Tag Archives: Gwen Marston

Out with the Old and In with the New!

0
by

Congratulations to Sarah Rothwell on the purchase of my A-1 longarm quilting machine.  Sarah and her dad showed up with a flatbed all the way from Lubbock to pick up her new A-1 longarm.  I quickly showed her the ropes and she got to test drive it…fortunately she loved how it handled.   Jerry and I, and Sarah and her dad, Gary, began  the arduous process of disassembling it. About 3 hours later we had it down and loaded with lots and lots of bubble wrap and blankets.  Sarah owns a fabric store in Lubbock called RahRah’s Fabric and Quilting.  She plans to rent the machine to customers to do their own quilts.   I’m thrilled that this really nice young woman will be using my machine.  It has been a good one!

Now that the upstairs “sweat shop” is devoid of the longarm, we are having the carpet removed and replaced with a vinyl plank flooring that looks just like our hand-scraped  wood floors down stairs.

All of this is to make way for the new machine…the Bernina Q24!  ( I think “Q” stands for Queen of quilting).  Right now my new baby is sitting in the garage waiting.  Friday, the Bernina folks from Sew it Up in Grapevine, Linda Davis and her husband, will be coming out to set it up.  I can’t wait!

bernina-q24

The hard part is that I’m leaving for a quilting retreat on Sunday in Wisconsin at the Madeline Island School of the Arts for Gwen Marston’s last retreat before retirement.  That was a stroke of luck as I got the last spot available in the retreat!  It will focus on “Small Studies”.  Gwen was doing “modern quilting” before anyone called it modern quilting.  I’m really looking forward to the retreat, but also anxious to get back and get acquainted with The Queen.  I have a couple of tops ready to quilt and have been waiting to do them. Stay tuned for more about the new Q24!

Fun, Fast, & Liberated Quiltmaking!

2
by

I have loved every minute of the 12 month journey of Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine/Michael Miller fabric block  challenge; and have grown leaps and bounds with regards to my creativity as well as expanding my skill set; however, after finishing the intense piecing and quilting on my final quilt composition I needed to do something creative, fun, fast and immediately gratifying!  I had gotten Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking II some time ago and had been watching her class on iQuilt, so I decided to do a liberated rail fence!  I dove into my pile of fabrics and scraps  and in two days had the main body of the quilt done.  It is such a fun and free process, designing and improvising as you go.  And it is liberating!  I haven’t finished adding the final border, but wanted to share what I have done so far:fullsizerender-18

One of my goals for the next year is to work on doing more minimal quilts (that sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it!), so  earlier this week I got Gwen’s book Minimal Guiltmaking.  I have poured over this, and have been very inspired.  There were many of her students’ beautiful works in the book and I thought what fun to do a retreat with her.  Looking at her website, I found that this is her last year of teaching, and on a whim looked to see what her schedule was.  Unbelievably, her last retreat before retiring will be in 3 weeks at the MADELINE ISLAND SCHOOL OF THE ARTS (MISA) in Wisconsin and there was one spot left!  I think this is fate!  The topic is “Small Studies” and I am going!