The Pattern That Wasn't

On my first retreat in Bandon, I took with me a Kaufman kit called "Crystal Clear" It is queen size and I knew it would take up a good part of the retreat days to work on. With the sharp pointed star pattern I thought it would be paper piecing, but much to my surprise, it was not. I opened the box and it was all pre-cut pieces with little numbered stickers on each stack. Oh, WOW! As I looked through the box, there was no pattern, no photo, no diagram, no nothing. I only had the photo on the cover of the box. I was quiet upset as this was almost the only thing I had brought with me to work on, and I was a long way from the shop I had purchased it from. But not wanting to be a quitter, I thought I'd give it a try, to figure out how it went together. I organized the stacks of pieces, fortunately only three colors. They each had a cut notch on them to line up the sewing, I put all the "A" pieces together in numerical order, unfortunately the fabrics are batiks and reversible, sometimes the stickers were on the front, sometimes the backs. It took perseverance, but I got one section sewn together. I worked diligently for three days, slowly making progress and not doing too much unsewing. It was tough working out, where the sections were, without a diagram, and some trial and error, finally got me to assembly.

I was lucky to have a large design wall to work on at the retreat center, it would not have been as easy to assemble at home. There were a few poufy areas that had to be fudged in, but I decided it was sewn together properly, with all the correct angles.

Success!! I got it put together into a queen sized quilt! Since then I have found more of the gray fabric to add a wider border, to make it a bit larger. It is going to be for my niece who wanted a "Modern" quilt with grays and blacks, maybe chevrons. When I saw the kit, I knew it would be perfect for her. I never buy kits, it was quiet expensive, but I thought of her immediately. Since I was thinking of nieces, I thought my other niece would like this modern look also, instead of the quilt I was working on for her. So being the masochist I am, I decided to do it again! I had the fore thought to trace each of the pattern pieces, so I cut them up and with LOTS of Scotch tape, I taped each section together and made a paper piecing pattern. Shopping for fabric was tough as I had no fabric requirements to use. I found a beautiful black with a delicate leafy pattern and a gray batik with swirls. I bought all the fabric on the bolt, 4 or 5 yards of each. I figured 9 yards was enough to do a queen size quilt, then I would pray. I added a bright magenta to accent it.

The last day of the retreat I got a good start on it. The next week, everyone at the Bandon shop was going to the Big K Guest Ranch, near me, for their retreat, so Tracy and I signed up for that too. I worked on it for another day and a half, before running out of the black fabric. I was praying I could find some on the internet, it was a new fabric.

Driving home from the retreat, we stopped at the fabric shop in Sutherlin, Oregon, and they had the fabric, I bought the rest of the bolt! YEA!! So now, I don't need to worry about it, I had already found more of the gray batik, so I can add extra border. This was quiet an ordeal, but I stuck with it. Now to get them on the long arm and really finish them. Happy New Year to all! I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here to check out what other talented textile artists are doing this week.

Bandon Retreat 2018

I spent 7 wonderful days at Bandon on the Southern Oregon coast, for a quilting retreat. Barb, in my Fyber Cafe group was having a retreat with her family and friends and had an extra space, and asked me to join them, yea me! The retreat center is above Forget-Me-Knots quilt shop, which provides excellent shopping opportunities. My first priority was making a baby quilt for my niece's new little girl Emelia. At home I had cut 2 1/2" strips from almost all my 1920-30's reproduction prints, pretty pastels with conversation prints, lots of little dogs, cats, chicks, geese, pigs, and children. I put them together in a simple rail fence pattern and added a border of fairy tail print with princesses and castles. Now, a month later I bought the flannel backing fabric, of butterflies, to get it quilted.

My big project for the week was a queen size star kit, that I had gotten for my other niece. All the nieces and nephews have baby quilts, and wall hanging/lap quilts. So now it is time for queen size bed quilts, as they are almost all adults now. She had wanted something modern and I had been looking at gray/black chevron patterns. Finding this kit was perfect, I seldom buy kits, preferring to make my own art patterns. It is a Hoffman kit called "Crystal Clear" and was all batik fabric, gray and white with turquoise accents. I figured it was paper pieced with all the points and angles. But imagine my surprise when I opened the box and it was all pre-cut pieces with number stickers on them. And DOUBLE SURPRISE there were NO DIRECTIONS!!! The box was marked that all the pieces were there, so someone must have opened it, checked off the pieces and forgot to put the papers back in the box. All I had to go on was the photo on the box :( I decided to give it a try, each section was marked A B C etc and they were in number order, it also helped that they had notches snipped in the seam to align the pieces. But I still had to figure how they went together, left to right or reversed, since it was all batik and reversible. I sturdily kept at it, making section by section and sewing for 3 days straight.

It was quiet a challenge and everyone was very impressed that I managed to figure it out, it was NOT easy at all. But preservation paid off. It did not go together well, it had some poofy spots, but the points matched well and it did eventually become one piece!

Wow! If I had not been at retreat I doubt I would have gotten it done. Also being the masochist I am, I decided to make another one for my other niece, in black, gray and magenta. I had traced all the pieces on freezer paper, cut them out and taped them together along the seam lines. I found several glaring mistakes in the pieces, and the way they went together, exactly where the poofy spots were. No wonder it was poofy. Then I used a light box to create a paper pieced pattern for each section. Having no directions I had to guess at the yardage, and bought the entire bolts of black and gray fabrics. I hope I have enough!

I got a good start on it at the retreat. The paper piecing is so much easier and so much more accurate. I should be able to finish it in a reasonable bit of time. We had a great time, going to the quilt shops in Port Orford, Charleston and Coos Bay. Out to lunch a lot and long walks on the beach and shopping in Old Town. The other ladies made some amazing quilt tops and it was fun to watch what they were doing. A week was a bit long, I usually do this retreat in a 3 day session, but it was worth it, and we scheduled for next year too. I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here check out what other talented artists are doing.