Gwen Marston Asilomar 2006 Class work

In addition to yesterday's post, showing what I created in this marvelous class, there were lots of other great ideas, too. I think I've gotten all the names with the right quilts, but one never knows! If anyone from class sees that I have something wrong, let me know, so I can correct it. I didn't get pictures of everything (darn it!). You'll just have to believe be when I say that there were some other lovelies like Janet's blended string stars in blue, Kathy's pinwheels and Barbara's red white and blue strips. I love them all, but I think my favorite is Pam's controlled spider web shown last. I'll finish the rest of the pictures from Asilomar tomorrow, along with Gwen's quilts, and a preview of her upcoming quilts from her new collaboration with Freddy Moran. Enjoy!

Vivianne's Strings

Pat's Strings 'n 4 Patch

Barbara's Chevron's

Janice's Wedding Rings

Janet's Magic Blocks

Pam's Strada

MaryEllen's Dead Presidents String Stars

Anne's Strips 'n 4 Patch

Virigina's Sampler

Melissa's String Stars

Mary's SEVEN pointed Stars

Ibby's Rocky Road to Kansas

Dottie's Vintage Shirtings and reclaimed Churn Dash

Corky's Strings and Stars

Pam's Controlled Spider Web

Pam's Controlled Spider Web (more complete)

Home from Asilomar

I've decided that I just have to stop catching up on everyone else's blogworks and get busy and share my fabulous week at Asilomar which is near Pacific Grove, CA.

When my friends and I arrived on Saturday, it had been SNOWING, and the main road that I usually drive south from San Jose had been closed due to icing! I quickly jotted directions going a different way, and my friend Carolyn the navigator directed us south. Turns out that road was not the one we should have driven, either, but it was a beautiful drive, anyway! I kept grumbling that I could have driven HWY 17, because the road we were on had 15 mph switchback curves and we went through a mountain pass getting across to the ocean. About the time that I started seeing frost on the ferns, I realized that it really HAD snowed! Then we saw a 4' snowman still dressed in his fine cap and carrot nose standing at the end of a driveway. A little further on, two cars driving east had little snowmen sitting on the hoods of their cars, leaning against the windshield! What a riot!

The artists in residence in this session were from Oregon, and they are part of the Cover to Cover Book Club quilters. They were featured in Quilters Newsletter March 2005, and their work is just fascinating as well as beautiful! If you ever get a chance to see their work, you need to! Pat Busby also makes handbags, and I just couldn't resist getting one. Everything she does has a little bee on it, and she also signs them, so I figure I have a piece of art now. Here I am at the beach, with my prized possession!

I truly enjoyed my week with Gwen Marston. She is so laid back, and she shares so much of herself, it's pleasant to be around her. And of course, the laughs were great, too!


The first day, we talked about the history of string quilts, had a lot of show and share, and then we were off and running on anything we wanted to do. There were so many different ideas to choose from! If you have Gwen's book: Liberated String Piecing, you can look there for lots of ideas. Since I hadn't really decided what I wanted to do, I spun my wheels for a while, before I got off to a slow start. I decided that I probably would never ever do a spider web string quilt, and it is one of my favorites. I have an old wool one that is quite worn from my farmer grandmother, so I thought it might be fun to try a small version. I sewed a bunch of strada, prepared a template (gasp!) and off I went!

I decided at the last minute not to take my originally planned fabric project box. I got to thinking about all the hand dyed fabrics that were sort of special to me, so I thought it might be better to take fabrics I had already worked with. It just so happened that I already some fabric packed into a different box, originally planned for a Rochester MN trip. That made it easy, so I just took it instead without thinking twice about the fabric choices.



I'll start by sharing the picture of what I made in class. The little spider web is about 22" X 25", just out to the little black border. I had the piece of green fabric, and a wide border was suggested, but I'm not sure where I will go with this. I like it a lot, but it just doesn't have as much pizzazz as I would like to have. Maybe some itsey bitsey letters.......?


Gwen demonstrated a string pinwheel, but then went on to add an additional little twist. It isn't in the book, but I fell in love with it. First you make the strada. Then you cut squares with the strada folded over, right sides facing each other. You can make four 4.5" cuts for 8 squares this way. When you cut two sets of the 4.5" squares on the diagonal you get pinwheels. When you cut all four sets on the diagonal you end up with mirror images of the cuts. Then instead of using just four of them for pinwheels, you use all eight of them and make what Gwen calls Magic Blocks. I think they also might be a version of Hidden Wells, but I'm not sure. At any rate, I really like them a lot. I liked them better on point, so I added some liberated blocks in between - a liberated star and a liberated churn dash. I then set the pinwheels (square in a square) and used them as the in-between blocks too.


