Grubers Quilt Retreat

The time I spend at the Gruber's quilt retreat every July is near and dear to my heart. This was my seventh year and these women are such special friends. Michelle (@speechyquilter) and Terri were not able to attend this year, and they were greatly missed.

I begin by spending the night with Amanda Jean. Her daughter, Abby, always lets me stay in her room, and always makes me feel so welcome.

She's such a cutie and I have the best time visiting with her. She is about the same age as my granddaughter, Charlotte, and I can't believe I've known her since she was about 4!

It's like a dream spending time in Amanda Jean's sewing room. SO much inspiration. Hopefully I'm not giving away any secrets here...

And I wish my fabric looked this organized.

Every year I get to choose a quilt from Amanda's vast collection of quilts to take along and put on my retreat bed. This year I chose one she had worked on the year before--you can't go wrong with Oakshott cottons and Essex linen.

There is really hardly anything better than spending quality time with good friends, catching up, sewing, laughing.

Rene' made each of us personalized Lego sewing machines!

This was my contribution. Next year I will try to actually sew something. :)

Here at home I'm surrounded by special "happies" from the retreat.

So many fun projects go on at the same time.

Stephanie worked on these two projects:

  It was such fun watching Mary's progress with these blocks.

 Mary's show and tell. I completely agree with this mini.

Doris had a couple of projects going on--her feathered stars were such fun with the Heather Ross fabric she was using.

And she made this pillow for a niece.

Rene' worked on this beautiful quilt top for her daughter, who was heading off for college.

Amanda was working on a quilt using her Marmalade jelly roll.

She even made a Charm Parade block, which was fun to see as that was my first-ever published pattern.

Oh, and pincushions. Lots of pincushions...It was July, after all, and this is the second year she has made a new pincushion each day of the month!

Behind the scenes...

I worked on a project that was secret at the time, but is no longer secret so I'll be showing lots of pictures of it soon.

Stephanie and I had won an Instagram giveaway, and we decided to take a picture together along with our winnings.

We had a couple of extra special bonuses this year. Maria Hanson (@quiltmomoffive on Instagram) had made one of the quilts from Shelly's book. She lives only about 40 minutes away from Gruber's and when she realized that Shelly was so close by, she asked if she could come meet her in real life. Of course! In the meantime, we all stalked her Instagram feed and saw some amazing things (highly recommended). She brought some hand work along and stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. It was such fun.

Shelly, Maria and Stephanie

And then she invited us to her home for dinner the next night. This is the first field trip we have taken, and it was such fun. She is a wonderful hostess and we had the best dinner. She took us on a tour of her house, which is on a lake. Shocking, I know, considering she lives in the state of 10,000 lakes.

It is definitely the house of a quilter (although she does a lot of other things--knitting, weaving...). Who wouldn't love this kitchen, with the Swoon block over that stunning red stove.

Red is Maria's signature color. It pops up everywhere. 

I'd like to make a reservation to stay in this guest room.

Or climb up the stairs with a cup of tea and read a book...

I would never want to leave her sewing room.

Thanks, Maria. We had such a lovely evening.

Amanda Jean brought the quilts from her latest book, which should be in every quilter's library. And everyone was able to choose one to sleep under our last night.

Victoria, who actually started this retreat eight years ago, was able to join us for dinner, along with her daughter. Brooke joined us as well--it's such fun to visit with her.

Stephanie, Amanda Jean, Doris, Rene', Shelly, Mary, Victoria, Brooke, me

The time goes by way too quickly. Until next year, my friends...

Bella Skill Builder, Month 6

Welcome to Month 6 of the Bella Skill Builder, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop. This month's skill-building technique is making Courthouse Steps blocks. While I have made several log cabin quilts, I have never specifically made Courthouse Steps. The technique is very similar.

With my log cabin blocks, I have always precut my strips to the appropriate length for each round of the block. With the courthouse steps block this month, I used the Creative Grids 6" Log Cabin Trim Tool. I think I would definitely use it again.

You can find all the information for the Bella Skill Builder Month 6, including videos and a list of other quilters participating, on the Jolly Jabber blog.

It's not too late to start building your skills. Find all the information here.

