Loon Lake Retreat 2013

This past long weekend I had the amazing opportunity once again to attend the Loon Lake Quilt Retreat in beautiful British Columbia!  Loon Lake is and hour or so outside of Vancouver, a quiet (except for the rowdy quilters) lodge all on its own on a tranquil lake surrounded by mountains, forest and mist.  Sigh. Pretty much the best thing you can imagine.

The retreat is run by the lovely Krista/K1 of Poppyprint.  I was lucky enough to get invited on a cancelation last year, and have basically told The Hubs that there is no freaking way I am relinquishing my spot EVER, so I plan for this to be my annual get away.  I was on my best behaviour and, aside from trying to engage a group of Buddists in conversation (who happened to by on a silent retreat), I managed to behave and avoid any of the ridiculously embarrassing predicaments that I normally find myself in.  It is a pretty exclusive group of incredible quilters and women hand picked by Krista.  

Everyone gets along so well and it is four days filled with inspiration and food and wine and nature and essentially BLISS. So if you are hoping to ever crack the list and weasel in on a cancellation like me, I suggest you start buttering Krista up now- she likes coffee and chocolate, FYI.

Aside from Krista/K1, I also got to reunite with Krista/K2 Withers, the amazing long arm quilter.  Just a warm, personable fun girl.  I also finally met Krista/K3 of Spotted Stones, who I just loved so much.  Incredibly sweet and kind, and just an amazing aesthetic.  She whipped up the most beautiful things!  I even got spoiled with some gifts on my first day there- one of K3's fabulous deer hyde and screen printed fabric pouches and a Liberty hand embroidered bookmark and book from K1.  Thanks ladies! I love them :)

And of course there is the lovely Felicity of Felicity Quilts, the hilarious Berene of Happy Sew Lucky, the talented Janet of What Comes Next?, and Sindy, JoAnne, Paula and more who you may know from IG.  Such an amazing group who have become true friends! I sewed a table with Felicity, Sindy and Petrushka all and they kept me in stitches (pardon the pun) all weekend!

(3 o'clock in B.C. but 5 o'clock Winnipeg time…time for wine!)

Anyways, enough name dropping ;)

So what did I actually DO?  I spent some time each morning having tea and doing a little stitching outside on the dock, enjoying the quiet and the view.

I went on a two hour hike around the lake with a group of ladies.  We channelled our inner Huckleberry Finns to use this wooden raft on a pulley system to cross the lake.

Of course I did some sewing.

In fact, I borrowed K1's old Pfaff and I am pretty sure it was crying for mercy!  Amazing how much you can get done with a glass of wine in hand ;)   I pre-cut all my fabric which was a huge help, and managed to stitch together 3 quilt tops and 5 pouches!

For two of the quilt tops, I used the same fabrics but different patterns.  They are twin sized, meant for Last But Not Least's bunk beds at the cottage.  Bright and happy pinks, oranges and yellows, perfect for summertime!  I went with simple classic patterns, ones I thought that would fit in well with cottage style- equilateral triangles and Granny Squares. I love how they coordinate without being match-matchy.

I ran out of steam before finishing the final twin quilt top for the girls, but squeaked out this baby top from squares that Alison sent me ages ago in a lovely french-themed gauze print.  Will be perfect for a French-Canadian little girl who recently entered the world!

I was gifted some adorable zippers from Berene, so some pouches needed to be made :)  Three were for my kids, and the other 2 will head overseas full of goodies and Christmas gifts for some sweet kids. I hand embroidered the girls' names on theirs, mimicking the speech bubbles in the Erin McMorris Moxie fabric.  For the boys' pouches, I embroidered a simple first initial and patched it in with Essex yarn dyed linen and some home dec weight text fabric from Sweetwater.

Looking back on these pictures makes me a bit moody.  Hard to believe it has come and gone again.  Yes, I am going through a bit of withdrawal.  Only 360 sleeps until next time!

turkey coma

Thanksgiving in Canada has come and gone yet again, and as usual we have so much to be grateful for.   The kids are back at school today and I am spending my day off boiling bones to make soup and catching up, emerging from my turkey stupor to blog a wee bit!

It was a great long weekend.  The Hubs was actually away for most of in it Vegas with some buddies doing some no doubt unmentionable things to celebrate a 40th birthday.  Apparently it involved a variety of costumes.....he has not disclosed much to me to be honest, but his friend mentioned at one point they had to go buy Sharpies for him to sign autographs as he kept being mistaken for Jon Bon Jovi.  Do I really want to know the details?  Probably not.

