I'm A Knotty Girl!

Over the Mountain and Through the Woods, to Crabapple Hill I Go...

I have been a fan of Crabapple Hill Designs for a long time.  I have made a few of Meg's patterns such as this

and this

and this

So, I was very fortunate to treat myself and attend a 3 day retreat in Benton City, WA at the Crabapple Hill studio.  And boy, I was not disappointed at all!  So much to show, so much to tell.

I flew into Tri-Cities, Washington via Seattle.  I'm so glad they have a regional airport because I did not want to make the 2+ hour drive from Seattle or Portland by myself.  

Here is a photo of the drive to the studio.

And finally, the gorgeous studio!

I could hardly wait for the retreat to start!  Luckily, Meg and her staff did not disappoint.  I had soooo much fun!  To view more (and better) photos of the retreat, visit Meg's blog here and scroll down to view the Spring 2013 photos.

The food was delish, Meg's studio and home were gorgeous, Meg's staff were friendly and my fellow attendees were all so friendly, funny and talented.    

Glad to have met new people who were so nice and helpful.  In fact, I hardly made a dent on my project because I spent way too much time chatting and visiting with others and gawking/drooling at Meg's beautiful quilts and studio decor.

Here are some of the cool projects we made.

Here is our cute, little mascot Honeybunny.  He is so sweet and photogenic.  I must have taken a couple dozen photos of this cat.  But here's my favorite 4.

 

Drats!  I forgot to take a picture of Meg.  Seriously, I had the Best.Time.Ever!

And here is the project we were all working on at the retreat.  

I made my block into a pillow and added "Hurray for Spring" so that I'll always remember spring 2013 when I had the pleasure of visiting Crabapple Hill Studio and had a blast!

I also framed the pillow with a crochet trim (from JoAnn) and mitered the corners.  I tried sewing it as one continuous piece (like ric rac) but it was just too difficult and honestly, I just couldn't figure it out.  

But look how good I did with mitering!  Ha! Just had to show off ;-)

I'm almost embarrassed to say but will admit it anyway, the green polka dot fabric is from JoAnn, as well. *Gasp!*  

Well, I was already purchasing the crochet trim and you know how sometimes its just so much easier to buy new fabric than dig up what you already own.  Yes, I was too lazy.  

Hope you are having a fabulous spring, as well.

Bordered Diamond Workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably

Last week, I was very fortunate to have attended a workshop with Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably.  It was held at a resort in San Diego and it was definitely a fun-filled day.

So much to tell and lots of pictures to share.  I was so excited to take this workshop.  I have been collecting Kaffe Fassett fabrics since 2001 and I have been holding back on cutting them because they are just too beautiful to cut.  I also own a few of his books.  Was I start struck?  Absolutely.

Let me start by saying that the workshop was almost cancelled at the last minute but Kim and Jac at Starry Night Hollow worked a miracle for this class to push through.  Kaffe and Brandon were supposed to arrive the evening before the workshop and they were flying in from Arizona to San Diego.  But because of the fog, they were forced to fly back to Arizona.  Weather cleared up a bit and they flew out again to San Diego.  But, they were still unable to land so they flew back to Arizona a second time.

There were no other flights to San Diego so they were almost forced to cancel the class.  But, Kim and Jac found them a flight to Orange County at 8:30 in the morning and drove them down in time for the 10:00 am workshop.  So, here's Kaffe and Brandon with barely 5 hours of sleep but they were fully committed to getting us through the workshop and having a good time.

First, a few house rules:  flash photography, sitting down and over-thinking are definitely not allowed.  We were not allowed to use flash because it was too distracting and hard on Kaffe's eyes, so some of the pictures are not of the best quality but you get the gist.  What was encouraged was singing, dancing and trading fabrics with other classmates.   We had the Beatles playing while we worked.

We were told not to pre-cut the diamonds ahead of time so that Kaffe could review our selection prior to starting.  Then we were instructed to work quickly and cover our design boards as fast as possible so that Kaffe and Brandon could go around and provide us some suggestions on fabric placement and replacement.

Holy cow!  I felt like I was on the Amazing Race.  Everyone was cutting fabric feverishly.  No time to think and over-analyze.  I was reluctant to cut into some of my stash but I'd rather have the fabric end up on my quilt than in a box for the next 20 years!  I was cutting fabric so fast I was seriously concerned about slicing off my finger or my wrist!

Kaffe and Brandon were both very helpful and friendly and gave us very good suggestions.  Some of my fabrics were voted off the board and some unexpected ones made it on. After a nice lunch on the patio, we worked some more.  By this time, we were a lot more comfortable "borrowing" and trading fabrics with other classmates.  I wish we all cut up 10 extra diamonds just so we can trade with others like trading cards.  That would have been fun.

So, an hour before the end of the workshop, we all had to stop working and Kaffe and Brandon took us around everyone's board and provided some critique on the unique qualities of each.  Here are some photos of everyone's board.  Some were on the more softer, pastel side and some were dark and smoky.  All were gorgeous!

Here's Kaffe giving his comments on my design board.

Here's a few more.

And finally, Kaffe and Brandon signed our books.  Isn't Brandon cute?  He's wearing a shirt made out of fabric he designed (Dapple) with Guinea Flowers ribbon trim.

Come to think of it, he sort of looks like a guy I dated 10 years ago.  But he didn't have Brandon's fun personality.  And here I am (looking really rough and tired at the end of the day).  Kaffe and Brandon called me Miss Pink.

A few people brought Show and Tell.  Aren't they just gorgeous and yummy?

Here's Kaffe's quilt from the book Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts. 

I had such a great time and I can't wait to finish my quilt.  Kim and Jac did such a great job to make this workshop a success!  I would definitely take another Kaffe and Brandon workshop in a heartbeat!  But first, let's get this quilt done.