Bonnie Hunter My Blue Heaven Workshop

Scrappy quilts are my favorite and Bonnie Hunter is a prolific scrap quilter.  Hers was the first quilt blog I ever learned about and I became a fan immediately of her scrap user system.  I had never heard of leader-enders until I visited her blog, and use them often now.  Bonnie is a generous teacher and has lots of free patterns, tips, and hints on her Quiltville website.

Although I am not a member of the closest local traditional guild, primarily because their meetings are on a weekday morning that I could never attend, I learned through dual members of my modern guild that  Bonnie Hunter was presenting a workshop of her My Blue Heaven quilt.  This date had been two years' wait!  Luckily after a number of emails and text messages to two different ladies, I was able to secure an open spot and took the day off work.  

Blue is a color that seldom shows up in my quilts so I substituted greens and purples to make a three color version I'll call My Lupine Heaven. 

 Lots and lots of greens and neutrals from stash got cut up into 2.5" strips.

Purples were purchased during the Shop Hop to add to the small amount in the stash.  Cutting, cutting, cutting late into the night., using my GO cutter strip die.  I was fortunate to have a set of never-before-opened Companion Angle and Easy Angle rulers which Bonnie recommended in the class supply list.  Assembling a kit of cutting tools, mat, sewing supplies, machine and cords and doublechecking everything had me amped up the night before such that I found myself sorting mail at 1:30 a.m. just to simmer down.  The drive next morning to the meeting place seemed to take forever, but I managed to arrive relatively early.

After getting set up and greeting some folks I knew, I was approached by a lovely lady who introduced herself as a reader of my blog. I was so surprised and pleased, and thought it sweet of her to say so. Thank you, Maile!

Bonnie had us playing in our scraps before too long and machines were humming.  She used my fabrics for one of the demos, and in between demos to two large groups she was everywhere, providing individual instruction, praise, and talking about her new Essential Triangle tool and selling her books.  

Here's my Lupine purples in the alternate block. 

After lunch there was some show and share of many "Bonnie" quilts and I shared my supersized Rick Rack Nines quilt top.  Later I showed Bonnie my Grandma's oldest UFO finish, a yo-yo quilt she started in 1934 and had her church quilt group tie to a backing in 1997.  Bonnie was pleased to know I use and display this quilt coverlet. 

Here are the two complete blocks I managed to finish, though I have pieces and parts for a dozen more, primarily due to using cut parts for leader-enders.  The Companion Angle and Easy Angle rulers got a workout, and I purchased Bonnie's Essential Triangle Ruler and her book, More Adventures with Leader Enders.  

It was wonderful to spend the day with fellow scrap quilt enthusiasts and learn tricks and tips from an expert.  Bonnie took lots of photos and had two slide shows here and here for the Camarillo Guild as she did a trunk show the next day.  My blocks--and my back while seated at my machine!--made one slide show.  The Rick Rack Nines quilt share is in the other.  I'm hoping Grandma's yo-yo coverlet will one day appear as the background to one of Bonnie's Quiltville Quotes!   I'm sure to continue playing in the scraps for many years to come and hope someday to take another Bonnie workshop.