A Pieceful Retreat

This past weekend was the retreat I attended in Woodstock, IL sponsored by Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop. I was sure many of you would be curious about it so I snapped a few pictures. Everyone had a great, relaxing time and I was happy to participate and meet some new faces and renew a couple of friendships with those quilters I already knew.

The retreat venue itself, run by Loyola University of Chicago, was very nice. Not at all monastic, LOL. It was still quite cold yesterday, however, and I wish the weather had been a little warmer so we could have taken advantage of the lovely grounds. I brought my walking shoes and everything but the wind was bitter. Still pretty and tranquil despite the small traces of snow and ice on the ground. It's definitely not Spring yet . . .

Large and spacious general meeting areas

Plenty of good food. Very important as you work up quite an appetite with those foot pedals, LOL.

Quilters often pack up and bring everything but the kitchen sink, LOL! I was happy to see soooo many little purple Rowenta travel irons -  my own personal favorite. Not only for classes but perfect for using at home too when you're pressing those small blocks. It really heats up well.

I taught the Union Stars quilt from my new book, The Civil War Sewing Circle.

I love to see how others make the blocks and what kinds of fabric they choose.

I suggested patriotic prints for the center of the star blocks. Someone chose to make hers with Nancy Gere's Presidents fabric for the centers.Very cool, I thought.

This is all I know - Windham, by Nancy Gere - don't ask me where to buy it.

It was also fun to see what a few others brought to work on for the weekend.

A happy group of quilters!

Check back TOMORROW - I'll show you a  lovely little collection of antique sewing kits someone brought to the retreat to show me.

ALSO coming this week - A peek at a charming new book I just bought that I'm sure you'll all love.

And the Winner Is . . .

(Drum roll please . . .) Congratulations to  Kathy from Fairfield, TX   for winning my American Doll Quilts book giveaway!

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments - Honestly, I wish I had 200 (or even better, 2000) books to give away to all of you.

Runners up: So many of your comments made me laugh that I couldn't just pick a few to receive fabric so I decided to use the Random Number Generator again (AKA my husband and his random number function in Excel)  to come up with 3 winners of the fabric bundles:

*   Delphine from France
*   Red Rover
*   Rita in NJ

I promise they won't be "ugly squares."

Please e-mail your addresses to me at kathyktracy@comcast.net. I'll be away this weekend (Woodstock  Retreat!) and will get the packages out in the mail early next week.

This sure was fun and the response was great. Wonder what I'll give away next . . . .

Book Giveaway

I know I have never really gotten into giveaways on my blog like a lot of other quilters. All of you have followed me despite that and I have to say I appreciate it. That's going to change this week as I morph into a nicer, more generous, less whiny version of myself. Don't be too disappointed - My first giveaway will not be your usual gift  of a brand spanking new item. No, sorry, but almost as good, I think.

I was cleaning out a bookshelf in the basement while looking for some of my gardening books and I found a copy of my first book - American Doll Quilts - that's now out of print and is very hard to find.

It's slightly damaged on the back cover - but the front and inside is perfect. I can't remember for sure, but I think it got damaged a few years ago when I was about to mail it out to a customer and the glue strip on the padded envelope stuck (like Glue, duh!) to the book and try as hard as I could, I couldn't remove it without damaging the back cover. So I sent her a clean one and tucked this one away thinking no one would ever really want it. And maybe no one does.

Here you can see it - there's a strip of icky, sticky gummy stuff along with couple of scratches where I tried to remove it with no luck. I thought I'd let the lucky winner remove it herself or maybe just live with it the way it is. It's still a delightful book containing 16 patterns for little quilts and not bad for a first book. I get asked about whether I have extra copies all the time.

Many of you who've been following me for awhile probably already have a copy (it went out of print in 2009) but this is great for those who may have just discovered my books and want to see the early patterns where I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it, LOL.

To enter: All you need to do is post a "creative" comment using these 3 words: Scraps, Crazy, and Blue. Like this: "I'm going to go crazy if  I don't win this giveaway and will be very blue if I don't get to make a doll quilt from my little scraps soon." Or: "You're Crazy, Kathy! Who would want this book with the blue cover full of quilts made from your silly scraps??"  Just like those Spelling lessons we had in the fourth grade where you had to use 20 words in sentences. We're all getting older now and this will be a very good exercise for you to think a little and possibly generate some new brain cells . . .

