Every gal needs to experience a sewing getaway. If you have not been, you just have to give it a try. It does not matter if you don't know anyone or travel with a group of friends. It will be lots of fun. I've just return from my delightful stay at General Butler State Resort Park, where they just presented the 2014 It's Sew Fine: For Gome and Family Sewing Expo. This is a educational program of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
 |
| General Butler |
 |
| The lodge is perched high on a hill overlooking the Ohio River. |
Initially it was the fact that Bonnie Hunter was to present that attracted me to the Sewing Expo. Carrollton, Ky is only a little over a hour from my home. So it is an easy trip down I-71. Our first night was a sew-in. It's just what it sounds like (for you newbies like me). We get together and sew. You can hand sew, or machine sew. It's all social and a great ice-breaker. You meet new quilters and talk about which classes you are attending. Bonnie came around to see what we where working on and offer encouragement. I spent this time sewing up some spools from one of her older leader/ender projects.
Tuesday I took the Scrappy Hidden Spools class taught by Bonnie Hunter. I was in heaven. Just getting to meet her was fantastic. We ended the day with a dinner and Bonnie presented on her famous scrap saving system and shared oodles of fabulous quilts. I admit I had not bought into sorting my scraps like she does, but I am now sold on the process after seeing how efficiently she can put quilts together using her scrap system. I plan to spent the weekend sorting and cutting scraps.
 |
| Bonnie's quilts for the classes. (Scrappy houses is for Wednesday class) |
|
Bonnie shared the project she has been working on on quilt-cam. It is even more beautiful in person, really the books and computers don't do them justice. Her quilts are stunning!
 |
| Isn't this gorgeous. Bonnie has been doing the strip piecing for the sashes on Quilt-Cam. |
 |
| Bonnie Hunter sharing about her quilt. |
 |
| My favorite Bonnie scrappy house. This quilt has all red background. |
Finally my project. Rather than do a scrappy quilt, I selected orange and white as my fabrics. I am making this quilt for a relative whose favorite color is orange. I think this is the perfect project for his quilt. I had lots of oranges left over from Celtic Solstice. We needed light and dark strips for these blocks. For this quilt I choose various orange fabrics with light tone on tone fabrics. I sewed up all the fabric I had pre cut for the class. I need to do at least as many blocks as I currently have. I have a nice orange border, with some blue, yellow and green swirls. I think it will look nice. Bonnie suggested I use a thin blue border between the squares and the outer border. I agree that will really set things off. Here is my progress to date. This weekend I hope to finish the blocks.
 |
| My Hidden Spools Project-more to come. |
One of the nicest surprises of the Sewing Expo was the A Full Deck of Cards class, taught by Sheila Reinke. I picked this class because it said it was intermediate, so I thought it would be a challenge. I've never done this block before: it was a great opportunity to learn something entirely new. Another nice thing about this class is the class fee included the fabric. It was nice to just show up with your tools.
What a joy this class was. The ladies in the class where wonderful. Sheila is a gem. She is so patient
and never seemed to mind explaining things over and over. We learned some tricks with the quilt in a day ruler. That was wonderful and I can see how I will use that tool over and over. If you get the opportunity take a class from this lovely lady, don't pass it up.
 |
| Sheila Reinke. |
 |
| Sheila Reinke and samples of our project. |
I really had fun with the project. I finished everything but the last border in class. I realized I had made a mistake. One block was turned the wrong way. Sheila was go gracious is saying we could place our blocks anyway we wanted, but honestly I think they where supposed to be mirror images of each other. I am half way there. I was going to take it apart, but as my table mate Sharon said, if you don't tell anyone they won't know. I realized she is right. Since this is a small quilt I plan to quilt it myself. I will put it on the wall in my sewing area. It should be interesting. If it was a gift for someone I would have taken it apart to make it as perfect as possible. I am just going to enjoy this one flaws and all.
 |
| busy ladies working on projects |
|
|
 |
| My "A Deck of Cards" project. |
So what an experience. Three days off work to sew. It was heaven. Tomorrow it's back to work, for at least a few days. I do get to travel north next week and will be going to my Ohio Stars meeting in Port Clinton. Oh boy, I have really been Quilting Together. Come on and join us!
