Last weekend was the guild‘s quilt retreat. It was great to get away and sew for 10 hours per day. Like last year, we went to the St. Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Batista.
This is a picture of all the attendees with some of our projects.
2025 Retreat setup
The room had a different setup than last year, but we had plenty of space to work. There was a tall table where people sandwiched quilts and laid things out. There was a couple of design walls and two cutting tables.
2025 Retreat – my space
My space was more than I needed, but I used it all. LOL! I plunked my machine down when I got there and just used it in that space. I had a whole 6 ft. table to myself and could have moved it over to have more space on the left. It worked pretty well. I got plenty done.
Julie sat across from me, so we were able to chat and get opinions pretty easily.
Hats on machines
Fabric on machines
People started putting ‘hats’ on their machines at night. I am not sure what sparked that, but I saw it a few times with fabric and bags. Keeping the dust off? The machine with the fabric is SueG’s machine and I think she just wanted a decoration for her machine.
They fed us very well. Nice healthy meals even for me. I felt good after the retreat from a food point of view.
Julie and I brought some cocktails and drank them before bedtime. Such a good way to sleep well.
I was very cold the first night. I got up in the middle of the night and put on my fleece jacket. The next day I remembered doing that last year as well. I’ll have to make a note about it for next year.
All in all, a good layout, a good weekend and a general good time.
The Dogwood Pouch is another Sew Sweetness pattern. The pattern has multiple sizes, so it is a good one to buy (no affiliation), if you want to try out making pouches.
Dogwood Pouch size F & J – cut out
I haven’t made any of the sizes yet, but cut a couple of sizes (F & J) over the weekend. These will be more gifts for the angel taking care of my stepdad.
The pieces are mixed up to fit my photo setup. I used the same fabrics for both and I am interested to see how they turn out. If these are easy to make, I might make more.
I measured the leftover zipper pieces from previous projects and have some that will fit and match the color scheme. I just have to find some zipper tabs.
I sent another pillowcase off the other day. Well, really, DH did it for me. I was rushed off my feet last week and he had Friday off, so I asked him to do it for me while I left for the retreat.
The nephew should have this one by now.
I didn’t know what to call the main fabric, thus the Shark’s teeth moniker.
After finishing the White Strips #3 donation top, I needed another leaders and enders project.
This grey improv scrap top has hung on my small design wall for almost a year. I am shocked at that! I didn’t realize how much time had flown by.
My grey-black-brown drawer isn’t crammed full, but it isn’t empty either and I decided that I need to work on this project to get it off the design wall and to someone who needs it. Also, it will be a relatively quick win on my fabric used spreadsheet.
At the moment, as leaders and enders, I am sewing together all the scraps that are not strips. I am sewing them into pieces that I can then sew on to the top above. You can see pieces I have placed, but not sewn. They are just temporarily in place until I can add more pieces to them to make a unit large enough to expand the top. It’s a lot of piecing, because the pieces are small.
The main piece I have already sewn together is about 32 inches wide. I need another 10 inches, at least. I’ll probably have to dig into the strips to make the quilt big enough.
I finished White Strips #2 and was able to hand it in to the Community Quilts Committee at the Retreat.
I was not surprised, but rather disappointed that my white scrap bin does not seem to be emptier. As I said before, I have a lot of plain white scraps so I have to decide what do with the plain white scraps. I am going to work on some other scrap quilts until I decide.
Rose Petrillo bag – I found the pieces for this bag cut out, but not sewn.
Still UFOs
I still have UFOs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled, it hasn’t been worked on in awhile or it is waiting its turn to be worked on. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
I am annoyed that some of these are still UFOs. I have to give myself credit for completing some of them last year.
Handbag Sampler – I found the blocks! I found them in a bin I thought I had thoroughly searched! I also found the fabrics carefully stored together. Hooray!!
Sara of Sew Sweetness has a tutorial on adding a waist strap to any bag on her March Live show. It is recorded and available to watch on YouTube. This is good, because the tutorial is straightforward and shows you how to take your favorite bag or pouch and add a waist strap. Also, the tutorial is complete, but pretty short, so you can get busy in a few minutes. As an added bonus, Sara comprehensively shows you how to add a parachute buckle and an adjustable slider to the strap. It’s totally worth your time.
I ended up joining the Bag of the Month club I discussed at the end of 2024. It hasn’t been stellar. The January offering was ok and I planned to make it, but was busy with my mom. February required a frame and I just wasn’t interested enough to make the effort to buy one. The latest Bag of the Month Club offering was actually almost worth me joining. I might not have ever seen the pattern otherwise. It is from the Sewfisticated Craft site and is called The Pandora Charisma. It is a cross body bag with outside zipper pockets that open at an angle, allowing access. You can watch a video of the bag in action. There are a number of interesting bags on the site, including the Pandora Allure and the Voyageur Cube. I am not sure how practical either would be, but I like the shapes.
