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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The Reveal

We have had our Chanukah family celebration, so now I can share some of the gifts I made. It has been so hard to keep this all a secret, especially "Cooper". Everyone that makes stuff with their hands wants to know it is appreciated, so it feels so good when it is - and that is not always the case - as some of you may have know, but we won't go there since it is the season of giving. This was a good year.

So, here we go!

#1 - I finished "Cooper", measuring 54" x 54". My DIL and I pieced it together as a demo for the mosaic quilt retreats that I do. If interested, you can read about it HERE. Quilting it was a challenge because of his flat coat, so I used contour quilting.

 

#2. Diva Wallets - These were gifts for my DILs and a DIL sister. They couldn't believe I made them! And of course inside there were a couple of little goodies.

#3. Shutterfly Book for Henry-I received a free offer for joining the IKEA family. I thought what could be more fascinating for a 2 yr old than to see himself in a book. In a year or so he may even be able to read it. This was so much fun to create. There was a bit of a learning curve, then it was pure joy. Twenty pages worth of Henry and family members.

#4. Chanukah Napkins

Since we were having guests this year, I really wanted to do a fun tablescape. While looking around I was inspired to make my own napkins. I bought a super duper serger about a year or so ago and have only used it to make pillowcases for a Case for Smiles. While looking around on the net, I came across a blogpost from The DIY Mommy about using a serger for making napkins. Between her post and the manual for my serger, I figured it out, adding a nice finished edge to this quilting cotton fabric.

And of course I had to practice my napkin folding skills!

Now that our Chanukah celebration is done, it's time to get ready and organized to head to Key West. There is a juggling act every year- trying to bring everything we want with the limited amount of room in the car. Since I am vending at the AQS show in Daytona on our way home in February, I need to make sure I bring all the samples and rulers and patterns and sales stuff. I'm also teaching there, but I'll blog about that later.

 

 

 

 

 

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Tag Team Quilting

The Cooper quilt top is done.  It was used as a sample to demo the techniques used to create the mosaic pet quilt during the 3 day retreat. My DIL, Loren and I worked on it together. 

 I call it Tag Team Quilting.

I started it to teach my techniques and eventually give it to Loren and my son.  She saw me working on it and asked if she could help.  She was hooked and stayed to help with the first retreat.  (She is also an excellent cook.)  She took over piecing the individual blocks for the details of Cooper's face.  While she sewed, I cooked and slept.  I pinned up a bunch of the background and sewed together all the individual squares.  While I sewed, she cooked and slept.  I'm an early bird and she can be a night owl.  It worked out so perfectly.

Tag Team Quilting!

I usually don't toot my own horn, but I was so touched when I received this email from one of the retreat participants.  I blushed when I read it and was thrilled that she was happy with her retreat experience.  To know that the hours of prep work, both physically and mentally,  that I put into any teaching project that I do, is so rewarding for me.  It's why I do what I do.  

" Cheryl, the retreat honestly exceeded my expectations. The location was idyllic, the project was organized and really well presented, the instruction was clear , the techniques ably demonstrated and you balanced perfectly between providing support and having each of us take the necessary leap of faith in ourselves to 'piece'....or maybe that was just me!  Add to that the five star menu, the walks, the kayaking....just a delightful week end. I will treasure it always and I look forward to seeing everyone's finished portraits and to our reunion. Of course, Bailey-Girl, being Cheryl's inspiration for the project deserves all the kudos for the event!!"

Progress!

Great progress has made on the dog mosaic quilts.  My students are quick learners.  Here's a preview.  Can you tell which dog goes with each quilt?  Come back tomorrow for the answers.

A Great Retreat

I'm just getting organized after spending 3 days hosting my Pet Portrait Retreat at our lakehouse in the Poconos.  It was 24/7 of sewing, eating, talking and laughing.  Everyone made great progress and I felt they left with the tools needed to finish the quilt.

We used every square inch of the house.

 Can you see my Accuquilt Studio cutter behind Roz?

 When your quilt is made up of 1,296 squares, their 2" die cutter is a beautiful thing. 

 It cuts 60 squares at a time.

 When I arrived at the lake to prep for my guests, my son and DIL were there.  Loren had gone to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival with her Mom.  It was a convenient place for them to stay.
I was thrilled when she offered to stay and help me with the cooking for the retreat.  I took it as an opportunity to further entice her with quilting, because the pet quilt I was planning on creating was a portrait of their dog, Cooper. It was supposed to be a surprise.  Instead I taught her the techniques and she just ran with it.

I ended up being her assistant! I did the grunt work of sewing the pieces together.  We got pretty far working as a team.

To make my map, I printed the photo of Cooper and placed a clear grid over it.

 The pattern starts to take shape using 2" squares of fabric following the grid.

 

Here's a close-up of the ear.

I chain pieced the top in sections.  See how much it shrinks?

 The top half is done!
Here are the start of more pet portraits:

Roz and Reggie

Wisps of Reggie's fur

 

Teresa and   Rosie (www.TeresasQuiltStudio.com)

Rosie's nose

 Grace and her owner, Cheryl

 

Grace's eye

 Luna

 Luna and Rose

A Luna close-up

You can see from the close-ups that these quilts are not pixilated.  The grids are used to piece the details.  This makes the quilts look realistic. I'm looking forward to seeing them quilted and bound.

I was delighted to receive an e-mail from one of the quilters, after she arrived home that said:

"I want to thank you for a relaxing creative weekend, I feel recharged!"

I have tentatively schedule another Pet Mosaic Retreat in June.  June 12-14 th of 2015, also at the lake house.  If you're interested, shoot me an e-mail.