A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend from Colorado Springs, my sister from upstate NY, and I, took a few days off and spent some time together on top of about a 3,000 ft mountain near Winchester, VA. Of course, we had lots of fun, and thoroughly enjoyed our little reunion. Very quiet, not many houses around - a great place for a personal retreat.
HOWEVER. getting to the little cabin was a big challenge. First, the path up the mountain had 9 turns off of the main highway to get there, and all of it significantly uphill. All of the roads were narrow 2 lane residential roads EXCEPT the road that took you to the top of the mountain. It was not only
very steep, but it was only about 1.5 lanes, with 4 blind switch-backs. It looked more like a paved goat path than a road. Sorry, we didn't get any pictures of it - but we were all hanging on for dear life and praying like mad that we wouldn't meet another car!
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| Isolated! We were the only house on the road. |
We were so intimidated by our ascent, that we stayed up there all the next day, and only came down the third day because we were running out of food. Thankfully, that trip down the mountain and up again after lunch wasn't quite as intimidating as the first time. We did meet a pickup when we were headed back up the road - not at a switch-back - and both vehicles had to hang off the road to get by each other.
I can't recommend the place for anyone with a weak heart.
News from the Studio
AQS Chattanooga Quilt Show
A friend and I went to the AQS quilt show in Chattanooga, TN in September. It wasn't as large a show as I had expected, but inspiring! So many amazing quilts. Here is one of my favorites. It won Best Hand Workmanship!
Of course, I always save time for all of the vendors. My favorite was my delightful APQS dealer, Sheridan Carter!
Sheridan Kay Quilting.
My very favorite quilt was in the "unusual" category: the duct tape quilt. Yes, it was all made out of duct tape, decorative plastic tape, and plastic stick-on applique!
Christmas Heart Song
Since the last post, I've made 2 Christmas versions of the Heart Song quilt I showed you in the previous post. One is for sale at a local interior design store, and here is the other one. The guild will be doing the Christmas Heart Song wall-hanging in a workshop in November. Guess I'd better get busy on my handouts and demo stuff! I used the Trumpet Vine panto on this one.
Tips and Techniques
Press backing seams open
Always press all backing seams open. I probably mentioned this in a previous post, but it is important for longarming. Vertical seams pile on top of each other as the backing is wound onto the rollers, causing the fabric between the piles to bag. Think unavoidable tucks. Another issue is that bulky seam "intersections" on the top might wind up aligning with bulky seams on the bottom. If a high speed needle tries to pierce lots of layers of seams and thread, serious damage to the machine or the quilt can happen. Not a happy thought.
Learning for the week
Stink bugs are annoying when you are on vacation - especially when you find them in the bed! Just ask my sister!
Have a wonderful week! Now, let's go quilt something!
In just a few hours, I had prepared the fabric, and cut enough strips for 3 1/2 jelly rolls!! Who'd a thought. And so, what will I do with the strips? Well, there are at least 3 charity quilts in that box waiting for the next pallet-cleansing activity.
I have wanted to make a hunter's star quilt for a good while, ever since I saw a beautiful powdery blue and white one at the 2013 or 2014 Sycamore Stitchers' show. So, not long ago, I was snooping around pinterest for hunter's star quilts, and ran across a very scrappy and adorable project from the Hopeful Homemaker called Scrappy Hunter's Star. The pieces are all cut from layer cakes! Do you think I have some gorgeous layer cakes in the studio? Of course I do! I was totally overwhelmed to think about making the quilt all scrappy like the pattern, so I'll just use all the same fabric in a block, and scrappy up the block layout.
