Giveaway!!

Okay, I'm not giving away anything, but my friend, Shannon, is.  Check out her blogpost (click here) to read about what's up for grabs.  I love it and am keeping my fingers crossed that I'm the lucky winner.  Amazing how well I type with crossed fingers, isn't it??

Isn't this great??

Empty Spools at Asilomar

Isn't this the most gorgeous view?

This is what I woke up to on the Sunday morning before heading to Asilomar and my first quilting retreat with Empty Spools.  I say first because there will be many.  My friend, Cindy, and I drove down together from her grandparents' house in Santa Cruz.  Their house was built in the late 40's as a "party house." The views are all of Montery Bay; directly across is Fort Ord and a bit to the north of that is Monterey.  The interior of the house is very much of that period.  It is "U" shaped with a concrete courtyard in the middle of the "U."  There is a bar are in the dining room that can be opened to the courtyard and a huge wall that can be lifted to open up the living room to the courtyard as well.  It was terrific to be able to stay there.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon, February 20, and was able to meet up with another good friend for dinner.  She took me for the most excellent Italian meal I've had in quite some time. Then we went to her house and played "blind girls sewing" while we set up her new sewing machine.  She'd left her glasses in the car, so I'd put mine on, show her something, then she'd take them, put them on, and repeat it.  Good thing no one was watching!

Sunday morning we were off for Asilomar and Empty Spools.  Cindy and I had signed up to take Janet Fogg's class.  I have loved her style ever since seeing her "Kitty Corner" quilt at Pacific International Quilt Festival a few years ago.  There were 15 people in our class and we went through the entire process of creating a quilt using her methods.  It was quite an undertaking; mine won't be done for quite some time!

Below is a picture of what our room looked like.  My sister, Barbara, met us at Asilomar and she and I roomed together.  Cindy stayed in the next room over. 

This is only one of the beautiful view we saw when walking the grounds. Its a very peaceful place and very relaxing. 

Although hard to imagine from this picture, this will eventually be a quilt featuring Emma.  The process is so complex that in four full days, I was only able to get her head put together.  Her mane is still in pattern pieces.  This photo shows the colors being auditioned before sewing.  Some have been changed.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the diagram better.  The large areas coming from the top of her body will be the sky in dark purple to blue batiks.  Below her, the grass that she's running across, will be the block called "Rite of Spring" -- seemed appropriate. On her butt is the center of the Rite of Spring block which will be done in her body colors, but the block will shine through.  At least, it will if I do it right...

This was the 25th Anniversary for Empty Spools at Asilomar.  In honor of that, they asked every teacher who had ever taught there to contribute a block befitting the occasion.  The blocks were then assembled into six quilts.  Each attendee got to put their name in the hat for an opportunity to take one of the quilts home.  On the last night the lucky winner was drawn and was actually a woman that was also in Janet's class--it almost felt like we had all won.  She won't get to take her quilt home until the sessions are over so that all can enjoy them.  During the last session, all the names will go back in the hat for one final quilt.  Chances of my winning that are only slightly better than my winning the lotto; I don't play the lotto.

So...next year.  I had to beg my sister and Cindy to come to Asilomar.  When my sister finally decided to come, she didn't want to take the same class as me.  That was disappointing, but then Cindy decided to come and she wanted to take Janet's class as well.  After the first full day of class, the two of them were already planning for next year.  I couldn't believe it.  The plan for next year is that we're all going to take Sally Collins' class.  Sally is incredibly nice and the most precise quilter in the world and hopefully, when I'm done with her class, my blocks that are supposed to be 10 1/2 for a 10" finished block will actually be 10 1/2"--wouldn't that be special??

Below is just one of Sally's quilts:

2010 Opportunity Quilt

As promised, its the day after our guild meeting and here is the 2010 Opportunity Quilt.  We're calling it Jewel of the Mountains and its a French braid design (obviously).  The members did a great job piecing this quilt; it was really fun to work on.

