by Heidi Weiss Emmett
Lot’s of fabric and new friends plus a great place to stay equals MAJOR SEWING FUN!! And that’s what I did at Harmony Ridge Lodge in Nevada City, CA There were 9 of us. I knew 2 of the group (my Portland, Oregon friends KarenAnne and Linda). All the rest were from the Portland area and into Washington state. All 8 of these lovely ladies DROVE all the way. I was super blessed to be a part of this group and I only live 11 minutes from this Lodge. But of course, I couldn’t miss a thing! So I had a sleeping room there too.
All 8 women have high-powered careers in the health-care field. Sewing for fun AND 5 days in a ROW is UNHEARD of!!
First up we have Nancy. This the VERY FIRST machine quilted piece she has ever made. It’s a Christmas tree skirt. The colored fabrics are “pieces of candy.” See the twisties at each end. She did a beautiful job and is excited to create more quilts and getting back to sewing clothing as well.
This is Jan with her “coin” quilt. She used all Marcia Derse fabrics. She made another quilt top too.
Linda with her first finished quilt top ON THE FIRST DAY no less! I love the “pop” of my favorite shade of green that floats here and there throughout this top.
Rosemary shows off her first quilt top of the week. I can’t pick a favorite print in this one. I love them all. She went on to CUT OUT and COMPLETE TWO MORE quilt tops. Both, larger tops, as in queen size.
Kelsey is showing us her 2nd finished quilt top. She went on to a third and partially a FOURTH!! Unbelievable. This is a VERY FOCUSED group.
I lost track, were there 4, maybe 5 of these cute Janome, RED, sewing machines? Perfect traveling weight (not the usual 35+ lbs) and everyone agreed, easy learning curve for usage. My friend Linda, she is a great salesperson when it comes to these babies. She should get a commission.
I have heard about these “pin cushions.” Just throw your pin at it and they automatically land pinhead out for easy pickup. Hmmm…accurate, 98% of the time. Ha,ha.
This puppy (Rowenta iron), stole the show. Nicole brought it along with the matching ironing board. Yes, she brought tons of stuff , including gobs of fabulous vegetables and fruits from her own garden. Did you know there are 5 different Frizee’ lettuces available? Haha, I’ve never heard of one of them! Delicious they were. AND she literally brought a bushel of apples! El Star is their name. AMAZING apples.
I am in LOVE with all fabrics Aboriginal. I want to copy this quilt. It would be a way to look at all my pieces at once. You can see KA’s happy smile that she finished this quilt top (look at the tippy top of the picture).
Here is KA herself and her Aboriginal quilt on the ironing board is getting a pressing before adding another outside border. And there is that AMAZING iron. We all want one of those. Nicole said she purchased it as a “refurbished” iron on Amazon. Check out KA’s adorable shibori top that she purchased at J.Jill (rats, 2yrs. ago). I could make that! Do you and your stitching friends say that too? Sigh….
This is a close up of her jeans that she is also wearing. What a great idea she had to slow stitch all of that after adding a piece of turquoise linen behind the rip in the jeans. I’m so going to do this. Haha, I can’t believe it. I checked out my jeans and I will have to CREATE A RIP first. Haha.
Time for a commercial break. It’s a good one. Yet ANOTHER way to change up your COZY! Learn more about the COZY sewing pattern by going to my Etsy shop: DesignsbyHeidiEmmett I’d offer a link but it’s on the fritz today. Grrr….
KA (Karenanne) told me she had a summer version of COZY. She brought it to the retreat. I’m wearing the “Cover COZY and KA has on her summer version. This picture gives you a great side by side comparison of the COZY. I mention some ideas for making your COZY smaller in the pattern itself. I think you can see the basics on that in this picture. Shorten the overall length, take in the sides. Trim the depth of the sleeves and take it in on center back and the center front. And check out our “digs” It’s like this all over the property.
I love this look and KA says it is really cool and comfy. She removed the collar piece and the pockets also. You would never know that this started out as a COZY.
A close up of this beautiful piece of fabric. It reminds me of “ice-dyeing.” Someday, I need to try that again. It was fun and fast. If you don’t know what it is, just look it up on Pinterest, Instagram, etc. There are many more great pictures of this sewing adventure but they will have to wait for a future post.
So much fun we all had on this 1st annual “Quilt Camp.” After the first full day of FUN, everyone said can we do this again next year. One change would be maybe only 1, past midnight staying up, NOT ALL 5!! Yowzaa, it’s a been a full week that I made the l-o-n-g drive home (haha, as in 11 minutes remember?) and I am STILL catching up on my sleep. Take care now all of you, my fabulous followers of this newsletter/blog. Invite your friends to join in the fun of my weekly posts. Tell them to follow me on Designsbyheidi.wordpress.com Hugs, Heidi
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