Monday, February 20, 2006

Reducing my stash 1 1/2" at a time!



Well, retreat's over and back to the real world. Boy, was it fun! It started off with a surprise--a member who had moved 10 hours away showed up unbeknownst to anyone! We about took the roof off the place by screaming so loud! LOL It was wonderful to see her again. We quickly shifted tables around to accomodate her stuff and off sewing we went. I was going to write about all the topics that were discussed, but under the influence of a "splash of rum in coke" makes things a lot funnier, as in...you had to be there! So I won't bore you with details. I did have a lot of fun and we laughed a lot, sewed until 2 and 3 AM, and getting up early to keep on sewing. Here is where I started, fairly nice and neat. By the end of the weekend, they were all over, I had to add about 50 more colors and am still not done. But made great progress!

Here is the reversible quilt to the purple/pink row, I have a row of pink, pink/red/orangey color next and a row of red. I think I'll add a row of yellow green and yellow to the top. The back is tans and blacks in alternating rows (solid blocks). The quilt below it (in tan and red, is being made by Lisa, my friend. Cool quilt!








Close up of blue/green row. I was thinking of doing a black bias binding to join the rows, but my friend suggested using a fabric that has a lot of the colors and it would blend in, looking light in the dark rows and dark in the light rows. Okay, the trick is finding that right fabric!

There are 13 rows and the bottom half of the block was a fabric that I used to blend the strips. The blocks are 9". By the way, my stash didn't look like I removed ANYthing from it--just made it a mess, pawing through it looking for the right colors!

13 comments:

Granny said...

Sounds like a fun and productive retreat. Glad you enjoyed yourself and your friends . . especially your surprise guest!

Judy L.

Mary Johnson said...

Very pretty - I was describing that technique to someone the other day. Looking forward to seeing the finished quilt.

Laurie Ann said...

Very neat quilt! I am taking a class on how to do that one on the 23rd of March. It's fun to see one in progress!

Nancy said...

Love this quilt. I've seen quilts made from the technique just never had a chance to try it myself. Is this out of a particular book or pattern that I could buy?

Pam said...

That is labor intensive! Very pretty. What is the red/white?

Passionate Quilter said...

Thanks for all the comments. My husband loves this one..he might even allow color in our bedroom! LOL (it's tan and black right now--which is on the back of the quilt).

Nancy-I've looked at all sorts of Reversible quilt books and this one is very similar to one in the book, "Reversible Quilts" by Sharon Pederson. I didn't like the way she moved her colors, so I laid mine all out in EQ5. I'm teaching this class on the 25th of March--and this is only one of many ways to get to the end result. If you have EQ5-I'd be happy to share my file with you.

Pam--the red and white is the quilt my friend was working on, it's from American Patchwork & Quilting, not too long ago. We were trying to share a room laying out our quilts.

Jeanne said...

Oh, what a gorgeous rainbow!

Cathi said...

Beautiful quilt. I love the colors. I was thinking of getting that book, is it an easy technique?

Patti said...

What an interesting quilt - and a perfect way to use your stash. So far it makes me think of swimming in a warm coral sea - even though I've never done that.

Glad you got to renew your friendship with your surprise guest!

Samantha said...

wow, those strippy rows look wonderful!

Cher said...

a stunner for sure...can't wait to see it all together!

Debra Dee said...

Your quilt is absolutely beautiful. I just love the colors. Your retreat sounds wonderful and a good time was had by all.

The Calico Cat said...

I love what you have going on with the green to purple piece...