 

And here's a close-up showing the swag and bead-board border with Bottom Line Copper.  I did the center of the quilt with the Double Plume pantograph by Keryn Emmerson  using King Tut Berry Patch on top and So Fine! in the bobbin.  The center was way too busy for any custom quilting.

And here's a photo of the back.  The fabric is the most delicious purple!!

If you'd like a ticket, let me know.  They're the usual $1 each or 6 for $5; and the drawing will be in September.

Pictures of Miscellaneous Stuff

My camera cord arrived, so now you get photos:

This was a few weeks ago...Emma needed her feet trimmed; however, I don't think she thought a chainsaw was the correct tool!  Luckily, Dennis was just headed out to chop some downed trees into rounds for firewood.

These are our good friends, Julie and Abi. 

They're in a bit of a pickle.  They live several miles in, down a windy, tree-lined, dirt road.  They ordered this park model rv, got the outside measurements and then measured the road into their place to be sure it fit.  Slight problem:  The rv was actually 13'8"--not the 12' they were told.

Two days later, one tree down and part of the roof removed, the rv is at its new home...perseverence wins out!

The yurt has turned out to be such a wonderful space.  I never bought much into the feng shui stuff, but the building is round and feels so good when we're in it.  This is a picture of the sky through the skylight on top.  It lets in so much light during the day that I often forget to turn on the lights above my longarm--who needs them??  Now that the weather has changed (I know its only February, but its spring in Butterfly Valley!), we have a fire in the morning, let it die in the afternoon, and open windows and the skylight and its perfect in there!

I mentioned my sister's visit in my last post and the $100 worth of gift cards I had for quilt shops.  Note:  The key word is "had."  A friend and I went to Reno last week and I spent every last penny.  This is my loot!  I found a colorway for Mythical Horses that I hadn't seen before.  I have every last one of those fabrics; unfortunately, I'm afraid to cut them because they're so beautiful. (I'd be open to suggestion though, if you've seen a pattern with them that looks great)  The bright purple, green and sunflowers are for a block swap I'm doing (you can check it out here).  The purple and brown batiks are to finish my retreat quilt and the others are to take with me to Asilomar next week.

Finally--Some Quilts

Okay, I'm back to blogging--hopefully a bit more regularly. *fingers crossed*

This is a picture of our Guild's Opportunity Quilt.  Well, it a picture of a small portion of it.  The Guild hasn't seen it yet since I've just finished it, but I wanted to share a little corner of it.  You'll see the whole thing after our meeting on the 16th.  I used the swag template from Constantine Quilts for the border.  It was my first time using it and I love how it turned out.  I also love how easy it was to drive "Lilly" with the new Edgeriders.  They are truly worth every penny!!

This was a really fun weekend for me.  My sister, Barb, who lives in Carson came up and was the first sewing guest in the yurt.  It was great; we sewed and Dennis embroidered a blanket for a horse and we didn't trip over each other once!  *happy dance*  When she came up before, we had to sew at the kitchen table; then when my mother-in-law moved in, there was no room for sewing.  This is the first time in almost a year that we've been able to sew here.  She came up on Friday and we sewed in the evening. Saturday morning we opened presents (it was a late Christmas and my birthday).  I got a Belgian waffle maker--mine broke almost two years ago and I've missed it; now I have a new one!  And she bought some really cute Christmas tree lights that are quilt blocks...aren't they cute?

I worked on the quilt from our retreat last September.  I have it as far as it can go until I buy more fabric.  And it just so happens that I'm going to Reno on Wednesday with a friend and we'll be hitting the quilt shops.  I have three...count' em...three gift cards burning a hole in my wallet.  I'm sure I'll find some fabric that just has to come home with me!!

This is the retreat quilt so far.  I'm not really loving it...but I'm determined to finish it.

Its hanging on my new design "wall."  The wall is a wire that is strung across the yurt with tiny little clamps on it to hold the quilts.  I think it will work well.  Since yurt walls are round, having a real design wall isn't an option.  This works though!

More to follow....