2011 Pin Cushion Exchange

This year I missed out on the pin cushion exchange during the quilt retreat but I snuck into the exchange with a few other ladies to watch the fun. I was only able to catch a few pictures of the pin cushions but I think you will enjoy seeing them.

Here the ladies are ready to play the game.

This is a darling wool pin cushion on a wristband.

I love this toadstool pincushion.

This cupcake pin cushion looks delicious.

This pincushion is done on a wooden spool. Very clever!

Love the Snowman!

Banner Class

For this years quilt retreat I had a really nice quilt in mind but a few months ago Amy asked me to teach the Hugs & Kisses Banner from my most recent tutorial on Moda Bake Shop. So, I agreed.

I had 6 people sign up for my class and during the retreat I helped 3 other gals cut wool letters and scalloped circles so they could make them later. It was so fun to see what banners my students decided to make and what fabric they used to make them.

Shelly made the "SPRINGTIME" Banner, Kimberly made the "BLESSINGS" Banner, Amy and Mindy made "BIRTHDAY" Banners, and Mindy also made two more Banners with her daughters names on them. The Banners were all so CUTE!!!

I spent most of the morning finishing up the little gifts that I made for my students and setting up the classroom. I finished just in time for lunch. This is a picture of what I set out for each student. It consisted of a bag of treats, a pincushion ring I made for them, and a little "What-Not" Bag that I almost made for them. I had it all prepared so all they had to do was sew one part. I promise to show you the gifties once I take pictures of them.

Here are some of the banners I displayed.

Here's the banner I made for my sewing room.

The banner says the name of my blog.

b i t t y b i t s & p i e c e s

I was pretty distracted during the retreat and didn't get pictures of the other banners even though I had every intention of doing so, but here's Shelley's "Spring Time" Banner. All the banners turned out really nice and I loved spending time with all of the ladies in my class. It's always a highlight of my time spent during the retreats. I'm looking forward to next year and should probably start thinking of something new to teach that everyone might like to make.

I'm interested. . .

If you had a CHOICE. . .

What would you CHOOSE to MAKE at a Quilt Retreat?

• Big Quilt?
• Little Quilt?
• Tablerunner?
• Bag or Purse?
• Sewing Related Item?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great! Thanks!!!

I'm Home!

Hi Everyone! I'm home from my quilt retreat and back to reality. I had a GREAT time with all of my wonderful quilting friends and wish that the retreat had lasted a few days longer. For some quilters this was their 1st year and for others this was their 4th year which is exactly how long Amy's been doing her Quilt Retreats. For me, this was my 3rd year.

Kayla and I arrived at Zermatt around 8:30am Wednesday morning and immediately started hauling our stuff into the BIG Conference Room. It was really really nice and all 80+ of us fit in the space with room to spare. We even had two good size classrooms set up at both ends of the Conference Center. The chandeliers and florescent lights provided wonderful lighting at night and the large ceiling to floor windows provided the best natural light during the day.

On Monday evening a few of us ate at the Resort's Restaurant called Schneitter's. It was very pricey but very good. The steak was well worth the cost and I enjoyed every morsel of the meal.

Another favorite stop was the Resort's Bakery. Amy gave everyone a daily voucher to use at the bakery. I think the favorite treat was Gelato. Every day they had a few new flavors to try. My favorites were the Passion Fruit and Raspberry Gelato's. I also tried the Cream Puffs and thought I had died and gone to dessert heaven. The Cream Puffs were AMAZING! I brought home a few new projects and a few extra pounds. lol. I'm so glad the bakery is NOT accessible or I might have to make a few extra visits!

Retreating

I took 3 days off work just so I could run off to my favorite American Quilting Quilt Retreat located this year at Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah for some much needed rest and I hope to get a lot of sewing accomplished in between the resting. I'm bringing just one major project and a few little projects to keep me busy when I get tired of the big project and the little projects will help make me feel like a finisher! lol. I also brought along a very good book!!!

I think I will have to sit and relax there in the lobby. You might find me with my very good book right on that overstuffed chair by the fire.

On Thursday, I will be teaching my Hugs & Kisses Banner that I did for Moda Bake Shop. It's a custom class where you can come and make a banner for any holiday, any event, or any child's name, etc. I'm really looking forward to seeing what each person decided to do and what fabric they picked.

I'm bringing my camera so, I will take lots of pictures and share some of them with you when I get back. Have a great week and we will blog with you again soon.

Hugs, Kim

Mystery Exchange Quilt

When I decided to go to Amy's retreat for a second year I had some experience behind me and decided that I would limit the projects I brought with me and that I wouldn't take on more than a couple new projects. I get easily back logged!!! If you know what I mean. I'm so behind that I don't even want to think about it. I just move forward and do the best I can. So.... anyway...

When my friends tried to talk me in to signing up for the mystery quilt I first said "NO." But to their credit, they kept asking me. Rae Ann reminded me how much I love civil war reproductions and so, at the very last possible minute I committed myself to joining the exchange.

We each had to purchase 1 1/4 yard cuts of 3 assigned colors and 1 1/4 yards of two background prints. My color was GOLD, Rae Ann's was GREEN and Diana's was TEAL. I'm pretty sure Susann did the exchange too, but I can't remember what color she was given.

Here's a look see at the fabric we all cut. Amy and her girls put together the kits for everyone that signed up. I counted 24 kits. WOW!

I'm excited to get started on the quilt once I decide and once the wedding plans are done. I'm thinking my life is too busy, maybe it won't be until schools out before I can concentrate on this wonderful quilt.




I know many of you may have seen these two quilts already but for those who haven't here they are. I have to say I am so very pleased that I decided to sign up for this exchange. I might have broken down in tears of sadness.

