Pillowcases & Quilt Show

Most of last week was rainy, so my main focus was on sewing pillowcases. I'm trying to make pillowcases ahead so I have plenty on hand for gifts or, hopefully, a good supply for Christmas. I completed 12 cotton pillowcases and 5 flannel ones. If you need a pattern, Connecting Threads has a free pattern for Magic Pillowcases you can download. Shabby Fabrics has a tutorial you can watch if you want more instructions

I haven't prepped any more of my applique projects, but I do have an applique project to work on. Every year my quilt guild provides a quilt for the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale. The charity committee has started preliminary work for the 2018 quilt. They asked I would applique 2 of the blocks to preview the fabric choices. I've completed first block and will work on the 2nd one Sunday afternoon. 

Last Sunday, some friends and I headed to Archbold, OH to the 40th Sauder Quilt Show. This isn't an AQS quilt show, more of a hometown show but the quality is still great.

I had submitted 3 quilts and I was thrilled to see my Jane at the front, greeting people  when they came in the door. She had a 3rd place ribbon!









Red Radiance also had a 3rd place ribbon . . .

And my Grandmother's Flower Garden had a 2nd placing.

A couple other ladies from the Maple Leaf Guild also exhibited. Rhoda Troyer's Flower Garden received a 2nd place. She hand pieced using 1/2" hexies.

Lynn Nelson received 3rd place honors with her Phoebe.

Lynn was brave and also participated in the Sauder Challenge. She didn't receive a placing but it was neat to see all the challenge quilts. Here is her version.

I have a variety of quilts to show you. Some won awards and some didn't. This is a small representation of the several hundred quilts in the show. I have information on some of the quilts but not all. Enjoy the show!

Best of Show - Wall Quilt
Best Longarm/Midarm Machine Quilting - Bunnies

Made by Rita Frost

The quilting on this quilt was beautiful.

Best of Show - Bed Quilt & Best Hand Quilted - Jacobean Applique & Peacock - made by Catherine Lewis

This quilt was absolutely gorgeous. Excellent needle turn applique and her quilting stitches were perfect. Black thread on black fabric. 

Judges Choice & Honorable Mention Appliqued Wall quilt, machine quilted - Chocolate Mint Sunday - made by Melissa Lamb

This was the winner in the hexie Challenge, My Grandmother's Flower Garden by Karen Poulson.

There were probably at least 20 participants in the challenge. There was such a crowd and I only got a few of the quilts.

This wall-quilt wasn't part of the hexie challenge. This little quilt was made with 1/4" hexies by Sharon Bannister.







Other quilts I liked -

This was a row by row quilt on both sides! Somehow the quilter quilted each side individually then put it together. It only felt like 1 batt in the center. It was really neat.

The front side.

And the back side.

I can't imagine how long it took to applique all these baskets. This was a full size quilt!

The clam shell quilting was just perfect for this quilt.

This pattern is Country Roads; patterns & kits were available in the quilt shop last year. There were at least 4 quilts made from kits in the show. I'd like to see this quilt made in another colorway.

This quilt didn't win an award but I love the modern, simplicity of it. I see some quilts from this design in my future.

She had a brief explanation of how she made the quilt. 

Did I buy anything at Sauders? Of course I did! I bought some 30's fabrics for my Sweet Surrender quilt and this mug from the pottery shop. 

I also bought the pattern, My Checkered Past - Whirligig Designs. The quilt on the pattern cover is in red & gold but I like the quilt on display in the quilt shop better.

They had kits available but I have plenty of fabric to make this quilt with my own colors.

I wonder how many quilts from this pattern will be in the show next year?

I'm linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Love Laugh Quilt, Em's Scrapbag, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts

Quilty Finishes

The weather this week hadn't cooperated for working outside, so I spent most of my time working on quilting projects.

Block 7 of the Pastor's Attic quilt is completed. French knots are in the center of the flowers.

The Dotted Pinwheel quilts are complete finished. Both were quilted on my domestic machine. I don't usually make a pattern more than once and I've actually used the same fabrics in both quilts. I just thought they were so cute! It looks like there are 3 blocks with the same fabric close together. That is actually a green block in the center. 

They are both quilted the same, except the left quilt has diagonal quilting in the border. The right one has straight line quilting. I like the diagonal better.

There wasn't enough of the yellow Kona fabric to use for backing, so I pulled out my precious yellow brown cow fabric. The cows look more like Jerseys than Guernseys but at least they are brown. (It is not easy to find fabric with brown cows.)