Gwen liked the spider webs, too! It's surprising to see that the same fabric was used in both of my projects, and how very different they look!

Even though the weather was raining and quite cool, it did clear enough to get a little beach walking in here and there. This is the three of us (Sharon, Carolyn and Ibby) just outside the Monterey Aquarium.

Blogger is not cooperating with uploading my pictures at the moment, so I'll stop for now. Next post will be other classmates work - every one is so different!

Packed and ready!

I've checked my project bag three times, now, and I think I have everything packed that I need!

As you can see, I've been busy making more chickens. I have a friend who drives a long distance to come see us when I am at Asilomar, so I always like to take her a little quilty something. And then, another Asilomar friend comes on classroom visit night, and I like to have something for her, too. Then, of course, if I really really like my instructor, I like to leave a little quilty surprise for her at the last minute along with my personal thank you note. I have no doubt that I am going to love Gwen Marston's class! So we all know Gwen will be taking a chicken home with her, too!

After the picture, I repacked the stuff way deep inside, put the bag on the floor and walked away to go have dinner. When I came back this is what I found!

My poor baby, Clyde is such a wuss! He knows when those bags come out, his mama leaves him home! LOL!

Now all I have to do is get the rest of my laundry done, pack my clothes, go to Bunko tonight, go to the gym in the early morning, then get my pedicure, and take care of my mom's meds in the afternoon. The limo driver (dear hubby) says we have to leave at 6:30 AM to get to the airport in time on Saturday morning, so I will be hitting the hay early on Friday night for sure!

TTFN! I'll take lots of pictures through the week, and tell Gwen how much we all love her! Can you tell I am so excited about my retreat? I always love my Empty Spools retreat at Asilomar, but I have my best two friends going with me this year, AND I get to spend the week with Gwen. Could anything better happen?

It's DONE!!!!

Working on putting the letters together, and getting the borders on was a great thing to do during the Academy Awards. It really is straight, but the way my design wall stand, makes it look a bit crooked. It finished at 70" square.

I really like this quilt! Be sure to click on the picture to see all the different fabrics that were used.

Now, to figure out the quilting.....

But that will have to wait. I need to start packing for Asilomar. I leave on Saturday, March 11!!!!!

Warning - gobins ahead!

This wonderful piece of 1998 Alexander Henry fabric is from Shirlee's stash (an Amazing Quilt Babe), and she brought it to stitch group this past week so I could use it on the back of my 2006 birthday quilt.



Isn't just wonderful?
Friday, I was getting things ready for our Saturday birthday stitch day, when my dd came by and asked if Stephen could stay a while so she could get her hair cut. So of course, I invited him into the stewdio, and what did he spy? First he had to point to all the children on the little piece of fabric that he pulled out of the box, then he played and played and played with the bigger piece.






He never did take a nap while he was here, just rested a while on the cat/pumpkin fabric and gave it lots of wet kisses, too! Poor baby - doesn't have an I Spy quilt, so he made one for himself!

Today was our stitch day, and we started about 9:30. I just love these days with my friends! Each of us made one more pumpkin for the pumpkin patch, and then had it sewn together by lunchtime with the sashings and cornerstones. What a team! Then we played around with inner border fabric for a while. I went downstairs to the master stash, and while I was there, Shirlee found the perfect piece in the stewdio's "simple" stash. It's black with a little white soft dot pattern with gold crescent moons on it. Just enough to set off the borders from the pumpkins, I think!

Then we made letters. Each of us drew a letter from the basket, and then made whatever letter was drawn. It was interesting to see how everyone in our group approaches the same task differently. There were a lot of laughs and the letters were made very quickly! We completed everything while they were here, had lunch, shared stories and friendship, a lot of laughs, and everyone was walking out of the door by about 2:30 PM.



After they left, I finished making the letters into blocks, but most of the work was already done! I've been playing with the letters for "HAPPY JACK'S" since about 4:00 PM, and I think I am going to stop now. Hopefully I will have the rest of the PUMPKIN PATCH letters, and the numbers 2006 completed by this time tomorrow. We'll see.

March Weights and Measures

Another successful month - actually 28 days! I am very pleased with the results of my efforts! There are many days I feel like an old woman at the gym,especially while my trainer helps me stretch, and I inadvertently groan or moan. But, I'll get there!

The news is very good - I've lost a total of 12.55 pounds, and a total of 15.5" from my body which is more inches than pounds in the last month. The weight loss is actually 13.2 lbs of fat, but I gained .85 of lean muscle! To be exact:

3" from my hips,
2" from my calf
2.5" from my waist
4" from my bust
2.5" from my neck

Then again, today I was outside with our grandson, Stephen, and now I see my picture, and I think I still have a long way to go. But I have to remind myself, that just two months ago, I couldn't even squat in this position, let alone sit that way for a long time while he talked to all the fish in the pond!

