Monday, June 29, 2015

Madeline Island School of the Arts

I'm back home after a wonderful week on Madeline Island where I attended the Gwen Marston class, Abstract Quilts in Solids.  Today I'll blog about the school,  my next post will be about the class.

Madeline Island is an island located in Lake Superior.  Getting to the island required a ferry. It was a beautiful ride and I felt my worries and stress slip away the closer we got to the island.


When the lake forms a thick enough layer of ice you're able to drive a car to the island.   If the ferry can't run and the ice isn't think enough for cars, you can take a snow sled, snowmobile or plane to island.  I was really glad the ferry was running.

Madeline Island is 14 miles long, 3 miles wide, and has around 250 permanent residents.

The class was held at the Madeline Island School of the Arts. 


The school is held on land that was originally a dairy farm.  The original farmhouse is still on the property but the school added new classroom, meeting, and lodging buildings.  The school is relatively new, I think this is the fifth year.  It's ranked among the top 5 art and craft schools in the country.


When I checked in I received a key to my room, a real key, and a flashlight!


I used the flashlight when wondering around after dark.

The school has 6 cottages for lodging.  Each cottage is divided into 4 different room layouts.


This is where we gathered for our meals.



There's not a kitchen in the building, the meals were catered by a business on the mainland then shipped over on the ferry every day.  I enjoyed the food, the breakfast was your standard morning fare, the lunch varied.   Breakfast and lunch were provided by the school, we were on our own for dinner.  There were several restaurant and meal options on the island.


This is where we met for our class.  The classroom was airy and provided abundant natural light. Each quilter had an entire table to work from and there were enough irons and ironing boards provided.  The studio was open 24 x 7 to allow students to sew as much as they wanted.

Students had free access to these bikes to ride around island.


The grounds were beautiful .


I thought this sign was hilarious.


but necessary, there really was a turtle crossing the road as we passed by.


Wild flowers were beautiful and in abundance.



In summary, the facilities at the school were charming and all the employees helpful and friendly.
For more information on Madeline Island School of the Arts click here.  I would love to make attending the school an annual event.





Thursday, June 18, 2015

Vintage Tulips - A Finish

As soon as I started piecing tulip blocks for my Vintage Tulips quilt I knew I wanted more than 12 tulip blocks.  I figured adding a row of tulips to each side of the pattern would be an easy way to get more tulips, so I pieced 8 extra tulip blocks and put it all together.

Then I noticed how the alternate blocks created a pretty white background around the tulip blocks that was missing for my tulip blocks on the outer edges.



So I added a half alternate block to each side to get the halo effect without adding too much extra width to the top.

I also wanted the top to float a little so I added a plain white outer border.  I didn't want my binding to be right on top of those tulip points.  I think it gives it a nice look.




This is Lifetime Quilt Number 158
The pattern is Vintage Tulips by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms (available here)
The fabric is an assortment of families by Bonnie and Camille for Moda
It finishes at 96" x 86"
It has approximately 1,052 pieces
The inspiration for the blue alternate blocks was from Cindy Lammon/Hyacinth Quilt Designs.

I enjoyed every minute that I worked on this quilt, some patterns are just that way!  And not to toot  my own horn, but this quilt looks so much better in person, make it, you'll love it!

Next week I'll be attending a week long quilting class with Gwen Marston at Madeline Island, Wi.  I'm very excited by the opportunity to learn more about modern quilting.  I'm also very excited by the temperatures in Wisconsin, currently in the 50s!  So no blog posts next week, but hopefully something fun about my class the week after!  And if you're thinking about coming over and "borrowing" a few of  my quilts while I'm out of town, you're out of luck.  I have family members staying at the house along with Cooper.  Maybe next time!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Snapshots Block 6 - Triple Scoop Sundae

Are you ready for a new Snapshots block?  It's that time again!!  The months are just flying by, we're half way there.




This month's block is Triple Scoop Sundae, my latest favorite.


