Quilts Show 2016

Our local quilt show was held at the end of July at the county fair.  I meant to post photos right away, but...

As usual, I was putting my last stitches in my quilt as they were hanging the last quilts.  When will I ever stop procrastinating??? Despite the proliferation of machine quilted quilts these days (which I totally understand and admire and am NOT knocking!), I love that nearly 15% of the quilts in this year's show were hand quilted!  Here's mine:

3rd place small/medium hand quilted

Close up of the hand quilting

I volunteered to be a hostess at the show and enjoy the quilts at my leisure.  Here are some of my favorites:

1st place hand quilted small/medium by Maureen G.

2nd place hand quilted small/medium by my friend, Sandra S

Surprisingly, the only 'modern' quilt in the show, by my friend, Sue L

She realized she was never going to finish her hex quilt, so she chose a different setting, by Maureen G

The colors of this grabbed me, by my friend Joan W

This one is also by Joan W.  Can you tell she doesn't do muted colors?

Isn't the quilting fabulous?  Quilted by my friend, Gail C.

Best in Show by Cynthia A - I love traditional quilts!

Close up of Best in Show winner

The quilt I'd most like to snuggle up with.  My friend, Gail C, always includes so many fabrics and fun details in her quilts.

Isn't it fun?  Stars & circles & butterflies & ric rac & yo-yos & buttons, oh my!

I admire Judy Niemeyer quilts so much, probably in part because I know I'd never be brave enough to attempt one.  This one was made by Gwyn C.

I love color!  This one by my friend, Helen W. 

When I first saw this one, I thought it was a photograph!  By Lori H S

I love minis, and the scrappier, the better!

And finally, Judge's Choice was this wonderful crazy quilt.

Can you see those wonderful details?  I could study this quilt for hours!

Ah, finally, I can free up some room on my phone for more photos, yet still enjoy this year's quilt show here online.  I'm already hoping to submit TWO quilts next year, including a mini.  I love them, but have never made one.  I think it is time!

Arkansas Crossroads Donation Quilt

I try to introduce service projects into the goings on at my shop.  This summer, I invited anyone who came in on a Saturday to piece scrappy 4-patches to go into a quilt we are making for a Silent Auction at a charity event in November to benefit Project Horizon, a local organization dedicated to ending domestic violence in our community.  I had volunteers as young as three years old,

families,

couples,

and unsuspecting solo shoppers that I talked into taking part.

 Some got a little carried away - couldn't make just one block!

Overall, I had more than 50 people make blocks.  They slapped their blocks up on the design wall, and it was fun to see the project grow and grow!

As happens with any group project, I've had to trim all the blocks to the same size, and even re-sew a couple, but the quilt is starting to come together. (rows are not yet sewn together)

We are making the Arkansas Crossroads pattern, using instructions I found online.  What a wonderful scrap project!  And I love being able to put all my precut scraps to use.

Quilts Of Valor blocks

I discovered a Quilts of Valor block drive while exploring blogs yesterday.  I LOVE an opportunity to contribute blocks to a cause, particularly if I can use scraps!  Here are my first two blocks.

Such an easy block!  There will definitely be more from me before this block drive ends on November 4th.

Labor Day Labors

Oh, the blog posts I have written in my head in the past month and a half!  But how many did I actually type out and add photos to?  None!  I'm such a lazy slacker sometimes!  Before I opened my shop three years ago, I blogged almost religiously.  I think it was because I spent so much time on the computer for work that it was no big deal to log in for pleasure, too.  Now, I spend just minutes a day on the computer, and most of that is for bookkeeping purposes, so blogging isn't just at my fingertips - I have to consciously carve out time and pull out the laptop.  It's a shame because I get a lot of enjoyment out of blogging, both the writing and the reading.

Anyway, folks always ask me, as I am sure they do you, "how long does it take to make a quilt?"  A while ago, I started documenting my time in the sewing room - how much time I spent there and what I did while I was down there.  Usually, I work on several projects at a time, so it is hard to say exactly how much time was spent on any one project, but this weekend, I made a baby quilt top, start to finish, without working on anything else at the same time.  The amount of focus that took for me almost killed me!!

I certainly didn't need a new project - I have plenty in progress right now - but I was perusing simple baby quilt photos online, just for kicks.  I came across this photo:

Zig Zag Zoom Quilt Photo Credit

Thinking about a stack of bright geometric 6.5" squares I had, I decided to make a block.

My block finishes at 10.5" with a 6.5" square and 2" squares & strips

Easy peasy, so I decided to make the whole quilt, not realizing that I didn't have enough of my white background fabric to complete the borders as they were done in the quilt photo.  I did what I could, but I'm not sure how I feel about the final result - it seems a little incomplete to me, too narrow and unbalanced.