Ode to Tonya

I've been getting ready for my (imitation) birthday this coming March 4, with the Amazing Quilt Babes. I thought since Tonya is away from her goblins and skeletons I would go ahead and post the beginnings of the birthday day work.

It's been hard to stop making the pumpkins, since I have them all cut and ready to sew. And I have to admit that the letters are quite addictive too. But, I've made myself stop now, so the group can have some of the fun too!

This is the first fabric that was audtioned, and the "jacks" stayed overnight on the bubbles. The next day, I decided I just didn't like it for a Halloween quilt with some punch to it.

So I rooted around in the stash, and finally decided on the green leaves for the sashing and the swirly back and beige for the cornerstones. I think the purple will also make it a bit more lively too. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the apostrophe and the small letter "C" that I practiced getting the sizes right.


And I mis-posted the other day. There will be a total of 23 letters for this quilt. I told the girls the other night at stitch group, so I will tell you, too. This is going to be Happy Jack's Pumpkin Patch with a total of 9 pumpkins, all different fabrics for the backgrounds as well as the pumpkins.

The Queen's Room

I have a confession to make. Other than the main quilt display wall where I hang my large quilts in the hearth room, I have no walls on which to hang my quilts.

I have 38 very, very large windows in this house, for which I am glad. But! No walls for quilts, for which I am sad.

I could hang a quilt in the upstairs guest bedrooms, but I wouldn't get to see it, or enjoy it, so I don't. After a few months of being in this house, I discovered that I could use the downstairs powder room, AKA the Queen's room as a display wall, too!

I got busy and stencilled the room, and over the last couple of years, I've found garden accessories that I like, too.

This is the entry wall - it's not really tilted...

Flowers on the bottom of the wall...

And this is above the "throne"...

So now, there is a small quilt rack hanging in there, and all my guests always make a comment after visiting this little room off the hearth room! The quilt that is hanging there is a special wool one that my Not So Secret Quilting Buddy from a small on-line friendship group made for me. It was perfect hanging there since this Christmas. Tomorrow, I am going to change it for Le Fleurs de Jardin.

Thank You! (English)

Gracias! Merci! Asanti! Hsieh Hsieh!
Thank you in Spanish, French, Swahili, Chinese

Or so says the packaging on the forbidden Girl Scout cookies my hubby left out to tempt me overnight! I totally ignored them, and only ate up the written words, doncha see?

Yesterday, like the good daughter I am, I took care of Mom's grocery shopping. Well, actually, I made the shopping list and Hubby went shopping while I was at the gym, and then we both drove over to Mom's highrise. After lugging everything upstairs to the fifth floor - yes, they have an elevator - we didn't find Mom. So we put away her things, and fixed her meds for the next couple of weeks. Then we went looking for her. I tell you, she is just so busy at this place!

Surprise! Surprise! She was shopping! Her retirement community's "What Not Shop" was having their bi-annual half price sale and the library was selling their books too!

Here's what I bought for only $15.00! Thus, the many thanks given to Lakeview Village for all my books! I can't bear to think about being without a book to read.


The stack on the right that are standing vertically are books on tape for a quilting friend of mine who listens while she sews. It only distracts me - I find myself sitting and listening to the tape instead of sewing. How child-like, I suppose! I think back to kindergarten days when the first FM radio was brought into the school for Friday story hour, and we all sat on the auditorium floor, Indian style on our sit-upons. I even remember that the story of Jason's Golden Fleece. But I digress. LOL!

And here's what Mom bought for me. She even had it wrapped up in tissue paper!

It's only about 2" high and 3" long, but the wheel turns and makes the needle go up and down. And it's useful, too! It's actually a pencil sharpener!

So it was a nice day, even though no official quilting or sewing was to be had.

This message sponsored by the letter "H"

The letter "H" wants to say hello! Wonder what other members of the family will be stopping by to say something?

So, all right, already! I'm getting ready for my (imitation) birthday stitch day when the Amazing Quilt Babes will be making 15 amazing letters to go along with the letter H. Should be some fun on March 4!

Asilomar is only 17 days away!

Well, the multiple personality quilter is back at my doorstep! I've finished up my samples of the connecting block, star and houses for my small friendship group exchange for this year, and I've put them away for a while.

I've decided that maybe it's time to get my fabrics all ready for my trip to Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar in March. I absolutely love going to this week long retreat! It's is in Pacific Grove, CA, and it's so very relaxing!

