Asilomar 2012 - Part One

For the third year in a row, Cindy and I headed out for our Empty Spools session at Asilomar. I spent the week before our trip in Quincy, dropping off and picking up quilts and catching up with good friends. It was a nice being back, but boy was it HOT!

We left Quincy Friday morning and made our first, and traditional, very important stop at Morning Star Quilt Shop. Since Dennis had commandeered one of my suitcases with deliveries that had to be made for him, I was forced to buy fabric for my Empty Spools project. It was painful, but someone had to do it! I ended up purchasing mostly blues and oranges (surprise!), but more on that in Part 2.

Friday and Saturday nights were spent with Cindy's brother, Dick, and his wife, Lynn. Really nice people and best of all, they have five dogs, two horses, one miniature pony and one miniature donkey.  The donkey was so cute and Dick even offered to let me take her home, much to Lynn's dismay! This is their biggest dog; isn't she beautiful! They also have two normal sized and two small ones.

Sunday, a few more quilt shops and then we checked in at Asilomar. It was lovely there all week long. No bad weather, lots of sunshine, walks on the beach every morning and, best of all, quilting all day long!

Cindy and I have a pretty good routine since she likes to sleep in a bit and I like to get up. I go for a good walk (have to get some exercise to prepare for all the food eaten during the day) and am back to our room in time to get ready for breakfast. This is the "trail" that takes you to the ocean beach.

First view of the ocean.

The view headed back to our classroom one evening after dinner. It is just so beautiful and relaxing there. I'm already saving my pennies for next year!

Dory

A Family Affair -- Completed

If you haven't read my original post with the history of this quilt, you can click here. If you have (or don't care about the history) keep on reading!

My sister Barbara came up to visit in May and we finished Corrie's quilt.  Okay, we didn't totally finish it, but I did finish my part.  I quilted the easy bits, the border and sashing. Barb and I had been having a debate to determine how to quilt the blocks, themselves. I wanted to be whimsical, Barb wanted to be traditional. So we compromised and she quilted all the cross-hatching.  Let's see...how fair is that??  Hmmm...took me about two hours total to do my part; took her about 20 hours for hers! Plus, she made the quilt and then did all the embellishing. I skated!!!

I think it turned out great and the recipient, my other sister, Donna, Corrie's mom, was thrilled when she got it in the mail! That was the best part.

Here are the photos. They are worth clicking on for an up-close view, not only for the quilting (which my sister does at a domestic sit-down machine with her hopping foot! *crazy*), but for the embellishments! This really was a labor of love!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program!

Dory

A Quilt for Baby Dylan

My niece, Ashley, and her husband Ben are having their first baby. Dylan is supposed to be born some time in July...at least that's what the docs say.  I made him a quilt and tried a few new tools and techniques as well.

I purchased a panel, some matching fabrics and this is what I ended up with.

 I cc'd the four-patch blocks and then practiced "dwirling" in the center over the panel. That was one of the new techniques. It turned out nice and didn't distract from the panel at all, IMHO.

The back...

Then, new technique #2, I made bias binding. I found several "how to's" on You Tube and just went for it. Seemed to work out okay.  New technique #3, I attached the binding while it was on the machine. I've never done that before and won't ever do it for a show quilt; however, for an everyday quilt, it worked great.  I plan to get lots more use from it!

I used this tool from Anilee that I purchased ages ago. Its nice to finally give it a go.

Finally, technique #4 and another ruler. This one is called "The Binding Tool," and gives you the exact measurements for cutting your binding so that it can be pieced together. No more big lump where the ends meet!

Now to have Dennis embroider a label for me and it will be off in the mail!

Dory

Quincy Crazy Quilters BOM 2011

Marei finished her BOM some time ago and sent it to me for quilting. I love the colors she chose; it makes me want to get busy and finish mine!

As with this quilt and most BOMs, its a sampler. Marei added sashing and cornerstones to really offset the blocks. She's going to use it as a table cloth...can you imagine?  I'd use it as a table cloth as long as no one even thought of eating on it!! Its way too pretty for that.

I did something different with this quilt at Marei's request. She wanted an allover pattern. Initially, it was to be a panto, but I really don't like doing pantos. So after some conversations back and forth, I did my version of a panto...what do you think?? I found it really fun to just quilt along with no worries about blocks or sashings!

Dory

Happy Father's Day to Me!

Today is Father's Day and the first day of my third session at Empty Spools. I save my pennies all year so that I can go here with my best friend, Cindy. Next year, we may be a foursome. My sister, Barb, is coming for sure (she's already signed up) and another friend from Quincy may come to. Funny thing is, she's not a quilter. She just wants to come and hang out!!

I'll be working on my Storm at Sea block with Wendy Mathson all week. Its going to be so much fun!!!