I will use a random number generator to pick the winner. I'm thinking there may also be some small giveaways of fabric for runner-ups - those 2 or 3 who post the most creative comments that make me laugh without being insulting. Be sure to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you're the winner.  Giveaway ends on Wednesday, March 9 and comments will close at 10:00 pm CST (when I turn off my computer and go to bed). Good luck! Winner will be announced sometime Thursday. And I promise I'll have more special giveaways like this one in the coming weeks.

Quilters' Hospitality

When I traveled to Peoria this past week to speak to the Gems of the Prairie Quilt Guild, I came home with not only good memories and warm feelings but a stack of 28 signature quilt blocks.

Someone brought the blocks to the meeting and offered them up but no one in the group wanted them. Since I couldn't bear for them to be tossed, they were offered to me and I took them home with me. They were made by some of the founding members of the guild and many are hand pieced.  Some of the signatures are also hand embroidered and are just lovely.

This newspaper  from 1984, which is when I assume the blocks were made, accompanied them and an article in the Arts section contains photos of some of the women who made the blocks. So don't get too excited - quilt blocks from 1984 do not necessarily qualify as antiques, but many of them are nice and do have an older look.

My Yahoo group is working on a signature block swap right now. I still have to sew about 15 more of the 50 blocks I committed to making but I will not be embroidering my name on all of them (Whew!),  just using a Pigma pen to sign.  I've blogged about my fascination with signature quilts from the past before so these were right up my alley and I was glad to receive them. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with them. You know how good I am about unfinished projects . . . .

I know I've said this before, but I meet such nice quilters every time I travel. After my talk, the group made it easy for me - all I had to do was stand there with the microphone while at least four people swooped in and held up my quilts for all to see.

I love reading old newspapers. Let's check out my horoscope and see if it came true! Yep - it says romance dominates. 1984 was the year my husband and I were married. Wonder what the important project I began was?? What did I discover??

And look - Ann Landers! I miss her, don't you? Of course I read her advice column for so many years, I probably know everything anyway and can solve whatever's thrown my way by now, LOL. She was a good friend to many of us and every day at work I enjoyed reading all the stupid questions people asked. This question from 1984 would not have meant anything to me then, but I have a teenager myself now, so it's particularly pertinent. If my daughter had been alive in 1984 she might even have written it herself, except for the smoking part. Parents:  all they do is nag, nag, nag.

You wouldn't exactly call Peoria the South, but it's south of where I live. So thank you, Peoria, for your "southern" hospitality!

 

Out of My Element

I spent a few days in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earlier this week, presenting 2 lectures and a workshop to the Eastern Iowa Heirloom Quilters Guild. Iowa looks a lot like Illinois right now - icy remnants of winter everywhere.

It's a busy travel week and I always feel out of my element when I travel. Three presentations in one week is a bit much for me because I find I get exhausted easily, LOL. (Surely it can't be because I'm getting old??)  Lately, I haven't felt like pushing myself with the travel stuff because I notice I also get really cranky when I'm out of my element. I miss my necessities from home. Hey, where can I get a good cup of tea made with HOT water (instead of lukewarm) when my throat hurts and I feel the sniffles coming on? All hotels should have boiling water available at ALL times, don't you think? And regular tea, not that herbal stuff. Also, where's the nearest CVS or Walgreens so I can pick up some Tylenol or cough drops that I forgot to bring with me because I didn't know I was going to get sick? Or where can I find a decaf diet Coke at 10:00 at night . . . . or maybe just some cookies before I go to bed . . . . When I'm at home, these are always readily available and I get annoyed when I can't find them while I'm out of my element. (Just like a cranky old lady - is this what it's finally come to??) I get lost easily driving around strange cities at night. My GPS couldn't even find the hotel and we drove around and around the same area for half an hour. "It says it should be RIGHT here! Right here! All is see is a Pet Smart . . . I can't sleep in a Pet Smart . . ."

