My Experience at Sew Brimfield Quilting Retreat

I've been home from the Sew Brimfield retreat for two weeks; I owe you a report.  In a nutshell:  It was loads of fun!

I drove from my home in New Jersey to the retreat location near Leesburg, Virginia.  Packed and ready to load the car with my small-ish suitcase of clothes, sewing machine, tote bag of "swaps" (more on that later), big tote bag full of my projects and supplies, and my new cutting mat carrier.  

The retreat was held at the National Conference Center, a facility built by Xerox as a training center.  It is huge, with 900+ guest rooms and lots of meeting rooms and worked well for this retreat.  One thing I especially liked was that the rooms are mostly single rooms so each retreat participant had her own which I appreciated as it meant I did not need to find a friend to go with me nor room with someone I didn't know.  I forgot to take a photo of my room; it was small but comfortable, with a full size bed, a big desk and desk chair, night stand, small dresser to unpack into, small closet, and bathroom.  Very comfortable but not luxurious.  Of course, I spent most of the time in...

our big meeting room where all the sewing magic happened.  We each had our own station with a sturdy table, desk chair, and electric outlets.  There were several stations for ironing (irons provided by Oliso) and cutting (mats and rotary cutters provided - I never used the mat and rulers I brought along).  There was an adjacent space we used for demos and classes (all optional) and a smaller room that housed the Brimfield Awakening pop-up shop.  We ate meals in a separate dining room also used by other groups at the conference center.

There were about 65 participants, women of all ages, united by our love of this hobby.  It meant we had plenty to talk about!

I primarily worked on a project inspired by a quilt made by The Pattern Basket that I saw on Instagram.  She used her pattern called Confetti Cake but I made a similar design in the past with some success, Lori Holt's Great Granny Squared, so I stuck with that pattern.  I cut the squares smaller and added an additional round.   I cut everything at home before I went to the retreat, then used my design boards to lay out each block and sew it together.

Here's the ironing station, with Oliso iron, at the retreat.  I really liked the irons, was going to buy one until I found out the price!  Maybe someday.

With nearly three days of sewing while someone else cooked my meals, I was able to finish all the blocks for this quilt.  

I also spent a few hours working on Dot Dot Dot, my long term project that involves a lot of hand work.

A big part of the retreat was meeting the other women.  In real life, I know only a few women who quilt so it was fun to talk to others and see their projects.  I met two women who live not-too-far from me and belong to a local chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild so I am thinking of going to one of their meetings to see how it is.  

The retreat organizers, Nisha and Kim of Brimfield Awakening, gave us a lot of swag.   

I especially like the Stash N Store because it holds a number of tools upright in a narrow space.  I'm thinking of getting a small one to hold makeup brushes.  We learned how to make the pincushion using two charm squares and two buttons.

The retreat also had an optional swap to participate in.  If you wanted to be in it, you filled out a questionnaire of your likes, dislikes, interests then were given a participant to provide three swap items for.  (We got this information in July so had time to figure out what to make or buy.)  I was assigned Kathy with a "K" and from the questionnaire I could tell we have a lot in common;  we both like antiques and vintage and share some of the same favorite fabric designers like French General.  

For the first night's exchange, I made her a pincushion using some linen and an old doily (but forgot to take a picture of it).  For the second night, I made some sachets filled with dried lavender and gave her a vintage embroidered linen cutlery holder.  

For the third night, I made the Lola zipper pouch using the pattern by Sotak and French General fabric.   (I highly recommend the pattern.  I've made three and find them pretty easy.)

Kristen from Delaware had me as her partner.  I mentioned my love of Corgis in the questionnaire and she came through with a Corgi pencil holder and some pens on the first night and a clear zipper bag full of little treasures on the second night.  Then the third night was the fabric bucket, Laundry Basket Quilts charm pack, and the set of rainbow colored plastic boxes in a holder.  I plan to use it to hold my English paper piecing templates and papers.  What is funny is that the day before, I noticed a similar gizmo on the work station of Wendy, sitting next to Kristen, and was quizzing her about it because I wanted one.  Wendy's came from Daiso, a Japanese dollar store that I've been to in California but I don't think we have one in New Jersey.  Kristen overheard and while at this point I did not know she was my partner (it was a secret until the third night), she knew she had "done good."

