Council Quilt Show

Over the wonderful long Fourth of July weekend, we took our RV up to Cambridge and stayed a few days at the Mundo Hot Springs.  On July 5, we went up to Council  (about 20 miles north) and visited the Council Quilt Show.  I am sad to say, I did not win the beautiful raffle quilt donated by Janell, however, there were many wonderful quilts to view and enjoy.  My most favorite did not win any ribbons, but is beautiful and unusual.  This quilt is by Sandra Hansen, of Cambridge, ID, and she made it as a way of displaying her antique ladies belt buckle collection.  Well done indeed!

The name of the quilt is: Buckle Up.  I just had to share a photo of my favorite pick from the Council Quilt Show.  I plan on going again next year.

Saying Farewell to 2018

It has been a busy year.  I had a lot of adventures this year.  It has been a good year and a bad one.  I had some good bouts of creativity and did a little traveling, all in good company.

Nyssa Oregon

Nyssa Oregon

Ontario Oregon

Garden Tour, Boise, Idaho

Poppies on Columbia Rd, on the way to
my Aunt Daisy's house.

Council, Idaho, June

Pinecones on shore of Payette Lake



McCall, Idaho

New Meadows, Idaho

Fruitvale, Idaho  Can't miss the quilt show in Council!

Council Idaho

 The following photos are from the trip to Bend, Sisters, and Black Butte Ranch in July.  We drove across Oregon, from Idaho.

This is the fair city of Brothers, Oregon.

I am sorry I do not remember the name of this fine Mexican
restaurant, in Bend. They had gluten free and it was fabulous!

This flower was at the train depot in Boise, Idaho.

This is a mosaic in the traffic circle in front of the depot.

Sunrise over Boise, Idaho, in August

 I really love to sew and quilt, but I like to travel and take photos, too.
We went to Germany to visit our daughter, in August.  A few photos follow.  I took a ton, but I am trying to keep this brief.


View from my window in London

The next four shots, I took at the Minitur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany.
It is not just the trains that move, but the cars, airplanes, circus rides, etc.

Berlin Wall, Berlin.

Klausen, Germany. in the little village our daughter lives in.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Fountain at the cathedral in Luxembourg City

Christmas lights at Scentsy in Meridian, Idaho

It was also a sad time this fall.  I have created a slide show, with music, to celebrate the life of my friend, Teresa.   Celebration of Life

To see all the sewing projects I did in 2018, click here: sewing projects

 

I am excited for 2019. I will be working on projects I have already started. I am planning a trip with my Aunt Karen.  Most things won't be the same without Teresa.

Summer should get a speeding ticket!

I have gotten a couple of quilts finished! Hoorah! My stack n' whack doll quilt got a blue ribbon at the Western Idaho State Fair! Yeah! I have been cleaning, painting, and organizing our garage, so not much quilting or blogging going on.  But hey, here are my top picks for the quilt shows I went to in July:

Council Quilt Show -hand quilted -Spools by Barbara Huey
of Indian Valley, ID

Sisters Quilt Show -my favorite. By Pati Fried of
Piedmont, CA -love the fabrics and the background!

a little closer so you can see the detail;
especially the selvage edges that make up
the background

Love it! Don't know who did it.

Quilt backs blowing. Sisters Quilt Show



Sisters Quilt Show -hand quilted by Jan Tetzlaff of
Bend, OR, Guatemala Color

Star Quilt Show:I wanted to include a photo of this entire quilt,
but the blog program only lets me show it sideways, even when
I chopped it into top and bottom. Here is the close-up;
you can see the bunny ear details and kites.  This one
was by Saralyn Lynart; it is called Seasons in A Row

Happy Fourth of July! What is on the Design Wall in July?

