We had a full to the rafters workshop day yesterday with 48 quilters from both the Narragansett Bay and Ninigret Quilt guilds!
Our project? Narragansett Blues from MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders, a project inspired by my last visit to this area about 4 years ago.
It was an absolutely beautiful September morning, and the ladies all filed in, sewing machines, fabric totes, even comfy wheelie chairs – for a great day of friendship, fun and food, and of course a whole lot of power sewing.
Even though this project revolves around simple 4 patches, there is a lot to say for HOW these 4 patches are made and fed through the machine, with emphasis on having strip sets measure correctly, streamlining the cutting process by cutting strip sets into already matched pairs ready to sew, and in being consistent how pairs are fed through the machine so that all seams on the back of the 4 patches spin in the same direction for easily nested seams when units and rows are joined together.
And how quickly rows started coming together!
This is a great project for giving, easy to adjust the size for whatever dimensions you need, and those 4 patches use up EVERYTHING!
Busy hands feeding pairs!
We had 11 featherweights and a few vintage Berninas in class, making our workshop 25% non-computerized. This makes me a happy girl that these machines are still humming along and doing a beautiful job where only straight stitching is required.
Hold em high, ladies!
These quilts will be done in record time!
I bet there will be plenty of Narragansett Blues making appearances in the show & share portions of guild meetings in the very near future. They all did such a great job!
Check out the rest of our photos in the slide show below:
Afterwards, Tina and I headed across the bridge to Newport!
See the bridge in the distance?
I have many more photos to show…though we didn’t tour any of the mansions on the inside because it already near 5pm by the time we got there. We did walk past many and I was busy with my camera. I’ve been here several times, but I just can’t help but gawk!
Sneak Preview!
Of course, we were cracking up at the “Dont throw the baby off of the cliff” sign. Or at least that is what it looked like to us!
Don’t you think one of these mansions would make a great Quilt Retreat Center?
While the sky was blue here, the black clouds rolled in and we drove through just a bit of a September rain to get to the other side of the island, down by Fort Adams. I love the sail boats!
These boats were coming in after the rain had subsided, they evidently were caught out in the downpour.
And this BIG tall ship? Just wow!
And today we’ve got a double duty day ahead – It’s a Pineapple Blossom Workshop day, followed by a guild meeting presentation with the Narragansett Bay Quilters this evening.
Can you believe tomorrow I’m going home ALREADY!?
September is flying by.
Quiltville Quote of the Day!
I love this thought! Let's put it into practice!
Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!
Just wanted to let you know that "Addicted to scraps" and "More adventures" made it to my mailbox in Norway today. So exciting and inspirational! Makes me want to abandon my other prosjects to start a couple of new ones :-D And I can, because of leaders and enders...! I think Narragansett Blues will be a perfect one to start with. Also, thank you for taking time to sign your new book. I love your patterns and very clear instructions.
ReplyDeleteGlad you went over the bridge to Newport (where I was born many years ago). The Cliff Walk is always amazing no matter how many times you do it. Have a safe return trip home.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you back to quilty goodness with Narragansett Blues.
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