Lansing Clippers Sew

  2022 Lansing Clippers Retreat – Shipshewana Fall has arrived (maybe even a little early winter) and the annual retreat at Shipshewana is a memory of good times and fun sewing.   It was only a month ago but I am looking forward next August and the 2023 Retreat.   The weather in Shipshewana was pleasant in early September.   Sunny days, no rain, and warm but not overly hot.   The sewing machines were whirling, scissors were snipping, and shopping happened!   The room was different this year without the big windows but that did not slow down the sewing and creating. We were a group of 13 this year with just as varied a set of projects as in any year.   There were baby quilts for future great-grandchildren; quilts with directional fabric that caused a lot of ripping out to get all the patterns running in the same direction; one of Char Thelen’s wonderful bags and several “home deco” items.   There were shirts too, at least seven.   Then there were the eye catching geometric pieced

  RICK RACK NINES   After a brief intermission for a knee replacement, I’m back to quilting!   The Rick Rack Nines quilt is complete and ready for Show and Tell.   See the picture below. My next project is called Follow the Leader.  This quilt was designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr and was printed in “Modern Quilts Illustrated”.  I’m not a big fan of the modern quilting method but this pattern seemed to be a quick project to get back into the groove.  Modern quilting generally is less about patchwork and scrappy piecing and more closely related to “modern art”, identified by use of bold colors and prints, high contrast and graphic areas of solid color, improvisational piecing, minimalism, and expansive negative space.  I chose bright colors for this quilt as you will see in the picture provided.  The Modern Quilt Guild ( www.modernquiltguild.com ) was established for adherents of this method. In my last column I talked about a Block of the Month project that I had signed up f