A Red Letter Day with Camille Roskelley

As mentioned in my last post, Camille Roskelley visited Australia the past fortnight and I was lucky enough to attend one of her Trunk Shows and a quilting class the next day.

At the Trunk Show Camille spoke for about half an hour, telling us about her start in quilting and how it lead to her designing fabric and writing books.

In real life Camille comes across exactly as she seems on her blog: talented, funny and cute as a button.

Camille: kittens ain't got nothin' on her.

Camille's visit was organised by Di Mill, and she was accompanied by her good friend (and quilter) Holly - here they are holding up a couple of Camille's mini quilt versions.

The next day's class was arranged by the hardworking staff from The Quilter's Store. We all knew the class was going to be fabulous when we saw the (albeit dilapidated) mirror ball on the ceiling.

Margaret was kind enough to chauffeur me to and from the event (thanks Meg!) and we shared a common table with the lovely Catherine (from Cat and Vee) and Tracy.

There was a whole lotta sewing and chattering interspersed with a bunch of eating. A perfect, Red Letter Day, really.

Margaret let me use her Bloc Loc half-square triangle cutting templates and I am hooked. I put in an order for a set the next day.

Cat let us all use her handmade scrap container. Such a gorgeous way to use up those precious off cuts you might be hoarding.

Camille showed us her Red Letter Day quilt (and mini):

She also gave us an in-person demonstration of a clever way to chain piece the blocks.

It's a bit hard to explain in words, but you can see with Tracy's block below how all the rows are nicely connected - a failsafe way to make sure they get sewn together correctly.

Two points:

1. I managed to sew two rows upside down. DON'T ASK.

2. How gorgeous is Tracy's smile? She had such a good time and her joy was infectious. She even managed to con Camille into cutting out the fabric for one of her blocks with that smile. She was just so happy. But not too happy. You know how sometimes people are so happy you want to stick a fork in their eye? There was none of that.

By the end of class we had 40 blocks between us. They looked fantastic all laid out together.

I completed one block and had two more sewn into rows such that I finished them that night. My cunning plan at this stage is to sew a total of 12 blocks and turn it into a twin-sized quilt for one of my boys.

Margaret's will be the one to watch - there were a lot of 'ahhhhhs' when she unveiled her colour scheme:

Come on Meg, I want to see it finished!

If you'd like to see one that's already complete - check out Kirsten's over at Gemini Stitches. She sewed like the wind and had hers done over the weekend!

Phew. So that's what kept me out of trouble last week.

And just before I go, the first issue of my newsletter has been sent out. (If you'd like to receive it, you can sign up in the side bar on the right.)

The newsletter shows how to make this quilted baby mat

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Wishing you all a great end to your week and a weekend full of sewing.

A bientôt!