This trip had a little minor catastrophe as well. Just as I was getting ready to leave for my first presentation in the morning, I lost my left contact lens. Not much of a catastrophe most of you are probably saying - what a big baby! - but it gets me off to a bad start if I can't see very well from the get-go. I thought it was still in my eye and kept poking around to see if it had lodged up inside my upper lid, but then I started smearing my makeup and I was afraid I was running late and didn't have time to redo it so I left it in and figured I'd get it out later. I reluctantly trudged off to meet everyone with an extrememly red and irritated, not to mention smudged, eye wearing my old glasses. I really need new glasses. I bought some cool ones a little while ago but it turns out I can't see well enough with them (Oh, the price we pay for trying to be fashionable) and didn't bring them along, just my old standby glasses I've been wearing for years. So yes,  I was a tad cranky.

Arriving at the lecture and seeing a good-sized crowd and meeting all the wonderful, nice quilters always perks me up and calms me down at the same time, however, and SO WHAT if I'm wearing my ugly glasses?? Everyone was thrilled to see me (even if I couldn't see them very well). No one noticed or at least they were kind enough not to mention that they were perhaps expecting a non-squinting speaker wearing cooler glasses . . . Who was this cranky woman masquerading as the usually delightful Kathy Tracy??

So many smiling faces .  . .

Everywhere I go I enjoy seeing everyone's Show & Tell projects. Some of the quilts are amazing and the talent evident. I wish I had thought to take more pictures. But look at this quilt made with over 500 three-inch scrappy blocks that Sharon (I think) made. Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm going to have to make one like it.

So scrappy! Reminds me of the Calico Comfort quilt from Remembering Adelia.

Mary  made this for me! I am going to use it as a mug mat  as soon as I can find some hot water to put in a mug . . . . The old buttons were a bonus!

We came home yesterday and today I am off to Peoria, IL, for another lecture. And I'll probably be wearing my contact lenses (yes!) because guess what? While I was giving my Iowa presentation, my husband (who needed a break from work and came with to help carry books and stuff) went back to the hotel and spotted my contact lens sitting precariously on the edge of the bathroon sink faucet, grinning at him.

Tiny Treasures

On a good weather day last week my daughter and I visited the Art Institute in Chicago for a bit.

I hadn't been there since I visited with my son over a year ago. When I went with him we saw a lot of the new Modern Wing because that's what he was interested in seeing. Thank goodness for girls! This time I got to see the miniature Thorne rooms again, which I hadn't seen since the kids were little.

The Thorne rooms were the "creative endeavor" of Mrs. James Ward Thorne, a Chicago socialite who began collecting antique miniatures at a young age. Inspired by actual rooms in historic houses and museums, the permanent collection features 68 rooms that were made (commissioned by her) between 1934 and 1940, constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot. As a child growing up in Chicago, I remember visiting and drooling over these tiny rooms and furnishings, my nose pressed up to the  glass.
 

Here is a little peek at the rooms that never fail to amaze me.  Every time I see them it's like the first time and I catch my breath at the intricate work that went into the making of them.

If you look closely you can sometimes see rooms beyond the rooms . . .

It was hard to get good photos through the glass without getting my reflection. A photographer I'm not . . .

The "natural" lighting replicates sunlight coming in through the windows and doors.

 
If you ever visit Chicago, be sure to see these little treasures. Here's a link to some better photos.

The Unfinisher

In doing some weeding out and folding up of fabrics last week, I came across too many unfinished projects. Probably not as many as some of you - some of you  are Queens of the Unfinished, I hear.  Many of you have been quilting longer and also probably making larger quilts. But still. Each unfinished project tugs at me because I remember how much fun it was planning, playing, cutting (okay, NOT so much fun cutting), piecing and dreaming of how to finish it. It would be really nice to have some of them done, I thought.  But I never seem to get there.

Small Quilt Challenge to the rescue again! I started a challenge in my Yahoo group this month to finish a few of them. Or at least just one. Better not get ahead of myself too much or nothing will get done.

Eeny, meeny, miney moe . . . grab a top and let it go.

Deadlines are good. Here's how it goes - We're posting photos of the projects we want to finish for all to see (to keep us accountable, you know.  "Hi, I'm Kathy. I'm an  . . . Unfinisher." ) and then, in a month, pictures of the finished small quilts. Some are darn near finished already - they may only need the binding - so it won't even take that long.

