends!! My quilting buddies are the best!!  As I wait here for the new dishwasher to arrive, I thought I would catch up with you. 

As you can see we have been very busy around here.

This closet used to be loaded with fabric.....not anymore.

Now that just looks wrong....my long arm sitting there on the floor. My poor husband drew blood wrestling that frame out the door.

I still feel like I'm running around in circles but having my friends support me means everything!!

It's Official...I'm in Panic Mode

Within a week of listing the house, there is a deal pending.....so yes, my state of panic is now official. Meanwhile the house is still being shown just in case the deal goes south. And of course, the potential buyers want possession by October 21 (two days after my workshop)....and yes, there is still some prep to be done in that department. 

Insomnia has also set in...it sort of goes hand in hand with panic (it's after 2:30 am). So instead of tossing and turning, I thought I would catch up with you.

See how useful fat quarters can be for packing dishes!!

 Balls of yarn work equally as well. 

As you can see from the blue counter-tops, there will be some kitchen renovations in the near future, which just might cause more panic to ensue.  

But will you look at the lovely views I will have from the condo!!

 

 

All in all it's been a very busy week, so far. But the highlight of my day came, when my three and a half year old granddaughter, Paige, told me, I was her special Grandma.....just what I needed to hear, puts it all in perspective.

Help!!!

WE ARE MOVING......three words destined to strike fear in the heart of any obsessed serious fabric hoarder collector!!!  

As as usual, my ability to focus has vanished and I find my self either running in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off or being totally immobilized in typical deer in the headlights fashion. Or worse yet, I'm procrastinating even making myself what will most certainly be a very long to do list, by window shopping for things I might but don't really need for the move.

Also, out of the blue, my design wall fell down.....hmm, it must be a sign that it's time to move. Maybe I need to switch to a heavier duty command strip to hold them up. As much as I love command strips....this is my first mishap, I don't recommend hanging anything breakable with them, such as mirrors or framed pictures with glass.  Just sayin'....

So here we go....time to pack up hundreds of meters of fabric and other quilting paraphernalia....sigh

It's times like these, that the words "I'll take the whole bolt" turn around and bite you in the....well, you know where. And that's not even thinking about moving the long arm!!! 

 

 

 

Plus the house has to look good for potential buyers.....oh dear. 

But before you feel too sorry for me (you do feel sorry for me, don't you??), the condo we are moving to has a walkout basement with a lovely view. And yes, I snagged it for my sewing studio. Plus...yes, there is another plus, there is loads of storage space!!!!! 

Between prepping for my upcoming retreat and moving I might just be wee tad bit busy. I'll keep you posted.

Oh Elmer,Elmer....sigh

With my husband off sailing for a week, I've been all on my lonesome......and LOVING IT!!! So what have I been up to?? Good question....how's that for being evasive?? Well, you know the usual...keeping strange hours, reading novels, navel gazing....and quilting, of course. 

And, I have a new man in my life, well sort of.....

Elmer, Elmer Elmer......you must be ancient and yet I adore you, for inventing the best glue ever. I wonder when that was exactly, I can never remember there NOT being any Elmer's white glue. I so underestimated your value and took you so for granted....well, that's about to change.
 

It's not that I hadn't heard of quilters using Elmer's Washable School Glue for gluing down bindings and such....I'm ashamed to say, I dismissed the idea out of hand. Sorry Elmer.....I WAS SO WRONG!! (Trust me those words do not come out of my mouth all that often, just ask my husband.)

 

Any of you that pop in now and again, know that I use the Quilt As You Go methods on a regular basis. Joining the long rows or columns of blocks can be a little really painful. I mean that literally, as there are several pins involved, which have a way of poking you, as you wedge the whole thing under the machine. Suddenly a light went on....if you can allegedly (at that point I had never tried it) glue down binding, why not the joining strips??

  

Joining QAYG columns with wide strips...check out the tutorial here.

I was a little nervous as put a line of glue in the seam allowance, since I didn't have the fine tip for the glue bottle that some tutorials mention....I will have to get me one of those.

 

But it went on without a hitch!!

Heat set with a dry iron. 

Would you look at that beautifully flat, glued down edge!! 

Here's a close up!! 

 

There is a tremendous advantage to not having to contend with pins as you sew down these edges. You just have so much more control.

 

Also...and this is huge, you no longer have pins poking you and catching on your clothing as you sew down these long edges....if you've never done QAYG, you will just have trust me on this.

I got so carried away, I finished Autumn's quilt (Pattern: Think Big by Jacquie Gering).

 

I even used glue on the bindings....I'll leave that for another post.

I love how this quilt turned out.

 

 

Here's a shot of the back.

So thanks, Elmer....you've made my quilting life a little easier and a little lot more pain free!!

 

How Rude!!

Look what I found pinned to my design wall!!!! 

What could this possibly have to do with me???? Hmmm....

Speaking of things pinned to the design wall....Ripple Effect II has been accepted into the Modern Quilt Challenge!!! Yippee!!!!!!

Now, to make a hanging sleeve and ship it off.

 

Meanwhile, I'm still working on Autumn's Quilt.

Also, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to answer my questionnaire on quilting classes....you have no idea how helpful I'm finding this. I'm letting the info simmer and will be back with a follow up post in the near future.

Thanks again...you are the best!! 

Let's Talk Quilting Classes, Workshops.....etc.

So how does a girl who rarely takes classes...has never been on a quilting retreat, actually teach??
 
Yup, that pretty much sums up the situation. 

 

Let the teaching prep begin....and yes, I thought I would begin, by talking to you. Many of you have taken several classes, been to numerous workshops and retreats etc. So, who better to ask than you. 

 

I've come up with a few questions.....and would be ever so grateful for your answers and any other comments or suggestions you might come up with. 

1. What is your greatest annoyance? (May as well address the negatives right up front.)
2. Do you prefer a looser, more concept based class or a more structured pattern based class?
3. Do you want to be able to leave with a smaller finished project or are you quite happy to finish a larger project on your own later?
4. Do you like room for discussion and interaction between fellow quilters?
5. Do you prefer a group project or an individual project? Or perhaps both?
6. Are handouts important to you?
7. Are you wanting to hear about the instructor's personal quilting journey or would you rather they just stick to the technique at hand? Or perhaps you want both?
8. Are you looking for inspiration or just technique or again perhaps both.
9. What has been, in your experience, the most helpful or inspirational time when taking a quilting class?

 I'm more of an improvisational, concept type quilter but I'm also a bit of a technique junkie....driven by the desire to find the easiest and simplest way to do anything (that's my lazy gene kicking in). My desire in teaching is to share my quilting journey, inspire creativity in others and show you techniques to make the quilts you dream a reality.

 

Hopefully, I can teach the way I blog....your wonderfully, positive, encouragement every time I write a tutorial or design a new quilt means more than you can imagine. Thank you for that, so yes...I'm all about interaction as well.

 

Marianne

 P.S......and, yes there must be crazy laughter!!!!

NOTE: This is a "Let's Talk" post and in order to promote discussion I will be responding directly on the blog rather than with individual email as I usually do.