Project Update And Shout Out For The Agitprop Quilter

At my LQS with my Double Irish Chain quilt top

 Quick update on my two ongoing projects:

Here's a photo taken at my Manhattan LQS of me and my Double Irish Chain quilt.  Need to order some white batting before I can sandwich the quilt though - I think the white blocks are sooo very white that the natural cream coloured batting that I usually use may dirty its appearance.

Making good progress with my Dad's Memory Quilt - I've finished half of the top sheet and 3/4 of the backing sheet.  Regular followers will know the drill by now 

"I can't post any photos of my Dad's Memory Quilt on my blog as it's a present for my Mum and she wants it to be a surprise so again I've posted some photos to my facebook page as my Mum doesn't have facebook and can't see it there."  

If you want to see how it's looking, just click this link :D







I also want to give a special shout out to my good friend Maren (previously referred to as 'M' as part of that mysterious and unspoken blogging etiquette) who has this week decided to take the plunge and go 'live' with her quilting blog.  Be sure to take a look as she has such a witty and wry writing style which is incredibly refreshing! 

The Agitprop Quilter

Related Posts:
Double Irish Chain Quilt - Strips All Sliced
Another Busy Week
Will Blogging Help Me Sleep?
Two Quilts and Making Progress

I'm Going To QuiltCon - Are You?

WOW, what a start to the day!!!

Up, ready for the off and counting down the seconds to 10 am when QuiltCon registration opens.  

Checklist ticked:

• Spend hours pouring over QuiltCon course and lecture catalogue
• Make list of 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for courses
• Watch QuiltCon youtube videos detailing 'how to register'
• Discuss all options with friend, M
• Book plane tickets
• Book accommodation

So at 10 am I'm all prepared and madly hitting refresh on the registration page waiting for it to go live.  And here we go - so I quickly tick my four courses for the four days, pay for them and anxiously wait to see if I've been registered for places on each.  Instantly I'm informed that only two of the four courses had places available - wow, it's less than three minutes since the system went live and two courses are already full so the system throws me back to the beginning of registration again and tells me to find alternates for the two full courses and, worse still, they haven't booked me on to the two courses that do have places.  

As quickly as I can I tick my 2nd choices to add to my two 1st choices and then have to enter my credit card details again ... hit the payment button and wait to see if I've been successful this time ... NO - I'm not booked on anything because my two 1st choices that had been available first time around are now fully booked also, so guess what - the system throws me back to the beginning of registration again and tells me to find something else.  Well it's a good five minutes since the system went live and I can see that most of the courses are now full so I just select pretty much anything that still has places - yes I've already got flights and accommodation booked and paid for so I'd better find something, anything, to do for four days in Austin in February!!!

Well the final outcome is that I'm going to Texas for seven days - M and I are going to have a bit of a presidential road trip for three days before QuiltCon and I'm looking forward to extending my very limited knowledge on aspects of US political history.  Once I get to QuiltCon I'm booked on four courses, a different one each day of the conference - yes, they're not my 1st, 2nd or even my 3rd choices but I know I'm going to have an absolute ball and I also have a four day lecture pass and four day show pass.

Here's a list of my courses - if any of you are on them too be sure to get in touch, I'd love to hear from you.  Also if any of you are going to be at the show on any day let me know about that too and we can try to meet up, which would be fun.

Thursday, 21 February 2012 (9 am to 5 pm) - Modern Block Improv with Sherri Lynn Wood

Start with a favorite traditional block pattern and transform it through a series of improvised repetitions into something uniquely modern. We will brainstorm the possible range of alterations and then practice putting our blocks through a series of rhythmic iterations using basic improv piecing and compositional techniques. All skill levels.

Friday, 22 February 2012 (9 am to 5 pm) - Perfect Circles with Cheryl Arkison

Add a new dimension to your quilts with circles. Appliqu_d or inset, full, half, or quarter circles. Circles are a great way to showcase favorite fabrics or add movement to your quilts. This class will cover a number of different ways to add circles to your quilts.

Saturday, 23 February 2012 (9 am to 5 pm) - The Signature Quilt with Valori Wells

The "Signature Quilt" will give you the opportunity to discover the magic of simple free form cutting and piecing. You will create a one-of-a-kind quilt that is truly "your design." In a short period of time, you will learn to cut freehand and piece gentle curved lines, giving you the confidence to design your quilt.

Sunday, 24 February 2012 (9am to 12 noon) - Playing with Sheer Fabrics - Silhouette Pillow with Yoshiko Jinzenji

Yoshiko is known for using sheer fabrics to add dimension and interest to her minimalist quilts. Work with Yoshiko to learn how to integrate sheer fabrics into your everyday quilting. Students will make a silhouette pillow featuring sheer fabrics. 

