Quilting Around Chautauqua 2012

Surprise trip from my hubby for our 6^th wedding anniversary

My Hubby, Sean, gave me a great surprise recently for our 6th wedding anniversary - a trip to The Chautauqua Institution for the annual Quilting Around Chautauqua 2012 sponsored by Millcreek Sewing and Fabric. 

We started out by going to Mayfield Heights to check on a Christmas gift and our next stop was to head to the Geneva Grape Jamboree. We took the back roads and what a treat the day turned out to be. Beautiful fall colors decorated the trees along the way, along with blue sky and white, puffy clouds.

When we got to I-90, the line of traffic to get into Geneva was so long that we decided to forgo the Jamboree and head to Erie to spend the night at his mom’s.

We did some shopping and decided to eat out. I made a joke about the size of my sweet potato and the three of us starting giggling, causing the patrons around us to wonder what the joke was. We headed back to my mother-in-law’s, house to settle in for the night before we got up early for the trip.

Rain was in the forecast for the day, but I kept telling myself that it was not going to rain. We had blue skies and the dark rain clouds were out over the lake. We were treated to beautiful fall colors along the way to get my mother-in-law and I in the “Quilting mood.”

We got there at 10 a.m. and started out at the Welcome Center checking out the Northeast Quilters exhibit, where Lynne, my mother-in-law, knew just about everyone. I thought to myself, “Great, this is like going to a quilt show with my buddy Bonnie, who knows everyone, so this is gonna take forever”, but it didn’t.

Sean saw a small Christmas tree wall hanging that we wanted me to get, he’s the Christmas guy in our house. Good thing Lynne knew the lady to ask, so now it’s been ordered and will be here soon.

We decided to walk to Bestor Plaza to check out more quilt guild exhibits at the Hultquist Center. Then some hot coffee and to the Athenaeum Hotel for the vendors, which is my favorite thing to do. Finding fabric and patterns that I have not seen around here is my favorite part of the trip. I was not disappointed. I found a Christmas gift for Lynne, found a few patterns and got some great ideas for some wall hangings. Lynne bought a sewing chair. It was quite comfortable because the back of the chair hit right in the lower part of your back to support it. We had to come back around 3 p.m. to get it so the vendor could sell more of them, she opted to bring it home instead of having it shipped. A few of my local shops were there and I ended up getting a pattern for a Mondo bag. I've already made one using my Halloween fabric scraps. I then found a pattern for a coat for my mom, the base of which is made from a sweatshirt.

On to Smith Wilkes Hall for some more vendors and a few more familiar faces and a few more items to make. We then caught a bus to the other side of the institute for more vendors. The bus rides thru the institute are kinda like taxi rides thru New York City, small, one-way streets, people walking in the streets and alley ways so tight that you think you are gonna take the siding off of a house.

We headed back to the Athenaeum Hotel to pick up Lynne’s chair and then headed home. All in all we had a wonderful trip. A big thank you to my hubby.

Quilts, Totes and Ribbons, Oh My!!!!

Getting ready to show your crafts or your baking skills at a county fair can be quite nerve wracking. This year was not the case for me, I even went on vacation with my hubby to Frankenmuth 4 days before i was to register and turn in my entries.

I finished my Pumpkin Seeds Quilt in time to get it back from the quilter to put the binding, the label on and wash it before I went on vacation. Thank you to Rebecca Silbaugh for doing such beautiful work on my quilt.

 My wall hangings were done and just needing hanging sleeves and label's. the 2 tote bags were already done and the table topper had just gotten finished.

The day after I got back I went to the fair office to register my entries and was told to pick up my tickets that night. Friday morning was putting the final touches on before turning my babies over to the fair volunteers.

Monday was the day to drop off my Bread & Butter Jalapeno Relish. Unknown to my General Manager, Brian, he was the test subject for the relish, good thing he liked it.

Tuesday was opening day and it was all I could do to keep my mind on work before i could leave to see the parade and to see if I had won any ribbons.

If you have ever enter anything into a judged show you know the anxiety and the thrill of seeing ribbons attached to your entry. I was not disappointed this year.

One of my guild members won 1st place on one of her purses and my crazy friend Bonnie won 1st place with her grandmother's Sue Bonnet quilt. This is her getting ready to march in the parade.

 If you ever get a chance to enter anything into your local county fair, do so. It's a lot of fun but beware it is very addicting. I have 4 picture frames of the entries and the ribbons I won in the past years and my sewing wall is getting a bit crowded, kinda like my dining room.