I decided it was time to learn to use the monogram program on my machine and used the program to sew the quilt labels. I used yellow thread on the first label to follow through with the yellow theme. Unfortunately you can barely read it, lesson learned; don't use yellow thread on quilt labels. The second label I used turquoise thread, easy to read.

I also sewed the flange binding for the Cherry Blossom quilt. I like to have the bindings ready to go, so when quilts are quilted they can be finished quickly. 

There won't be any Slow Sunday Stitching this afternoon. After church, some friends and I are headed to Archbold, Ohio to view the Sauder Quilt show. I'll have photos to show you next week or month, whenever the next post happens. Happy quilting!

Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Love Laugh Quilt, Em's Scrapbag, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts

Flimsies & Applique

 April is speeding along. The first of the month was cold and snowy; now we're enjoying sunshine, warmer temperatures and green grass. 

The spring Jane Stickle quilt retreat has come and gone. It's always wonderful to see the many out of state friends and I've met new friends this spring too. There are so many beautiful projects; it's hard not to start new ones. People have joined in on-line BOM's. There are the 365 Day blocks, Pat Sloan's Splendid Sampler, the 1857 quilt from Sentimental Stitches, Circa 2016 from the Temecula Quilt Co. and many, many more. I checked these out after I arrived back home, but common sense prevailed and I haven't started any of them, not at the beginning of my busy season. I'll just keep on working at my 'old' projects.

So what did I work on at retreat? The first project was this Houses wall kit designed by Rachel's of Greenfield. The directions were very well written and the quilt sewed together easily. Now I need to get her hand-quilted and hanging on the wall. She finishes at 20" by 20".

People keep having babies so I keep making crib quilts. I pieced 2 dotted pinwheel crib quilts using the Pineapple Press pattern What Goes Around Comes Around. They both measure 40" by 46" and I plan to quilt them on my sewing machine, I just need to find the time. The pinwheels are not pieced, the dotted fabric is folded diagonally and then sewn to the yellow background square. The pinwheel is 3D and left open. Many people asked me if I was going to quilt them closed when I quilted the quilt and I said no, I like them the way they are. Maybe there is some obvious problem that they saw that I'm not seeing. Of course it will get caught on stuff if the child drags it around but I never allowed my children to drag around their quilts. 

I did hand applique too. I appliqued several Sweet Surrender blocks at the retreat and then finished the rest when I was home. 

I have completed all of the 18 applique blocks required for the original quilt which finishes at 69" by 65". 

I don't want a wall quilt so I will applique more blocks and make a full size quilt. I drafted a rough diagram of what my finished quilt will be and I need at least 12 more blocks (I think it is 12, I'm too lazy to go check). I'll get them prepped and work on them this spring. After the additional blocks are appliqued, I'll put the project away until winter.

I didn't accomplish as many sewing projects as I often do, but the weather was so lovely, who could stay inside and sew all the time?

After I came home I made a list of quilting projects to work on this spring/summer. Some of them are fairly simple such as sewing bindings. Some are more involved. Here are a few of what I'll be working on.

Until more Sweet Surrender blocks are prepped, I'm working on block 7 of the Pastor's Attic Quilt.

Working on two applique projects has worked well for me. I normally have only one hand project going at a time.

At last fall's retreat I had pieced the blocks for a Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book. The fabrics are from a kit I bought years ago at Lolly's Fabrics in Shipshewana. It is time to get this quilt top sewn together.

The very center (snail) blocks have been sewn together. The rest of the center section is ready to be pieced together. The blocks and border have also been pieced.

Progress is being made on hand quilting the Fussy-cut Star wall hanging. Since I've rolled the last time, I can see the last side border slowly making her way to the top.

As you can see, there will be plenty happening around here. I'll fit it in here and there in between my outside work. I enjoy being outside after a long, dreary, sunless winter.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm linking to: Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, 
Love Laugh Quilt, Patchwork Times, Quilt Story, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, My Quilt Infatuation, A Quilting Reader's Garden, Crazy Mom Quilts, Let's Book It

Quilt Finish

The last of the quilts for the grandchildren has been quilted, I really like how she has turned out. Her name is Scrappy Rainbow. The quilting was done on my home sewing machine with stitching in the ditch on the horizontal seams. Diagonal stitching completed the quilt and she finished at 60" x 75".

More of my mother's purple fabrics for the backing of the quilt and I used various fabrics for the binding.

This aren't the greatest photos, but how could I resist placing the quilt on the porch glider in the wonderful sunshine?

We have 7 grandchildren but I only made 6 quilts. The youngest is still sleeps in a crib and uses the quilt I made him before he was born. He doesn't need a new quilt, I made him a pillowcase so he won't feel left out.

