Weekend with Tula Pink part 1

a weekend with Tula Pink......

in 2011 at Sisters i took a class from Tula Pink. it was one of the best trip i had to Sisters. we did Tula's Cartwheel quilt in that class. so when i saw that Miss Pink was going to be near me this year it was an easy answer if i was going or not. pretty much nothing stood in the way of me taking another class from her.

the whole weekend (back in July) was put together by Stash which is a super cool quilt shop in Walla Walla, WA. if i had a quilt shop mine would look and feel like Stash. its full of fabric, patterns, notions, pre-cuts and much much more. everywhere i looked there was something i wanted. more on that later.

they had their front windows completely decorated up with everything made from Tula's fabric.  wall art, pillows, lamp shades, skirts and quilts.

Friday night was a meet and greet at Stash. Tula was there and she was signing books and chatting with all of us.  in talking with Tula we discovered that we both were staying at the same hotel.  so.... lucky me got to have breakfast with Tula.  i had a great time talking with her about various topics.  what you see in Tula's fabrics is her - fun, bright, whimsical and all with a bit of an edge to it.

 

side note: in my world of sewing hanging out with Tula Pink is at the top of my list and i have had the great pleasure of doing it a few times now. 

 

the class was held at a local hotel in Walla Walla that is top notch.  the staff at Stash did a great job in getting the room set up and ready for a quilting class.  there was several ironing stations as well as design boards for us to put our blocks on as we finished them.

 

at each spot there was a goody bag full of all sorts of fun things.  my bag had jelly beans, 3 fat quarters, fun buttons, thread, a pattern, a discount coupon to Stash and a super cool Tula Pink coffee cozy made by the ladies from Stash. 

 

the quilt we worked on was Stacks from Tula's book.  i picked her latest fabric collection to make the quilt out of and i picked the dark purple fabric for the background.

 

this was my view from my machine in the class room.  you can see the design walls lined up around the room.  i went to this class by myself but made a new quilting/blogland buddy.  Teresa who sat across from me.  she is a Tula fan just like me and even better she loves quilting and she is a long arm quilter as well.  Teresa blogs over at www.quiltingismybliss.blogspot.com - you all need to go and check her out.

 

once my Stacks quilt is done i am sending it to Teresa to have her add to the magic of the quilt with her stitches.  she has already done two Stacks quilts and they are both amazing.

 

so the day progressed and i had plans to take lots of pictures of the process of making the block.  however, Tula decided that there would be a prize for whoever had the most blocks done by the end of class.  the picture taking went by the wayside and the sewing took over.

 

there are a total of 20 blocks in this quilt.  i had a blast putting the blocks together.  Tula would come by and do a block count check every now and then.  good times were had.  when time was called i had 19 1/2 blocks done - one seam left to get to 20.  there was another gal who was about the same.  we each got a roll up of Tula's The Birds and The Bees fabric.

 

i got all of my blocks put together in class.  once home i pressed them all.  sorted them out and sewed together the top.  i am adding boarders to the quilt to make it bigger.  once i get that done i will post pictures of it.  

 

                                                    the pictures are not the greatest but i love, love, love the purple setting fabric with these colorways from The Birds and The Bees.  i am normally a green girl but lately i seem to be having a love affair with purple in all of its various shades.

 

me and Tula after my sewing marathon.  Tula was wearing Bernina red that day since now she is a Bernina gal herself.

 

since i had some help with the marathon from my machine i thought it was only fitting that Tula gave it some love as well.

 

there will be a couple more posts to come about this trip.  i did some shopping at Stash and Tula did a lecture after the class.  she shared her design process as well as some of her quilts.

 

i know that i haven't been posting regularly.  i am gradually getting back into it.  my life took a turn in July and has been a little out of sorts since then.  each day is a little better so i thank you for hanging in there with me.

 

happy sewing