Monday, March 14, 2011

Quilt Retreat in New York City!

Meet my friend Victoria of BumbleBeans in New York City. She hosted the most wonderful quilt retreat this weekend. Here she is at Rockefeller Center on Saturday. And here's our group below, from left to right: Jackie of CV Quiltworks, LeAnn of Nifty Quilts, me, Jessica of Life Under Quilts (in the blue coat), Kim of Pokeytown Kim (in the red coat), Victoria, Bonnie of The Scrappy Bee, and Helen from Long Island. (Andrea of The Little Collection wasn't in the photo.) We were in the Garment District and stopped for photos at this statue of a man working at a sewing machine.

This is Victoria's loft below, all set up for the retreat. We had plenty of space to work. She provided seven boxes of scraps for us to help ourselves to. Plus we brought more. And they were very cool scraps too! It was very interesting to see how other quilters used our scraps.

Victoria is a wonderful cook and she pampered us with all kinds of delicious dishes.


Here we are (above) sewing and talking and laughing. That's Jackie (below) working away.

This is Andrea above (The Little Collection) with a quilt that she made for her sister's wedding. See the quilting below. Isn't it beautiful?

LeeAnn brought her gorgeous eyelash quilt. We've seen it on her blog, so it was a real treat to see it in person.

Victoria showed us this stunning yellow star quilt (below) that she'll be exhibiting at the Empire Quilter's Show coming up later this month. She likes her quilts nice and big.

Here is LeeAnn in front of her zig-zag quilt that she made this weekend. Her color and pattern combinations were extraordinary. I love it.

Below are Bonnie's hand applique blocks. She alternated between machine and hand work. The foundation fabric is a pale gray, very nice. Each block has one "tile" that is cut in the shape of an object like a bird or a flower. And her stitches are tiny.

Below you can see my workspace. This quilt top in progress was inspired by a quilt that Bonnie has on her blog. I made blocks by randomly arranging the darker colors, then surrounding them with sawtooth borders. It doesn't look like Bonnie's anymore; but that's what started it all. I'll show you more as it develops.

After making a huge pile of sawtooth triangles, I took a break by starting the quilt top below. I think it needs some applique vines or something more, but I like it. There are some very unique fabrics in this quilt, including some that Victoria used in a Chinese New Year quilt.

It was so energizing and delightful to spend the weekend with talented and friendly quilters. Tomorrow I'll show you some photos from our Saturday afternoon "field trip" to see the quilts at the American Folk Art Museum.

22 comments:

Quilting By Celia said...

Thanks for the post; the quilts are all fantastic and it appears that apart from the eating and laughing a lot of work was done !I love NYC !

Poppyprint said...

Super fun! I want to retreat in a huge NY loft, too!! I can't believe how much you got done, and with a field trip as well. Wow!

smart-girls Allerei said...

Was für ein schönes Wochenende, ihr habt tolle Quilts genäht,
liebe Grüße,
Sabine aus Deutschland

FabricFascination said...

Sounds like a terrific weekend, and what talent you all have. I really like the colors in your WIP.

Unknown said...

Yay!! It was a blast, wasn't it? Now back to reality. I can't wait to do this again some time soon!!

Sujata Shah said...

Karen,
It sounds like a great weekend full of laughter and creativity! I loved your quilt from the show and tell!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

COME BACK!!!! hehe! Karen, it was so much fun....I super pleased with the entire weekend... I'm now sorting through the rest of my scraps... I think I may need to ship a few boxes off to get them outta here.. Time to make new ones! Can't wait to plan #2!!! You are fabulous,my friend!

Abby and Stephanie said...

Enough energy and creativity in one room to light up NYC! Wow you ladies are amazing and accomplished so much while eating and laughing! I didn't read anything about sleeping??? :o)

Nancy said...

Oh, wow! What a talented group. Would love to have been in your inspiring presence. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Nedra said...

What an amazing weekend. I'm sure there was great creative energy putting all of you together in one room! Thanks for sharing pictures so we could feel part of it all.

Quilt Rat said...

ohmygosh!!! What a fabulous weekend that had to have been!
You are a group of lucky lucky girls!!!!

patty a. said...

Can I come next time? And can we make the retreat about a week long? Sounds like you all had a wonderful creative time.

Barb said...

Looks like a great time was had.
Love the quilts that were being worked on!

FlourishingPalms said...

Thanks for sharing these great photos, Karen! I SO wish I could have been along for the fun. And I appreciate seeing the picture of Victoria. Just today I mailed her "One Block Over" bee block to her in New York! Nice to see the awesome space she lives in. Wow! I'd host quilting friends all the time if I had an open room like that!

Greenmare said...

oh my goodness how fabulous! I think I drooled on my laptop! what a wonderful weekend for you all!!!! and those quilts............ I love them all!

Elisa Black said...

Thanks for sharing!! What a wonderful time you must have had and I love all the creations you showed. Its very exciting to see what different quilters whom I admire and follow their blogs come up with!! You are all inspiring!! Thoroughly enjoyed hearing about it (and seeing photos)!

Jessica said...

Karen, it was so great to meet you and get to sew next to you for a day! I think what I learned by watching you (and the other ladies, of course) is more than I could have gotten from a month of quilt shop classes. Thank you. Your saw tooth blocks look amazing, can't wait to see how that develops..

Nifty Quilts said...

Karen, It was so great to meet you in person and see how you quietly and magically make those spectacular quilts! I thoroughly enjoyed spending the weekend with you! I'm ready for a reunion already.

stufenzumgericht said...

Hi Karen,
it seems, you had a wonderful and inspiring quilty time together. Love the photos of yor group and the colorful quilts!Martina

Tonya Ricucci said...

looks like you guys had such a fabulous time. I don't know how V managed to get you all to leave!

Helen said...

The best retreat ever! I should be worn out from all that fun, but I am charged up for more. Your spirit of adventure and good humor was contagious.

Sundays Child said...

Oh my .. the picture of you all in front of the statue of the man at the sewing machine .. what memories that brought back.

I have a picture of myself in front of that same statue, in the background are rows of NYPD, assembled and getting their instructions. It was Millennium New Years Eve - remember that, the world was supposed to come to an end at midnight? LOL

My sweetie David and I decided to take the train down from Worcester, MA and spend the night in the Big Apple! We walked all evening, enjoyed the countdown on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral, walked some more, and then snoozed in Penn Station, waiting for the train home.

Sadly, he passed away in his sleep, November 25, 2001. Okay .. crying again now. I have photos and memories of a wonderful night and man that I will never forget. Thank you! Julie Andrea