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Earlier this year I was invited to tour a new retreat house in Janesville, Wisconsin. After my tour I knew I wanted to spend some time there. A short retreat in the beginning of December sounded like the perfect way to get some things done before the holiday season got busy. A few friends agreed, and last week we had a lovely time at the Bradford House.

All the rooms were spacious, from the dining room:

to the four bedrooms (each with colorful quilts on the beds):

and the sewing areas too (this is just one of the two adjoining rooms):

We enjoyed talking, laughing, eating,

and we got a lot of projects done too!

I acomplished hours of satin stitching on a challenge quilt that’s due after the first of the year. I’m not ready to share it yet, but I’m pleased with the progress I made. My second project used a fabric I bought while on our trip to England and Wales. A friend told me to buy a piece of Christmas fabric at Liberty because whatever I made from it would bring back wonderful memories of the trip each year when I put out my holiday decorations. I decided a simple 9-patch and snowball quilt would be a good way to show off this special tree fabric. Susan suggested adding some blues, and this is the snowball block that resulted:

I made as many 9″ blocks as the fabric would yield with a fun “slap back triangle” technique. I sewed an extra seam while attaching the squares that made the triangles so I’d have some bonus half square triangle blocks. I’m sure many of you have enjoyed this process, but if you want to know how it’s done, please click here for a post I did on it a few years back.

Next I made the 9 patch blocks. During this process I stitched two strips together incorrectly, and I was very happy to try the “new” ripping technique Marie showed me. Many of you probably have used this one for years, but it was new to me, and I got very excited about how quickly it ripped long strips of mis-stitching. You simply take out a few of the first stitches, place the long prong of the ripper inside the seam, with the small ball prong along the outside, hold the strips together with your left hand and push the ripper through the stitches!

It makes a lovely “popping” noise as it slides along quickly unsewing. Sometimes the little things can bring us joy 😊.

As I put the blocks up on the design wall my friends noticed that I unintentionally dressed to match my quilt – and took a quick photo:

The bonus half-square triangle blocks from the snowball corners ended up creating a delightful pieced border.

By the time the retreat was over, my borders were on. I’m looking forward to getting it quilted and hung in time for our Christmas celebrations.

Quilting with good friends is such a blessing. Thanks to Marie, Susan, Cathy and Mary for a wonderful time! And if you’d like to learn more about the Bradford House, please click here to visit their facebook page.

I’ve purchased a number of pieces of hand marbled fabric over the years. One of my favorites was a fat quarter dyed by Debbie Huff, which I used in a quilt I entitled Crossings II ~ Water and the Spirit.

The fabric was so beautiful that I simply quilted it on the lines of the marbling with invisible thread, finished it in four sections, and beaded them back together as a part of my Crossings series. A few strings of beads adorn the upper left corner and finish it nicely. It’s one of my favorites, so much so that it hangs in my studio.

Another piece I purchased years ago made a lovely cover for my Bible (click here for a post about the making if it).

I do admire beautiful marbling. In fact I bought a silk top at the IQA show in Houston back in the 90s, and I wear it often. The marbling still looks great after many washings.

While at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham I watched a fabric marbling demo. Craig did a great job and helped me make this small sample. He dropped the paint and let me do some of the swirls.

I decided their beginner kit was something I needed to bring back and play with at a future Fiberistas sew day. I tried it out at home on the 4″ x 6″ pieces of fabric included in the kit. The results weren’t stellar, but they weren’t bad either for a first attempt.

I brought the supplies, along with some muslin pieces I’d soaked in alum, to our next sew day and we had fun playing.

So we decided to play more at our next get together – but on larger pieces. I didn’t take any photos at our second attempt, and I think it was because our results were not all that good. Especially for Lori and me. I began with muslin soaked in alum, and the paint patterns on the float liquid looked beautiful, but when I rinsed the fabric afterwards most of the paint washed away and I was left with some rather pale fabric.

What happened? The colors turned out so much better on the fabric from the kit. Ruth loaned me a few pieces of the fabric she’d brought and the color was better (thanks Ruth).

I emailed her and she said it was unbleached muslin treated in the same way mine was. Hmm. I decided to pull out some of my Kona “prepared for dye” fabric (the expensive stuff), and I soaked it in alum for 2 days. I was determined to make prettier large pieces! I set up everything in the kitchen and began in earnest.

The paint on the marbling medium was beautiful – as usual!

And it looked good when the fabric dropped on top. The paint really seemed to soak in well this time.

I decided to let it sit without rinsing for a while after pulling it off the marbling medium.

And when I did rinse, dry, and iron it, I still was disappointed with the lack of brightness:

Perhaps I just haven’t tried the right muslin yet. I’m not sure what to do to improve things, so I think I’ll continue to buy hand dyed and marbled fabric from people who are good at making it. I now have an even greater appreciation for the skill it takes to do this well.

Have you had success with marbling fabric? Any suggestions? Any photos you’d like to share?