They provide 3 meals a day plus snacks, and a quilt shop comes for the week, right on site - the Cotton Patch. There's a program every night along with show and share. A shuttle bus that runs every afternoon to the two quilt stores downtown: The Handmaiden and Back Porch. What more could a person ask?

Well, for a kid from Kansas, the ocean is just icing on the cake, too! I always sleep with the windows open so I can hear the surf all night long!

This is my friend Wendy (from Martinez, CA) standing behind me in 2002 just before the surf got us!


A blurb from the Asilomar web-site tells a bit more:

"Nestled along the shoreline of California's famed Monterey Peninsula, Asilomar is a tranquil ocean front retreat cradled by forests and white sand beaches. Designed by acclaimed architect Julia Morgan and embracing the Arts & Crafts architectural style, Asilomar harmonizes with its natural surroundings and has played host to thousands of visitors since its founding in 1913. Rich with history, scenic beauty and serenity, Asilomar is the ideal location for group meetings, corporate retreats, weddings, family reunions and vacation getaways."

There's a short video that shares more of the sights on the grounds of the retreat.

This will be the sixth year I get to go, but if their prices get much higher, I don't know if I can do it again or not. I am in the second session this year with our favorite Gwen Marston for liberated strip quilts. Can you imagine? An entire week with one instructor! To date, it's the only quilting retreat that I have found that keeps you in one class with one instructor, and you can really soak up the flavors of the technique or process.

So far, I've been with Judy Dale (absolutely fabulous!), Lynn Kough, Jane Burch Cochran (stunningly fun and liberating!), Mary Lou Weidman, Sue Benner, and Lura Schwarz Smith (wonderful magic!). (I know this is already 6 instructors, but I got to go TWICE in one year!)

This is a picture of Judy Dale (left) and I the year after I took her class on designing and sewing curves and points. This is my original design called "Joy" that is hand quilted. I thought she would like to see a finished project!


So back to the class: The supply list says to bring 20 or more fat quarters. Most people will probably bring 1800's or 1930's reproductions. When I talked to her on the telephone (YES! She called ME!), she said to bring a border fabric that I absolutely love. So here is my selection of fabrics to take.


Not reproductions, are they? LOL! I always seem to be the kid that walks to a different beat. The bright red fabric with the yellow/turquoise and pink flowers is my border fabric. I've been saving it for something special, and I think this just might be it! I've pulled hand dyes to go with, and a few bright batiks from my scrap basket. Now, not a single one of them is a quarter cut. Most are fat quarters, and some are fat eighths. I haven't counted how many of them there are, but I'm sure I will be cutting a lot more than other people in the class!

Here's the final selection, all boxed up. Of course, there's still 17 days to go before I leave, so who knows how many other pieces might get slipped in there! The year I went for Mary Lou Weidman's class, I took 250 fat quarters. How many did I use? Only 4 of the ones I took! LOL!

Warning - Construction Ahead!

Use extreme caution when navigating through the mezzanine levels of fabric.....



The tables can be hazardous with piles of color that make you dizzy.....





Pattern books may disappear when your back is turned.....



But a starry night finally comes into view, and you're home safe!



There will be 9 stars, 4 house blocks and 12 connecting blocks. None of these four have been sewn together yet - just auditioning colors!

Quilts, blocks, babies and cats!

I finally got the baby quilt completed, and it is now sitting patiently waiting to be gifted until my friend can settle down. She's on a high because her new little grand daughter arrived a couple of weeks early - on Valentine's Day, no less. Baby and daugher come home from the hospital today, so I am thinking that by this weekend, this quilt should be at her house!

The anvils were finally completed and put in the mail for the swap. I went to put away the identical ones that I had made (and kept making and making and making), and I discovered that in my haste to finish them, I hadn't finished them at all! I still have four left to piece, and I think they will be finished by tonight.

My small friendship trio have decided that we want to do another exchange of blocks this year, too. So after deciding on a particular pattern, we then re-drafted it to suit ourselves! LOL! It will be houses ala Freddy Moran (sigh-not Tonya), and stars ala Alex Anderson with 6" blocks inside the stars. We are all using the wild and crazy brights. I think I want my backgrounds all black with white and the other two gals want their white with black. Now, I have to decide what my stepping stones in the joining blocks will be - probably red. Anyway, here's the first house I made for myself.



