Quilts in the Rafters

Yesterday the farmer and I switched the quilts in the rafters. He did the height work while I stood safely on the floor and told him what to do.

Welsh Beauty is in the dining area. The design of the quilt was hand quilted with blue Sulky #12 weight thread. It didn't show very well on the side toward the south window but I noticed it showed better on the north side. That's the side in this picture.

Welsh Beauty isn't a very showy quilt but it took me so long to hand quilt this quilt, I had to put it on display!

The west side rafter in the living room has blue churn dash. This quilt was also hand quilted and is a reproduction of a quilt made by the farmer's great grandmother.

The east side rafter is displaying Midnight Blues, the last finish of 2023.

In this picture you can see Lady Jane in the background of the dining room.

Here are a few more pictures.

I didn't get those quilts off the back of the couch. They're put away now.

I'm hoping to piece a blue & white wallhanging for the east wall this year. Yes, it's green outside, we didn't have a white Christmas but some of my Christmas cactus are blooming.

I can never make pictures go next to each other, oh well.

I told you I would show you pictures of the ladder we use to hang the quilts. Here they are. And yes, that is a duster he's holding. I figure as long as he's up there, he might as well dust those rafters!

Yes, those rafters are up there. This ladder was left by the former owner so I could wash those high windows! I don't think so.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell,  Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday

I have one more picture to show you. Peppermint Pines is now hanging on the hanger into the guest room. It's not the Christmas season but I'm displaying it anyway!

Quilting Nearly Insane, Week 7

How much did I get quilted on Nearly Insane this week? I completed another row, row 4 which is the very center row. I'm over half-way finished with the hand quilting!!

This is my favorite block in this row. After I had pieced this block, I realized I should have had made the pinwheel in the center with darker fabric because it doesn't show. 

When you see this block for real, the texture is wonderful. 

May 1 - 6th was the Sauder Village Quilt Show held in Archbold, Ohio. I decided to exhibit this year and entered two quilts.

Blue & White Churn Dash received a red ribbon! There are so many lovely quilts in the show, I feel privileged to have received a ribbon.

I also took Cherry Blossoms but she didn't receive a placing. She was entered in the large quilt, machine pieced, long arm quilted category. I think that class had the most entries.

Here is a link to pictures of the 2018 Quilt Show Award Winners. 

Scroll down to yesterday's post to catch up on the Star Dance progress.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Fiber Tuesday,Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Churn Dash Is Finished!

My Churn Dash Quilt is completely finished!! I took it out of the frame Wednesday morning and trimmed off the excess backing and batting that afternoon. Thursday morning I stitched the first part of the binding and in the afternoon the hand sewing started and the finish came on Friday afternoon. 

A side view to show the border. 

Just some more pictures because I'm so excited it's finished.

A view from the back.

This wide back fabric is called "Folio Quilt Backs" by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co., Pattern #7882. (Information from the selvage) 

My quilt is my version of a churn dash quilt made by my husband's great-grandmother, Fannie Baumgartner Kauffman, Clinton Township, Elkhart County, Indiana, 1867 - 1936. Her quilt also was hand-quilted and is in excellent condition. 

I prepped fabric for the churn dash blocks the first part of November 2016 and sewed them at the Jane Stickle retreat later that month. The quilt center was sewn together in December then I worked on the borders in January. 

The quilting process started February 29th and was finished July 11th; 4 1/2 months. A wool batting was used and it hand stitched so nicely. 

She measures 94" by 104". I won't be washing her.

I appreciate the supportive comments many of you have made about entering my quilt into the ISQ Blue & White exhibit.

I need detailed information about this exhibit. There is more than a year to come to a decision. She'll be entered in some local quilt shows first and I'll see how she does in those.

What am I going to work on now? After I finished attaching the binding with my sewing machine, I pulled this fabric from the box where it had been languishing for almost 2 years and pressed out wrinkles. This is the background fabric for the Pastor's Attic Quilt. The fabric looks darker in this picture but in the photo below, it looks lighter.