You can find the trim tool in the notions section at Fat Quarter Shop. They come in several sizes, including a "curvy" version. Happy skill building.

Patriotic Palette Blog Hop: Streamers

I'm so happy you are here today for the patriotic palette blog hop, sponsored by Paintbrush Studios.

This will be the story of a quilter (me) who had the opportunity to work again with Painter's Palette solids and has had a hard time following the guidelines (also me).

Since I sew primarily with solids, I have worked with solids from nearly every major manufacturer. The Painter's Palette solids are absolutely wonderful and have quickly become my favorite. When I received the fabric, I knew exactly what I wanted to make, and started cutting into the fabric. In the bundle were fat quarters in three shades of red (Claret, Crimson and Tomato), three shades of blue (Patriot, French blue and River) and a fat quarter of White.

All the beautiful fused glass was made by my husband, Mark

Shortly thereafter, I re-read the guidelines and thought, "uh oh." 

Let me explain. A few months ago, I designed a quilt, one which I haven't fully shared yet, but let me give you a sneak peek.

The blocks in the center of the quilt looked like ribbons blowing in the wind, so I thought it would be fun to make a patriotic version.

I quickly realized that one fat quarter of white would not be nearly enough. Fortunately, I had more Painter's Palette white on hand, so I kept going. I really wanted to do the double rows of hour glass blocks all around the outside, but didn't have enough blue. More is on the way. 

For the quilt top as shown, three fat quarters of blue and three fat quarters of red is plenty, but you will need 3/4 yard of white. If you decide to do the double row of blue and white hourglass blocks as shown in the diagram further down, you will need one yard of white, and at least two more fat quarters of the blue.

Cutting instructions are as follows (cutting total for the double hourglass border is in parentheses):

White: 
12 (28) - squares 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" sub-cut in quarters diagonally (each square will make two blocks--see below) for quarter square triangles (QST)
2 - squares 4 1/2 " 4 1/2"
14 - squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"
23 - squares 3" x 3", sub-cut in half diagonally for half square triangles (HST)

Blue:
12 (28) - squares 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" sub-cut in quarters diagonally (each square will make two blocks--see below) for QST

Red:
Color 1 (dark):
           13 - squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" 
             9 - squares 3" x 3" sub-cut in half diagonally for HST
Color 2 (medium)
          12 - squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"
             8 - squares 3" x 3" sub-cut in half diagonally for HST
Color 3 (light)
              8 - squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"
               6 - squares 3" x 3" sub-cut in half diagonally for HST

To make the hourglass blocks, match a blue QST with a white QST (make sure the same color is on top as you chain piece) and sew down one side. Press toward the dark. Line up the two halves and sew. Trim to 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" 

To make the red and white HST blocks, sew as shown below. Trim to 2 1/2" x
2 1/2".

Laying out the red and white blocks proved to be trickier than when I made the single-color version. Each block consists of squares and HST triangle units, as shown on the right side of the diagram. I labeled the blocks in the center of the quilt to correspond with block layouts along the side. If you have any questions, or something doesn't make sense, please email me. I'm happy to answer any questions.

I really like the way it turned out, even though it was a bit trickier than I anticipated. The double hourglass border will be worth the wait. And I have some really pretty red, white and blue variegated thread waiting when it's time to do the quilting.

Even though I made a few blunders when it came to the guidelines, I'm going to be sew happy with Streamers when it is completed. If you haven't been following along, please go back and check out the others who have made a lot of beautiful and varied projects. Thanks to Paintbrush Studio for including me--I love working with this fabric, and to Lisa Ruble for putting this all together. 

6/22: Fabri-Quilt blog (@pbstudiofabrics)

6/23: Jayne of TwiggyandOpal (@twiggyandopal)

6/26: Elizabeth of OPQuilt (@occasionalpiecequilt)

6/27: Stephanie of Spontaneous Threads (@spontaneousthreads)

6/28: Shelley of A Pigeon in Pungo (@shelleybrooksquilts)

6/29: Linda of Flourishing Palms (@flourishingpalms)

6/30: Cindy Wiens of Live a Colorful Life (@liveacolorfullife) YOU ARE HERE.

