Quilting is in my Blood

I had a wonderful time at Glamp Stitchalot that was sponsored by Pink Castle Fabrics and held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 2-5, 2016. I met so many nice quilters/sewists. And I learned something from every class I took. I’m still a nervous novice when it comes to paper piecing, and three of the six classes involved paper piecing, so I had a chance to practice that skill. I was most happy with my mountain block which was designed by Penny Layman even though my edges ended up a little wonky and had to be trimmed. I’m going to redo the bottom piece and make it a little bigger. I only had solid background fabric and after seeing some examples of the mountain block made with different prints, I went to the Pink Castle Pop-Up shop and found a great fabric by April Rhodes (Survey in Heron in her Bound collection). It ended up being the perfect background, and I’m so glad I have almost a yard left of it.

I can’t believe I am saying this given my paper piecing anxiety, but the pattern I most want to make at home is Carolyn Friedlander’s Glamp pattern. It is just gorgeous, and I know it will look amazing in a future quilt project, probably using some of my favorite Carolyn Friedlander fabric. Below is a pic of the example Carolyn sewed for the class.

The funniest teacher, hands down, was Monica Solorio-Snow. I swear she could take her act on the road and sell out comedy clubs! And I will use the cheater flying geese technique we learned again using the Easy Star and Geese Triangle ruler.

I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Hartman since I first googled “modern quilting” and her Fancy Foxes and Hazel Hedgehogs showed up in the search results. Elizabeth loves fussy cutting, and I see more fussy cutting in my future after taking her class. I especially like her cats and the text in house windows below.

I learned a lot about sewing curves from both Rashida Coleman-Hale and Violet Craft, though I didn’t feel ready to sew curves yet. I took some good notes and someday may take on this challenge. I loved the fabric Violet used in her example blocks below. It is from her new fabric line coming out, and I believe Pink Castle Fabrics will have it sometime mid-June.

If anyone is thinking about signing up for a future Glamp Stitchalot, I highly recommend it. You’ll meet many friendly and talent fellow quilters/sewists and will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most talented modern quilting/sewing teachers around.

Glamp Stitchalot was not the only fun I had in Michigan recently. I flew into the Detroit Metro Airport on May 28th and was able to spend some with my family who live in Michigan. The highlight before going to Glamp was going to Mackinac Island for the first time and staying in the Grand Hotel. I love the pic below of the niece in front of the Grand Hotel in a horseshoe of flowers. And speaking of horses, those horse-drawn carriages were so awesome. I loved the name of the team that pulled our carriage–the Grubs!

After Glamp, I finally was able to give the Breaking Bad Wall Hanging  to my great-nephew, John, who absolutely loved it. Such a great ending to a fabulous trip. Many thanks to my sister who made my visit extra special.

Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday and Blossom Heart Quilts: So Cute Tuesday.

I bought three more patterns (more like four) since my Supporting the May is for Makers Campaign post earlier this month. The one I plan to put to use first is the Summer Sampler 2016 pattern I purchased through Freshly Pieced’s Pattern Shop. But I have to confess that I don’t plan to make all of the blocks in this sampler right away. I already have a sampler quilt in progress. It is my Terra Australis quilt, and it will have a total of 25 blocks. I have made 15 so far and have most of the remaining blocks planned, but I think a couple blocks from the Summer Sampler 2016 will work really nicely with my quilt.

Summer Sampler 2016 (Image used with permission by Lee Heinrich)

Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs recently published an informative pattern writing series, and her patterns are wonderful. I think her Sea Star pattern is especially gorgeous. I purchased it at her Etsy shop. I absolutely LOVE the colors on the cover of the pattern and will probably make a similar quilt down the road.

I really could not decide between two of Camille Roskelley’s patterns at her Thimble Blossoms shop, so I treated myself to both. I’ve seen her Swoon pattern all over Pinterest and created a Swoon board a couple months ago. It was inevitable that this I buy this pattern. Recently I saw her Fireworks pattern on Pinterest, and I think it will look amazing with a dark background.

I’m excited to make all these beautiful quilts. I just don’t know when!!!

Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched has started a campaign to encourage people who have benefited from all the free online quilting and sewing tutorials to buy five patterns from indie pattern makers in the month of May 2016. Take some time to read her May is for Makers post. She very eloquently explains how much time, effort, and money pattern makers invest in their free tutorials and how paying for a pattern is a small way we quilters/sewists can thank and encourage indie pattern makers and make it possible for them to keep creating. I’m committing to buying five patterns from five different indie pattern makers this month. So far I’ve purchased two quilt patterns from two women whom I have met personally and who I have already learned so much from.

The first pattern I bought today, Half-Square Triangle Sampler Quilt, was from Jeni Baker of In Color Order. I took Jeni’s Mastering the Half-Square Triangle Workshop at QuiltCon, and I consult her book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle. on a regular basis. I truly appreciate how down to earth Jeni is and how approachable and responsive she is. I love the color combination of fabric in this pattern along with the use of sashing and coordinating cornerstones.

Image used with permission by Jeni Baker

The second is from Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl who has been a quilt blogging mentor for me for a year, and I finally met her in person also at QuiltCon. I’ve admired her  Triangle Transparency pattern for several months but questioned my ability to select fabric with the appropriate color value and color gradient to achieve the transparency effect. In her pattern, she provides detailed guidelines that quilters may follow if they choose. And I probably will!

I plan to buy three more patterns from indie pattern makers by the end of the month, and I’ll write another post sharing what patterns I decided to buy. I sure am having fun looking at all the cool patterns out there.