3 Days Fly By

The May Mosaic Pet Retreat is over. It's truly amazing how fast 3 days fly by. Quilters who arrive as strangers leave as friends.

 

The subjects of the quilts were 2 dogs and one cat. It's amazing to see them come to life. What I find so fascinating is that each quilter lives something special about their pet, that makes their portrait so special. For one, it was the wisps of fur that extended from the cat's ear, another, it was the tilt of the dog's head and how the ears were attached to the dogs ear. To another it was the lipstick kiss put on the dog's head by her niece.

Here are some photos as the quilts progressed.

 

The start of Mittens, the cat.

We can see Mitten's ears.

 

Starting to piece the first section. The shrinkage using a 1/4" seam allowance is amazing.

Here's the start of Fannie Mae, a mastiff.

I just love how the head is cocked. It really shows her personality - the dog that is!

Starting with lots of background squares is a bonus when starting to lay out the squares. It's a great confidence booster. It all depends on the photo.

Mary brought these straight pins she had made. They were perfect for marking the rows. I use Post Its.

Thanks Mary, Caroline and Mary for trusting me to take you on this journey and letting me get to know you and your beloved pet.

I have lofty goals for all of my attendees. What do you think about an exhibit of our quilts? Maybe in 2018? That would give you more than a year to finish. So if you have come to one of my retreats, you better get working, except of course for Cheryl K. She finished hers right away.

If you are interested,visit www.cheryllynchquilts.blogspot.com and click on the mosaic quilt of my dog, Bailey. There is one spot open in about 2 weeks, June 9-12th. The next one won't be until May of 2016, and there are only 2 spots left.

 

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Mini Mosaics Magic

It's quite an amazing day when there is a room full of 23 quilters that love my new technique for making mini mosaics. I'm always a little skeptical about the reception for a technique that uses tweezers and 3/8" squares of fabric.

But this was a group of my peeps! My fellow guild members. Even one who made a comment that I was crazy, a few months ago when I wrote about my Mini Mosaics on my blog. I knew they would be honest with me. So I was over the moon when the comments ranged from "it's addicting" to "this was the best workshop I've ever taken" to " this would be so much fun to do with my grandkids".

Here are some photos:

I was working on a psychedelic Bailey before the workshop. Thanks to the energy of my fellow quilters, I couldn't wait to go home and finish it. It looks just like her except it's in technicolor.

Show & Tell next month at our guild meeting is going to be so exciting. I think there will be lots of finished projects. Woo Hoo!

And even more good news is that everyone will be able to learn about it in a future issue of Quilting Arts, coming out this summer. I'll keep you posted. But of course I'm always available to teach you in person at your quilt guild.

 

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