Friday, September 2, 2022

Country Fest 2022

During my blogging break, the farmer and I drove to Pennsylvania to visit the grandchildren and their parents. The children are growing so fast!

On the last day of our visit, we attended Country Fest. Every year I donate at least 1 quilt top, sometimes more, to be hand quilted then auctioned in the quilt auction. This year three of my quilts were sold.

Here is a link to quilts sold in this year's auction. I took pictures of my quilts since they're quilted now and I've link to the last post about these quilts.

The first quilt to show you is Stars Around the Garden.  She sold for $1700. The name is listed incorrectly in the sale catalog. I put my own twist on this quilt so she finishes at a larger size than the original pattern. Stars is 93" by 106".


I had suggested using diamonds for the background of this applique, which was a good choice. Of course they stitched in the ditch around the applique.


When no one was looking, I snuck under the rope and took a close up picture of the backside of the quilt. The feather swag is the outside border, the cross hatching the checkerboard border and then the narrow border around the pieced stars. I didn't crawl in far enough to get the backside of the stars or applique.


Here's a link to the Stars Around the Garden pattern. 

Antique Stars variation was another of my quilts and sold for $900. I love how this quilt looks! Antique Stars variation measures 91" by 99".


I had sent the stencils along with the quilt top for this feather cable design. I thought it would be perfect for the outside border. I would have liked to have had a wider outside black border but I ran out of fabric and didn't want to go buy more. The black I had been using was many years old and I knew there was no way I'd find the same fabric. Besides, I'm trying to use the fabric I have on hand, not buy more!


I was disappointed in the quilting on the corners of this star. The small star was a good idea but just didn't fill the space like it should have. I guess I should have sent a stencil to use in the corners but it never occurred to me they would use such a tiny design. 


And a closeup of the Ohio Stars.


I called the quilt Antique Stars but it's based on the Ancient Stars pattern by Sue Garman. I originally had planned to make the whole quilt but ran out of steam piecing all those Ohio Star blocks.

The final quilt was Puss in the Corner and she sold for $875. I didn't get a full picture of this quilt, there was a comforter hanging on the bottom half of the rack. This quilt measures 90" by 103.5".

I wasn't sure how this quilt would sell, not everyone likes red. I was afraid this would be the quilt that no one would want but I was wrong.

Here's a close up of the quilting on the back.

And a closeup of quilting on the side.


Puss in the corner is a traditional pattern and very simple to make. You can make your blocks whatever size you want to make them.

Nancy J. Yoder quilted all 3 of my quilt tops.

We didn't stay for the entire auction, we left after my quilts were sold then headed for Holmes County, Ohio to spend the night at my sister Karen's home. 

The bedroom we slept in had this lovely grandmother's flower garden on the bed. When I asked her where it came from, she told me the pieces were in a box deep in the closet of mom's sewing room. She found it while we were cleaning out mom's stuff after she died.

She didn't know if mother cut the pieces or if it was a kit or where it came from. This quilt isn't the type of handwork our mother normally made. Karen had another quilter finish the piecing and the hand quilting. Isn't this a beautiful quilt!

After a delicious breakfast, we headed for home. The mountains of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and southeastern Ohio are very picturesque. We looked in amazement at the fields in those mountains and wondered how farmers were able to drive a tractor in those steeps fields!

Soon we were in the flatlands of north central Ohio and headed straight west on US 30 towards Fort Wayne. Even though we had several hundred miles and many hours to travel, we felt at home amongst all the corn and soybeans fields. Mountains are beautiful, the flatlands are home.

I checked the mileage after we arrived home, 1300 miles! Our own bed sure felt good that night.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

21 comments:

  1. So pleased you had a wonderful trip. Thank you for showing your gorgeous quilts which were auctioned, how exciting to be part of that.

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  2. Gorgeous quilts. I would have paid double for each one. So much work involved. You deserve a medal for donating them.

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  3. are the quilts auctioned for a charity and the quilting done by a group?

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  4. wow so good your quilts sold........the quilts are all beautiful......

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  5. Dear Gretchen,
    Lol. You crawled under to get pictures of the back of the quilt, love that you did this.Glad all your quilts sold and they all looked amazing, the one with the small stars quilted in the centre. Maybe the quilter ran out of time or were not feeling well that day? We will never know. The grandmother’s flower garden looks beautiful on the bed. Funny how Home is where the heart is.

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  6. Wow, such beautiful quiting on your tops! Kudos to you for donating such lovely quilt tops, and to the quilters who did such great work. They certainly raised a lot of money! Applause, applause!!

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  7. Stunning quilts, Gretchen!!! And the hand quilting is just, wow!!! Wonderful donations!

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  8. Your quilts are beautiful Gretchen! You must be so proud of the hard work that you do and then donate them. Sounds like you and Farmer had a wonderful trip! I am happy for you!!! Hugs

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  9. 90% of the money from the auction supports the school our Pennsylvania grandchildren attend. 10% of the money is donated to Christian Aid Ministries.

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  10. Dear Gretchen, your quilts are magnificent. The piecing and quilting are absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing these beauties.
    Susan Stuklis
    susie@susies-scraps.com

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  11. A trio of gorgeous quilts! Beautiful workmanship.

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  12. Wow gorgeous quilts! So kind of you donate them for a great cause. Congrats Gretchen!!
    The hexie quilt is lovely.
    Glad to know you and Farmer had a safe trip and are back home.
    Travel is good but be back home is better.

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  13. Beautiful quilts, and I am glad to see they sold for good prices! Antique Stars is my favorite. I started a Sue Garmann pattern years ago, probably time to try another feathered star :-) Thanks for joining the Put Your Foot Down linky party.

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  14. So glad you were able to visit your grandchildren. The Country Fest looks like fun and your quilts are stunning. What a great way to help your grandchildren's school! ~Jeanne

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  15. All three of your quilts are beautiful. My favorite is the Antique Stars variation. Using the hourglass blocks between the stars gives each space to glow on its own and I think those blocks work so well with the great variety of fabrics you used in the stars. Gorgeous quilt!
    It was so good you were able to visit your sister. The Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is so bright and cheerful. Isn't it such a surprise to find things in a parent's possessions that seem very unlike them?

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  16. They were all amazing quilts, but Stars Around the Garden was my favorite. Congratulations on helping to raise so much money for a good cause.

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  17. Stars Around the Garden grabbed my attention. I confess it was the combination of colors, at first, since they are my the colors of my alma mater. However, it stands out amongst your donations. I'm not surprised it raised the most money.

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  18. WOW!! they were beautiful to begin with but with that hand quilting - those are absolutely stunning!!! Congrats on the great selling prices!!
    and how nice for them to have those funds -

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  19. Wonderful quilts. So generous of you. ;^)

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  20. It's always good to be back home ;) Your 3 quilts are wonderfully quilted, and very well sold. Congratulations on these pieces of art, and on donating them.
    Thank you for sharing, and linking up.

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  21. What a treat to see these beauties, Gretchen. I loved the close ups of the quilting too. It must have been so satisfying to know your work is well loved.
    A wonderful trip for you both.

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