Benartex Project #2- Peacock Petals

 We round up the first quarter of the year

with my second Benartex project....

Peacock Petals using fabrics

from the Peacock Symphony

line by David Galchutt.

It hit store shelves in January so

keep an eye out for it.

Deep rich colors and 

a spring vibe kept niggling at 

the back of my mind.

I thought about 2 particular 

design workshops that I

adore teaching, Scrapplique'

and Fabric Collaborations.

Both concepts along with these

two fabrics inspired

my work for this challenge.

Thankfully the style of the fabric

goes beautifully with my own 

aesthetic of swirls and dots!

Admittedly, I got a bit carried away

with my design work.

It was only supposed to be

one small wall hanging.

THEN, I got excited about working

in lights vs. darks and so only

one of four blocks is done...

Now you will be intrigued enough to 

come back and see how it goes:)

HOW CUTE IS THIS?!!!?

I cannot wait to finish the 

whole quilt now!

My ambition thought I would

do it all by hand-LOLOLOL!!

SO many little circles.

Then I saw the work of 

Kyra Reps at Daytona...WOW!

So, I tried the prepared edge

applique' method using apliquick

bars that my friend,

Susan Marth, has been prodding 

me to try for years.

I am so resistant to change!

It did make my circles a bit

better but I really do loathe 

all that prep work.

So far this piece has 3 applique' 

methods on it:

Needle turn hand applique'

Prepared edge applique'

and fusible raw edge applique'.

Whatever gets it done right?

So, keep stitching in whatever

way makes your heart happy:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:)

Another year passes and 

how do we mark them?

This year has had many 

challenges and one was all

my work cancellations.

As October approached, 2

contracts remained and both

groups decided to go forward.

So the day before my birthday

I taught one of my favorite

workshops ever, 

Fabric Collaborations

to the 

Florida Sewing Sew-ciety up

at the Lake Yale Baptist Center

near Leesburg, FL

.

Beautiful setting and a 

FABULOUS group of ladies.

They really took my inspiration

and made it their own.

Below is Margaret Travis and 

her sister, Marie.

Margaret is known for her Fabulous 

Cheerleading in our industry!

On my actual birthday, I spent 

the evening showing off the 

LADIES to the 

Ladies of the Lakes Quilters

in Lakeland, FL.

They loved them almost as

much as I do:)

I was somewhat apprehensive

getting back out with the 

new little coming to visit.

Thankfully most were very 

understanding of wearing masks.

I received lots of wonderful gifts 

from family and friends including

fabric, a salon tray for upcoming

filming assistance and ….

This sweet little

 (ca 1940s??) machine &

This Awesome book about

the Colonial Williamsburg

textile collection!

Four Centuries of Quilts

The reason I was so excited

is that back in 2018 I was 

privileged to stitch with some

of the volunteers on this quilt (above)

as they reproduced it for the 

house displays around the property.

When I received the book, I 

was able to find the exact 

quilting diagram of what I 

had been working on.

Nerd here finds that

very exciting:)

So, HAPPY HAPPY

BIRTHDAY to 

all the October kids and

Thank you to everyone

who reached out to make

me feel special!

 

Keep quilting:)

Well-Loved Ladies QAL: Fabric Selection

FABRICS!

Isn't this why we 

really do this quilting thing??

So, let's talk fabrics!
This pic shows the fabrics I chose to work with.

The pattern supply list will give overall yardage.
Example: Red- # yards

I chose to use a 10" layer

 cake of red prints.

The red value is consistent throughout

with different prints. There were 42

squares in this pack from

 Wilmington Prints

and I used most of them.

For my greens, I pulled 6 that were

anywhere from a FQ to a yard.

When you are doing the QAL with us, 

there is no reason you can't choose

as you go and shop your stash.

Choose a color palette and then

proceed to make each block 

as its own entity repeating

a fabric amongst 2-3

blocks for cohesiveness.

Then pull fabrics from the blocks

for the border applique'

for continuity.

So, I obviously went the traditional 

red, white, green, and cheddar route

to pay homage to my collection of 

lovelies but there is NO rule 

that says you have to follow me.

I will end this post with a series of

other color options for you to ponder

using the first block we will discuss, 

Currants.

Above and below are the traditional colors.

I really like my

 black/orange sample.

That sashing fabric made it!

You could always work in pastels

or brights or batiks.

PURPLE?!

How about darker barn reds, grays, & black?

Have fun choosing your palette

and use your background / border

and your sashing fabrics

as your constant.

If you are just coming to the 

conversation, HERE is a post

that starts the story.

You can start sharing your fabric choices

on our FB group:

Robin's Rocking Needles.

NOW AVAILABLE HERE

2019 Houston Festival, "Had Me A Blast"

Where to begin?? 

Here is the pack out for classes and other presentations.
Could be worse;)

 Quilt shown is 'Harvest Nights' available here:

http://www.nestlingsbyrobin.com/small-wall-hangs.html

Arriving in Houston and my first time going alone without my 

designer friend, SuznQuilts.

We have been going to Houston together for 10 years.

 Here is the wall of 2019 Houston Festival Faculty 

and I am blown away to be included

 amongst these amazingly talented women!

I am bottom row, 3rd from the right.

 There was a cool wall that had photos of 

classes that still had openings.   

Quilters are visual and being able to see the 

pic right there was helpful.  