Moni Malene has a lot of great videos on IG. One that I saw reminded me of my journal cover pattern. It is also a journal cover and I might buy it and adjust the sizes to fit my own journals.
I needed more SF101 and since Joann is out of business, I went to Wawak. I also went to Wawak, because their SF101 is 60 inches wide, which is my preference. To get free shipping, I also bought some zippers, but accidentally bought pink separating zippers. Oops. This is why I prefer shopping in person. I hope there will be a store that has a good selection of zippers. Wawak does, but I don’t know how I got onto separating zippers. I’ll have to find a project that requires separating zippers.
Remember last month when we talked about printing AO sized patterns? Needles Studio in Los Altos can also print your PDF patterns.
The Sewfisticated patterns above is from the same shop as offers the Sewfisive foam. I wonder how different it is from Soft and Stable? The Pandora Charisma calls for various thicknesses and I would like to try it. One interesting thing is that they have some self adhesive versions, which seem like they would be better than iron-on stabilizers or foam. Some of the options are out of stock and I’d like to get them all so they can all be shipped at once. I can’t seem to find it from any other suppliers.
Exhibits and Organizations
Women’s View 2025 is in progress at Twin Pines Art Center in Belmont for only a few more days. I hope you get to see it.
The San Mateo Office of Arts and Culture is pleased to support the annual Congressional Arts Competition for high school students in the 15th Congressional District. Each spring, a nation-wide high school arts competition is sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressional Art Competition is an opportunity to recognize and encourage the artistic talent throughout the country.
The winning artwork of our district’s competition will be displayed for one year in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. The exhibit will include the winning artwork from all participating districts from around the country. The winning artwork is also featured on the official House of Representatives website’s Congressional Art Competition page.
Submissions are due April 6, 2025. Learn more about rules, eligibility, and details on how to apply by visiting Rep. Kevin Mullin’s website.
Join our guild. We’d love to share sewing projects with you.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
The donation blocks continue with more Color Strip blocks, though we all know white is not a color. I am getting down to the solid white strips and am not sure how to continue. I don’t want to make a whole block of just white strips. I am thinking that I will need to leave some of the strips for another time or incorporate them into another white improv quilt. At the moment I am trying to decide if I want to make another white strip quilt or if one is enough at the moment.
First, I am going to get my 6600 serviced, of course, but I have had it for ~8 years and I have put in a lot of hours on the machine. Kelly had it before me for ~7 years. It should last longer. It is struggling, however, with the thickness of the materials I use when I make bags. Since I don’t think I will stop making bags, I need to see what I can do to fix this situation.
Cyndi offered me the loan of her Juki to try out. While this searching process won’t be quick, I decided to take Cyndi up on her offer while I had the time and the opportunity.
I have long admired the ease with which Sara, of Sew Sweetness, navigates her bag making on her videos. I am sure she doesn’t put the swearing and problems in the videos, so I have to remember that no machine is a panacea.
This won’t be a full on review. You can find those in other places on the web. I am just going to share my impressions.
Cyndi’s Juki TL-12QVP
Since I had a bag on which to work rather than just a quilt, I spent Saturday trying out Cyndi’s Juki. A lot of people in the guild have Jukis and love them. I have heard a few people have gotten lemons. However, I think that most people love them, but a few people struggle with various problems.
The machine is a straight stitch only machine, so that is something to consider. I do need to satin stitch/zigzag for machine applique’ and some zigzag for making bags. I also like using the stitch letters on my Janome.
Juki-zipper tab
First of all, I really liked the stitch quality on thick lumps of fabric. I also noticed that the foot stayed relatively even while sewing a zipper tab. This doesn’t happen on my Janome. The foot is at a big angle and I know that makes the machine work harder and more poorly, which, in turn, reduces the quality of the stitch.
I had a problem with sewing on zipper tabs on the Superbloom. The problem was on the bottom and we couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the number of layers of fabric since I sewed the zipper tab with no problem. I had to do some ripping and left those pieces to work on at home. That is something I’ll need to ask about if I decide on a Juki.
My 6600 has a large harp, but the Juki’s harp was higher and I noticed that I had more space to maneuver. It was really nice to have some extra vertical space.
Juki – Not 1/4 inch
One of the things I have been thinking about is the foot. I like the idea of sometimes being able to use the edge of the foot as a guide without having to use a foot with the lip I normally use. In this case, Cyndi’s foot was not exactly 1/4″, so I couldn’t try that out. She said Juki does have a quarter inch foot. They also have a 1/4 inch foot with a lip, which would be great.
I was a little surprised by the complicated threading the Juki requires. I was turned off by the need to oil the machine. Cyndi said it was easy, but I don’t know.
Other than the above, I haven’t looked at any other features or reviews. I’ll gather information and we’ll see what happens.