Johnnycake Jog Tee Shirt Quilt

It’s Jog time here at The News-Herald and I thought it a good time to tell you about the tee-shirt quilts that I made for the JohnnycakeJog.

I have volunteered to work at the jog for 3 years now and it is a lot of hard, hot work but a lot of fun. Two years ago as I was waiting for the first runners to come in I was thinking about all the tee shirts that I noticed the runners wearing. My quilt group had a speaker on how to do a quilt using tee shirts and I thought what a great idea to do a quilt with the shirts from the Johnnycake Jog.

When I got back to work the next day I talked to the General Manager about my idea. Within one week I was given a box full of old shirts from past Jogs, which was donated. I dug through my drawers to find some shirts that were missing and some more were donated to me over the weeks to follow, so now I had enough to do one very large quilt or two smaller ones. I choose to do two quilts.

The first thing about doing a tee shirt quilt is to understand the when you cut a tee shirt the fabric stretches and rolls. You need to use an Interfacing to stabilize the tee shirts before you cut the logo out. I cut the front away from the back and cut off the sleeves, save them if they have a logo on them. Iron on your interfacing then decide how big you want to make your blocks. There are no set rules as to how to put together a tee shirt quilt, just let your imagination flow. I used colors from my stash to make strips to make the blocks fit together.  You can tie the quilt or have it quilted, I choose to tie the quilt for the Jog only because they will only get used as displays.

 

I finished the quilts about 2 weeks before the Johnnycake Jog and presented them to the general manager along with Bamboo poles. I made them from the bamboo that is overtaking my mother’s property, a little advice, don’t grow it unless you want it to overpower everything. I put a spray varnish on the bamboo stalks which brought out a beautiful glow to them. They are great to use because they are light weight but sturdy enough to hold a quilt up.

 

Now you know what to do with all those tee shirts you got stuffed in drawers and closets. I have a bunch of shirts from the Playhouse Square that someday will be a quilt for me.

Hunter's Star Class

Last year at the quilt show at the Farmparks one of the vendors was showing a Hunter’s Star quilt and was selling a new ruler called the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star that made the construction a snap. This past weekend some of the ladies from my quilt guild got together to learn how to use the ruler to make the quilt or wall hanging. The ruler comes in 2 different sizes and each ruler will make 4 different size quilt blocks. I needed to make a quilt for Christmas so I chose the 10” block.

It was a little confusing at first for some of us but after we make our first block the light bulb came on. Some of the ladies had made the Hunter’s Star the old way with inset seams and triangles which can get very tricky. With this ruler it was all straight seams and it went together very quickly if you chained stitched.

 It is amazing what color choices people use to use and the way they put them together. At the end of the first day we had at least 4 blocks sewn together so we knew what our quilt would look like.

On Sunday we got together to finish up making blocks until the raffle quilt blocks got together. Three of the ladies spent time arranging the Orion's Star Quilt blocks into various patterns and we took a vote on which one was the most appealing to the eye. Now all we have to do is to decide on the border and find a quilter to have the quilt finished, then we can start selling raffle tickets.

We all had a great time getting together to learn a new technique or trick to make the construction of a quilt quicker, because we all have so many quits and so many to finish. I know I have at least 5 that I have started and have not finished yet. So it is nice to have a class to work on a new project and to get it almost finished in 2 days then to start on one at home and take 3 to 4 weeks to finish it.

NQA Quilt Show

 Last Thursday I took a bus trip to Columbus to attend the NQA Quilt show. I wish I could post photos of the beautiful quilts that were on display but do to copyright issues I cannot post them on my blog.

 Our buses left Chardon 7am and headed to Lakeland College to pick up some more blurry eyed but excited quilters. Most of my quilt guild sat together in the front of the bus and started talking about what we were looking for. Just a tip, do not sit behind the bus driver if you are worried about how the bus driver is driving. I will never again sit in that seat. We made good time and arrived at the convention center around 10:15 am, got our hand stamped and away we went to the show.

The theme of this year’s quilt show was the Mariner’sCompass, something I’m not sure I want to try. The front half of the room was all the quilts in the show, which were very beautiful, and the back of the room was all of the vendors.

 There were over 100 quilt shops and other vendors selling their stock. Some I have seen there since I have been going and some new ones. My small group decided to bee line it to the vendors to get the best deals first, eat and then take in the quilts on display.

I found some great fabric and a few patterns that I was looking for. I found out last year that if I saw something I better get it then and there because it won’t be there when or if I can even remember which vendor was selling it.

Around noon we all headed to the hotel food court to rest our feet and get some food and to see if anyone found something that we all needed.

