Canter's Cave Wrap-Up - Part 3

It's show time today, dear readers! You are in for a treat, getting to see the fantastic finishes and additional show-and-tell quilts from the ladies at the retreat. Let's get right to it.

This is a sweet baby quilt made by Anita - not a camper - she owns Canter's Cave! She was free for a good portion of the time we were there and joined us for sewing, sharing and dinner. Isn't it a great quilt?

Becky brought a quilt that she is ready to begin quilting and isn't it grand?!? Let's have some close-up shots.

I am giving serious consideration to beginning some sort of EPP quilt, and this is so very tempting. Becky brought two other in-progress quilts for show-and-tell - a smaller hexie quilt and a tumbling block quilt.

This sweet mini quilt is the type of EPP that one could work on and be able to finish in a reasonable time frame. Those big ones with a gazillion pieces are too intimidating. Becky is in the process of big-stitch hand quilting this mini.

Can you tell Becky has a thing for reproduction prints? These examples plus the Snail's Trails from yesterday's post all feature her love of repros.

The two quilts above are from Jan. The top one is her Thimbleberries finish. The bottom one is one she is making for a friend who lost her husband recently. These flannels are from his shirts. Jan is so thoughtful.

Laura finished her quilt - almost. She still has one border to add. The top picture shows her quilt with the first 2 borders; the next 2 pictures show the fabric she intends to use for the outer border. Very striking and perfectly suited.

Sharon's Christmas quilt looks spectacular. She will very likely have this quilted in plenty of time for the holidays. Or maybe she will gift it?

Jan and Sharon were the first to finish their Thimbleberries quilt tops, so they displayed their work on the furniture around the fire place to provide inspiration to those of us still working. Pretty nice view, I think you'd agree.

Susan got her quilt top together before we left. The lighting in the room gives this picture a fuzzy look, but it's gorgeous and tempting to place on my wish list.

This king-size beauty is Terry's finish. You can see why she didn't turn down Jan's offer of helping to pin and  match all those rows of blocks with the rows of sashing. It is supposed to get a border, but Terry is seriously considering leaving it off. The quilt is so heavy now that adding any more too it seem unnecessary. Plus, how will she ever get in to fit in her long-arm? Once finished, it will look fantastic with her decor.

Okay. So there you have all our finishes. Now, I still have stuff to share - namely food, shopping and goodies. All the really important stuff!! Since this post is already long, I think I will eke out one more post to finish off this retreat wrap-up. Gosh we had fun, and it was so super-productive!

See you tomorrow for the final installment of 2017 Canter's Cave Retreat.
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Canter's Cave Wrap-Up - Part 2

Part 1 of our retreat wrap-up was about what I did at Canter's Cave. Today I will share with you all of the in-process work all the other quilters did while at retreat. Then, tomorrow I will show finishes. And food. And shopping. Maybe more. *smile* 

I filed my pictures alphabetically by first names, so I suppose that makes sense as an order to follow for sharing our pictures.

One of our new campers is Becky who worked on these traditional Snail's Trails blocks. Several of us drooled over these beauties, and when Becky had to leave to go to work (at Old Town Fabric Shop!), we were all tempted to swipe a few blocks. When Becky came back to retreat, she brought some great quilts for show and tell which I will share tomorrow.

Jan chose to participate in our Thimbleberries challenge by making this Flying Geese quilt. I am sure there is a particular name for this version, but I can't locate my book that contains this pattern. Jan also finished another quilt, one that she'd been working on. And then, because all her projects were done, she made herself available to first Terry and then me for "wenching" services. She pressed, pinned, cut, and so on for us - a great time-saver!

Laura, too, participated in the challenge by making this version of Party Mix. It looks like true Lynette Jensen/Thimbleberries fabric, but Laura used what she had in her stash which is a mix of other designers.

Laura worked on several quilts at once, and when she tired of Party Mix, she had this mini-quilt to finish. She said she'd seen the picture in a magazine and tried to duplicate it with poison greens and cheddars.

Sharon P. was also new to our retreat this year. She is a long-time fan of Thimbleberries, so she knew from the start what she would work on. Back in 1999 she bought the fabric for this quilt, then stored it away in a tub just waiting on the right opportunity for construction. What a great feeling to get such an old UFO out and finished.