But the luck was REALLY rolling back at  home in Winnipeg!  I took the kids to see a movie and afterward was suckered into letting them have toonies to play "The Claw"- you know, that game where you use a joystick to guide a claw and try to have it grab a stuffed toy?  The one where no one ever wins??  Well, history was made right here, people.  Last But Not Least won not one, but FIVE (!!!) toys....and get this, in ONE TURN!!  Insane.  The kids and their friends went absolutely mental, as I am sure you can imagine.  This moment will become the folklore passed from generation to generation in our family, no doubt.  Got a grainy photo of their glee.  Just awesome.

Between the usual hockey/ringette/dance schedule that keeps us running this weekend, I actually found some quiet moments to knit and sew.  I am feeling a surge of creativity lately and am chomping at the bit to MAKE.  First off, made some cute booties for The Plaid Baby.  Pattern here.

Should be a lovely accompaniment to her sweater :)

Next, raided my scrap bin for blues and greens and made this quilt top, entirely inspired by this one by Blue Elephant Stitches.  I just love how it came out!

And a little hand stitching and embroidery on another quilty project as well!

I also spent a good deal of the weekend outside enjoying the beautiful turning of the leaves....fall is my favorite time of year with all the colors and the honking Canada geese flying overhead!

As soon as Thanksgiving dinner was eaten, the girls declared it was time for the next holiday, and dragged out The Ghastlies quilt to snuggle with. I think this is my all time favourite!

Have a wonderful week!
Kristie :)

undone

So much accomplished, yet so much left undone!

Finished my Briar Rose lattice quilt top that I was working on, plus finished another quilt top last week....which leaves me with three quilt tops that need some backs and finishing.

This wee sweater, Coolbreeze Baby by Tanis Fiber Arts (intended for The Plaid Baby!) needs some seaming and some buttons to be in the "completed" pile.

Meanwhile, I am driven to distraction by the adult version for me!

I had high hopes of getting to some of this on my days off this week, but with a string of nights tending to puking kids and one home with me today, I am thinking that I may just come undone myself!!

Atlanta trip- the sewing

I had one goal and one goal only while in Atlanta: work on my Good Folks king quilt.  And...I even finished the top!!

I have had this bundle of Good Folks for almost 3 years, and was too paralyzed to cut it.  I knew I wanted something special just for me.  Finally, I decided it was Time.  And go big or go home....how about a king quilt for our bed?

Being a king quilt, I wanted larger blocks to keep things proportional.  And, I am not gonna lie to you, I didn't want to spend a million years cutting teeny tiny pieces, so that by the time it was done, I hated the thing. Besides, Anna Maria's fabrics look amazing in larger chunks.  These blocks finish up at 15" each.

I am happy to say (and I have witnesses), that not only was I gushing and giddy the entire time that I was sewing this top, I didn't even utter a single swear word during its construction.  True story!

It came together much faster than I had even dared to dream it would.  But I was on a mission.  Juki and I went hard!

I decided to use a mixture of low volume fabrics as my neutral, and this is one of my favorite parts of the quilt.

I bought a bunch of buttery Little Folks voile for the back.

 

This baby finishes up at 120" by 90"!  It will be sent to Krista to do some quilting magic :)

it's a good day for making quilts....

It's about minus bazillion degrees outside, and all I want to do is curl up under a quilt, knitting or making another quilt, with a big cup of tea and the fireplace on!  Here is the dreadful forecast for "Winterpeg" this week:

For those unfamiliar with the Celsius system, -30 C is about -22F, i.e., colder than your deep freezer.  There are only really a few choice words to describe it, and most of those have four letters.

But, on the "plus" side, I have managed to finish my wonky "plus/cross" quilt top, which is especially fitting as I am "crossing" my fingers that the temperatures will return to the "plus" side of the scale one of these days!  I sliced up a bunch of scraps and fabrics, no measuring, and made blocks of all sizes, which I then spliced together using neutrals.  I absolutely love how it turned out, and it was pure joy to make.  And I know just who to gift it to when it is all done.

It seems to be popular with the furry people, too.  It took all of 20 seconds on the floor before Bailey the Wonderdog claimed it as his own. Smart pooch!

Happy Monday.  Keep warm! ;)

what I am working on now....

It has been a slow crafting start to 2013, just busy with life in general, but I always have my hand in something, or else I would have no excuse and have to clean up my tornado of a sewing space ;)

Quilting-wise, I am really excited about the newest improv top I have started.  I am using a bunch of my favorite fabrics and slashing them up, no measurements, and then am piecing them together as I go, adding bits of neutral scraps here and there.  I came up with the idea and had a rough sketch drawn in about 3 minutes, and usually my favorite quilts start that way, just done for the love of stitching.  I have a recipient in mind for this, but no timeline, so I will pick at blocks here and there. Here is what I have so far.