Yesterday, little Stephen joined us for the morning and for lunch. He is growing so fast, it's hard to keep up with him. And when he goes home, I am just tuckered. We have a large tire swing that was made into a horse - don't ask me how they do that, but it's pretty nifty. The last few times he was here, I held him on it, and he just loved it. His mother says he throws a tantrum at the playground when they have to take him out of the swing, so we know he loves it. When mom came to get him yesterday, she made the mistake of showing us the new swing she brought for us to hang in the tree for him - he just had to get in it. So instead of a tree, my hubby and daughter got to use their muscles. And yep, he threw a big tantrum when we took him out!



And last, every time I get up to answer the phone, or get a snack, or check the computer, this is what I come back to. Can this really be comfortable?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

This quilt is probably one of my most favorite display quilts! It's 84" square, and I travelled back and forth to Colorado when I was making it. I think I lost as many of the geese on the road as what I actually made. It was supposed to have a fancy schmancy pieced border on it, but it just didn't want to fit. So, here it is, in all it's glory.

When I put it up, it signals to me that Spring really will come. Even if there is snow on the ground and it's below freezing, I know when I see this red and white sparkling on the wall in my hearth room, the seasons WILL change.

I'm like our friend Finn these days. Spending more time at sewing and with friends than at the computer. But, when I am in blogville, I stroll through the paths my friends send me on, and smile, and shake my head and laugh occasionally, too. Valentine's Day can be for our friends too. So I thank you all for sharing your smiles and stories and loves and laughs.

Where has the time gone?

So where has all the time gone, eh?

I've been running in circles, doing errands, housework, celebrating my hubby's birthday, and doing a little Ebay listing. Other than that, nothing on the quilting front, nothing on the completed front at all.

BUT, last week, when I was at the gym, I experienced extreme dizziness, and almost passed out a couple of times. I had only seen my physician last week, and my resting pulse had gone up about 20 points, too, since then. On Monday, my resting pulse had raced up even higher to 100 bpm! Whooee! Was I ever worried!

Well, turns out that the weight loss has already paid off! I saw the doc Tuesday afternoon, and got the word that my blood pressure medication could be cut in half, and probably in half again in a couple of weeks. Now, that makes me happy!

In celebration, here is a picture of my Bonnie girl, giving her last hugs to this wacky baby quilt I made a couple of years ago. I really liked the Alexander Henry circus print colors, but could never think of what to do with it, until I thought about the wacky technique of skewing the blocks like Gwen Marston.

Anvils and dollbabies

I finally have all the anvils completed to send out for the swap.

I am so talented! I can really make the fabric pay for itself with all the different ways I can sew it! If there is a half square unit, I can sew it 6 different ways, including wrong sides together, and each corner going the wrong way. Each unit incrementally increases the number of times I can sew it together wrong. And if I have sewn it together all the different ways, I can even sew it exactly the same way wrong again!

To make matters worse, for each of the anvils I am sending in for the swap, I decided to make one more for myself. So I've officially made 30 of them, but if you count the number of times I have sewn them together numerous ways, I probably have made about 120!!

On a bright note, my small stitch group, The Amazing Quilt Babes arrived early Saturday morning, each with their own doll baby. One member is busy getting her daughter's wedding party's dresses ready, so she made the sashings, and the hearts. She also helped put it together. So now, we have the top done!



I am very proud of myself. I didn't volunteer to do the quilting, nor make the label nor do the binding. Aren't I a good girl?

Safety first

Do you always remember to put your blade away? My friend, Carolyn didn't. I think she didn't really want me to see it, but she didn't have a bandaid in her sewing kit, so she had to ask for one. Of course, she got a good scolding. Then what did I do? I used her blade, cut something, walked away and left it open, too. Give me mine that has the automatic retractable blade anytime! LOL!

But then, Carolyn told us the story about an employee at one of the quilt shops in Iowa she visits a lot. Apparently, she was cutting something with an automatic retracting blade, put it down, and then knocked it off the cutting table...right on top of her foot, and of course, it opened somehow.

In that instance, I think fate was telling her she needed a quilt fairy to come and cut everything for her!

What am I doing today?

The Babes were here this morning working on a group project and left around lunch time. Now, I am making anvils, of course! More than 4 and less than 15. HA HA HA! When I complete them all, I will explain why my numbers keep multiplying!

Weights and measures

I actually got weighed and measured officially at the gym on Monday, but I truly had no time to post until now. I'm still making anvil blocks, of course!

The news is good - I've lost 10.5 pounds, and a total of 7" from my body. To be exact:
2" from my hips,
1" from my calf
2" from my waist
1" from my bust
and my neck stayed the same, but the double chins don't wag so much anymore.

So all in all, not a bad report, eh? Considering my first weigh-in was before Christmas, and we've had the holidays plus my island trip since then, I think 10.5 pounds is quite respectable!

Back to the anvils! Only 4 more to go!