He may have been out of sight for several month, but he was never out of mind. I've decided the way I want the appliqued borders and need to get prepping on them.

I know several of the blogs I link to are about scrappy quilts and Churn Dash is definitely not scrappy but IT IS A FINISH and I want the whole world to know! 

Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW, Let's Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Finished Or Not Friday, TGIFF!, Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday

Still Quilting the Border

Several of you have commented I need to enter my quilt in a quilt exhibit. This spring when my friends and I attended the Chicago Quilt Show, I saw information about IQS having a blue & white exhibit in 2019. I forgot about this exhibit until you guys commented. I tried to track down the information and this is what I finally found - 

Sarah’s Revival in Blue by Gail SmithSapphire Celebration:
Celebrating 45 Years

Get ready to make a blue and white quilt for the 45th anniversary of the International Quilt Festival in 2019.

• Entries may be Traditional, Modern
or Art.

• Entries must have been made between 1974 and 2019.

• The minimum size is 50” x 50”

• You may enter up to five quilts.

• The quilts will be kept for three years from August 2019 to  August 2022.

Information on opening and closing dates will be forthcoming right
here soon!

They are going to keep the quilts for this exhibit 3 years! I don't know if I can let my quilts go for that long. I'll have to really think about this. And who knows if my quilts will even be accepted?

Over the last several weeks, I've been asked several times about what I used to mark my quilt. Here is a link to a post I wrote in March where I explained my marking tools.

Now, onto this week's quilting progress.

I had hoped to get the white border completely quilted last week, but that didn't happen but most of the row is quilted.

A close up view of the quilting.

There is just this section of white to quilt yet. I should be able to get that easily finished this week. Then I'll roll and start on the outside blue border. 

We harvested the wheat field Friday evening before the rains hit us on Saturday. If the weather cooperates this week, I'll be busy with baling the straw. If the weather doesn't cooperate, I'll get going with quilting and try to get this quilt finished.

I don't think I've ever shown you what the

quilt looks like when I'm not quilting. Years ago, my mother gave me some quilt backing fabrics. I used some of them but this one I never did. Somehow this became the quilt cover. I have it folded and it is perfect to cover the quilt in the frame. 

When I want to quilt, I just throw it to the back and quilt.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Design Wall Monday, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday,  Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

First Border Quilted!

The first blue border is quilted. Can you see it?

I've rolled and started on the white border.

I lightly marked the feather design on the fabric before I put the quilt in the frame. As I am quilting, I lightly mark the straight lines with a water soluble marker then mist with water when I've finished that section. In the middle picture, you can see my light green spray bottle peeking out from where it is sitting on a small table that sits on my right hand side.

Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away,  Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Sew, Stitch, Snap SHOW

Still Hand Quilting

The last row of churn dash blocks is finished except for the very top HST! 

The white squares too.

Now I've rolled and started quilting the top HST of the CD blocks and the triangle blocks. 

I also quilted the bottom edge of the square in a square border.

I got the triangle blocks and the top HST's quilted! 

The quilt top is pinned through the batting onto the backing now.

This week I'm going to try to get the first square/square border completed . . . you'll find out next week if it happened. 

Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Slow Stitching Sunday

More batting has been attached to the batting in the quilting frame. Progress in hand quilting has started again.

This is exciting because I can see the first square in a square border! I estimate it should take me maybe a month to finish this quilt, but who knows what all will happen between now and the finish.

I've started quilting at the right side and quilting my way to the center of the quilt.

The white squares are quilted. And part of the blue churn dash blocks are quilted. See the square in a square border peeking at the top edge?

Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Churn Dash Quilting

Every stitch I quilt is one more stitch towards being finished. 

This week the left side border and two churn dashes were quilted. 

Also the bottom of two white squares were quilted.

I hope you have a good week with your slow stitching projects!

Linking to - Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Esther's Wednesday WOW!