In the knitting arena, I decided a new year warranted casting on a new sweater!  The pattern is the top-down cable yoke jacket by Cotton and Cloud, and has the sweetest braided cable yoke and a hood. This will be a longer term project, and is for The Middle Child, who is so sweet and my biggest crafting cheerleader.  She was asking for a purple sweater and this yarn, Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras, is knocking me out with its softness and gorgeous tones.  Might need a big-girl one!  It is coming along quickly thanks to my latest obsession, Downton Abbey.  I treated myself to seasons 1 and 2 as an early birthday gift and so that has planted my arse on the couch with my knitting needles more frequently than normal.  In fact, I have named this the "Downton Sweater" and have joined up with the Downton Abbey Knit Along over at luv in the mommyhood.  Good fun!  Just started Seaason 2 and really enjoying it!

I have a couple other quilts to finish up, and a swap project to work on, so I am hoping to get some time to get at these!  In the meantime, my sidekick and I are likely curled up on the couch like this.... :)

Ghastlies quilt top

I had never even heard of The Ghastlies until I was let loose on a bunch of genuine quilt shops in Salt Lake City during Sewing Summit last year.  I am not much of a Halloween person, but when I saw this fabric I couldn't resist picking up a bit, just in case.  I managed to put together a couple blocks last fall and decided to pull it out again to see if I could make some progress this year before Halloween came and went again.  My intention was to make a wall hanging for our front door, but I was having too much fun and soon amassed more than enough blocks for a full quit!

 

I did the individual blocks with no rules or measurements in mind, just added fabric until I felt they were fun.  I added some purples, pinks and marigold oranges from my stash for pops of color along with the greys and blacks, and I love the combination.  I spliced the blocks all together very free form with some Alexander Henry Heath (I am sure there is an easier way to do this than what I did) and then decided to frame the collection with a wonky border in the coordinating fabrics.

Some of my favorite characters! Of course the knitting sisters are featured in there :)

Even spliced a few extra ghastly folks in along the borders.

I had fun every minute making this quilt top.  Now to decide on some fun quilting...I am thinking spider webs??

Drunkard's Path QAL: Link up your quilt tops!

Whoo hoo! We finished! This block wasn't for sissies :) Good job everyone! It has been so fun for Kate and I watching all the lovely quilt tops take shape over in the Flickr group.


The process had its moments, but once I saw my final quilt top, I was in love. I am pretty sure this will be my favorite quilt ever. And it is mine-all-mine!! I am treating myself to some long arm quilting on this one by Jenny :)

I love the fabrics (Bonnie and Camille's Ruby), and am really happy with the block arrangement that I chose (thanks to everyone for their input!). It was the scrappy diamond shaped option which had the secondary shape of the flower in white once the blocks were joined together. With so many great block options, I am pretty certain that I will be back to do another of these in the future.


Now it is time to link up your finished quilt top (or quilt, for those of you who have finished!) to be eligible for one of our prizes! We have 2 amazing prizes:

- a $40 gift certificate from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics!
- a fat quarter bundle of Tula Pink's Prince Charming fabric from Fabric Shoppe!

Be sure to visit these great shops to show your appreciation :)




So go ahead and link up your quilt tops! Links will show up both here and on Kate's blog (how cool is that?). You can link up until December 5, 2011, at which time we will randomly select our 2 winners. Good luck, and congratulations on your finishes!

Blech.

Finished up a new quilt top, but it is not my favorite.....


Liked the pattern. LOVED the fabric line (Children at Play) and I even added some more of my favorites. But put it all together, and it didn't do much for me. It seemed kind of drab. So, I bought some more fabric while at Sewing Summit and thought I would add bolder borders and bring it up to double bed size. So now it is just an EXPENSIVE quilt top that I still don't love!

Ah well, it is just destined for the guest bed in my craft room, where I can see it and brood over it every day, lol! I am going to ship this puppy off to Jenny to quilt so hopefully she can turn things around and make me love it (no pressure or anything, Jenny.....). I have never had a quilt long armed before! But a double size (85" x 100") is beyond what my little machine can handle, so I am excited to try farming out the quilting, which is normally my least favorite step anyhow. And it will be good for me to be separated from this one for awhile! I know it is in good hands with Jenny, I have been crushing on her work since I found her via the Blogger's Quilt Festival last spring. Speaking of which- the fall festival starts up on October 28, so get busy, people!

Vintage sheet quilt top

Got this one sewn together..... ....it makes me smile. Have a great weekend!