I know this because I was listening:)

 It was the Sapphire year and the 

Blue and White exhibit was 

extraordinarily hung and

exhilarating to stand within!
PLUS, I was completely over the moon to be
able to spend the day walking the exhibit
with Pepper Cory!! We have known each other
for years but only have enough time for what I call
"drive by hugs" whenever at Market.
This year schedules allowed for quite a bit more! :)

 I taught my, 'Swimming Seahorse'

class to a group of fantastic women who

were real sports about the weird disco

lighting we dealt with at the beginning.

 These next 3 pics show the room that

the Sampler Forum is presented in.

The top pic is my presentation of 

FABRIC COLLABORATIONS.

Here is my view of the door and everyone lining up 

to come in.  When they were allowed, people came 

in racing to the quilter they really wanted to see...

it was fun to watch!

The pic below is of my SCRAPPLIQUE'

presentation.

This forum is great for getting to see how a teacher 

presents her ideas and what the idea is but done

in a round robin setting so you can move

from teacher to teacher as you see fit.

 I signed up for 2 MEET the TEACHERS 

presentations so here is the schedule

and the space allowed for talking to quilters.
I had a stage and a microphone...

So Much Fun!

 As someone who doesn't cook, I am 
always impressed by those who can whip stuff up.
I need a recipe!

My Awesome roommates, Tara Reilly and Debby Brown Quilts, cooked for me. Debby Brown Quilts made this butternut squash risotto which was cheesy and creamy and delicious. And, we are in the same issue of Quilter's World right now where I have a cute design within but Debby writes a regular column to help you with your machine quilting problems like thread breaking. She is a wealth of information!

"I’m honored to be published in the same magazine as the incredibly talented Robin Koehler. Check out the latest issue of Quilter’s World Magazine for Robin’s pattern and my machine quilting column. #debbybrownquilts @nestlings1 #quiltersworld #quiltersworldmagazine #quilting #quilts #quilt #machinequilting"

Entrance to Festival and me with my Faculty Tag:)

I have dear dear friends in Mobile who let me 

take advantage of them on my way to and from 

Houston with a free room to stay.

Della has been a mentor, a big sister, 

and the most amazing cheerleader

anyone could hope for in life!

I am honored to call her my friend and this was our view on my

way home...sunset over the bridge with a margarita in hand.

Thank you to everyone who came by to say HI and listen to my presentations 

and look forward to coming to your guild!

Appraisals, and workshops and QUILTS, Oh My:) -part 3

Houston Bound and I haven't stopped squealing with delight:)

So SWIMMING SEAHORSE which I recently taught to the West Pasco QG will be my second class and I didn't want to push both together in one post because I had so many lovely photos to show!

Below you will find photos from the latest Seahorse class and it really shows how different fabric choices change the look.

Here is the original sample made by me:

This is such a great Quilt As You Go technique 

that can work for so many things!

We all LOVED the polka dot seahorse!  

That is the fun of workshops to me, seeing what 

fabrics everyone brings and then the 

subsequent, "why didn't I think of that?".

 This seahorse has great value and 

keeps its soft feel!

You don't have to go bright to 

get a good composition.

 I say you don't have to go bright but

I LOVE this orange one...what a surprise:)

For those of you that don't know, 

I love the color orange:)

Better than the orange seahorse is 

the gorgeous smile behind the quilt:)

Marilyn started her

piece in class and once home decided there wasn't enough contrast so I received this pic later in the week where she made a sweet coral seahorse and WOW!

THANK YOU to all the students who gave me permission to photograph their works in progress!!

I love my job and meeting Fantastic students.  I really love lunch time when I get to hear the stories behind these quilters. I try to find time to ask, "what did you do in your life before quilting?".  

This last class had a Navy Veteran, a retired RN, and a retired Judge who is in her 80s. They are all inspiring to me when I think of the times they lived in and what they accomplished.

Keep quilting ~~

Appraisals, and workshops and QUILTS, Oh My:) -part 2

So in between all the appraisals and training, I have lectured and premiered my new, Fabric Collaborations, workshop to glowing reviews (not that I was shaking in my shoes or anything:)!

Have I told you yet that I will be teaching in Houston???  !!!!  Can you hear me squealing with delight?!

FABRIC COLLABORATIONS will be one of the workshops and the other will be my SWIMMING SEAHORSE which I recently taught to the West Pasco QG.

Here are some teasers to wet your whistle so you will come play with me in Houston...

Fabric Collaborations:
I revealed this last year in this post from September

The class with the Creative Quilters of Citrus County was everything I imagined and more.  The students were open minded, receptive to the idea, and really got on board enjoying something different. 
With permission I will show a few pics of what was being worked on,

Trish and her sister, Maddie, working 

on some lovely pieces inspired by 

the fabrics in their blocks!!

I REALLY LOVED this one!!! 

It had swirls and circles-WOOT!

 These Creative Quilters, Maryann Zutaut and Joy Streicher, had finished products from the Fabric Collaboration workshop with Robin Koehler to share with the guild....YAY YAY YAY!

It didn't have to be applique! 

As you can see above, 

a pinwheel was used to recreate 

the pinwheel from the orphan 

block and with the sewing 

machine, a spool and embroidered

thread were added.

Look at these fantastic floral appliques:)

SO FUN! Thank you Creative Quilters!!

Here is another sample I am 

working on to explain the process. 

Look at this FAB 1880s

block with a sweet daisy print!!

Expand that daisy out to the border and Voila'!

Thank you Kathy Cray!!

Don't you want to come play with me in Houston now??

We are going to have SO MUCH FUN!!