Cutting Up

In preparation for the Smith & Owen Quilt Retreat next month (my second), I've been doing a lot of cutting (well, some shopping was actually involved prior to the cutting) in order to make the pattern provided as part of the retreat. The pattern is African Fire Flower (see) but I'm going to Australianize it.

I get to make use of some Australian fabrics given to me just before coming to Michigan by my Australian quilting buddies in the NSW Guild as well as some aboriginal fabrics I got at Smith & Owen. And anything sky blue, gum green or ochre or iron-oxide red that I could find in the stash. I've got quite a stack of 3x9" pieces now.

By the by, Jill Ker Conway (who wrote The Road to Coorain) spoke on campus last month. Helped me get into the spirit of the project.

This year my big "lesson learned from last year" is to bring a decent sewing chair with me. All the ladies who were veterans of the retreat knew to do that.

Quilt retreat top finished

This top is from a pattern (name not in front of me)--not someting I do very often. The pattern was the project for the Smith & Owen quilt retreat 2009 which I attended a couple weeks ago. Lessons were learned--some great ones that will improve my handwork (I know how to start and stop blanket-stitch properly now) and that you need to bring your own proper chair to retreats or risk back-ache by plastic stacking chair.