So that's my report on Sew Brimfield.  If you get a chance to go on a quilt retreat, I urge you to take it.  I really couldn't make time for one when I was employed full time but am so glad I did this one.  I lost some of my quilting mojo over the summer and felt stalled on my projects but regained the enthusiasm with the retreat and my granny square quilt is almost finished.  Of course, I will be naming it Sew Brimfield.

Inspiring Studio Tour

I saw a video tour of Edyta Sitar's studio on YouTube.  She is the pattern and fabric designer behind Laundry Basket Quilts and what a space she has!  

I was not only envious of her studio, I saw some quilts there that I would like to make.  So after viewing, I shifted over to her online shop and here is my haul.

I got the patterns for Wildflower, Dot Dot Dot, and Illuminate.  I was really drooling over Dot Dot Dot in the studio tour video and it is moving high up on my to-make list.  First step is to cut a circle out of nearly every piece of fabric in my stash, lol.  I don't have Edyta's stash so will allow myself to make this over a long period of time.  The first decision I need to make is machine or hand applique. I'm leaning towards hand applique and making this my portable project one I finish Flowers for Emma.  

I bought the blue floral toile for the border and will use one of the two blue mini dot prints for the binding.  The low volume fabrics are from a fabric bundle called Marshmallow Lights; they will augment my stash for the background.  

Wildflower and Illuminate will wait until "later."  

Quilt Show - Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza 2019

In mid-September I attended a quilt show put on by the Mancuso organization, Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza. It is held annually in suburban Philadelphia, a little over an hour's drive from where I live in New Jersey.

I've attended this show most years but the quality keeps declining, making me wonder about the future of quilt shows.  Have the internet, blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram filled the need for inspiration and contact with other quilters such that quilt shows no longer serve the same purpose?  While there were some outstanding quilts on exhibit in the show, I also saw a lot of quilts on display that in my mind fell far short of quilt show standard - uninspiring design and inferior workmanship.  I don't expect to like every quilt displayed, nor do they all need to be perfect, but they should inspire in some way and exhibit superior workmanship.  Elizabeth of OccasionalPiece-Quilt blog had a similar experience at Pacific International Quilt Festival, another Mancuso show.  So if you've been thinking about entering a quilt in a show,  just do it!   They appear to be in need of exhibitors and your work is probably much better than you think.

Okay, enough negativity.  Like I said, there were some fabulous quilts.  You can see the prize winners here.   And plenty of very cool quilts that didn't win prizes; I'm showing you a few of my favorites here.

The quilt below was a raffle quilt.  It caught my eye and I knew there was something familiar about it.  On closer examination, I recognized the fabric collection as Garden Delights from In the Beginning fabrics.  I have jelly rolls and fat quarters from this fabric collection in my stash, waiting for a use to present itself and this quilt gave me some ideas. 

I knew this next quilt was in the show and was looking for it.  I am a follower of Wendy Welsh's blog, where this quilt made its original appearance.  Wendy has won prizes for her quilts in her native New Zealand and in Australia and mentioned that this quilt had been selected for an international tour.  This quilt, Vibrant Curiosities, was English paper pieced in mostly Tula Pink fabrics then hand quilted. 

The primary shape is an octagon.  It must have taken ages to piece this 80" by 80" quilt!  The mix of colors is really fabulous - there are so many different prints and colors, it could easily have turned out a hot mess, but no, it is very striking.

This next quilt, Sexie Hexies, was in an aisle that displayed quilts by quilters who were teaching at the show.  Sarah Bond had several quilts using wedges and curved piecing, all part of a series she calls Coming Full Circle. 

Sarah Bond teaches at shows, including the 2020 Modern Quilt Guild show.  This is something I'd like to learn to do. 

She made great use of color in this block. 

 The show also included an exhibit of quilts from Kaffe Fassett books.  I liked this one, called Ripples (from Quilts in Ireland), in softer colors than I associate with Kaffe Fassett designs. 

Lots of half square triangles here!

 This last quilt is called Confetti Star, by Missy Bauer.  She made it using a jelly roll then it was quilted by Nora Dougherty.  The quilting is absolutely fabulous, especially in the open spaces.  I've seen other examples of this kind of lopped off lone star and am putting it on my to-make list. 

