A bag of Suprises Part 3

These are some of the blocks that my grandmother and great grandmother did, I can tell that her (my great grandmother's) eyesight was going by then, cause they are kinda wonky. Gotta dig the color combinations!

A Bage of Suprises part 2

Another gem from the bag. Quilt top already done, just needs borders. Has a very spring like feeling and i love the colors. but what to use for the borders? Taking all suggestions. Quilt top was probably done in the 60's to 70's so kinda need to keep the colors and patterns in mind.

This was also in the bag. It is already quilted. Gonna square it up and put a binding on it and use it as a wall hanging. What you think?

 

 

Quilters Newsletter published my 300 Words about Quilting: Awareness Quilts essay on their website as part of their June/July 2013 Web Extras. My story was about my quilters group making blocks for the "Home of the Brave" which gives quilts to the parents of fallen soldiers. WOW!!!!!!
Here is the link
http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/articles/300_Words_about_Quilting_Awareness_Quilts?bc=c

A Bag of Suprises

Amazing what you find in a bag that your mom gives you, not sure if my great grandmother, grandmother or my mom did this quilt. It's all hand sewn and hand quilted. the yellow flower fabric were scraps from a dress that I had. Didn't even know I had this quilt. Think it was on my grandpa's bed at one time.

 

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.