Coastal Quilters of Santa Barbara

I had a wonderful time a week or so ago when I visited the Coastal Quilters of Santa Barbara and Goleta.  As I told them, I spent a lot of time in Santa Barbara as a child visiting my cousin (appropriately named Barbara) and had suffered the worst sunburn of my life on the beach there one summer!  My family is all gone from the area now but Santa Barbara still holds a soft spot in my heart.  And, of course, it is a beautiful spot so what's not to like?  The ocean, the palm trees, with those wonderful mountains standing guard over the city, and what's considered the queen of the California Missions. 

My workshop was on Friday, April 11, following the lecture the night before.  I hope the lecture might have inspired a few people to be interested in looking at antique quilts and reinterpreting them in contemporary ways, especially tile quilts.

We had 18 in the workshop, a very nice and talented group.  To start with, one participant already had our book, Tile Quilt Revival, and had made the Starry Orange Peel quilt and did a fabulous job.  Very nice fabric choices with a double inner border and great fabric choice for the outer border.

From this experience, she went on and designed her own tile quilt which she was working on in class but it wasn't far enough along to photograph.  I've asked her to send along a photo later so I hope that she does.

Another participant had also designed her own tile quilt which featured lilies but it too was not far enough along to photograph. Again, I hope she sends along a photo when finished.

And a third participant fell in love with the Macintosh Rose quilt in the gallery section of the book that Georgann Eglinski made.  Actually I think she already loved the Charles Rennie Macintosh Rose and was inspired to draw her own pattern from seeing Georgann's version. She had begun to applique her block in class, revealing the black background lines (or grout).

Also, Patty decided to use my pattern "Birds in a Cherry Tree" which is not in the book but which I sell in class and at my lectures.  I have made it up in both William Morris fabrics and in batiks and wrote about it previously on this blog on March 10, 2011.  Patty changed it to still other types of fabrics.  She was still trying to decide what kind (color) of fruit tree her birds were sitting in as well as the leaves, so her grey background is showing in those areas.  She hadn't started to applique yet.

I love it and I hope she sends me a picture when it is finished.

Of the two patterns I offer in class, Lotus was the hands down favorite with only two selecting the Starry Orange Peel block with very nice results.  The applique was begun in both blocks, on the orange peel shapes. 

 And now for the Lotus blocks.  As usual, a wonderful variety of fabrics were utilized.  It never ceases to amaze me how any kind of fabric choices seem to work with these tile quilts.

I always ask my students to send me pictures of their completed work and occasionally that happens which I love.  One student, Reyna Lorele, finished her block and has already posted it on her blog as well as sending me a picture.  Check out her blog at www.yarninyarnout.blogspot.com to see what she has to say about making tile quilts.  I'm pleased to say that I think she is hooked!  Besides talking about how much fun the class is, she also made this comment, "Bobbi's teaching style is down-to-earth, clear, and helpful, btw.....".  Thanks, Reyna!  So glad that you enjoyed it, including the applique!

Here is her block in class.

And here is her completed block.  She decided to leave off the corner pieces.

Nice job and she's already working on her next block. 

Here are the rest of the Lotus blocks.  So fun!  The applique turning under the seam allowances to reveal the grout lines has begun in most of the blocks.  Also some of the blocks include the outside corners while others have left them off so that the circles tend to float on the background.

First is another innovator.  She used indigo fabrics for the outside pieces and will insert a circle later of her own design which includes sashiko stitching where the white space is in the center.

Note the piece of cake in the corner to go with the coffee block!

Fish, birds, flowers, indigo, coffee, abstract -- it all works!

I've included two of the students names and my apologies to those I haven't mentioned by name.  I usually don't use any student names but if you want me to add your names to your blocks, just send me an email and I'll edit the blog to add your names.

Thanks for a great time in Goleta and for being such a fun class!