ALL TOGETHER NOW

 So, the latest Dancing With The Wall project is sewn together.

I'm not thrilled with the orientation I made it in, so I'm going to turn it.

Now to figure out which way is up.

Here's one version.

GATHER SHOW AND SWAP

 The Seattle Modern Quilt Guild had a Gather, Show and Swap meet-up at View Ridge Playfield in NE Seattle.

This year they changed it to start at 10am instead of noon.  I was able to make it for the first time.

It was fun.  I took three quilts to show, Cincinnati, Blissfully and Eddy.  We were in the shade, so not too hot.

We laid plastic or something out on the grass and put the quilts on top of that.  I brought a lawn chair.

TWO ROWS TOGETHER

 I went up to the studio this morning, despite the heat.  I had the fans going, one coming in the shaded front windows and a small one pushing hot air out the other side.  It didn't help much.  With the iron going it heats up pretty quickly up there.  I had to leave by 11am.  The thermometer inside said it was a little over 80*.  

But, I got the bottom two rows sewed together.

Do you see what I see?  I may have to turn it when it gets put together.

GOT MORE DONE

 Only because I spent the afternoon with my buddies on Brave Patch today did I get all this accomplished on the current Dancing With the Wall project from Coupeville.  Otherwise, I would have left the studio because of the heat.  But, I perservered and stayed up there sewing.

Look, I have very little left to do, besides sewing all of the 'blocks' together.

BACK AT IT

 Okay, I'm back working on the Dancing With the Wall project.

I'm concentrating on adding more of the darks.

MORNING LIGHT

 Seen on our morning walk in Lincoln Park.

BORING BOWL

 I got frustrated with working on the Dancing with the Wall project.

It can be tiring.

So, I decided to do something brainless.

I made a basket for holding the scraps as I work on this project.

NO SASHING

 I jammed the 'blocks' together.

I'm looking for ways to get them to bleed together.

ART IN THE PARK

Seen on our morning walk in Lincoln Park.

REVISING THE DANCE

 I've been unhappy with my Dancing With the Wall project from last week.  It was too chaotic for me.  

So, today I decided to do something about it and head towards my bliss.

I'm going to change them into blocks and a grid....or something.

First I'm making them into 10" blocks.

Some need adding to.   

Some need cutting down.

This is more fun!

BACK HOME

 We took a morning walk in Lincoln Park first thing.  It's nice to be home.

Afterwards, it was up to the studio to unpack all of my stuff and put my project up on the wall.  It looks a little different then it was yesterday - I don't know why, because I had pinned it all to the flannel and then unpinned each piece and put them up on the wall piece by piece.  Oh, well.

SATURDAY AT COUPEVILLE

 I finally got back up to Ebey's Landing Lookout for a morning walk.  It's been too windy and cold previously.  It was cloudy and breezy today, but not too cold.  I took my binoculars and spotted a few birds, too.

It was a nice walk through the fields and into the trees and out again.  Foggy but nice.

Then it was back to the workshop to wrap up our week.  I put together some more pieces then pinned all the parts to my design wall flannel and rolled it up to take home.

I left early and headed north across Deception Pass to make a stop at Julie Drake's, our workshop assistant, Open Studio.  She has the best studio I have ever seen, very well laid out and planned in a building her husband and her had built.

This is the studio!  Her husband's space on the left and Julie's on the right with a gallery up above.

FRIDAY WORKSHOP

 It was a productive day.  This is where I ended up.

WORKSHOP DAY THREE

 Day three with Irene Roderick in Coupeville - we had a critique this morning which was very informative.  She first talked to us about how to look at a piece and think about what you like and why and what is bothering you.  

Then it was back to working.  

This is how I left it at the end of the day.  I was burnt out.  I think I want to expand it and put blank space in between some of the pieces.  I think it's too busy, chaotic.

So, too tired to start that, I left early and went out for some fun.

First, I stopped across the street to sketch this rescue helicopter.

While I was there, the operators showed up and wanted to buy my sketch to use for a card or something.  I told them I'd bring it to their office tomorrow.

Then I went down to the waterfront for some ice cream.  Half way through my big bowl of ice cream, I thought I should probably get some dinner first.

There was a little hotdog vender truck by the wharf, so I got a bratwurst with sauerkraut and sat at a picnic table and really enjoyed this beautiful afternoon.

It's so nice here.

SECOND DAY OF WORKSHOP

 It's the second day of the Dancing With the Wall Workshop with Irene Roderick in Coupeville.  I got up early and thought I'd go back up to the Ebey Landing Lookout and walk the loop trail up there.  But, it was too windy and cold.  So, I headed back into Coupeville, where it wasn't windy and walked around there for a bit before class.

It was a beautiful morning!

The wharf in Coupeville.

I walked up the trail next to the wharf.  This is looking back down to the wharf.

Looking back down to the main street in Coupeville.

The workshop starts at 9am.  We started right in working on our projects again.  Irene came by one time and we got to talking about shapes and particularly shapes in the negative space of things.  I noticed the ironing boards legs and the shapes they created.  Life is interesting.

Here is how my project looked at the end of the day.  I made a lot more progress today.  

I'm using mostly Kona fabrics, Espresso, Snow, Medium Pink and Oyster, along with a Kaffe shot cotton in the orangy-pink.  I also threw in that Raspberry fabric that I've had for years (probaby 30 years).  It's dull, but somehow it works.  Late in the day, I added the Yarrow, a golden yellow.  It works very well with the Espresso.

ON MY WAY TO COUPEVILLE

 I left early this morning to catch a ferry from Mukilteo to Whidbey Island.  I'm taking a Dancing With the Wall Workshop with Irene Roderick this week.  

The traffic was very light and I got there faster than I needed.

It was a beautiful morning.

Boarding the ferry at Mukilteo

Uh oh, there's a large bank of clouds over the island.

I love ferry rides.

Yep, it was very foggy on the island.

Since I arrived early, I thought I'd go up to the Ebey Landing Lookout.  But this is all I saw it was too foggy.

I wonder what the lookout looks out onto, hmmm.

Well, that didn't work out.  I still had an hour before class started, so I headed up the road to Oak Harbor to find a Starbucks.  I picked up breakfast and lunch, too.  Then I headed back down to Coupeville and unloaded my sewing machine, fabrics and supplies.  

The workshop is being held at the Pacific NW Arts School in Coupeville.  We jumped right in and started working on our projects.

Here is how my workwall looked at the end of the day.

Afterward, I was very tired and went straight to my room at the Coupeville Inn.

NINE-PATCH PI BACKING

 I started yesterday and finished up the backing for the Nine-Patch Pi quilt.

It's almost too small, I think I'm going to have to add some to the length.

EDDY IS QUILTED

I finished up the quilting on Eddy this morning.

Then in the afternoon, while visiting with the Brave Patch group, I finished the binding on Cincinnati.

 

GOT IT DONE

 I got the straight line quilting done on the inside of the circle today.

But, first, I had to do them in the wrong direction.  And, then pick them out.  Luckily, I only did about four lines.  That was enough though.  I got frustrated with my picker-outer that I usually use, so I tried my favorite little awl.  I found it shreds the thread less and gets under the stitching better, too.  It has a smoother tip.  

In order to do a complete line inside the circle, I had to roll the quilt forward and then backward at each end.  Getting back to the straight lines across the rest should be easy.

CIRCLE QUILTING

 I attempted to stitch around the circle and really messed it up.  Unfortunately, the circle is too big to fit in the work area, so it will have to be done in sections.