Millefiori Quilts 3

Willyne Hammerstein has a new book out, Millefiori Quilts 3.  I bought it at my LQS as soon as it come out because I've been thinking it is time for me to start another hand project.  There's lots of great eye candy and more than a little inspiration!  Willyne makes all her quilts by hand, not the English paper piecing method, but with the instructions in the book, you can use either method.  (But machine sewing is probably not an option with these tiny pieces.) 

There are 18 new designs in the book.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Please excuse the poor photography; it is difficult to hold the camera with one hand while you hold the book open with the other hand. 

This is the cover quilt, Moncarapacho.  Really fantastic, and an unusual combination of colors.  I'm deterred by the fact that the center of each motif is a 10-pointed star.  Think of all those points coming together and the bulk of the seam allowances!

Nocturne uses a similar color scheme and also has a pieced border.  It looks a little easier too, with just six points coming together in the center. 

Le Grand Desert is her take on the dresden plate block, with the addition of smaller six-pointed stars.  And all fussy cut from one fabric.  It's like a mash-up of dresden plate and one block wonder and looks so impressive.

Belle Fleur, again an unusual color combination but so effective.  I've seen this block before, called Antique Rose Star (in fact, I have a whole Pinterest board on it, here), and it is very adaptable to different fabric types, from the 19th century reproductions shown here to modern prints and everything in between.

So now I'm looking for some color inspiration in the form of a possible border fabric, then I'll decide exactly which direction to take.  But another epp project is definitely in my future.

Wildflowers Quilt by Kim Brackett - Test Block

A while back, I fell in love with this fabric line:  Garden Delights from In The Beginning.  I like the Liberty-like floral prints. 

Then I came across a quilt pattern, Wildflowers by Kim Brackett, in her book Scrap Basket Strips and Squares. 

So now I'm working on the marriage of the two - a Wildflowers quilt made from Garden Delights fabric.  I did some cutting...

...and made a test block.

My block is actually two half blocks because I am changing the construction method a bit to avoid having to sew set-in seams.  If it works, I'll do a tutorial in a later post. 

60 Degree Triangle Quilt

Do you know the blog Hyacinth Quilt Designs by Cindy Lammon?  I've long been an admirer, especially of her quilt aesthetic which I call updated traditional. By that, I mean she uses traditional blocks but with color, fabric, background, and quilting design choices that make them decidedly modern.

One of her quilts, The Ladies' Stitching Club, has been on my to-make list for a while.  The 60 degree triangle is a new experience for me and I thought this project would be a good way to learn something new, expand my repertoire, and use fabric from my stash.  It is turning out to be exactly that!  The quilt was originally a free design from Moda but Cindy figured out a different way to piece it that results in less waste so I'm following her instructions and it is working out well so far.

But I really should call this project my Hyacinth Quilt Designs homage project because I also found inspiration in her color palette on a couple of other quilts, namely Triangle Hexies Quilt and A Plus Quilt Variation.

I'm using a color palette of aqua and lime green with gray and blue denim.  I'm using some fat quarters out of a little bundle I bought a while back from Pink Castle Fabrics, fleshed out with additions from my stash and some denim I bought for another project.  The denim is light weight, a little heavier than quilting cotton but not as heavy as jeans.  I starched all the fabric before I started cutting.  

Here are some finished blocks.  Two triangles are joined by an inch wide strip to create a trapezoid.  These units are treated as blocks and joined in rows.  I have some more blocks to make and then I'll start sewing them together.  The size is going to be dictated by the amount of denim fabric I have.   I'll post more on this as I make progress.

Topper or Quilter?

To be truthful, I am more a topper than a quilter.  Though I hand quilt the occasional small project (and I have about 35% of the quilting done on my butterfly quilt now), I outsource anything sizeable to a professional longarm quilter (and highly recommend Karen Thompson of Greenbrier Designs).  I've taken two free motion quilting classes but concluded it would take a major investment of time in practicing before I would ever be satisfied with the outcome.

I've used my walking foot to quilt straight lines on a few baby quilts but always thought that approach was rather limiting.  Well, I clearly don't have the imagination of Jacquie Gering, whose new book Walk, takes straight line quilting to a new dimension.

I became inspired just browsing through the book and even more enthused after I sat down to read it cover-to-cover.  Jacquie provides lots of instruction in how to use your walking foot,  how to mark your top (or not mark it for some designs), along with designs even a beginner can manage.  I particularly like shattered quilting, curved crosshatch, and some of the radiating line designs.  Though I probably won't attempt a bed size quilt on my machine, there are lots of designs in the book I can see using on a wall hanging or small throw.  

