The Tops Done!!!!

Just finished Alissa & Nick's double wedding ring quilt top at the DVQ Retreat up at Sonoma State University.  Can't believe there's not more piecing to do.  Let's hope it doesn't take as long to quilt and bind.  Anyone have any suggestions for the quilting design?

Diablo Valley Quilters Retreat 2011

My friend Selma and I are hosting this years Retreat at Sonoma State University. The retreat begins a week from today and lasts for four days.

This year should be a lot of fun. We filled the retreat the first night we opened reservations and have not had a single cancellation. I think that's a record! Even when Selma and I started this continuous 14 years of retreats for the guild and we only had 22 people attend, we had cancellations.

I'm planning on finishing my daughter's double wedding ring quilt. And isn't it about time! I know quilting it will take several weeks. Not to mention the binding. I think of all those points! Yikes! But I'm on a mission! I want to start making baby quilts! And I need to get the wedding quilt done first! And if you missed that subtleties, I'm about to become a first time Gramma. We're just so excited. As are the parents of course.

This is our retreat block for 2011. Birds in the Air.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt, Row 2

Due to an increase in family responsibilities, I haven't had the time to work on the quilt as much as I'd like. Today, I managed to finish putting together two rows of the quilt. I have 7 more rows of 8 circles to put together. My goal is to complete making one circle a day for the next two months. Unfortunately, due to the increased size of her bed...they just purchased a Cal King, I need to make more melons in order to have enough circles.

Believe it or not, I'm thinking that piecing the circles together would be easier done by hand rather than on a sewing machine. Getting those four center pieces to match up to the adjacent arcs has proven to be a real challenge.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

I promised my daughter a double wedding ring quilt when she got married. Being a Quilter herself, she understood there was no way to get it done before the wedding last April. I told her I'd have it done for her first anniversary. Sorry the colors in this picture aren't better. The corner stones are a dark blue floral and a bright yellow.

So far I have all the arcs (400) made and the rest of the pieces cut out. I have attached arcs to the "melons" to make 120 completed melons. I need a total of 189. My goal is to have all the "melons" completed before I go to PIQF on the 14th of October.

In the last few years, instead of taking classes at PIQF, resulting in more unfinished projects, my friend Selma and I take our own projects to work on. When we get tired of walking around the show we go up to our room and sew. I hope to get a good number of "melons" attached to the centers.

I was working on this project at the Diablo Valley Retreat last June. I was anxious to see how it would go together, so put several rings together. Attached is a picture.

PIQF

Just received my letter excepting my "Doctor Doctor, All I see are Quilt Blocks" quilt into the Pacific International Quilt Festival next month. It's the picture posted on July 24th, the one that will be in the Walnut Creek Library in January. This is the first time I've entered a Juried and Judged show. For those who don't know, a "juried" show, is one where your quilts have to be accepted into the show, meaning not all quilts get in.

More Quilting

Have you ever looked at a quilt that you had thought you were finished with and it just didn't look as good as you hoped? Well that is what I've done recently. My "Red & White Wedding" quilt has very nice feathers all over it. With SID around the pieced blocks. But the feathers didn't quite fill in the plain areas and just didn't pop the way I had hoped. The original quilting had been done 2 years ago.

So I put it back on the frame and began quilting again. I added "sprigs" of feathers in the plain areas and put veins in each feather. Also added some curliques where needed. Now, I'm pleased. Now I can say "this quilt is finished". My eye moves around the quilt wanting to look at more. It makes me smile. I can say I'm happy with this quilt. Moral of the story is, that it's never too late to add more to a quilt to make it zing.

One of my favorite quilts will be on display in January at the new Walnut Creek Library. Along with 15 other members of Diablo Valley Quilters. You can check out my quilt on their website: http://www.bedfordgallery.org/cag_schedule.htm.

I encourage everyone to show their quilts as often as possible. Joining your local guild (and we have so many in the bay area)and participating in local shows is very rewarding. It helps promote the art of quilt making. And you don't have to be an experienced quilters to show your stuff.