In January I mentioned 2 UFQ's I wanted to finish. I have completed one of them. I had been undecided about the border I wanted for the Cherry Blossoms quilt. I had put her away until I decided on a border and this is what I came up with. Nothing fantastic but I feel it finishes the center better than just a 1" narrow border and a plain fabric border. The quilt measures 90" x 102" at this point. She will eventually be long-arm quilted but I don't know when.

The pattern is from Karen H's blog, Faeries & Fibres. It was a free pattern when I downloaded it but now there is a pattern charge. I made the quilt larger and added the pieced border.

Now it was time to get back to making some Nearly Insane blocks. I hadn't pieced any since December; it was fun to do paper-piecing again. I'm piecing a diagonal row at a time, starting at the top left corner. Row 2 has block 8 in it. This little 6" finished block has 150 pieces! I'm showing you a separate photo of her.

Several people have e-mailed me and told me about the Nearly Insane Quilts blog. She far more skilled and dexterous than I am. Those inside HST's are 1/2" finished! If I want my blocks to be accurate, then the blocks have to be paper-pieced, not regularly pieced.

The yellow sashing looks brighter than it actually is.

In the evenings I've been working on an old EPP crib quilt that has been in progress for several years. I only work on her when I don't have any applique prepped. 

The papers are 1" hexies. There are more rows coming.

The spring Jane Stickle quilt retreat starts on April 13th. I need to get prepping! 

Linking up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday
Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt
Esther's Wednesday WOW
My Quilt Infatuation
Crazy Mom Quilts
A Quilting Reader's Garden

Applique & Grandchildren Quilts

I've been sewing away since I've returned from Arizona and I have a lot to share with you.

Before I left for Tempe, I had pinned a Zippy-Strippy so she would be ready to quilt when I returned home. I had thought I would try to make all of these quilts from my stash but I took the easy way out and used a jelly-roll to make an easy Zippy-Strippy. As normal I did easy straightline quilting and stitch-in-the-ditch with my home machine. This quilt is for one of the granddaughters.

I pulled some fabric from my stash of mother's fabrics. Yes, I used some of mom's precious Jinny Beyer border print fabric for a quilt back! Let this be a lesson to you, this year's must have fabrics will be the next generations quilt back fabrics. Use those special fabrics now!

The 2nd Majestic Mountain quilt is also finished and will be delivered this week to the NY state grandson. Again, stitch in the ditch and straightline quilting. One of these days I will be brave and try something else, but for now I'm satisfied with easy. 

Fabric from mom's stash once again used for backing. I often wonder how she had planned to use the stripped fabric. I know I have a plan for all the fabric I have, I just need to get it sewn.

Last fall I sewed a lot of 4-patch blocks, I didn't really have a plan for them at that time. I pulled that box of blocks out this week and pieced this quilt top for the last of granddaughter quilts. I won't get her quilted before I leave but hopefully there will be time to get her layered and pinned so she is ready to quilt when I return to Indiana. I've named this quilt the Scrappy Rainbow quilt.

Just for fun, while I was piecing Scrappy Rainbow, I sewed 4-patches together and came up with 5 blocks containing 100 1" finished blocks. I guess I've started a postage stamp quilt. 

I've put this project on hold for now, I want to make more 4-patches so there is more variety in the quilt. The leftover fabrics from Sweet Surrender will look great in this quilt but I need to finish Sweet Surrender first.



The Sweet Surrender blocks that were on the WOF have been appliqued.

Blogger won't let me put these 3 blocks photos in a single row! 

Block 7 in the Pastor's Attic Quilt has been appliqued too. It is so easy to back-baste needle turn these larger pieces.

Yesterday (Saturday) the farmer was gone to an all day dairy meeting so I had the house (and the TV) to myself. I took quilting needle in hand and started quilting on my long neglected Fussy Cut Star wallhanging. It felt good to be quilting again. By milking time I had completed a substantial amount of quilting and I'm ready to roll. The quilting doesn't show except in the white diamonds. I'm actually using 4 different colors of quilting thread; white, cream, beige and black. I want the stars to be the focus of the quilt, not the quilting. It is going to be interesting to see what the back of the quilt looks like when she is completed.

I'm taking a short break from applique until I return from NY. So what do I work on in the evenings? I knit dishrags! I'll be taking this project along to work on while I'm on the train and during downtime in NY.

Linking to - 

A Quilting Reader's Garden
Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday
Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt
Quilt Story
Esther's Wednesday WOW