Turning Twenty Workshop

We met at 9:00 this morning in Koleen's new studio for the Turning Twenty workshop. There were nine of us in attendance; seven of us worked on the Turning Twenty quilt top. The other two ladies brought other projects to work on. By the end of the afternoon, five ladies had completed their tops. This is my good friend Kay in the photo. Barbara and I finished our blocks but decided to take them home and play with them on the design wall. Barbara's quilt is the only one I didn't get a photo of. It was easy, fast piecing, but I still can't decide if I like the results well enough to make this pattern again.

Barbara is also a long arm quilter, and she has recently moved her longarm up to Maine from Florida. She has a Tin Lizzie, which is one of several longarms I've been researching. I was anxious to give it a test drive; so we played with it for a little while this afternoon, and I was very impressed. It tracks beautifully; and it seems to have all the features I want, including an attractive price. I'll be looking some more at longarms at the Heritage Celebration quilt show in Lancaster in March, and at the Machine Quilters Expo in April in New Hampshire; but I am another step closer to purchasing one after today. The difference between moving the machine instead of moving the fabric on a domestic is like night and day.

Koleen had a lovely quilt displayed in her studio, a pattern from a book by Evelyn Sloppy called Log Cabin Fever. I took a look at Koleen's book and liked it well enough to buy it, so I looked online for it when I got home this afternoon. The book was published in 2002, and it's out of print now; but I fully expected to still be able to find it at amazon.com or someplace.

Well, it's on Amazon alright--for upwards of $48. At Alibris, you can purchase this book for as much as $183! Are these people insane? Who would pay that for a quilting book? I tried to find a copy of a book by Gwen Marston one time and ran into the same thing. After considerable time searching, I finally found a copy at a small quilt shop in North Carolina for $24.95 and ordered it. I just hope I don't get an email from them in the next couple days telling me they don't have it. If I do, I'll do without!

Our friend Margo stopped in for a while this afternoon. She finally took the plunge and started her own blog, so if you have a chance, stop by. The link to her blog is in my sidebar, Heart in His Hand Quilting. Margo has done some wonderful quilts and will be putting up some photos on her website soon.

































Credit where credit is due:
Turning Twenty quilt design by Tricia Cribbs, Turning Twenty