Quilting Immersion

Summertime is always a great time to expand our quilting skills.  Life is a little slower and there are some opportunities to immerse yourself with other quilters to learn new techniques from world renown teachers.  It can be anything from fabric dyeing to modern piecing to making art quilts.  I was reminded of this when Sarah Bond visited our quilt guild the other month.  On her "Growth List" was to spend time immersed with a single instructor.  And isn't it a dream to be able to leave the cooking, cleaning and family behind.

Recently, I started thinking about the retreats that I have attended and started making a list of these 5 day retreats in the US.  I have participated in a couple of them over the years.  I want to share them because maybe you'll have the means and the time to tale advantage to grow your quilting skills.  Accommodations range from college campuses to retreat centers to visiting the artists studio and staying in a hotel.  There's a lot to choose from and the roster of artist/instructors is constantly changing.

It may be too late for this year, but it's good to start planning and saving for next year. Take a look at the websites to see the selection of workshops.

Quilt Surface Design Symposium:  www,QSDS.com

4 sessions of workshops are held at the Columbus College of Art and Design in downtown Columbus, Ohio and accommodations are in their dorms.

Quilting By The Lake: http://www.schweinfurthartcenter.org/qbl.cfm

2 sessions of workshops take place at the Onandaga Community College in Syracuse, NY.  Lodging and meals are on the college campus.

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops:  http://www.fiberartworkshops.com/

There any many sessions throughout the year at this all in one workshop environment held at historic  Greenville Arms in the Hudson River Valley/ Catskill Mountain region of New York.

Pro Chemical & Dye: https://prochemicalanddye.net/workshops.html 

Fabric Dyeing and surface design workshops are held thought the year in their Fall River location.  You are responsible for your own lodging and meals.

Empty Spools Seminar:  http://www.emptyspoolsseminars.com/

Located on the picturesque Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California.  Fee includes classes, lodging and meals.  Sewing machine rentals are available.

Crow Timber Frame Barn Art Retreats: http://www.nancycrow.com/artretreats.html

Study with Nancy Crow or a limited selection of other artists in Central Ohio in Nancy's timber frame barn  retrofitted to accommodate quilters and or fabric/dyers.  Lunch and dinner are cooked and provided by a professional chef.

Craft Napa: http://craftingalifellc.com/craft-napa/

Located in the Napa Valley of California, Craft Napa offers several week-long retreats thoughout the year focusing on sewing, quilting and mixed media, organized by Pokey Bolton, past owner of Quilting Arts magazine.

Quilt Gallery: www.quiltgallery.net

Located in Kalispell, MT,not far from Glacier National Park, the Quilt Gallery offers  a variety of week long quilt retreats with internationally recognized instructors.  And if you've read this far, I am excited to share that I will be teaching Mini Mosaics there July 31-Aug4, 2019!!!! After learning the technique, you'll be able to design and  start to create your own with my help!!!

If I've missed any (and I'm sure I have), let me know and I'll add it to this list.

The Trouble With Round Robins

A Round Robin in the quilting world is a project that involves a group of participants, each taking turns working on each others quilt. Each participant starts with their own and then passes it on to the next person. This keeps going until everyone has worked on each others quilt and then it returns to the originator. Sometimes there are rules. Sometimes there are no rules.

I have participated in a few round robins during the past decade. So far, none of them has had a good ending. For one of them, I never got my quilt top back. Actually that happened twice. There was another one with an on-line crazy quilt group that was more of an exchange. I must have spent 3 days sewing and embellishing my ornament. The one I received in return looked like it took 2 hours.

So you ask, why do I keep jumping in. First of all, I have a very short memory. And each of these times that I agreed to partake were a few years apart. Secondly, the promise of the challenge and excitement of what I would receive in return were just irresistible.

A few years ago, I went to Ohio and took a workshop about diary painting with Susan Shie at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. It was a great class. Susan was a great teacher and the students bonded. We decided to keep in touch and we did, via e-mail. In 2008, someone suggested that we do an altered book round robin. My ears perked up. A round robin? An altered book? What was it? It sure sounded like fun to me.

I don't know how many of us decided to participate. It was somewhere around 8 or 9. It involved buying one of those hard page books from the dollar store. Some of them are square:

And some of them are odd shaped. It's easier to work with the square ones, but the odd shapes do represent a challenge.

Everything was going pretty well. The books were moving along on a monthly basis. I would get a book and try to get it sent to the next participant on the list by the end of the month. Then, nothing. I waited and waited. Hey, does anybody know where to books are? Oh, Ellen - I won't use her last name, was sitting on a couple of them. She was the person that sent me the books. Finally, I got 2. It then took me a couple of months to finish mine and send them along.

Well, today, I am saying, do not let me participate in any more round robins. I have been trying to clean out my studio. Finish projects and commitments. At the bottom of a pile, guess what I found? An unopened manila envelope from Ellen with 2 books in it, dated June 2009! The last 2 books. I was the weak link! I am the one that they are all waiting for! Guilty!

So let me share the pages that I made for the 2 books, because I have to mail them out immediately, if not sooner.

For the odd shaped book, I used a set of alphabet rubber stamps to print on fabric, words that I associate with trees. The berries are french knots and I chose to finish the edge with rick rack.

For the 6" square book, I used the idea of a Mexican retablo. Above the arch are bugle beads and french knots. The fabric with the swirls is actually a set of doors.

And when they are opened, inside is a heart embellished with sequins.

The final step is to sand the page in the book, apply glue and place the page. Never again .....until next time.