Heading back to the show I took some time to finish the vendors then I got my camera out to take photos of the quilts that inspired me, which there were quite a few.

I fell in love with 4 wall hangings, one was of Geisha women which was hand quilted and along the top were silk cherry blossoms. The other 3 were panel wall hangings which look like 6 individual strips but when hung together they make a complete scene. These had thread painting, hand quilting and 3D textures to make up the flowers and the forest floor. If only I could do something that beautiful. I would have to quit my job and my hubby wouldn’t like that.

5pm and it was time to get back on the bus and rest our feet and backs. It was show and tell for everyone with a lot of “Where did you find that?” and “Why didn’t you get that for me?”

 We stopped for dinner at DerDutchman Restaurant, they changed hands a couple of months ago and the sign has not been changed. We had 2 kinds of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and bread. There is also a huge shop within the restaurant selling everything from gifts to homemade pies and fudge. My friend always buys 2 peanut butter pies or she can’t come home. While we waited for the bus drivers we got to sit on the big porch with rocking chairs.

After we got back on the road we played Bingo. Prizes ranged from fabric to boxes of garbage bags. Even the bus driver got to play bingo (we played a card for her) and won 2 stuffed animals.

A great time was had by all of us and I can’t wait till next year.

Delivery of the Pet Beds

I got an email from the recipient of the pet beds that my quilt guild made that I had to post here.

First of all I would like to thank Kathleene for meeting me at my work place, loading up her car and delivering them to Society for the Protection of Animals, Inc. in Fremont, Ohio

Dear Vandy, Kathleene and Joellen,

Thank you so much for donating the beautiful pet beds the quilting group made to S.P.A.!

When I distributed some of them in the cat room, I swear the cats were smiling! We will give some as gifts to families who are adopting pets, too, as you requested. Hope its okay that the foster kitties in the Cat room enjoy them as well.

Just look at their faces!

Please share this special "Thank You" with your quilt circle, Vandy.

And Kathleene, there are not enough words of thanks to convey to you all that you do for so many animals in need.

I hope you know how much your support (especially emotionally) has meant to me over the past years, and your support of S.P.A.'s efforts has helped to save the lives of so many worthy, castaway dogs and cats.

 And Joellen, thank you for riding along to meet us and helping to unload and reload the pet beds. It was really nice meeting you.

What adorable, unique beds!

And thanks so much too, Kathleene, for treating us to breakfast. That was a really nice surprise!

 We unloaded and placed all of the beds into the Cats room storage shelves.

When Terry and I moved to the country, ten years ago, we designed and built the cat room here with our own hands and our own money.

We currently care for 58 cats each day, and nine foster dogs. And that's here, at our house. Dianne, Char and Dale, Pam and Karen are fostering animals for SPA, too.

CAT (pronounced See-a-tee) was interested in

touching each bed with her paws.

Michael couldn't wait for us to place each bed. He was pulling them out of the plastic sacks, eager to pick his favorite one!

Michael climbed up to the top of the stack while we were unloading before placing on storage shelves.

 

Macdaddy and CAT watch with delight!

Meow-Meow helps unpack! Don't worry, we normally don't allow them to crawl into plastic bags. New things to see, new things to smell, new things to touch.

That all makes for a pretty exciting day in the Cats room!

 

I picked these wooden shelves up at Goodwill a couple of years ago. Several of the beds fit perfectly into the baskets! Talk about a comfortable place to snooze!

 Wish I could fit into one of these special beds!

 

 Sisters in rescue...

Roger saying... 

"Hey! Don't I get to try out one of the new special quilted beds!!!???"

 

 Again, heartfelt thanks from...

Michael, Susie, CAT, Valentine, Clemintine, BW, Saturday, Bert, Ernie, Meow Meow, Pee Wee, Jilly Bean, Bindy, Mindy, Macdaddy, Jimmy the Artist, Coaly, Sierra, Tux, Iris, Fast Eddie, Rasa, Hazel, Eve, Earl Gray, Judy, Cassie, Bella, Roger, Espen, Medie, Tucker, OJ, Lucy, Splish, Guido, Hobo, Sweetie Pie, Zeena, Cleopatra, Scotch Pine, Wally, Patchy, Cally, Susie Pooper, Little Bud, Maria Tiponi, Mandy, Grace C, Shaman, Black Pearl, David, Ronnie, Autumn, Mackayla, Duchess, Eugenia and Josie Falquette.

Barbara McGrady
Society for the Protection of Animals,Inc.
P.O. Box 1047
Fremont, OH 43420