What's On The Design Wall in September?

My "Blues Medallion" quilt earned a first-place ribbon at the Western Idaho Fair.  I finished my scrappy log cabin quilt top, and I put it on top of my "to-be-finished" pile.  I plan on quilting it myself on my home machine.  Then I got out my pattern (yes, I actually bought a pattern), and read the instructions.  It is called Radiance, by Material Girl Quilts.  The cutting instructions are good, but you cannot just make four of the center bits and four of the outer bits, without thinking seriously about which directions to press the seams.  A note to that affect would greatly enhance the experience of the quilter.  This quilt does go together rapidly as long as you pay attention to how you press the seams, so they match-up with the center flying geese segments.

I think I can have it done by tomorrow night.  I am going to add border corner treatments to my quilt top.  The border is just plain white in the pattern.   So, go sew something and then share it with someone!

Blues Medallion Quilt and Update on The Fair

Last spring I had my blues and greens out and these bright blues caught my eye.  I decided to make some random liberated churn dash blocks.  I have had them up on my design wall for months.  Just after I returned from my cross-country travels, I relaxed in my quilt room and sewed all nine together, finally.  Then I reasoned, I should probably just keep going, get a quilt top done, and move on.  So, I did. 

I keep doing these improvisational quilts, and I do not get the quilts done that are on my "to-do-this-year" list.  

I did put it in the fair.  It is not that big, so I was hoping they would not hang it from the ceiling where it's beauty cannot be appreciated.  Yesterday, they hung it from the ceiling.  Oh well, nothing can be done about it.  For the first time ever, I am working at The Fair in the Home Arts Department.  The real benefit of working at The Fair, in the Home Arts Department, is:  I get to touch all the exhibits!!!  I got to touch the ones I handled at 'in-take".  I got to touch all the ones that needed relocating.  On judging day, I got to touch all the ones I placed for my judges.  My main judge pointed out some details on the embroidery that I never would have taken the time to notice.  She has opened my eyes.  Also, on judging day (Wednesday), I got to place ribbons on tons of knitting and crocheting, so I got to touch a whole bunch of those, and I am amazed at how wonderful the workwoman ship is on these projects/exhibits.  Yesterday, we placed all the exhibits on display.  It took us 9.5 hours.  Today The Fair opens.  I got to sleep in this morning, and I don't have to go in until 4:30.  Yeah!  The hard work is done.

She Loaned Me Her Rail Fence

Prior to my RV odyssey, I got this quilt back from my amazing long-arm quilter.  I made the binding, then I hit the road.  It was waiting when I returned in mid-June.  I had some company, so I did not hop right on getting the binding sewed on.  I got it completed in early July, but it took me some time to get it photographed.  I picked up another quilt from my amazing long-arm quilter, last week.  While there, I photographed a couple of quilts, but especially the beautiful one with the 'granny fabrics.'  She loaned me her rail fence.

I admit, I love making these scrappy type quilts.  It is a good way to use up some fabrics that you wish to get out of your quilt room, but just cannot part with them.  Meanwhile, months ago I showed the quilt top to my cousin, who just loved it.  She said some of the fabrics remind her of wallpaper in the houses of her childhood.  So, guess who is getting this one?!

Quilted Pillow Cover and Quilted Tote Bag

Before my trip, I got one quilt back from my long-arm quilter.  I have put the binding on it, but I have not taken a photo yet.  I also have made two donation quilts, since my return, but I need to take photos of those.  I made a cute throw pillow for my aunt, with an orphan block that she admired when she was here.

On July 16, my quilt group had a one-day quilting retreat near Kuna.  Each attendee brought a quart bag of scraps, which were placed in a pile and mixed up and handed back out.  We were each given a 15" square of interfacing.  We were to sew some of our scrap pieces on it to make a free form block.  Everyone did a nice job and they looked marvelous hanging up, side-by-side on the wall.  After lunch, we were given a pattern to make a tote bag using our block and more of our scraps and two yards of fabric that we could pick up from some laid out on a table there.  I did choose two fabrics that really went with my scrap combination.  I finished my tote bag today.  

My block is on the top row, second from the left.  I could not understand the instructions that they gave us, so I made my bag the same way I always do.  I wanted a bag big enough to hold a couple of quilts, for when I have some for show and tell, therefore, I made my bag bigger.

See inside?  My two donation quilts fit nicely in there, and there is room for more!   Love the pocket!  I made the button hole without a button holer on my machine.  I am so proud of me.

Then some guy came in my quilt room and tried to make off with my amazing new quilted bag, made purely from the scraps of others.