Two years ago, at my annual eye appointment, I was told I had the start of cataracts. My vision deteriorated quite quickly after that, requiring three prescription changes in under two years. At the last visit I was told that my cataracts were very fast growing – and it was time for surgery. What a blessing that turned out to be! I was able to have my astigmatism corrected via laser, and then have trifocal lenses put in place in both eyes. I can read, work on the computer, and see distance without glasses for the first time since I was nine years old! Amazing!

That being said, nothing is perfect. It’s a small thing, but to read I need to have bright light now. Enter Emma. A month ago I brought home my new Janome. I named her after my great grandmother (click here for that post) and we’ve been getting along famously. I realized right away that she needed to have tattoos like all her friends (decals really). That was an easy fix – and I think she looks stunning.

In the above photo please notice the bar that says “Janome” on the upper left. This is actually a light that slides back flush with the machine, and then slides out to put light right where it’s needed. This is especially helpful since my eyes need more light now to line up blocks for piecing before I put them under the needle.

In the past I’ve used a generic clamp magnifier to see detail work. It was a bit cumbersome. Emma to the rescue again. She has her own easy to attach magnifier:

that swings out of the way when it’s not needed.

And there’s one more feature I didn’t think I’d use much. I was wrong. Attached to the right of the very large foot pedal is a smaller one ~ and it works the automatic cutter on the machine ~ hands free. Brilliant!

I’m finding more things I like about her every day. Today’s stitching adventure was to make the final blocks in the Murder Mystery Quilt. I really love the apricot batik fabric, and these strips of blocks were once again very interesting.

Next month we won’t get any new blocks to make ~ instead we’ll learn how they all fit together. I’m looking forward to it!

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And one more thing! I was cleaning out some drawers and found a “what is it?” item. It’s made of black shiny plastic. One side has a piece of paper covering a thin, gray, spongey adhesive disc. Any ideas???

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FYI ~ the watercolor eyes at the top of this post were painted by my niece, Kaitlin Walsh. She does amazing anatomical art. I did a post about her a few years ago, and you can click here to read that post. If you’d like to read more about her, please visit her website: https://www.lyonroadart.com/. She also has a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=lyon%20road%20art. Kaitlin has many fascinating items available for sale. If someone on your Christmas list is interested in anatomical art ~ framed prints, mugs, coasters, puzzles, etc. ~ I know you’ll find her site a blessing.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions for combining batting scraps into usable pieces in last week’s post. This week’s post is another topic that you might want to respond to at the end. I love how we can learn from each other.

Do you have a design wall? They really are invaluable! The ones I’ve used for years are 7′ x 4′ styrofoam insulation boards, covered with gray fabric (they started as 8′ boards and I had to cut them down to fit in my studio). I don’t have them covered in flannel, since flannel attracts threads and I want things to look neat when I photograph quilts on them. The down side is I have to pin things in place. It’s a choice that works for me. My walls are covered with a charcoal gray polyester fabric I found on a clearance rack at JoAnns. Here they are in front of my quilt “storage box” (click here for a post about my “magic box”).

Tall Pines retreat has a number of flannel backed tablecloths, hanging on the walls flannel side out, to be used as design walls. I think this is a great idea for quilters with limited space because it can be hung in front of a closet (or other similar area) from just a few nails at the top, and taken down when not needed. Some quilters put grommets in the tablecloths to reinforce the hanging spots. Here’s my project hanging from one of the tablecloths at Tall Pines.

While I was working on it, my friend Deb began putting her One Block Wonder blocks up on another tablecloth design wall.

It was going well, but when she realized she wasn’t going to get it sewn together before the retreat ended she was a bit disappointed. It would have been a big effort to take all the hexagons down, and then replace them on her wall at home. So, we came up with a better solution! She rolled the pieces up inside the tablecloth to take them home,

and then replaced the retreat center’s cloth with a new one. So here’s the lesson learned:

If you plan to work on a quilt at a retreat, and you’ll need a big chunk of time to figure out block placement, take your own flannel backed tablecloth so you’re ready to transport it home easily if needed!!!

What does your design wall look like? Any suggestions you’d like to share?

 

When I went looking for a piece of batt to layer the friendship quilt from last week’s post, I couldn’t find one big enough in all the leftover pieces from previous projects. I didn’t want to cut into a new batt for this small project, so I decided to piece some of the chunks I had. I learned a simple way to do this years ago, and decided it might be of help to some of you.

Typically the chunks we want to piece together do not have even edges. This trick makes them fit perfectly. Simply overlap the uneven edges.

Place a ruler on the overlap, being sure there’s some of each piece past the edge of the ruler and cut.

Remove the excess batt.

Then stitch the even edges together with a “Z” stitch. I recommend matching your thread and making the horizontal stitches about 1″ apart. Don’t pull them tight ~ just enough to cause the edges to lie comfortably against each other.

Once stitched it should hold together well enough to layer and pin the quilt sandwich. And once finished the quilting will hold the batting secure. This is the batting being pieced for my runner (note needle almost half way up).

The “Z” stitch is a temporary stitch, so be gentle as you put the sandwich together. I personally would rather do this than purchase batting tape. Do you have a way you prefer? Any other ideas for using up scrap batt?