Wendy Mathson Storm at Sea "The Wendy Way" Quilters have loved this pattern for years, intrigued by how straight line piecing gives the illusion of curves. Storm at Sea may be an old favorite, but it doesn't need to be pieced the old-fashioned way! In this class you'll learn my innovative TRIMplate® piecing technique which allows you to make the units quickly and easily, without sacrificing accuracy. This is a trim-after-you-sew method with no templates, no paper piecing, and no bias on the outer edges. Students will work on one or more projects of their choice. We will explore the vast design potential of Storm and Sea, which can be anything from traditional and scrappy to innovative and contemporary. www.QuiltsbyWendy.com Level: All Supply List

Dory

Its a Beautiful Morning

Dennis rows on Wednesday mornings with a group from Port Angeles. This last Wednesday it was so beautiful out that I went with him. While he rowed, I rode my bike from Ediz Hook back toward Sequim on the Olympic Discovery Trail. It is the most gorgeous trail and heading from PA to Sequim means miles of riding along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  It was so beautiful.

This is the boathouse where we both started and the view from there toward the water and PA.

Dennis rowing...

It was such a beautiful morning!

Dory

From the Right Coast

This gorgeous quilt came to me all the way wfrom South Carolina!!  Imagine that...I certainly felt honored.

I met Joyce the first time I attended an Empty Spools session at Asilomar three years ago. She and I were in the same class taught by Janet Fogg. A few months back, she e-mailed to see if I'd like to quilt one of her quilts since she "liked the way I do samplers." Silly question!! Of course I wanted to quilt her quilt.

She sent it out and here are a few pictures of the blocks after quilting.

Here are two more, both front and back views:

And one last one that shows the swags in the border.

Can you tell I had fun with this quilt? Remember, for a closer look at any of these pics just click on them. 

Dory

Port Gamble, WA

My sister, Barbara, was here for a week during May. One of the things she wanted to do was visit a quilt shop she'd seen in Quilt Sampler magazine. It was on Vashon Island, a place I'd never been to. We set out early one morning for our self-guided shop hop, en route to Island Quilter on Vashon. After a two hour drive and a very short ferry ride, we were there. You travel for approximately four miles on the main road before you get to "town" proper and Island Quilter is on that main drag.

It was a beautiful store with a ton of fabric. I would highly recommend visiting this store if you get the chance. They also have a gorgeous class room with mostly contemporary quilts hung all around. They had the quilt hanging that was in the issue of Quilt Sampler that featured them; it was beautiful. The staff at Island Quilter were terrific and even gave us a coupon to have lunch at the Hardware Store; excellent food and nary a tool in sight! <wink>

From there we headed to Bainbridge Island and Pine Needles quilt shop, the home McKenna Ryan Quilt Designs. That is the most beautiful store with McKenna's quilts all around. They offer classes and kits for sale. One kit was hanging that Barb had even done herself.

Last stop was Port Gamble and Quilted Strait. I'd been to Quilted Strait when it was located in Port Angeles, but this was my first visit to Port Gamble and Quilted Strait in its new location. I fell in love with Port Gamble; the town is very historic and they take great pride in that. We walked around the town cameras in hand, it was that cute.

Quilted Strait:

A fun quilt in their shop:

The shop used to be a stable!

We loved this church. Barb got some great pics of it; I only had my phone so this doesn't even do it justice.

It was such a fun day traveling all over western Washington with my sister. Initially I had planned to drive, but then Barb ended up having to chauffeur us around. She was a good sport about it even though that meant hours of driving just two days before her long trip home to Carson City. I think she's convinced to fly up next time and I love that there will be a next time. We sewed/quilted almost every day and threw in a few fun outings. Next trip, I'll have even more fun things to show her.

Life is Good!!!

My ponies are home!  Since we've moved they've been at one neighbors or another's while we found the time to fence in at least one of our designated pasture areas. They will eventually have four areas here, plus one other at our neighbor's to the south.

I do love having them home!!

Here's a photo of the gang.  Apparently, the stress involved in eating just wore Kate out. She had to have a little break before she could keep filling up that tiny tummy *smirk*

Dory

Storm at Sea

Nope, I'm not on a trip...its a quilt. Isn't it gorgeous??

This quilt was made by Dale and she did an excellent job. I can't believe how many half-square triangles it takes to make one of these quilts. I don't think I would ever attempt it!  She did an excellent job piecing it which made my job so easy. I love the fabrics she used. One of my favorite styles are quilts that look like they were made in a different era.

I cc'd all the triangles (hope I didn't miss any!) and did a feather motif in the larger squares. Dale wanted feathers in the border as well, so I used the inner seam as the stem.

The back was fun, too...

Thanks for not giving up on me...posting will be a bit more regular in the future!


Dory