A little challenge....met!

Kathy

 Last month I did a trunk show for the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild in Missouri Valley, IA. I had a great time and taught a class on making the Miss Tess quilt the following Saturday. It was fun to see their quilts start to come together during class and I promised (or did I issue a challenge....) I would come back this month to see how many finished the tops.

Jeanine 

 Amazingly, 8 of the 10 brought their quilts back in various stages of completion. One made many blocks and made two quilts!

Jeanine's 2nd

 The other two quilters were there; one had forgotten hers and the other was still sewing rows together. She was making the larger version and said it was still on her living room floor.

Bonny

 It was fun to see them again and chat about quilting. They really are an awesome group of quilters.

Karen

 I've had Sampler Clubs the past few nights and sewed with friends yesterday, so need to do some things around here today. The quilting group that I go on retreat with twice a year is getting together tonight to plan our meals...we leave next Thursday! I'm so excited, even though this is my 3rd retreat of the summer. I have been working on class models for the most part and feel like I'm making some headway. I have to do this every year!

Rita

Our first retreat was back in August of 2010. None of us had been on a retreat before, so it was our first retreat and we had to figure many things out. We went to the Farmer's Dotter Quilt Retreat in Bedford, IA. It was a cute place, and set up like a bed and breakfast, so we did no cooking. We had so much fun we decided to do it again!

Denise

 That first retreat began on Friday afternoon and we stayed until Sunday. We didn't think that was long enough, so now we go on Thursday and stay until Sunday. We have stayed at several locations over the past 6 years, but have stayed at Stitchin' Tree Quilter's Cottage ever since it opened in 2013.

Bev

It's a nice set up with a full kitchen, so we fix our own meals and best of all there is a small shop next door so we can shop when we run out of important things...like fabric and thread! this will be our 13th retreat, the 8th one there. I need to start planning what I will work on!

Pris made a runner

Miss Tess... Piecemaker's Quilt Guild style

I did a trunk show for the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild in Missouri Valley on Tuesday night and they requested I teach a class on the Miss Tess quilt on Saturday. First off, the trunk show went well because they were such a great audience. I had a good time talking to them before and after the meeting.

The Miss Tess class went well too. They had done some precutting so it didn't take them too long to finish cutting and start laying out their quilt.

Because it's a tessellation quilt, the rows interconnect, so you have to lay out at least a few rows before you can sew them together. They meet and hold classes in the Methodist Church and they had plenty of room to spread out. It was great!

They were a busy group, cutting and sewing like crazy. A little chatting too...

Jeanine

Priscilla had limited colors, so decided to make this design with hers. It made me start thinking of doing vertical rows in different colors.

Lots of pretty colorways and interesting centers. Midway through the day, we talked about tessellation quilts and I showed them a few other designs I have made that fall into that category. .

Priscilla

Kathy

Karen placing her blocks

Denise P

Rita

Rachel

Karen

Bonnie H

Kathy D stacked up!

Pat

Kathy D

The rest of Kathy's, wouldn't stay on the wiggly design wall.

Bev

It was a happy day of sewing, chatting and learning, with everyone sharing ideas. They asked me if I was going to come back next month for their meeting, and I said I would, then issued a challenge to them to finish the quilt top by then so I can see it. I can't wait!

Rachel

And the Miss Tess Celebration Giveaway winners are.....

I chose the winners of the Miss Tess Celebration giveaway this morning...

$25 Gift Card to Fat Quarter Shop: Mara Capron 

One copy to two winners of America Loves Scrap Quilts:

Julie Hall Feldhaus

PK Solberg

One pattern from my Craftsy Shop to three winners:

Jackie Thompson

Joyce Mitchell

Schimmel Beavers

I have contacted the winners by email. Thanks to all who helped me celebrate the publication of Miss Tess in America Loves Scrap Quilts! If you make your own version of Miss Tess, let me know... I would love to see it! 

Miss Tess

Honeycomb Waffle, Too top finished and last day to enter the giveaway!

My original plan for the Honeycomb Waffle Too quilt was to use this gorgeous Stonehenge gray as fill in for the half blocks and triangles on the edges of the quilt. I think the dark edge helps bring out the depth of the other colors and the 3-D pattern. It's fun to play with layouts while a quilt is on the design wall, so I tried it with half blocks on the fill in spaces on the edges. I like it but still like a dark edge better. 

I wondered how it would look to make pieced half blocks using three grays. So I used the Stonehenge gray and two others to make some sections to try it out. I really liked this as it gives the depth I want plus adds the fun of the half blocks. 

I finished sewing the top together Tuesday. The pattern didn't call for a border, but I added a  border using the Stonehenge to finish it off. I think it evens out the grays on the edges. I want to start working on the quilting today. I bought a mottled blue print for the backing...it's all ready to load!

Sometimes when I look at the pictures of this quilt, my eyes see the center squares inverted, but when I look again or move my eyes over the whole top, it goes away. Has this happened to you as you've read this post? Just curious!

 I thought it would be fun to see what it looks like upside down and it's interesting this way too! 

Upside down, in case your eyes weren't already mixed up!

Today is the last day to enter the Miss Tess celebration giveaway. Just go here and enter before midnight tonight. Please add your email to your comment if you are a no reply blogger or if you are not sure. I won't be able to contact you if you win without an email.

Hottie Hotpads and the giveaway is still open!

I spent a little time the other day making some hottie hotpads for a Christmas gift. I had used this print a few years ago to embellish some towels, and had these pieces left. They are a very simple design and easy to make.

I backed them with this apple print and used the leftovers to make another hotpad with a pocket to stick your hand into.

Hopefully they will make cooking a bit more fun!

I don't always get to see the finished quilts from my classes, but here are two finished Miss Tess quilt tops. The celebration giveaway continues until midnight Friday... you can enter here. Remember that if you comment and you are a no reply blogger, I don't have your email and I can't contact you. So please enter your email in the comment if you are not sure. 

Notice that these quilters used the same fabric for their half blocks along the top and bottom, which adds a different look. I love it when quilters take a design farther!

Lots to do today. I finished the Honeycomb Waffle, Too quilt top yesterday (pix soon!) and want to get it on the quilting machine today. I also have packages to wrap....where did the time go? My daughter is coming over tonight to celebrate Christmas and open gifts and we are going to try to skype with my other 2 daughters while we do it. Might get interesting.

Have a wonderful Christmas!