Prior to our trip to the UK I did a post about the friendship block project I was putting together for the tour.

My blocks were made from Liberty fabrics, and you can click here to read that post. While in Birmingham I collected the blocks from the participants. One evening it was time to lay them out on my bed, and gather 1 from each pile to make an evenly mixed stack for each quilter. In the past we would have the ladies walk around and pick up the blocks themselves, but it never seemed to come out right. I eventually discovered that making the piles in a quiet room by myself yields the best results.

Not everyone joined the exchange, so those who did brought extra blocks to get signatures from the others… and from interesting people we met along the way. Also, a few quilters stepped out and created their own exchange. It was fun to see the variety. One night we had a get together for the blocks to be returned, and then the collecting of additional signatures began.

During our travels, many of us asked people we met along the way to sign blocks too! Like Calico Kate!

And Jen Jones

A few weeks after our return home I went on a quilt retreat with the Fabricators. One of my goals was to put the friendship squares together – and I did. I also had some larger “test” blocks I’d made when coming up with the pattern, and I decided to stitch them into a back for my table runner (on the left). I got them both pieced while on retreat.

Then I finished it up at home. A few weeks later we had our trip reunion and I was excited to see what the others had done with their blocks!

Each one was delightful! Thanks ladies for making this project so much fun!

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And one more thing! Friends of mine from church were married last month, and I couldn’t resist making them a wedding quilt. I chose a top from my UFO pile, and finished it just for them. To read a post about the making of this fun, scrappy block click here!

I stitched their names across the top border, and because Wes and Rose are planning on going into the ministry, I included a Bible verse across the bottom.

Last summer I went to a rummage sale of a lady who’s sister was a quilter, and had passed away. She had some beautiful pieces of fleece, and one of them was perfect for the back of this cozy quilt. Isn’t it lovely?

May God bless Wes and Rose in their married life!

I’m having to make a change in how I send out emails for my blog. The first thing I want you to know is:

I will still be posting every Sunday, and whether you receive an email from me or not you can always see my most recent post (and all the rest) by going to www.chrisquilts.net/blog.

You should have received two emails directing you to this page. If you only received one it means you had been blocked on Mailchimp – thus the reason for this change. This means you may have missed a few posts, and you can now read them by simply scrolling down at the end of this post.

For years I’ve sent out around 2000 emails each Sunday through two online email servers, because this is the best way to send a large group of emails. One of those servers deleted half of my list last December, and now the other one that I’ve used since 2010 is acting up.

So ~ I’ve found a new option. As of this post you will be receiving my emails through Email Octopus 😃.

You don’t need to do anything if you received the email from emailoctopus. If not, please send me a note at , so I can add you to that list. Also, if you’d rather not receive my emails, simply email me and I’ll unsubscribe you.

Also, if you know of anyone who wants to be on my list, they can email me to be added to it.

I’m very hopeful this will work and keep my blog ad free for years to come! Thanks for understanding, Chris

This has been an exciting week! One of the reasons is that the leaves are finally turning beautiful. I love the colors of Autumn!

So this past Monday I said to Mike “Let’s go for a ride and enjoy the scenery”. He responded that he had a lot of yard work to do, and I was just as happy to stay home and quilt while looking out the window.

At this point I need to back up just a bit. As most of you know I’ve been blessed to teach in the Janome room at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show for many years. Ardyth’s Sew-N-Vac sponsors the room, and Ardyth’s daughter Michelle now runs the store. She is a joy to work with! Each year I’ve been more and more impressed with their Horizon series of machines. I guess I’ve been talking about those machines a lot since the show, because a little later last Monday morning Mike came into the studio and said “Let’s go for a ride to Baraboo and look at sewing machines”!!! Sew ~ we did (what a sweetie)! The ride was beautiful and,

after having fun doing a test drive with Michelle (who also likes wearing bright colors),

my Horizon 9450 QCP is now happily hanging out with my “girls” (to read the post about naming my sewing machines after my grandmothers click here). I’ve decided to name her Emma, after my maternal great grandmother. My one concern on the ride home was whether or not she would fit into the opening in my Tracey’s Table. I’ve had this table for decades and absolutely love it. Sadly it ended up being a 1/2″ too small. Mike to the rescue again. He had to remove and rebuild the box she sits in,

cut the opening larger, and then reattach the box.

I’m so blessed, and I should be able to set it up soon. But in the meantime I needed to make my October blocks for the Murder Mystery Quilt. So I set up a folding table and took her for a spin.

She purred happily as I pieced, and the blocks were done in no time. This month’s strip was the Greek key pattern. A fitting block for a mystery that takes place in Greece.

We have one more pattern and one more chapter to go before we find out how all these colorful pieces are supposed fit together.

I’m sure it’s going to be much more interesting than the way I arranged them here and ~ the top will give us another clue into who the murderer is ~ WooHoo! So much fun. It truly was a wonderful week! I can’t wait to spend time getting to know Emma better 😊!

PS I also plan on helping my dear husband with the yard work this week 🤣.