Return from Asilomar

I'm back...have been since 2 a.m. on Thursday morning. Then the laundry and the time change and unpacking and putting things away and the two quilts I've finished and the next one loaded have all taken time. I cannot get used to the time change this year. We keep having dinner at 8:30--not good. Especially since we still get up at 6. I need to watch the clock and not the daylight to figure out when to eat.

But...here goes! Judy Niemeyer's class was phenomenal! We had 25 (or so) students in the class, all working on various stages of their own projects. Several had begun projects and were finishing up and even more had never done a Judy quilt and were newbies, like Cindy and myself. I was the only one doing Agave Cactus, several were doing the Bali Wedding Star (more about that later), another started Judy's fun log cabin pattern and others were working on still different projects. We probably had about 12 different patterns going at the same time. I was a bit concerned that I'd be lost in the shuffle, but Judy's teaching method left no one needing attention or instruction. She's very down-to-earth and an excellent teacher.

Because I was the only one working on this project, Judy got me started with the outside border to keep me busy until she could help with the center star. The top left is a piece in the picture below shows one of the border sections. There are four of each of those in that configuration; then four more in the opposite configuration. By the time I had been there for two days, I was strip piecing those as if I'd been doing Judy's quilts forever!

Joyce was right; my center star probably would have looked better with batiks that read more as solids, but I'm okay with it. There is one mistake that took us a bit to figure out; bet you can't see it. We'll see if you can tell when I post the finished project (notice I said "when," and not "if.")

Judy's quilts are done in components. This shows all the border pieces, the center star, the "lone star" piece as well as the outer star bits. I have almost all my components done and plan to put them together soon! 

The last day at Empty Spools is a "walkabout." At 4 on the last full day (when class is supposed to be over for the day), everyone tours the other classrooms. A great idea to get you motivated and inspired for next year's project. Before folks started touring, Judy was at my design board and attempted to put the quilt together in some semblance of order. The darn thing is huge! She ran out of room rather quickly.

Other than the "lonestar" segments and a few border bits, I am ready to put this baby together. Its a bit intimidating, but I think I can do it. Then I have to applique on the little curved bits at the ends of the blue/purple/green sections. Of course, that means fusing...I don't applique.

While I was busy in Pacific Grove building a quilt, Dennis was busy in Port Townsend. He built this Greenland Kayak in 7 days! They built them using the stitch and glue method, so he was doing some sewing of his own.

PS...thanks for the nudge, Joyce--got me to post!!!