 Is anyone out there very excited that they're going to QuiltCon?  

Yes, ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!

And The Winner Is ... Oh My, It's Me!!!!!

My battered Bernina Day flyer

In my last post I did mention to you all that yesterday I'd be popping along to the Bernina Day at The City Quilter and then making my first ever visit to Purl Soho. Well I headed along to CQ and had so much fun there that I never left so my visit to Purl Soho has, yet again, been postponed!

Well, if you headed over to CQ yourself yesterday, you'll know exactly why I didn't move any further than having a bite of lunch with my friend, A, at my favourite Manhattan cafe, The Blue Dog on 25th, there was just too much going on and it would have been a shame to miss any of it. Every half hour a raffle prize was drawn - I didn't win one myself but A won a pack of 3 quilt patterns and my other friend, M, won a charm pack. Then every hour there was a Bernina foot demonstration by Gayle Schliemann, Bernina's Regional Manager, and a raffle drawn amongst those who attended the session for the Bernina foot that was just demo'd. Again, I didn't win a foot but A also won a cording foot - wasn't it her lucky day?!

Photo taken by CQ in the Bernina Demo Room

I did buy lots of goodies though:

My collection of goodies

• Add a Quarter ruler as recommended to me by Kati in her comment on my New York Beauty post;
• lime green thread to free motion quilt part of my Sparkle Plenty quilt;
• Clover fork pins - going to give these a go to see what they're like for holding down multiple seam joins;
• Batiks - yes I was so taken with my June Bee Block I want to have another go at making New York Beauty blocks for myself;
• walking foot sole with central guide - I already have the walking foot that came with my Bernina 440QE but my model is before they made included this central guide sole and it's going to be fab for quilting in the ditch;
• and a straight stitch needle plate - I'm reliably informed that this will change my sewing and stop my fabric ever getting dragged down under the sewing plate.

Here's CQ's facebook photo album from the day.

But the best bit of the day - and what I've been holding back from telling you about, is that I did win something -  

I took 1st prize in the Creative Challenge!!!!!

The brief was:

Anyone can submit any finished product they've created on a Bernina to be judged for a first, second and third prize of City Quilter gift certificates.  We'll be looking for the best examples of these machines' exceptional capabilities.

I entered 2 book covers that I've made using a variety of techniques, hand and machine sewing and I won - I'm very, very thrilled.  A big thank you has to go to my friend, I, who mentioned the competition to me last week and without whom I would never have thought to enter - thank you!  By the way, she has her own fab knitting blog that you might want to check out - Chiagu and she's also launching an internet version of Ravelry for us quilters called Quiltfolio which I think will be amazing.

So here's a photo of my prize and also some of my book covers.

 

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

New York Beauty (June Bee Block) - Sunglasses Recommended!

Remember this fab package of fabric that I showed to you a few weeks ago?

Finally, Tuesday arrived as did my friend and fellow NYC Mod Bee member, M - both of us fully intent on learning this paper piecing thing and producing at least 1 bee block each for our June Queen Bee, Kimberly.

We'd both checked out the links given to us by our Queen Bee (you can find the links here in my previous post) and I'd found a great little tutorial video on youtube by The Crafty Gemini so we were raring to get started, although I have to admit we were both a little apprehensive.  M suggested that we started out making a muslin test piece rather than go straight into Kimberly's fabric - FAB idea.

After trialling a couple of seams we'd both got the hang of it and felt ready to move on to the real thing but I'm going to make sure I always have some muslin around for testing future blocks - it took all the pressure off and meant that we could just enjoy ourselves.

I've put together some photos and notes from my day to share with you, sorry it's no way enough to be a tutorial but some of my thoughts might be helpful to you.























So there they are all finished, my 2 New York Beauty June Bee Blocks and they're also on the NYC Mod Guild's blog.  I hope Kimberly loves them as much as I do and I know her quilt is going to be stunning. If I get to see it finished then I'll see if I can share a photo of it with you.

Since publishing this post Kati from Kati's Quilting and Sewing has told me about an Add a Quarter Inch Ruler which is very useful for paper piecing.  I have had a look at the company website and they give some very useful tips and suggestions for paper piecing which you may want to have a look at - C M Designs, Inc.


Related posts:
Stop Blogging; Start Making
Liberated Log Cabin - My August Bee Block

Click these buttons to see more of my NYC Mod Guild blocks and my tutorials

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.