After finishing Cross Patch, she pulled out some blue and neutral 9-patch blocks to make. And from the looks of the pictures below, she made quite a bit of progress on them. I believe she said she would end up with 48 blocks. I do not know how she will be setting them together, so we will have to wait and see on how this finishes up.

Susan selected the Thimbleberries pattern called Goldenrod Patch for her retreat quilt. I was so happy to see this one, as I made this pattern a year ago and this new color combination might entice me to make another one. Susan's is a Christmas quilt using a variety of reds and greens with a single background. It looks spectacular.

Terry worked very diligently on this king-size blue and white 9-patch quilt. That's a lot of stitching. A similar quilt is on display at Old Town Fabric Shop, and Terry needed a bigger one for her bed. Between each block there is sashing and corner stones, so even for a simple 9-patch quilt, the stitching is precise and labor-intensive.

So you see what our efforts were. Come back tomorrow to see finishes!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Canter's Cave Wrap-Up - Part 1

So much was accomplished at Canter's Cave last week that I feel it necessary to spread out the updates over 2 or 3 posts just to keep the material manageable. Here in this first post, I will share with you the progress I made on my work over the course of the 2-and-a-half day retreat.

The theme (optional) we gave ourselves was to make a Thimbleberries pattern or use Thimbleberries fabrics or do both pattern and fabric. I selected a pattern called Star and Chain from the 1999 book Blue Skies; Star and Chain is featured on the cover, and I chose a darker set of (mostly) Thimbleberries fabrics for my version.

I began my work by making the 30 star blocks. That means 120 flying geese units. It seemed to take forever, but I eventually got them all done. Above are the parts for the red, gold, brown and green stars. I finished the blue stars first.

When I realized I was going to have a boatload of cut-away corners, I decided I would not waste them. I sewed them as I stitched, cut them off and packed them into a plastic bag for future use. Yes, that is a very small seam - about 1/8th inch after cutting.

When I finished the stars, I had the chains to make. For sashing strips, this was an involved step. I needed 120 units that leaned left and 120 units that leaned right. Yes, I sewed those extra cut-away corners, too.  It was like I was making 2 quilts at once, you know?

Thankfully, dear Jan offered assistance with cutting and pressing some of the final chain units. This freed me up to just concentrate on sewing. Whew. All the parts are mostly made and I will soon be ready - hopefully this week - to begin assembling.

Above is sweet Jan in full helper mode. She not only worked on some of my blocks, which you see on either side of her mat, but she helped Terry with pinning her king-sized quilt.

Not all my stitching was smooth-sailing. More than once I found this (above) on the bobbin-side of my blocks. Minor setbacks like this give me time to step away for a minute, get a snack, take a walk, stretch the legs and then get back to it. Generally, a quick clean-up of lint or re-threading the machine was all that I needed to do.

Above you see the fruits of my retreat labors. Thirty stars completed; all the red chains completed; half of the blue, brown, and gold chains completed. Partially completed blue, brown and gold chains. Ah! I need to amend my earlier statement: this is NOT all of my work. Somehow the green chains are MIA. Maybe they are buried further down in my tub. I do believe they are done, though. I need to sew corners on the remaining brown and gold chains, and then cut and press them all.

I will be in connecting mode soon!

Just a point of emphasis here. This pattern requires 736 2.5" squares. Of those, 616 are used in either chain units or flying geese units. This means that I have 616 itty-bitty HSTs - 2" - awaiting me for a future project. And they are all sewn together! I know I will appreciate this bit of extra effort. Right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Happy Easter!

Here's my wish to you and yours for a most blessed and wonderful Easter!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

An Easter Project

Hi Peeps! I am back from retreat, but have been too busy and tired to sort my pictures and post here for sharing. That will be a job for next week. In the meantime, I have been holding onto this sweet project that my friend Jan was making earlier this spring. I think you will like it, and you may well be putting this little sweetie on your to-do list for next Easter.

Jan was binding this when we sewed together at Terry's, and later it was on her table when we had Frankfort Girls at her house. What a fun and fast project! The stripe around the middle of each egg looked like large rick-rack to me, but no, it is fabric cut and appliqued on. Simple quilting and a colorful binding would make quick work of this decorative table runner.

Make one to match the Pinterest idea I grabbed last year and shared here. It would make a lovely ensemble.

Happy Quilting, Friends!