Quilt Retreat with the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild

For the spring retreat with the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild I did something I NEVER do:

I was organized!  I knew what I was going to make at the retreat!  I actually PREPARED!  In Advance!  People, this is a rare moment for me.....

I read the winter issue of Quiltfolk magazine.  (Have you subscribed yet?  If not, you should!  It is such an unusual and amazing publication!).  I've linked it here so you can click on over.  

In this issue (Issue #4) Anna Maria Horner collaborated with another quilt artist and they each developed a quilt pattern: one is a traditional iteration, and Anna Maria's is a modern take using her fabric collection.  I was enamored with Anna Maria's version and I purchased some of her fabric, added some from my Urban Garden Collection from RJR, and made the quilt!

This is the unheard of part:  I actually CUT EVERYTHING in advance of the retreat and had all my pieces organized into a 3-ring binder.  Gasp!

Here is a photo I took from the magazine article showing Anna and the other quilt artist 

(apologies:  I cannot recall her name!) showing Anna's quilt

Here I am at home, prior to the retreat, selecting and cutting my fabrics

I'm at the retreat and sewing all my blocks...

Blocks going up on the design wall....

closeup of a section.  I think Anna's collection and mine go well together!

the back....

here is the completed quilt.  It is, as I write, at Joanna Marsh's to be longarmed!

Musings From a Weekend Retreat with the SA Mod Quilt Guild

I've been in love with quilt making of one sort or another for, well, a very long time.  I grew up watching my paternal grandmother, a seamstress in a small Kansas town, piece, then quilt by hand on a frame, all sorts of quilts.  I fell in love with quilting when re-acquainted with it by Edith York, a nurse-colleague of mine in the labor and delivery unit where I used to work.  I fell in love again when I started creating things of my own design, and when I learned how to dye and print my own textiles it was icing on the cake.  All this spans over (ahem) quite a few years.  I took it up myself in the early 80s.
I had never gone on a quilting retreat until I fell in step with the San Antonio Modern Quilt guild.  Now I have been on three!  The latest was this past weekend at a place called the Deep Woods Retreat Center, near Smithville Texas.   It is really sort of perfect:  nice sleeping quarters right off the work-area, and a dining room on the opposite side of the work area from the sleeping quarters.  It has a covered loading area to move all the stuff in and out of vehicles without risking the weather.  Not that we get much rain.
I drove up on Thursday afternoon, set up my machine, and got down to it.  Here are some images from the weekend.

Everyone had a lot of design wall space because there were only 16 of us.

It was great!  I had 3 4x8 sections, and managed to take over 3 more.

 I made the rounds and looked at everyone's pincushions.  Here are a few:

this just makes me laugh.

I purchased a set of Marcia Derse fat quarters in Long Beach and 

I wanted to create something paired with Kaffe Fassett shot cotton solids....

This is as far as I could get since I ran out of the dark charcoal solid.

It will have a narrow, then wide border in the gray with some additional 3.5 inch squares 

sprinkled in.

It makes me think of a birds-eye view of a cityscape:  the rooftop elements.

I became reacquainted with how to set in corners.  The right half is much more reasonably 

organized than the left, which is kluged together.  Lots of right angle corner sets.  Ugh.

I'll tidy it all up later....

Then I pulled out and added to these blocks.

My friend Kim played around with the swatches in the center of each block.

I need to add that this was happening about 3 am.

I'm thinking of adding circular elements in some or all of the central squares.

What do you think?  Add something, or leave them as is?

Here it is, completely joined.  It is big!

These 2 tops took most of 3 days.  It was a wonderful time!

You know me and circular stuff...I had to snap this stacked wood:

The San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild retreat (recap)

Cake, or not, this was the theme of the weekend for the group of SAMQG members who traveled to the Deep Woods retreat center in Smithville TX for the second annual retreat.  With quilt makers and scrapbookers in mind, the Deep Woods facility was ideal for our retreat:  a large building with great lighting, plenty of design wall and table space, a dining room with commercial kitchen directly off the work-area, and 6 bedrooms, each with a full bath, in separate hallways off the opposite side of the work area from the dining room.  Each room had 4 twin beds, which were very comfortable (I'm embarrassed to admit I was concerned about this:  I'm such a baby!).

The retreat center owners provided a lovely lunch and dinner.  There was a bit of confusion about breakfast, but no worries:  we had enough "stuff" of our own to deal with it.  I believe we will bring some breakfast items the next time we come.

One of the first things we did was make our beds.  We were encouraged to bring a quilt for our bed:  it could be one we made, or one that had some special meaning to us.  Most had quilts that had a wonderful story attached to it.  I loved the quilts people brought that their mother made when they left for college, old quilts that had been acquired by another family member (provenance unknown, but still beloved), and quilts that had been made for another loved one.  We voted on our favorite which was not an easy task.  By overwhelming majority, Erica Mitchell won for the beautiful quilt she made, but had not yet given, her grandmother.  Equally gorgeous on both sides, the quilt is something special!

The group gathers in one of the bedrooms to hear the story of each quilt.

Erica Mitchell's beautiful quilt, made for her grandmother.

My design wall with 2 projects residing side-by-side.

I can't overstate how happy I am with my new SewEzi table.

I placed it at a right-angle to the work table, giving me extra room for my supplies.

My position to the table was perfect, from an ergonomic standpoint.

This has become critical to me since I am struggling with chronic tendonitis and ulnar neuropathy,

all a result of repetitive motion.  Stretch, people!!

I'm adding another little tidbit:  I always carry a Dyna Disc when I go to places with long sitting/sewing

sessions.  What is it?  I discovered this little gem many years ago from a fiber-artist friend.

I bought one to carry along to the many (and I mean MANY) softball games I attended with my daughters.  Bleachers are hard, full of splinters, and this little thing really made a difference.

The other added bonus:  it raises my height a couple inches which helps with the positioning at the sewing table.  Check it out:

Here is the link.

Another shot of a portion of the large work room.