Back At Home, In Idaho

We arrived back in Idaho on June 15 around 6:30 PM.  It is good to be home.  We did visit quilt shops, while traveling across the country; six quilt shops to be exact.  I was very careful to not run amok at quilt shops.  I think our favorite none-quilting shop was Valley Pecans, on Highway 287, at Chillicothe, Texas.  There is a lot more in this unassuming building than pecans.  They have local and not local kitchenware, pottery, candy, wind chimes, chairs, lamps, confections made from pecans, and a sandwich and pie shop in the back corner.  They had gluten-free bread, so I was able to get an amazing sandwich wrapped to go, for lunch a little later on down the road.  

The quilt shops we visited where the Calico Cow, in Roswell, NM; Homemade Quilts N More, in Grand Cane, LA; Around the Block Quilting and Stitcher's Quest, both in Ft. Walton Beach, FL; Peace By Piece Quilt Shop, in Biloxi, MS; and finally, Curtains, Quilts, & Cabins, in Colby, KS.  I got amazing fabrics at each, and they each had a fabulous selection of fabrics, so it was easy to get overwhelmed.  The amazing thing about the Biloxi quilt shop, Peace By Piece, was that they had so many actual quilts for sale, as well as fabrics, notions, and long-arm quilting services. I took photos of Marsha at each quilt shop.  Please have a look on her Gluten Free Doll Quilts blog. 

So, what is on the design wall in June?  I am sure you are wanting to know.  I made these nine churn-dash blocks a couple months ago, and finally started to make a medallion quilt with them as the center.

I used blue and green stripped fabric to make half-square triangle blocks for the corner stones in the first and third borders. The broken dishes blocks, in the fifth border, I used the same colors that are in the original center nine blocks.  Well, the weather here is certainly divine, compared to the hot we experienced on most of our trip, so I am spending a little more time outside at present.  I will update you in July, because I have been busy quilting before and since my trip.  I have some bindings to put on, then some quilts to show off.

Traveling with Aunt K and Marsha

I have been out-of-state since May 13.  My husband and I drove our RV down to Phoenix.  He caught a plane back to Idaho, and my aunt and Marsha have been accompanying me on a road trip to visit my daughter and my other aunt.  They both reside in Florida; one in Ft Walton Beach, and the other in Gainesville.  For all the info, please visit "The Girls'" blog, which Marsha is keeping up as best she can during the trip.  Use the link, in the left margin:  Gluten Free Doll Quilts.

Tonight, we are staying over in Wichita Falls, Texas.  I will update my blog when I return to Idaho in about a week.

Here we are in Grand Cane, LA, a most impressive and friendly quilt shop.

Similar to Amelia Bennett's Gees Bend Quilt

Now that I have finished this quilt, it has occurred to me that I have been piecing scrappy pillow tops since I was 14, back in the 70's.  If I had made my pillow tops bigger, they would have been quilt tops.  I have made some scrappy flannel quilts, with just fabrics I had on hand, before I ever heard of Gees Bend.  But I love this quilt I made based on Amelia Bennett's quilt.  You can learn more about her in the 2002 book The Quilts of Gees Bend, by John Beardsley, William Arnet, et. al. I found it on Amazon books, and you could actually view the book, on-line.  Since I did not want to infringe on copyright, I did not copy the page with the photo of the quilt.  I made a sketch for me to follow in my quilt making endeavor. 

I had no intention of making a replica, just something similar, so I used only fabrics I had on hand. I am no hand quilter, believe you me, so I quilted it on my home sewing machine.

I used just one print, as she did, and the rest are solids.  I ran out of the dark blue, so I did not make the bottom and right-side edges (borders) as wide as hers.  I had no green, so I used the sandy color from the top left corner, down where the green section on hers would be.  Mine has more gradual curves, and is pretty straight, not wavy.  I was not sure how the pale binding would look, but now that it is done, I love it.  I used my grandmother's taylor's chalk to mark the lines for my quilting, so I washed the quilt right after I completed it, to get the remaining chalk off.  It turned out so soft and inviting.  Here is my creation:

I was working on it at a quilting retreat last fall, and a couple of the quilters said Gees Bend quilts are just utilitarian and why would anyone want to make one like them?  I thought them a little close-minded.  Now I have shared my quilt with a few people, here in my neck of the woods, and have received some compliments from them.  One of my friends, told me she really liked it, as she likes to make quilts with row quilting on them, with her home machine.  I like how it looks and how it feels.  I am a contented quilter.