What's the problem? Is it like a book we love reading and can't bear for it to be over? Am I hanging onto some of these tops because I'm afraid they'll be forgotten in the pile of Oh So Many Little Quilts Lying Around the House? Or is it because the finishing is simply not as much fun as the making? Or maybe I'm just neurotic and need to stop analyzing EVERYTHING.

Whatever it is, it feels good already knowing that I'm on a deadline to finish this one. Silly, of course I can finish it. I started it last December for a Christmas Challenge. I remember putting it together rather quickly because I had already made the little hourglass blocks several years ago - Ha! - and tucked them into a bag, unfinished. So I can sort of call this a Double UFO, unfinished twice. Not successful the first time, so I'll try, try again.

I need to finish my 50 signature blocks for a signature friendship exchange first. I also have several out of town lectures and workshops planned for the rest of this month and next so I'm kinda busy to promise I'll finish two. I know my limitations. But if I finish at least one UFO now, then I know I'll be able to do another in the next month or so. Piece of cake, right? Wish me luck - I think I'm on a mission . . .

Woodstock Revisited

Woodstock

I came upon a child of God

He was walking along the road

And I asked him "Where are you going?"

And this he told me-

"I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm

I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band

I'm going to camp out on the land

I'm going to try and get my soul free."

                     -Joni Mitchell

I was a child of the sixties but never made it to Woodstock - my mother wouldn't let me go, LOL. And even though she wrote the song, Joni wasn't actually there either so I didn't feel so bad . . . We were both there in spirit. Joni wrote the song for her then-boyfriend Graham Nash, who was there and told her about it. (I was introduced to Joni Mitchell's music in 1969 when she opened (!) for Crosby, Stills & Nash at a concert in Chicago that year. The next day they performed at Woodstock, minus Joni.)

My favorite album of 1969. Remember albums?? Yes, I'm that old. . . .

Anyway, what the heck does this have to do with quilting?? I've been singing this song lately because my friend Carrie at Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop has asked me to be a Special Guest and Teacher at her shop's Quilt Retreat in WOODSTOCK, Illinois. Get it? Finally, I'm old enough to attend a WOODSTOCK event. Of course, this retreat center in Woodstock, IL is owned and run by Loyola University, the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic University, so I'm pretty sure there won't be quite as much Rock 'n Roll as there was at the original Woodstock music festival in NY in 1969. But who knows what will happen when quilters get rockin'?? A lot could happen.

Hippie Chicks fabric by Marcus Bros. See - quilters can be cool too . . .

According to the brochure, the Woodstock Retreat Campus provides a peaceful setting where individuals and groups are empowered to do the work necessary for reconnection and renewal of the mind, body, and spirit. Located in rural Woodstock, Illinois, about 50 miles from Chicago, this campus features prairie, woodlands, an oak savannah, ponds, and wetlands, as well as a Retreat Center with a dining room, chapel, and multiple community spaces. A beautiful setting for any group, including us rowdy quilters . . . 

Carrie has a lot of fun planned for the weekend and I'll be teaching the Union Stars quilt from my new book. If you're interested in attending this new Woodstock event - the Woodstock Quilt Retreat - and taking a class with me, mark March 11-13 on your calendars. You can't miss it. Hitch a ride if you have to - we are going to have some counter-culture fun. Something to tell the grandkids - "I was at Woodstock". I wouldn't want you to regret not being there in 40 years . . . I might even sing some Joni Mitchell if you ask nice.

Find out more about the retreat center here. Contact Carrie at  http://www.piecefulgathering.com/  for your reservation. Phone: 847-516-7911.

"We are stardust, we are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden . . ."

Peace. Let's hope it doesn't rain.

Just Do It

I didn't want to cut into my new fabric collection but a little voice inside me said "Oh, just do it!" So here's a block I made today:

Made from some of my new Marcus Fabrics - the lovely pink and brown floral is from the Bancroft line, coming to stores in March.

Look familiar? The block is a prettier pink and brown version of the center part of this quilt from my book The Civil War Sewing Circle. All it needs are the half-square triangles and borders and I'm done.

It's such a romantic-looking block now.

Making a quilt like this with some lovely romantic fabrics might be just what our heroine needs to pull herself out of her winter doldrums . . .