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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Patches, Pinwheels and Pride of the Prairie!

I’m having a wonderful time here in Joliet. What a great group of ladies ---it feels so good to be included, to talk and laugh and form friendships, bonding over common likes and experiences and discovering we all know the same people --- friends of friends are all friends with each other, so the more the merrier!

One wonderful fortuitous moment…my friend and fellow fiber artist, Mickey Depre lives fairly local --- so she and her hubby Paul came to join me at the guild meeting evening ---which was PACKED to the gills!

I was SO flabbergasted and overwhelmed when the meeting started and they asked all of the 57 visiting guests to stand. WOW! 57 guests on top of a very full guild meeting of regular members meant we had a crowd that looked like THIS:

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This is while people were still arriving, milling around and hadn’t all taken their seats yet --- but my nerves were escalating! A very special thanks to my friend Lynn Dykstra for coming in from Chicago as well! It was so good to see you again!

Mickey was a great help at the book table --- it was a complete feeding frenzy, and we caught up with each other in between signing books and taking payments ----Her hubby snuck over to take this pic of us:

mickeybonnie2

But let me be honest ---I gotta praise the wonders of photoshop --- because this is the picture in its original form:

mickeybonnie1

Yes, there is a man bending over right by my head. LOL!! Thank you, photoshop!!

((we were laughing hysterically when Paul showed us his original shot!))

Patches & Pinwheels was a great “Quilt Camp Day” type of class – some swapped strips, we laughed about who had the ugliest, the oldest, the "What was I thinking?!?" We talked and demo’d different ways to do half square triangles – and sewed our brains out.

Here’s another shot of Cheryl on her hand crank Spartan:

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She demo’d the use of triangulations for us and was working with larger squares that gave her 8 units per set. Very cool! And don’t you love her spool pin doily? :cD

Here’s the other photos showing what we got up to ----there is a lot of piecing in this quilt, even if the units are simple….the pinwheels and the 16 patches all finish at 6”.

Our workshops are being held at the fantastic Roberts Sewing Center, and I plan on doing a whole separate post about how wonderful this shop is – so be looking forward to it. Today’s Midnight Flight workshop is there too, I’ll get some more inside shots, and write that post to go live soon ---I really wish there was a shop like this near where I live!

Hoping all of your Saturdays are filled with some quilty time for you – have a super weekend, everyone!

12 comments:

  1. Whenever I see the pictures of your workshops, I wish that I could be there as well - but I guess I will have to wait until 2014 and keep my fingers crossed until then that you will really be in Germany that time.

    It's fun to see that obviously some of the ladies there are your daily blogreaders as well: they use the same bendable lamps bought from IKEA like you do... (I use these lamps as well, I must confess...)

    Now I'm looking forward to your next post! Have a great time in Joliet

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  2. A warm hello to all these awsome American quilters from Paris.
    I ADORE the lady sewing on a Spartan, she 's cute.
    Will V

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  3. Looks and sounds like so much fun! I only wish you were having a class close enough for me to go :( Looking forward to your next post:)Happy Saturday everyone!

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  4. LOL -- the NATO summit is in Chicago this weekend. You are in Chicago this weekend. Is there some kind of connection?

    Roberts Sewing Center is a GREAT shop. I discovered it two years ago when I was planning a conference at Joliet Junior College. I guess it's just as well that it is 65 miles from home or I'd spend WAY too much there.

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  5. That "butt shot" was our guild member Dan. I could not do my job without him! He and his wife come every month and he sets up the sound system for me, which is such a pain to do! I tell him every month that I love him...but he can't tell Joyce (sorry Joyce)!!! He is the best and is SO deserving of having his butt on your blog!

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  6. Hehehehe!!! Tell him I wish I got a better shot of him.....we didn't realize at the time the pic was taken that he was there, and when we saw it, it was so hilarious!! :cD

    Usually when people ask me if they can take photos during my lecture, I reply -- as long as I am not bending over in any of them :c) Now we know why!

    Bonnie

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  7. Seems like it would be a lot of work to crank that wheel in order to sew. I read once that, in the day of hand crank sewing machines, a child would have to stay home from school to turn the wheel so Mom could sew. How true that is, I have no idea.

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  8. Love this Quilt, but then I love all of your quilts! This year I am working on finishing the quilts I have started and starting the one I bought certain fabric for. When I get done cutting for a quilt, I am cutting the rest into srtips for some of your patterns. Once the promised quilts get done, my close friends will each be getting a scrappy quilt. I started to do the scrappy thing first, but I wasn't happy with the variety and I was not seeing any reduction in the stash! How does That happen? Make a whole quilt and still have the same amount of fabric in the stash? Have a fun day in Chicagoland!

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  9. Love this quilt and the slideshow made me want to be one of the smiling women in the crowd! They all look so happy! Thanks for sharing...love the butt picture!

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  10. Mary Young12:06 PM EDT

    I would love to have a pattern for the spindle pin cushion. So cute!!!

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  11. Anonymous12:06 PM EDT

    Hi Bonnie, How interesting. I had some 16 patches someone else had done and didn't know what to do with them as there were only a few. Finally decided to alternate them with large pinwheels! Love that little lap quilt now and use it daily. Love seeing pictures of your workshops and remembering the fun we had at our Sister's Choice workshop at Road to California.

    Stella in So Cal

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  12. Anonymous9:16 PM EDT

    Bonni,

    You shot my best side

    Dan Kolbe

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