7/3: Stephanie of Peas in a Pod (@stephiepeterson)

What would a blog hop be without a giveaway? 

*One winner will receive seven fat quarters in the colors used  for the projects in the blog hop. Each blogger is giving away a bundle, courtesy of Paintbrush Studios, so make sure to visit each stop on the hop.

*To be entered here, please leave a comment on my blog and let me know your favorite place to see fireworks, or if there is someplace special you hope to see them. My brother lives in Washington DC and can see them from where he lives--so that is definitely on my bucket list. 

*The giveaway will be open until Monday, July 3. I'll announce the winner here as well as Instagram (@liveacolorfullife).

*If you comment, it is important that I can contact you in case you are the winner. If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address and IG handle in the comment.

*Anyone can comment, but only US residents can win the FQ bundle.

Happy 4th!

Bella Skillbuilder, Month 5

Welcome to Month 5 of the Bella Skill Builder, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop. This month's skill-building technique consists of two blocks made from half square triangles.

I have tried different methods for making half square triangles, but the one method I have never tried before is Triangles on a Roll.

It is an interesting method, and I'm glad to finally have taken the opportunity to try it out.

You can find all the information for the Bella Skill Builder Month 5, including videos and a list of other quilters participating, on the Jolly Jabber blog.

Even though it's Month 5, it's still not too late to start the Skill Builder. Find all the information here.
Also, if you want to try Triangles on a Roll, they can be found (in multiple sizes) in the Fat Quarter Shop notions section. Happy skill building. :)

Bella Skillbuilder, Months 3 and 4

Happy May Day! A memory from when I was small and lived in Enid, Oklahoma, is that girls from the high school would put on pretty spring dresses, go the city park where May poles were set up, and then walk in circle after circle, weaving beautiful satin ribbons around the May pole. Does anyone remember that? Do communities still do it?

I'm a month behind on posting the skill builder blocks. During the middle of March, our son and his family moved to a new house, and two weeks ago today, Mark and I moved my parents into a skilled nursing facility about 40 minutes away, after going through every.single.thing in their house in order to downsize. Somehow, sewing completely fell by the wayside. Today, I'll share my thoughts on the blocks for Months 3 and 4.

Month 3 was the pineapple block.

I have always wanted to make pineapple blocks. To date, I had made one--using the paper piecing technique. The block turned out great, but I'm never a happy camper when it comes to removing all that paper from foundation paper piecing.

So I was anxious to try the Pineapple Trim Tool by Creative Grids, a company that is already a favorite when it comes to rulers.

It took a bit of concentration to make sure I was using the proper part of the ruler when it came time to square/trim. However, that was pure operator error. The ruler is easy to use if you just follow the directions.

For Month 3, you make four blocks that finish at 10"(above)  and 3 three blocks that finish at 8". I decided to try a little something different with the tan block, and so it looks more like rings, but it's an interesting variation.

I love how the blocks came out, and I would definitely recommend the ruler if you want to make some pineapple blocks. Using this ruler also saves fabric, as you only need to cut rectangles 2 x 4 1/2 inches, and 2 x 6 1/2 inches. Which is kind of ironic if you are making pineapple blocks to bust through your stash.

Month 4 is Flying Geese.

This block is made with the Eleanor Burns flying geese ruler by Quilt in a Day. I'll say that I was skeptical to begin with. I often find that shortcuts in reality take nearly as long as the non-shortcut version. But I was willing to build some new skills, so I remained optimistic.

I'm happy to report that I was quite pleased with this specialty ruler. I would probably have hesitated to buy it without being part of the skill builder BOM but, as with the Pineapple Trim Tool, this is another ruler I'm happy to have in my sewing kit.

One of my geese insisted on being rebellious and flying in the opposite direction, but sometimes you just have to follow your own personal wind current.

You can find all the information for the Bella Skill Builder for Month 3 and Month 4, including videos and a list of the other quilters participating, on the Jolly Jabber blog. If you haven't begun yet but are interested, here is all the information you need. Also, if you see a ruler you want to try, they can all be found on the Fat Quarter Shop website in their notions section. Happy skill building. :)