September Quilt Camp - Last Entry

If you weren't sure what a quilt camp is when I started this series of entries, I'll bet that by now you're saying, "Oh, she's talking about a retreat for quilters", and you are correct.  Three days from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 midnight (give or take a few hours depending on personal endurance levels) spent sewing, chatting, shopping, and eating and pretty much in that order with no interruptions for laundry, food preparation, runs to the pharmacy or dry cleaners, no calls from family members in need of services or comfort, and no taking out the trash is absolute bliss.  So for me, taking a week to revisit my friends through their quilting projects is a pleasure.  Today I will include the rest of my photographs and thank all the quilters who cheerfully allowed me to invade their peaceful space last weekend.  You are all good sports as well as great quilters.   

This scrappy quilt was made by P (this is the first one of hers I've shown this week - there were several P's!).  Initially she put up only one block - a teaser for all of us as it was splendid.  The pop of colors in that single block kept us entranced all weekend.  She told us that it was her turn for a quilt, and so she decided to make a red, white, and blue quilt in honor of Flag Day (June 14th) which happens to be her birthday.  She also didn't want it to be overly "flaggy" or what I would call "blowzy patriotic". Choosing to use a red, white, and blue jelly roll as well as a scrappy pattern were super choices to my mind.  Both result in bits of fabric that maintain the color choice but diminish the amount of symbolism to a graceful whisper.  I'd love to hang this one up in my home in June as I have been looking for a restrained patriotic quilt for some time.  Love this one, P!

And L of "dupioni skill" does it again.  This is one that looks far more difficult than it is.  What counts here is the workmanship that makes it look far more complicated, the fabric choices that enhance the design, the choice of gold iron-on bias tape, and the ability to stitch it all so it looks as though it took four times as long as it did.  I like the architectural nature of this piece, and it's another book I'll have to look for.

This is another one by Laura and she experienced some frustration in her first hours of working at it.  This is a case of teaching by example.  Laura had this wall hanging almost completely stitched (or possibly she had it finished, I'm not sure) when she took a step back to look at her work.  When she did, she decided she really didn't like the way it looked, took it down, un-sewed the whole thing, rearranged it, and then sewed it all over again.  What I mean by saying "teaching by example" is that she showed everyone that quilting is worth the time it takes to get it right.  If she hadn't done that, she'd never be able to look at this quilt again and now she has a knock-out piece.  I have never seen this fabric line before, and I would do almost anything to get my hands on some or all of it.  How could I have missed it?  This is a keeper, Laura!

Here is a pinwheel block made by ME over the weekend.  Let me assure you that it is not the only thing she did!  She spent the entire weekend working on this wedding gift for a niece.  As it is to be a queen sized quilt that will travel with ME to the Southwest in November, she was determined to get it finished.  After making almost all of the blocks, she had to decide on the setting.  Her first choice was to set the blocks so they formed stars . . . too complicated, too much margin for error.  Then she thought she'd just use the tried and true and drop the idea of special shapes.  And finally, she chose the pinwheel setting.  It was probably easier and faster than the stars, but it wasn't a walk in the park, either!  Any which way you look at it, it's a beauty!

Then there's mine.  I started quilting in 2006-2007 which is when this Block of the Month was introduced.  Called "Women's Voices" it was based on the history of women on the Home Front during the Civil War.  When I saw this quilt hanging in a quilt shop, I fell in love with the story behind the quilt and signed up for it.  I had no idea what a BOM was.  I had no clue how to sew these blocks together.  But I bought all of the blocks and carefully put them away.  In the sorting-through-"stuff" that I had to do as a result of the construction, I came across this BOM which, wonder-of-wonders, was all together.  All those plastic envelopes were present and accounted for.  Since most of my sewing and painting materials are scattered and/or packed until A.C. (After Construction) and since Quilt Camp was coming, I decided to cut the blocks out and make this my QltCmp project.  I determined I would make two of almost every block: one with the fabrics that came with the BOM, and one with fabrics of my own choosing.  Well, as you can see, I decided to make four of the flag block (I've also cut out four of the Schoolhouse block).  So I'm already making a bigger quilt than intended.  What a surprise!  Since I already have a sampler quilt in my Farmer's Wife quilt, I may use this one in whatever size it decides to be as a donation quilt.  

The rest of my time I spent either re-cutting errors made with the above (it's amazing how distracting construction can be!) or sewing blocks for another project.

If any of you have comments about the works you have seen here, please leave a comment for us to share.  If you were at Quilt Camp, and I missed your work this time, I'm sorry.  Please catch my attention next time we're in a similar situation.  

Until then, happy stitching to all of you!