It is the 4th of July! Yeah! I did some yard work, have to go visit my Mom and run some errands this afternoon, maybe run through the sprinkler. Although, I did run through the sprinkler at the Lyons Club Park in Council, ID, on Saturday afternoon.  What fun!  We went to the Council Quilt Show, had a picnic, and I ran through the sprinkler, while T swang (yes!, swang!) on the swing, and Daisy looked on with great amusement.  I will post pictures of my favorite quilts at the Council Quilt Show, later this week.  Meanwhile, below is a photo of the quilt I am working on for "Scrap Happy". 
     I started the quilt, below, in late 2008.  I wanted it to look scrappy but I was short on RWB scraps, so I was using repeat fabrics and trying to put together different combinations of the same fabrics in the blocks, and it was very limiting.  I put it away and went on to enhance my quilting skills on many other quilts since then. When I went into quilt shops, if I did not need something for the current quilt, I would look for fun red, white, and blue fabrics to add to my stash.  I have discovered, this last week, that I truly have enough RWB to get on with finishing this quilt top.  I have discovered, that my old skills (2008-2009) were a bit more sloppy than I am today, but I am going to use those old sections and just fill in the gaps with the new fabrics.  The newer fabrics actually date through the entire time-frame after 2009 until day-before-yesterday.  Yes, had to buy some red and white fabric, in Cambridge, on the way back from Council! 


I have used some of these fabrics in
other quilts I have made since 2008.

Council Quilt Show Challenge Blocks

My husband drove me and T up to the Council (Idaho) Quilt Show on Friday, July 3.  We had a fine time.  We enjoyed the trip and the show.  I had paid for two of the challenge blocks last year, and I mailed them to the show in June.  They were very boring blocks indeed.  I did see the display at the show and did see the new fabric and the theme for next year.  Next year's them is "Into the Woods".  I did not purchase any of the challenge blocks for next year's show.  A week after we attended the show, I received a little package in the mail, from Council.  Hmmmmm.  I opened it up and it was three pieces of challenge fabric for the Into the Woods challenge blocks.  I did not pay for these. Why would they send me more challenge fabric when the ones I submitted before were the most boring bland blocks in the entire challenge block display of 2015?   Well, I believe they played their cards right.  1)  this fabric is very versatile and 2) the theme is much more open to the imagination and piecing abilities. 
     Here is what I do when I have two or three challenge fabric pieces to work with.  I use the first piece to cut the largest chunks for my blocks, then I used the second piece for the next largest, etc.  Then after the blocks I need to get done are finished (in this case three), I have scraps that I can use to make one more!   I have finished four challenge blocks for the Council Quilt Show next year.  I am getting ready to mail them in and be done with it.  I suppose I should include payment for the blocks, even though I did not request them.  Here we go:

This is the challenge fabric for 2016

I had this cross-section of tree trunks fabric in my stash
and decided it went well for a simple woodsy pinwheel block.

This boot block is my new favorite, and decided I could adapt
it to the "Into the Woods" theme.

I saw the play "Into The Woods" years ago at BSU.  I remember
it had Rapunzel in it and Megan Tucker, but I don't remember much else.
So here is my Rapunzel block.

I seem to be queen of wonky houses, so I decided to use the scraps
to do a wonky cabin block.  I could find no Fairy Tale subjects in
my stash, so I decided on the Tin Man and his cabin in the woods.

 There is nothing boring about my challenge block entries for the 2016 Council Quilt Show.

Council, Idaho, Annual Quilt Show

I went to the Council Quilt Show today, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  They had the friendliest people there and some wonderful quilts.  They, like many quilt shows, have "Challenge Blocks", but their challenge blocks have to be made to reflect the theme of the show. Their theme for 2014 is "Life on the Farm", and all the challenge blocks reflected that well.  I did notice they apparently do not have a requirement on how much of the challenge material must be used in the blocks, as one with a goat only had the nostrils made from the challenge fabric. It must have been a lot of fun. They had a student category, but only two quilts entered. But what fantastic quilts they were! They were made by High School students, and they were big, like queen size, and just wonderful.

The red & black fabric is the challenge fabric. This is the block I voted for.

I took a photo of my most favorite quilt in the show. Quilt name is Scrappy. It was pieced by Lillian Taylor, a Hornet Creek resident, in 1957. It was hand-quilted by Sally Cole in 2014. It was stored in a barrel for 55 years after the quilt top was given to Lillian Taylor's grandson, Lee Cole, when he was 25 years old.  Sally Cole saved it and finished it, and she plans to give it to one of Lillian's great-great or 3X great grand children.  I love the story. It is wonderful that Sally completed this wonderful quilt.

I love the old fabrics and the free-style piecing.

Sally Cole hand-quilted each block with a diamond in a square pattern.