Opening Day at Peaks
Could you ever get tired of seeing this view? I don’t think so either but as I still have a day job down in Geneva, I’ll have to be happy with getting a little holiday break a couple of times a year. Might as well get yourself a tall latté because this post has oodles of pictures. 🙂
Patchwork in the Peaks 8 did not disappoint! Our format is pretty predictable, which is a good thing. There were a few hiccups for our travelers via train so they arrived a couple of hours later than expected but all in good form. This is why Thursday is a relax day so that we have some wiggle room and no one feels like they’re missing anything.
Show & Tell was punctuated by many ooooh’s & ahhhh’s. What beauties everyone brought! Every time I find another project that someone has done that I feel I MUST add to my own lengthy list of want-to-do’s.
Clare’s Halloween BargelloClare’s Halloween Dresden table topperClare’s 3 Dudes pattern in redHelen’s Pretty in Pink Economy blocksJuliet’s Chicken quiltOne of Lee’s sweet bagsFrancine’s Improv Wonky StarsFrancine’s friendship starsPaula’s first quilt – her style has changed so much!Paula & a bit of EPPSuze with a swap quiltCarolina & her hexiesLynne’s perfect pointsThe back of Perfect PointsLynne’s EPPElita’s Uni Quilt for DD
As I do every October, I hand over the reins to our guest blogger. This time it was the very capable Francine Taylor of mochawildchild.blogspot fame. She is very good at making the Improv techniques sound so much less scary and it was a delight to have her leading us.
Francine’s Improv Peaks BirchesFrancine’s Improv Peaks Birches Version 2Francine gearing us up for ImprovExplaining more detail of constructionThe A-ha moment of ImprovJuliet’s first slice of ImprovJuliet’s birches with the sunFrancine helping Lee
Every day was beautiful enough to have lunch eaten outside on the terrace and it brightened the whole sewing room all day. The sunshine was quite tempting and ladies could often be found using the table outside.
Carolina working outsideEnjoying a bit of sunshineJackie’s birches coming togetherPaula’s Birches & a Minion
The format was changed slightly as Saturday night coincided with the England v. Wales rugby match on so we adjusted and had the Fat Quarter Dice Swap on Friday and the Stash Attack project on Sunday morning. Dice Swap, as always, had some pretty serious contenders.
On the Left Side, Jackie, Helen PaulaAnd to the Right, Carolina, Juliet & Clare!Juliet is already happy with her chicken fabricGina’s Borders Bag
The ever faithful Quilt Fairy Gina could not join us this time as she was hosting an exchange student who was arriving on the Friday. Would have been bad form not to be there, even though we’re sure the student would have understood! 😀 Nevertheless, I was happy to lead the group in making her Borders Messenger Bag which was an exercise in being a little creative with borders while making a cool bag.
Showing the original piecingShowing an alternate border effectA Geographer & her fabricJuliet’s Around the World bagRebel Paula does a clutch
That evening, there was some disappointment that England wasn’t the victor but there was plenty of sewing going on in the meantime as there were bags to finish!
Clare says birthing a bag is harder than it looks……but you get there in the end. Well done!Carolina’s turnSuze’s Picnic Bag
We even had a bit of machine maintenance going on with some machines & other items needing a little TLC.
MaintenanceBecause sometimes pressing pads need new covers
There were two cases of missing dust bunnies, found in machines that, on the surface, appeared to be clean.
She thought it was clean! The bobbin case was…The injured bobbin
And the Bobbin Case incident whereby a wayward needle caused a hole & notch in a bobbin case! This was actually a blessing in disguise, says Lynne, as it forced her to do a different quilting pattern than she originally planned for her Birches. She loved the final result, of course done with the gorgeous, ever present, Aurifil.
Lynne’s BirchesClose-up of Lynne’s BirchesMy own Liberty Birches Mug Rug, with a lovely 40wt AurifilBack of Liberty BirchesPhone Charging StationWe had moved the Scrap Stash Attack project to Sunday morning so amidst the bags & other frenzied sewing, there was some time to create this exercise in Grown-Up Binding (aka bias binding), a fabric phone charger station:A safe spot-Yay!And one from Helen
Just in time to get in photos before lunch:
Picture time!Lots of finishesBags & More!So many pretties!Elita & FrancineAll of the Ladies
It’s always amazing to see what can be accomplished when someone else is making dinner. 🙂
I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures of the gorgeous works of art these ladies have created over the weekend. We had loads of fun and are already looking forward to Peaks 9. Registration opens 1 December. Hope you’ll come join us!! 🙂
REGISTRATION OPENS DECEMBER 1!
Patchwork in the PEAKS 9 has two weekends to choose from!
21 – 24 April 2016
28 April – 1 May 2016
Elita Sharpe
1 thoughts on “Peaks 8 Recap – Into the Birches with Improv”
Gina says:
Wonderful photos! I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be there — but on the upside, I see some nicely mitred corners on some of those border bags!
Wonderful photos! I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be there — but on the upside, I see some nicely mitred corners on some of those border bags!