Saturday Workshop with Bonnie Hunter

Ta-Da! After four trips in and out from David's truck I finally brought everything in and got set up in plenty of time for the class. So glad that I arrived early!!

After seeing Mona & Diane's portable design boards that they made... and shared at Guild Show-N-Tell.... while packing I found some fusible flannel at home and came up with the idea to simply fold it around my BIG 20" ruler and pin for just the day... and so glad I did ;) My notions tackle box and Bonnie Binder held it standing up for the day. That block on there I put together last night just to "see" what it would look like ;)

I really should have walked around the room taking photos of everyone else's set up.... A LOT can be learned at a workshop that isn't even class related! Those ladies are some serious workshop going quilters! Several brought their own padded office chairs from home :)

Here's a photo of my stuff on the wall close by. That black rolling tote is a scrapbooking travel bag that I got in 2005 on sale at Joanns for I believe either $20 or $39.95 (regularly priced $80) either way it was a GREAT Deal! it does what I need... roll in and out of workshops that I attend. ;) oh and yes, I brought with me, both a BIN of shirts and a rubbermaid of already disected shirt parts.... everyone passing asked, is this your FIRST Guild workshop... I guess this sorta gave it away hua? :P

after I found out that no one would be joining me at my table I got to stretch out a little. :) Love my rotating cutting mat! Especially for using these rulers... takes a while to get use to them and I always seemed to have them positioned "left handed" so to speak... but no biggie... just rotate the mat around and continue. :) If I were to ever get to go to another workshop I'd place this on the same side of the table as me... so that I don't have to get up and walk around to it each time... although getting up often probably helped me not get stiff in the chair.... but next time I'll work smarter and and save my walking breaks for looking at what everyone else is doing ;)

I was probably the only one there taking photos during the class. Well there was one lady with a video camera... but I didn't see anyone else - which probably explains why there was no gathering for a group photo of everyone with Bonnie and our blocks that we made...as she so often shares of the guilds on her own blog. :( Not Bonnie's fault at all - but I was a little let down by the guild ladies on that.

Ever heard of the phrase "Dine & Dash"? well that is sorta what it felt like. The class time was until 3pm and sure you want to make sure you are packed up a little before 3 so that we can clear out in a decent amount of time and not left lingering around... but I'm not kidding you - I looked up and there were 7 ladies already wheeling OUT the door at only 2:15. So there goes the idea of a group photo I immediately thought. :/ Oh well... guess that explains a lot on why their web page doesn't have many up to date photos of monthly workshops or of show-n-tell either.*sigh*

Perhaps that my be in my future one year... as in when all of my kids are in school.... anyway back to photos I took of Bonnie ;) while she was teaching. She knew I was taking them - did you notice above how she tuned my way to show me how using the Companion Ruler and EZ Rulers together made the perfect Flying Geese block? ;)

Above, the block on the left is the one also used in Bonnie's Scraps & Shirttails pattern "Hand Me Downs" which was what I was working on. Remember me mentioning the workshop was for My Blue Heaven which uses the same block and one other I think called Puss in the Corner? :)

What a day - 6 hours of sewing time without my kids and WITH THE Bonnie!

I will admit, I was totally out of my comfort zone, and it felt like an out of body experience like I was standing next to myself questioning E-V-E-R-Y little thing - the things I'd say, how I'd cut my fabrics... urgh. I just couldn't feel comfortable - awkward is the only word I know to describe it..... and b/c of that I was disappointed with myself.

Perhaps it was b/c I was running on fumes! The night before I stayed up late packing (worried I'd forget something) but wanted to have it all in David's pickup -set and ready to go... b/c I had to drive 30... min to get there... and too I felt it would be best to leave before the kids saw me. I'm SO glad I did leave before they woke up = no thinking of them crying for me the rest of the day.

So I finally got in bed after 1am... but was still tossing and turning at 2:30... alarm went off at 6:30... so I only got a nap.

But I'd do it all over again - only next time I'd make sure I had a basket full of 2.5" strips that I had cut BEFORE the workshop! Man oh man, I would have accomplished so much more during my time had I already had noodles to pick and choose from...........momma always said "Hind-sight is 20/20"

Just before turning off my iron and packing up, I had my sewing neighbor take my photo with my 7 blocks in progress chain piecing :)

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Sunday after Church we went home as usual, ate lunch and then the twins went down for nap time and I unpacked from the workshop and put everything away and then got to sit down for sewing time and finished up my 7 blocks from yesterday.

Ta-Da! "Hand Me Downs" blocks sewn together as "2-sies" (1 block with 1 setting square) - I'll wait till I have more made before joining them that way I can move some around if I need to for color placement but this way as 2-sies it will help the joining to go together a little faster later and also help me visualize how it big it's growing...

ought oh - looks like I have some FROG stitching to do "RIP IT, RIP IT" the block with the lime green in the center's points are upside down at the bottom... good thing that side isn't the one attached to the setting block, so it will be easier to fix.

I'm just loving these blocks and playing with the colors in each one... It's all about the Dark/Light values! And pretty much anything goes color wise. After I came in from taking this photo I sewed another 9 sets of 4 flying geese units. After I get a variety of those done then I'll make some QST units for the centers and play match maker with them and the geese. ;)

This is gonna be a fun quilt to make and my first using my shirts. ;) I already know that I'm gonna need to buy some more plastic see thru drawers like I already have set up for my "Scrap Users System" and dedicate them to only shirtings! I want to have them all cut up and organized so that piecing will go much faster if I just need to pull 2.5" lights and darks...

Well thanks for stopping by and reading... and reading... haha I'm sorry I got a little long winded on my guild post below ;) but there was a lot to report about :)

Hope all of you had a great weekend - it was a very fun one for me!

Love from Texas!