I am making excellent progress on White Strips #2. Since I couldn’t get it done for the meeting, I want to get it done for the Retreat. I only had snatches of time between work and taking care of my mom. Even small bits of time make progress.
After sewing the cornerstones and sashing together then sewing to the blocks, I was able to assemble the top. Chunking really makes the whole process go fast.
Now I plan to put some small borders on. It is already, without the borders 43 in. x 47 in. I like my donation quilts on the larger side. I also need to make the back.
The other day I had a sew day with Tim and Cyndi. Cyndi was cleaning out projects while we worked on our own projects. She came up with some pieces from classes she didn’t think she would use, but she wasn’t sure wanted to toss.
I told her she should add some borders and hand it in as a donation quilt. The next thing I knew, she and Tim were cutting up shards and sewing them back together. The quilt looks great! And there is a project weight off Cyndi’s shoulders.
Cyndi’s Donation top-in process
One thing that reminds me that more brains are better than one is this piece.
I probably would have just sewed that blue solid on to make the quilt top big enough. Cyndi wanted a bit of improv piecing in there, so Tim added it. See above.
It really makes the quilt look like the design was thought through. I am really pleased these pieces will end up with someone who needs a quilt.
Quilter’s Hollow had been on my mind after my friend, Cyndi, mentioned she had stopped there. Last Friday I had to take my mom to a doctor appointment near her house. We spent some time at her house, which was depressing. We also went to the doctor appointment, which took forever. I insisted that we visit Quilter’s Hollow, a quilt store in Stockton, as a reward.
I think I have been to this store before, but I couldn’t find a review. I always thought my mom didn’t like this shop so I never pushed to go. Friday, however, I needed a fabric fix, so I forced her to go with me. I said she could stay in the car.
Quilter’s Hollow – back to front
I liked the shop. They had A LOT of fabric, which is just what I needed. The shop also had a lot of different kinds of fabric. They also had a full selection of Kaffe fabrics including LOTS of Philip Jacobs prints. I saw lots of Tula, some from previous years, but not super old (no more of that fun octopus print I used in the City Sampler). I also saw Tilde, some novelty prints like Disney Princesses and plenty of solids. I bought some Art Gallery Nature Elements that I had never seen in a quilt shop – only online – before. I gobbled a few of them up, especially yardage in colors I had never seen.
Quilter’s Hollow – Notions
The first thing I checked out was the notions area. It is huge! Lots of things related to embroidery. I had had a discussion with my mom a few days before about Jelly Roll rugs. I noticed that they had the rolls of batting used to make the jelly roll rugs. They didn’t have replacements for Sewline pencils, which I needed.
Quilter’s Hollow- thread
Quilter’s Hollow- thread
The shop had a lot of thread! It was amazing. I know a lot of it was for embroidery, but it was still great to see. It’s so hard to find a variety of thread you can see in once place.
Quilter’s Hollow – Kaffe and batting
As mentioned, I was excited to see all of the Kaffe fabrics. It was a really good selection. I saw the iris design by Philip Jacobs in a shop once before and used it for my aunt’s bag, but I haven’t seen other colorways before. This shop had the colorway with the light background. I now have plenty of iris fabric to make bags for my aunt. I also saw a lot KFC fabric that I hadn’t seen before.
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
Quilter’s Hollow fabrics
I really couldn’t take in all the different fabrics were there. I really just let yardage catch my eye and bought some of them.
It turns out my mom likes the shop. She said she might have been mad about something related to the shop when she talked to me about it before. I’ll probably be visiting again!
I took a little time to look at their online shop. Holy Smokes!! They have a LOT of fabric on their online store. I am not sure if this is in addition to what’s in the shop or all the fabrics in the shop. Their online store is well worth a look, if you are never in Stockton.
An iron is critical, so a few months ago when my Oliso stopped working, I had to do something.
I have a backup iron, but it isn’t stellar. Getting water into is a pain, it doesn’t get hot enough, etc., etc. Still, it is fine for when I need to sew and my ‘good’ iron isn’t working.
I did some informal research. I found that a lot of people don’t put water in their irons, but just use a mister. I knew that wasn’t going to work for me (old habits die hard), so I looked at information from people who used water in their irons,
Tefal iron – Winter 2025
I still have a Reliable** on my list. Mary really recommends it. However, I wasn’t ready to spend $199 on an iron at this time. Eventually, I decided to go with a Tefal**. One comment I got on it was that the commenter still had the same one she had for 15 years and she put water in it.
I like this iron. It glides very smoothly. It heats up quickly, has good steam and isn’t difficult to put water in.
One thing that really bugs me about irons is that you have to hold the iron at an odd angle to pour water into it. My backup iron is really bad with this ‘feature’. The Oliso was great. The Tefal is in the middle. If I am careful, I don’t have to hold the iron at all to add water.
So here we are. I have had this iron for about a month. Let’s see how fast I destroy it! 😉
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