I made a few changes to my block.  I used a different Bonnie and Camille family of fabric for the ice cream scoops, I used Hello Darling.   The rest of the fabric is from Day Sail, but I chose different pieces for the ice cream dish.  

This block is not hard, but I did make one mistake when adding the background corners to the ice cream scoops, so take your time, double check and pay close attention.

I am thrilled that the FQS has already surpassed it's initial goal of raising $10,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and its new goal of $20,000. The last time I checked the amount raised was over $26,000. Great job, give yourself a pat on the back!  As a reminder, the monthly patterns are a free download, a donation is up to you, the suggested donation is $5.  Here is a link to the pattern, instructional video, donation page, and everything else you need to know.  (click here)  The backing and finishing directions are also available this month.

Here are a few more folks participating in the sew along, be sure to check out their sundaes.

Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms
Bonnie Olaveson of Cotton Way
Pat Sloan of The Voice of Quilting
Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet
Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life
Pam Viera-McGinnis of Pam Kitty Morning
Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs
Stephanie Kendron of The Modern Sewciety
Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt
Greg Jones of Grey Dogwood Studios
Jessie Fincham of Messy Jesse

And finally, be sure to also check out instagram, #fqssnapshots for some great blocks and inspiration.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Sewing Studio Goings On . . .

Sorry for the lack of blog activity as of late, I took a little vacation which resulted in little sewing.

Before I left I did piece this back for my Short Line quilt.  I wanted to use up all that lovely Sanibel fabric.  I spent two sewing days cutting and piecing this back which surprised me, I figured it would go together very quickly.  But now that it's done I'm glad I spent the time putting it together.


And now that I'm home I've started this pattern, 


Vintage Tulips by Camille Roskelley for Thimble Blossoms. Cindy Lammon/Hyacinth Quilt Designs made a beautiful version that I fell in love with that moved this pattern from my To Do List to my sewing table.  (click here to see Cindy's version.)

Once I started piecing those tulip blocks I couldn't stop, I needed twelve, right now I have 20, 


with maybe more on the way!

I hope you have a great weekend.  I'm hoping to squeeze in some sewing, if the weather holds and my husband gets in a round of golf or two, I should be good!





Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Short Line Finish


Short Line is finished!  

Piecing the required 236 blocks was a breeze, connecting all those blocks took me forever.  For some reason I could only stand the monotony for a couple of hours a day.  I'm good when it comes to piecing blocks, the variety in the fabric and pieces keeps me engaged.  I had no idea I had such a low tolerance for repetitive piecing until I tackled this pattern. 


It's interesting what you learn about yourself, even after 10 years of sewing.  Although I never did get tired of looking at that Sanibel fabric.  

So here is Short Line with the blocks pieced, all it needed was a border.


I thought I was on the home stretch.  Then a funny thing happened, the fabric I selected for the border, the fabric I loved and couldn't wait to use, my most favorite fabric in the whole bundle, it didn't look so good once it was on the quilt.


I'm not even sure why.  I thought the smaller strips would play great with the smaller print of that border, but I was wrong.  I wish I could understand why it looks bad, all I know is that it does not appeal to me.

Well I loved that red beach chair fabric so much I wasn't willing to give it up easily, and tried this.


I took off the green inner border and separated the chairs with white fabric.  I didn't like this either.  Then I tried a third option, large scrappy strips of the fabric for a border.  It looked bad too, and I forgot to take a picture, but it wasn't up on the design wall for long.

Then I decided to go with the border that was used in the pattern, and all turned out well. 
 I love happy endings


So this is Lifetime Quilt Number 157
The pattern is Short Line by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.
The fabric is Sanibel by Gina Martin for Moda
It finished at 65" x 72"
It has approximately 2,054 pieces.

I love this fabric so much I I'm going use of my scraps on the back.



Miss Rosie's Quilt Co patterns are sometimes hard to find right now, The Corn Wagon Quilt Shop currently has Short Line patterns in stock.