And the designs are not all straight lines as this sampling (the back cover of the book) shows.  I think you will find Walk to be a good addition to your quilting library.  And if you think Jacquie's name is familiar, you are probably right. She blogs at Tallgrass Prairie Studio and is Chairman of the Board of the international Modern Quilt Guild.

A big thank you to all of you who left comments on my last post, sharing how you got your start quilting.  I enjoyed reading all of the stories.

Shopping Fall Quilt Market

No no, I didn't go to Houston.  Hopefully, someday... but not this year.  But I did see lots of pictures in blogs and on Instagram, and as a result, I've done my "shopping."  I love seeing the new patterns, the new fabric collections, the new gadgets.  It helps me plan ahead (I am a super-planner) and decide what I want to do next.

First on my list is Ferris Wheel, a new jelly roll pattern from Fig Tree. I think I have fabric on hand to use in this quilt but I will need background and border fabrics.

Next, another new Fig Tree pattern called All Wrapped Up.  I like the Christmas version, which I can probably do with just a little augmentation of my Christmas-y fabric stash.

As to fabric, I like Guernsey by Brenda Riddle a lot and may have to invest in some to round out my stash of girly florals with that injection of charcoal.  It would help if I had a good idea of what to make with my vast stash of Paris Flea Market and assorted similar collections.

That's about it.  I know 2017 will be the year of fewer or smaller projects, what with the new job and assorted other life events happening here on Main Street.  So I don't want to tease myself or lay out an overly ambitious schedule.  And of course, there is always Spring Quilt Market, for more inspiration!

By the way, thanks for all your comments with advice in my last post.  It was about making Colorway by Thimbleblossoms.  I am going to follow your advice and use the matching batik layer cake and jelly roll.  I'll save the text prints for another project or possibly the back.  I think you guys saved me from a horrible mistake!

Quilting Magazine Round-Up

I splurged on three quilt magazines in Barnes & Noble recently and thought I'd do short reviews.

First, the August 2016 (issue 141) of American Patchwork & Quilting.  I don't buy every issue, only those that have a project that I particularly like.  I was looking for this one because I had seen a couple of photos online that intrigued me.

One of the articles, by Joanna Figueroa (of Fig Tree & Co.), is about using your own photos as inspiration for a quilt project.  Her design contribution is this orange and gray quilt, inspired by a photo she took at Alhambra in Granada, Spain.  I like the design; the blocks are almost 13" square.

Another of Joanna's photos inspired Just Rosy, by Laurie Simpson.   A quilt with a floral applique border is on my lifetime quilts-to-make list and I like the simplicity of this design.  It reminds me a bit of Mary Engelbreit designs.

My supply of Fig Tree fabric is still robust but I will eventually be down to scraps and have been looking for a scrap quilt design to keep in mind for that day.  I like this one, called Stairsteps , by Jo Kramer.  The magazine version is in Civil War reproduction fabric but the design lends itself to other fabric genres and I think it could work well for Fig Tree.  I will need to select a color to use in place of the red, though the right red could work.

This issue of APQ also has an interesting article about Missouri Star Quilt Company, the result of a Type A woman getting a new hobby in retirement!  I can't let my husband read it or he will start to worry about what I might have planned for "his" retirement.

Modern Quilts Unlimited is a new-to-me magazine.  The cover design by Emily Herrick caught my eye.  It is supposed to be a rose rendered in cross stitch, much magnified, but I just like the X block and may have another use for it. 

A second project, Orbit Chain (by Lisa Burmann), also caught my eye.

I had resisted buying this other new-to-me publication, Our Quilting, because of the high price ($17.99), but having sighed over the cover quilt on several different trips through the store, I gave in.  This magazine is published in Germany and appears to cover all aesthetic bases - art, modern, traditional, and primitive.  The cover quilt, called Gloria's Flowers (by Evelyn Zuber), is similar to hexagon flowers but uses an octagon shape for the outer petals.  It was constructed using English paper piecing.

After finishing La Passacaglia, I'd like to make another EPP project, though probably not immediately.

This bag also caught my eye.  It sort of looks like it was made out of a table runner, but I like the look and think it could work for a laptop sleeve.  Because a quilter shouldn't be using a solid black neoprene laptop sleeve; too boring!