Festival of Quilts

Today was the Festival of Quilts in Vincennes, Indiana - and I had one of my quilts in the show!

This was the first year that I had one of my quilts shown at this show. Last year, I had entered the "Old Tippecanoe Block Challenge" that the Festival of Quilts held to commemorate President Harrison (who is from Indiana). To my surprise, I had won!!

I had won first place in the Applique category and second in the Pieced category. While at the show this year, I went to see these blocks at the Grouseland Mansion (former home of Van Buren), which was next door.



It was nice to see them on display.

I just had to "toot" my own horn!

Jane

What's Up?!

I just had my 20 year high school reunion this weekend. It just doesn't seem that long ago! It was so wonderful seeing all of the familiar faces that I hadn't seem in a long time. We all had a great time!

The trip that I had made for the reunion (a 3 and a half hour drive there and a another 3 and a half hour drive back the next day) was to short for me to bring a big project. So, I had decided to bring along the "Christmas Wish BOM" from Gail Pan.

I had finished with one of the blocks and it turned out beautifully. And I was able to start on another block. I can't wait until my son's basketball season starts as this was what I was going to work on while we are at practices.

I am still planning to enter my quilt into the upcoming quilt show, which is the Festival of Quilts at the Grouseland (William Henry Harrison's presidential home and national Historical landmark) in Vincennes, Indiana, on October 16 and 17. I still have a a little more to do before it is finished and I am happy that I had changed my mind on all that elaborate quilting.

The Annie Smith Simplearts on-line quilt class "Quiltmaking 101" is already in it's second lesson and I still haven't picked out my fabric. And, oh my gosh!! It's already the first of October and I have to start sketching the designs for the Halloween costumes. Busy, busy, busy!!

Til next time,

Jane

I Won!!

I had forgotten in the last post the I had won an online quilt class taught by the great Annie Smith! Kelley from pioneerquilter.com was had it as a giveaway on her blog/podcast and I'm thrilled that I had won it.

The class is "Quiltmaking 101." I wouldn't actually call myself a beginning quilter, but it will be a good opportunity to fine tune my skills.

I have never officially taken a quilt class, I'm basically self-taught through trial and error. It's great knowing that my first "quilt teacher" will be Annie.

I'm looking forward to participating in this unique opportunity!

Once again,

Jane

I'm Back!

I've been absent for a while. Life has taken over.

My in-laws had come up from Florida the first week of September. They had, unexpectedly, called the night before, to tell us that they would be here the next day. I had to get the house ready for them and they visit with us for about a week.

And with school started, there was a project that needed help, tests to study for... As well as, my older son is in Cub Scouts and I am one of his leaders, so there are lessons to plan and activities to accomplish... You get the idea! Whew!

I think I've gotten things under control for the time being!

Currently, I am working on an "already completed quilt." It was a quilt I had entered into a quilt show earlier this year. It didn't win any prizes but the one suggested areas of improvement on the commment card was : Much more hand quilting needed in the borders to help the quilt hang straighter.


So, I added a vine and leaf motif in the quilting and added stippling around it. Found out later that hand-quilted stippling doesn't quite look as good as machine-quilted stippling. After working on it for a while, I thought it looked too busy and ripped it all out - about half of the quilt!

(it may be hard to see)

I'm planning to keep the vine and leaf motif, which matches the applique on the quilt. The deadline for the entry is the first of October. Then I plan on making a quilty vest to wear to the show - I know, kinda of geeky! And then there's the Halloween costumes to make. Here we go again!

Til next time, I won't wait so long,

Jane

Clean-up Day

Today was a busy day. I had decided that I was going to have to straighten up my sewing area. I had stuff on the floor that it was hard to get from one end to the other. I was working on this for most of the week and I wanted it done by this weekend. I had gotten rid of a lot of items, yet I still have too much stuff. I had made enough room to finally be able to set out my second sewing machine. I had gotten it a few months ago but never had an opportunity to get it out and test it. I have the other sewing machine set up at another area and I plan to use it for my machine quilting.

I used the new machine when sewing my blocks together when I realized that the machine had a blanket stitch option! My other machine doesn't have it. I have blanket-stitched around my applique before but, I bet, machining it would be a lot faster to do. It's not a time to start a new quilt. Maybe, I can find a quilt I had already started and place some blanket stitching using the sewing machine instead!!

When I was pinning my quilt, my younger son had asked if he could have some fabric, too. He wanted to work on his quilt. I had purchased an old plastic toy sewing machine from the Goodwill store a while back. I had bought it for myself but he has claimed it as his. I had found him some fabric but he said he needed some pins in it, like my quilt. Once the pins were in, he was off to work.

I've always wanted a little girl. To share the things that my mom had taught me: sewing, knitting, crocheting, cooking... Being blessed with two boys, they don't want to participate in such "girlie" things. So when he wanted to sew, I had gotten all giddy! I had watched him sew, for all about 15 seconds, and he was off playing with his Power Ranger toys again. My moment didn't last very long. Boys will be boys!

I'm planning to catch up on my sewing and will try to post my progress next time.

Jane

Oh, Dear Me

I know that you know what quilt this is...the famous "Dear Jane" quilt. I had first seen it when the show "Simply Quilts" was still on television. I can't explain it. There is something about it that just called to me. The different blocks and the different fabrics seemed right up my alley.

Once I got the book, I went through my fabric stash, matching the fabrics with what I was seeing in the photos (a great stash buster!). I had gone crazy at first, making blocks after blocks, eventually tapering off. The quilt is now set aside. More fabrics have been purchased for other blocks, so it would be very simple to start again. I'm about half-way done with the blocks, yet it still seems, as if, there is still so much to do.

I will finish it one day it and it will be one of the most appreciated quilts that I have done.

Jane

Summertime

The last few days were beautiful, but a little too humid, for my taste. I love sit out on the back porch with my hand-work and soak-up some sunshine. Now that my youngest son is in Pre-Kindergarten, I can do it more often, before it gets too cool once Autumn is here.

A project I like to take with me to the back porch is a quilt using Susan Branch's fabrics. I had seen it online, about a year ago, and I knew I had to have it. At that time, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with it.

I had come up with an idea about the first of the year and drew it up on the computer just to see if I looked as good as it did in my head. What do you think?

The quilt is coming together, the first two rows are now pieced together. This is a quilt that I don't work on that often, so perhaps it will be finished in about another year. I can only hope.

Jane