Finished size (for now) 35" x 52"

That's what I get for not following an actual pattern with fabric requirements and all.  Oh well.  I'm going to let this sit a bit and see how I feel about it later.  I may take off the two sides strips and incorporate another white-on-white background fabric to make the borders the same all the way around.  What say you?  Is it worth the frogging and the substituting of another fabric to make it more like my inspiration quilt in the photo?

Either way, I can actually give someone an answer when they ask me how long it takes me to make a quilt top.  This one is smaller than quilts I usually make, and with bigger pieces, so I'd say most of my quilt tops take longer, but this one took me 8.25 hrs.  Not bad for a full day's "labor"!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

I have NO BUSINESS joining a Quilt-Along!!

I need to turn in my entry for the quilt show in TEN DAYS, and I'm only 1/4 done hand quilting it.  But did that stop me from starting a new project?  Of course not!  Here's how it happened:

After Guild meeting on Saturday, a friend brought by a bag of donated fabric.  I didn't get a chance to go through it until this morning, at which point I separated it all by color or genre and put it away with the other donated fabric that I use for classes.  Some of it was Christmas fabric, so I stuffed it into the overflowing Christmas fabric bag that I have at the shop.

Then, at lunch time, I decided to visit some quilt blogs while I ate because I haven't been keeping up with blogs the way I'd like.  Somehow, I came across a Christmas In July QAL at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  It got me to thinking about that overflowing bag of Christmas fabric, and when I read that an hour a day for 12 days would yield a 76" quilt, I thought, "why not?"  The blocks are big, (which is not how I usually operate; most of my quilts are built from blocks anywhere from 1.5" to 3", and the smallest piece I cut for this QAL is 4.5") and I'm only using 3 fabrics (which is REALLY out of character for me, the consummate scrap quilter!).  However, the fabric is cut, and I am all caught up with the first step - these fussy cut snowmen will be the centers of the four big blocks that make up the quilt.

Back to the quilt I am finishing up for the fair...I had seen a basting technique using boards that eliminated the need to crawl around on the floor while basting so I gave it a try on this quilt. OMG!!! I'll be doing this on EVERY QUILT from now on!  I sat in a chair at my dining room table to baste and it was a breeze!  And the backing is the smoothest I've ever achieved while basting any quilt.  And the whole process was quick, to boot!  I encourage you to give it a try!  The link I used was for Color Me Quilty.

Well, gotta get some Zzzzs tonight.  This week has been exhausting, teaching at Summer FAIR at 8 AM each day, and staying up past midnight quilting each night.  This week I taught the kids how to weave circular rugs on hula hoops using old t-shirts.  They did a fabulous job!

And I was thrilled that I had 6 boys and 3 girls in my class - how's that for thumbing our noses at traditional gender roles?

Vacation sewing

Today was my first day home (and back at work) after a 2 week driving trip north to PA, MA, NH & ME to visit family and friends.  Two friends VOLUNTEERED to cover the shop for me while I was gone - I am truly blessed with the community we've created at The Stitchin' Post.

About half of this trip was spent camping in a tent.  That didn't stop me from sewing!  That is what the electrical hookups at campgrounds are for, right?

I finished up this quilt top which is both a baby quilt for a friend who is having a baby in November and my entry for this year's quilt show.  Just two weeks to get it hand quilted - better get cracking!  It measures about 43" square(ish).  It made a dent in my scrap bin, used up all but a couple small squares of that white, and used up most of that striped border (which was leftover from backing my last quilt).

My mom surprised me with a "new" sewing machine while I was visiting.  This gem (that she picked up at a yard sale for $20) sews like a charm, and comes complete with sewing stool with all the acoutrements under the padded seat.  I didn't have room to bring it home with me since my car was packed with camping stuff plus my sewing machine, but I'll bring it down in January when I go back to New Hampshire to bring my mom south for the winter.  I should have Mom tell me the serial number so I can see when this baby was born.

She asked for a clothespin bag while I was there, so I sewed this up on my "new" machine.  Simple and quick.

Of course, this trip included lots more than just sewing - campfires, swimming, games with the family, and, of course, FOOD!

There's a lot of crappy stuff happening in the world today, but still and all, LIFE IS GOOD!

Procrastinating

Thanks so much for the encouragement about my row for the Row By Row Experience.  I'm feeling much better about everything.  Now I just have to prep kits - in other words, cut, Cut, CUT!!  I admit to feeling a bit intimidated when faced by this 30 yard pile of fabric (and that's only to make 50 kits!),

so I sewed instead.  First, I pieced the May block for the Westering Women BOM by Barbara Brackman, The Platte River.

Then, when I got home after an 11 hour day at work, I treated myself to an hour of sewing at home!  I have a slight addiction to making these blocks that our Guild is making for our Comfort Quilt effort.

I haven't really liked how they look together, though, so I started playing with alternate layouts.  Perhaps some interlocking wonky stars?

We'll see.  In the meantime, I have some cutting to do.