I love everything about these two quilts and it's going to be difficult deciding which one to make.

What a dilemma!!!

Wish me luck on deciding which one to make.....






Maybe I'll have to make both... one day.....

I certainly have enough fabric in my stash to make a second one. lol.

Two Peas in a Pod Trunk Show

Carol Adams and Connie Cawley of "Two Peas in a Pod" are one of my many favorite quilt designers. They both came to our Quilt Retreat and did a trunk show. It was so much fun seeing the quilts close up and personal.

Both Rae Ann and Lori have posted pictures from the same trunk show so I decided to show the close up shots that I took of a few of the quilts that they brought to the show.

The picture above is a quilt I made using their pattern called "Hopscotch"

Pincushion Exchange

One of the fun classes I took at American Quilting's Retreat was a Pincushion Exchange. I was surprised that not many people took the class. It was really fun and informative not to mention the fact that we all got a new pattern to make a darling pincushion.

Here are some of the examples that Melinda (teacher also Amy's oldest daughter) brought to inspire us. Each pincushion had a story. Notice the chicken in the top right hand corner of the picture, well, she's been around for 25+ years. Melinda remembers playing with the chicken when she and her sisters were younger. They especially loved poking her with pins. lol.


The strawberry wrist pincushion is made using a large covered button and has a magnet sewn inside to catch your pins and needles. This pattern is an ORIGINAL design that Amy gave to us at last years retreat (I think).


I'm pretty sure this is another original design by Amy but I didn't see a pattern on her website. I just love the cording around the outside edge and wool yarn that she used to sew the vines.


I really love this bunny pincushion and the pattern is called Cottontail by Under the Garden Moon (Amy's design) and can be found here.


For the Exchange we each had to make a pincushion. I just realized that I didn't take a picture of mine but you'll see it in the group shot below. I used a pattern called BABY CAKES by Cindy Taylor Oates. You can find the pattern here.

In the pictures below you will see all of the pincushions wrapped and ready to trade. We used a one die and each time you rolled a 1 or a 6 you could either pick a package or take a pincushion from someone that had already unwrapped it. It was crazy. I have to say that I was really happy to get the one I had my eye on. It was close and I was able to trade for it in the very last seconds of the game.


Here is a picture of the pincushions that everyone made and brought to trade. I ended up with the sweet turtle made by Amy (American Quilting). Isn't he sweet? You may recognize the pattern made by Heather Bailey called Henrietta Turtle.

Purse Frenzy

Amy introduced my newest obsession in a late night purse class. I decided to take the class at the very last minute. I hadn't really had a chance to take a close look at the samples prior to the leaving for the retreat so when I saw them I went a bit CRAZY and bought lots handles to make lots of purses. It was so exciting and you could feel the frenzy from all the ladies waiting anxiously to get the right handle in the right color.

Amy assured all of us that she had plenty of handle choices and she felt like everyone would get at least one of their choices and then she'd open it up to get a second, third or fourth handle. I can hardly explain how much FUN it was!!!! I was practically hyper-ventilating I was so excited!

It was definitely one of my favorite classes! On the last day I dropped everything I was doing just to make my purse. I was really happy to finish two and a half purses before I came home.

This is the purse I made for myself. It is made using black wool with a cotton red paisley fabric on the inside. The rose and leaves are also made out of wool. Everyone was having a hard time sewing with the clear mono-filament thread so I decided to try sewing with black thread and it worked out great. I was happy with how it turned out. I doubled the thread and took it through each set of two holes 3 times. I think the thread adds another bit of texture to the purse. If you click on the above picture you can get a better look at the stitching.

You all know how much I love RED so I wanted to put a red fabric on the inside. I had this beautiful red and white paisley in my possession so I decided to use it. I really like how it turned out. You may also notice the chain. It's a long chain that hooks to the purse and allows you to put it over your shoulder for a "hands free" experience. I love going "hands free" when I'm shopping.

This is the mini purse I made for Kenna. It's the perfect size for her money, lip gloss, and any other small items like her iPod or future cell phone.

The inside green coordinates with the fabric on the outside. I also used light green thread to attach the handle to the fabric. This size worked up really fast.

The larger purse handle is to make another type of handbag. I just need to decide on the fabric I want to use before I make it.. There are so many choices that it might be difficult to decide. The smaller handle is what I used for Kenna's Large Coin purse.

Here are two of the 4-5 color options.
I can't remember every color but there were several choices.

There are some patterns on the market for the fabric purses and I'm sure that Amy will, at some point, have patterns available to purchase. For those that live locally, Amy will be offering a Purse class in her store. So, keep an eye out for her upcoming classes. I'm sure you could call the store (American Quilting in Orem, Utah) and ask for more information.

American Quilting Retreat

I just back from a 3 day quilting vacation late on Friday night and I'm here to tell you that it was a real treat for me to attend American Quilting's Retreat this year. I had so much fun with my friends both old and new.

I have to admit though, that I spent more time attending classes, lots of trunk shows, laughing, taking pictures, and eating than I did sewing. I made progress on one quilt and finished two other smaller projects. I also acquired a few new projects, all of which I will share with you over the next several days.

I thought I'd share some pictures of the friends that came with me to Amy's Retreat.

L to R: Diana, Me, Rae Ann, Lori, and Susann

Lori is working on her purse.

I love this picture of Susann.
We were having fun taking pictures of each other.

Here's Rae Ann busy working on her Valentine quilt.

I missed getting a good picture of Diana but I'm sure Rae Ann will be posting pictures from our quilting adventures really soon. We all had a wonderful time together and look forward to next years retreat.