Quilt Show! (part two)

The Sandhills Quilters Guild was organized in November 1982 and this is their fifth quilt show, exhibiting almost 100 quilts of various styles and types this year.  Here are a few of the quilts I found intriguing...

"Let the Seeds of Peace Grow in Your Heart," by Judy Peterson, was another quilt that caught my eye at the quilt show...

The quilting was cool...

...and the appliqued olives demanded to be picked!

This is the world's worst photo of "Thanksgiving," a hand appliqued quilt made by Dottie Smith and quilted by Nancy Pease.

However, I thought you should see all the fruit on the quilt.... before the close up.

I can't even begin to imagine how long all that applique took...


"Coloring Outside the Lines," by Valerie A. Kasten, was another quilt that called to me... I loved the wonkiness....

 ...including the quilting... straight line going in all different directions!

Too fun!

Hope you're enjoying the photos... there will be a couple more tomorrow...

Quilt Show! (part one)

It was a tough week so, after work yesterday, I decided to visit a quilt show hosted by a local quilt quild and held at the Fair Barn in Pinehurst, NC.  Built in 1917, the Fair Barn is a renovated horse barn and is used for local events.  The harness track and a number of other barns on the site are still in use today.

The interior is neat... and a great place for a quilt show.

One of the first quilts I saw reached out and grabbed me... not sure why even now.  I wanted to take a photo immediately and I wish I had... because by the time I got back to it, the sun had shifted and... well, you can see what happened...

"Lots of Charm" by Evelyn Miller, quilted by Wendy Hughes

I loved the softness of the colors... the geometry... the snuggle-ability of this one.    I can see this one happening...

This quilt had the funniest title ("I thought it was black!") and I could swear that the fabrics were painted...

by Donna Clemens

Ms Clemens noted on her entry that she purchased the fabric thinking it was black, worked with it for six weeks... but it wasn't until she started quilting that she realized the fabric was a dark navy!

This quilt was huge... machine pieced and hand quilted...

 

"Not Afraid of Color" by Chris McCallum

The following quilt is named "Caesar and Me: Roman Mosaic," inspired by a 2000-year-old mosaic in an art museum.  It was hand-drawn and painted, stitched to resemble tiles, and then painted again.

Quiltmaker Pat Smith noted that this quilt was two years in the making...

I believe her.

 

I'll post more photos of quilts I thought were special tomorrow.

Weekend Project

Long story, I'll try to make it short...

My youngest grandchild's birthday is coming up soon... the party is next weekend.  She loves owls.  My niece found this on Pinterest and sent me the link via FB.

 

Methinks that I have a weekend project to keep me busy!  



 

Cheap?

I prefer to think of myself as thrifty rather than cheap... after all, why spend $$$ on a template that you'll only use for one... maybe, two projects?  I'd rather spend that money on more fabric!

So... what's a thrifty girl do?   Yup, that's right....  math time!

First, I got one of the heavy cardboard backs I've saved from various tablets and legal pads.

After marking a 70 degree angle on one side and extending that line across the board...

...I did the same on the other sides of the cardboard.

Yup...that's looks good!   Next, using an old blade in my rotary cutter and my ruler...

I cut out the isosceles triangle!   Ta-da!

By taping the triangle to the back of my ruler, I will be able to cut out the Christmas trees for the table runner easily... and without investing $18 for a template!

What do you think?  Cheap or thrifty?

Next Project

Since I shipped off the fall table runner to my daughter, I thought I'd make her a holiday runner to use after Thanksgiving!

I rummaged in my stash and found...

...with which I will be making...

 

Auditioning Sashing and Cornerstones

I would like to sash-as-I-go for the 1930s Grandmothers Choice blocks, even though I know it locks me in... so I am auditioning the sashing and cornerstones before I commit...

Not the best photo but me... perched on a ladder trying to take a photo... what can you expect?   I'm just glad I didn't fall off the ladder...

Here's a close up of the cornerstone (and border) fabric...

The blocks are on the dining room/work table so I can think about this for a bit...   I'm also debating about using a narrower sashing as well.    The blue strips are 2.5" and not sewn so they look wide.

Comments and suggestions welcome...

More Little HSTs

In addition to the tan and plaid HSTs left over from the Smoky Mountain Stars quilt, I had a goodly handful of double plaid HSTs.

Can't throw those out so I sewed them all together!

Then sandwiched and quilted...

 

...and now I have a 12.5 square that I will turn into a pillow cover!

Grandmothers Choice #4: Kansas Sunflower

This week's block was Kansas Sunflower...  not only does it have LOTS of tiny Y-seams but also has lots of little diamonds and triangles!  (Thank goodness the curved seams aren't a problem because of all those years and years of dressmaking.)   

I almost didn't make this block but then.... I remembered that part of doing this BOW is "learning something new." The first block took 3 hours of trying to figure it out...

 I finished it... it's pretty bad.... but I got it done!    It took me at least 4 hours to recover and be willing to make a second one.

 

The second block was easier.... not "easy" but easier.   I could not get the center to lie flat and tried to press it into submission.   I'm hoping that the fabric will relax in a couple of days.


Nope... I didn't give up tho...   now I need me some easier blocks to work on.    I certainly hope Ms Brackman is posting the really HARD blocks early 'cause if she's saving harder ones for later...  I'm in BIG trouble.

FSNI Report

Do you remember this quilt?  It's my version of Bonnie Hunter's Smoky Mountain Stars.

One of Bonnie's tips is to double sew the corner squares so you have little HSTs instead of a bunch of triangles.  I decided to give it a whirl...

Since then, these HSTs have been sitting in a basket... waiting patiently.  Took over a year before I decided it was time....

First, came a lot of pressing open of the HSTs...  then sewing two together...

....and more pressing...

...and some more sewing...

...more pressing followed by more sewing!

 A tube of lip balm for comparison

Still have a way to go... but I'm getting there!

To see what other FNSI-ers got accomplished last night, be sure to stop by Handmade for Heidi and check out all the links!

Package Arrived

My daughter received her package a day after it was mailed!  It was the first thing I've mailed to her since her move and it's good to know for future reference.  She took photos with her phone and emailed them to me so I could see the various toppers/runner in their new homes.

Irion knew about the Summer Stars topper and it fits the table for which it was intended perfectly.

The table runner was a surprise and she was very pleased with it!

This topper, another surprise, was intended for a table in her husband's office but she placed it on her hutch....

 

...and it looks great, imho!   And now, she's all ready for their open house tomorrow!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Friday Night Sew In

September is flying by at the speed of light!  And tonight... is FNSI!   Be sure to go by Heidi's blog to sign up!  She and co-hostess Bobbi have some nifty door prize drawings for participants.

I have my project lined up and am ready to sew....  hope you join in with the rest of us!

One more little thing....

...to go in the package along with the fall table runner and the Summer Stars table topper...

I wanted to use just two fabrics but didn't have enough of the navy feather fabric so subbed another navy fabric.

This table topper/runner is 36" long by 12" wide.