Got My Quilt Back

I received my quilt back from the Shipshewana Quilt Festival today. Glad to have it back! I don't like it when I have no idea of what is being done with it.

Unfortunately, it didn't receive any ribbons. But it was a juried show, so I feel privileged to have it appearing there, they had felt it was good enough to be chosen.

I do look forward to the judges' comments on my quilt. On the comment card, it states:

BEST FEATURES OF THIS QUILT ARE:

"Softly curved lines create flowing movements"

"Border frame/lady bugs"

"Quilting design"

"Hand quilting stitch"

AREAS THAT NEED THE MOST IMPROVEMENT ARE:

"Long straight edges should be straight"

"Corners should be 90 degrees"

So, the comments weren't too bad, but that's what you get when you present your work to the Quilt Police. I'll probably take another look at the quilt with their recommendation in mind, but you know what? I made this quilt for me and I like it just the way it is! I had a quilt win Best of Show in one show and the same quilt didn't win any awards in another. It all depends on the judges and what they feel a winning quilt should represent. So, I have no hard feelings!

I will be entering this quilt into our county fair this weekend. It is a smaller venue, so maybe I'll have better luck. And a neighboring county is having their fair later this month. I plan to enter there also, but they are larger than our county, so the competition will be harder.

I'm really trying to get some quilting done, but if not, I'll post some of my favorite quilts that I see from the fair.

Jane

On to Book #3

I had finished the second book this morning and have just started on the third book, titled "The Cross-Country Quilters." This is another reason why I haven't done much quilting - reading! I am a slow reader, so three books in four weeks, that's fantastic for me!
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When I told my son that I was going to have to check out the next book in the series, he asked what the title was. He thought the books should have been named:

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Book #2 - Attack of the Quilters

Book #3 - Revenge of the Quilter

Book #4 - The Quilter's New Hope

Book #5 - The Quilter Strikes Back (I like this one!)

Book #6 - Return of the Quilter

-- from the Star Wars Saga -- I thought it was funny!!

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On to some more reading!!

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Jane

Book Bag Detail

As I had shown in the last post, I had made a book bag for my son. And with this bag, he had tested my creativity. I should be proud of him too because he designed the bag himself!

His favorite cartoon is "Avatar - the Last Airbender" on the Nickelodeon channel. So he was thrilled once he found out that a movie was being made from its storyline.

And using the illustrations from the book series (like I said, he loves to read!), I drew the emblems for the four elements (fire, water, air, and earth).

Then, I traced the drawing to the fusible web and ironed it to the fabric.

Once the emblems were cut out, I pinned it to the background fabric.

A close-up of the pinning.

Once I was satified of the placement, I ironed the emblems so that it was fused securely to the background fabric.

And now it was for some machine applique. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to do this, I'm a hand appliquer. I used a straight stitch around the edge of the design. It may be hard to see in the photo. And the fabric that he pick for this bag was flannel and it may fray with use. Maybe a zig-zag stitch may have worked better, I don't know.

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Now that the bags are finished, it on with the next project to finish. Which one? Not sure yet. But I hope to have enough progress to photograph for later!

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Jane

Book Bags - Done At Last

I promised my boys that I would make them each a book bag for their library books if we joined our library's Summer Reading Program this year. Well, the bags are finally finished! Three weeks into the program and two weeks left for my boys to use them. Better late than never!

This one is my younger son's book bag. He fell in love with the flannel dinosaur fabric. Pretty simple!

On the other hand, my older son's bag wasn't quite so easy. He wanted an "Avatar - The Last Airbender" (his favorite cartoon which has been made into a non-animated movie) book bag. He wanted the four emblems on his bag so I had to machine-applique each one (8 total - 4 one each side). Not a quick and easy job.

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I haven't been able to get a lot done lately and I've been wondering why? I know that I have the boys home from school. My older son is in the middle of his baseball tournament. I'm trying to teach my younger son how to ride his bike. Watching movies at the theater. My days are filled with trying to keep the kids entertained. And reading the "Elm Creek Manor" books hasn't helped!

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And then I realized that since they have been at home, I have lost my quiet nights. They used to have an earlier bedtime and that would leave me with a few hours all to myself. Now, they want to stay up late and by the time they're asleep, I'm exhausted. I'm thinking of becoming a morning person so that I can get some quilting done before the boys wake up! Is it possible to change yourself around like that?

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In the next post, I'll show some detail on how I made the "Avatar - the Last Airbender" bag.

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Be back soon,

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Jane

Not Much Quilting

Here in Indiana, the temperature have been rising into the mid to high 90's yet the humidity makes it feel as if it is 108 degrees. Yuck! It's the worst part of summer. I love being outside, but me and the kiddos have resorted to staying inside because of the heat. But the garden plants outside are loving the humidity, as long as we don't forget to water!

Each summer, I grow some vegetables. I enjoy it and it's a great learning opportunity for the boys. Because of my mobility, I'm unable to take care of a large garden like I just to, so I'm attempting to start a patio garden using pots.

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Here's just a few samples of what we have growing:

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two types of lettuce

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tomatoes

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It's going well so far.

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Jane

Distractions

Now that the kids are out of school, we've been busy with other activities:

Both of the boys are participating in baseball. The little one is already finished with his season and has proudly received his trophy. The older one is anticipating the upcoming tournament next week.

The older son have basketball camp (practice) in the mornings. I've been taking some applique with me since we're there for about an hour.
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But the reason that I haven't progressed very far on the applique above is that I had made a bribe to my older son. He loves to read and he'll read throughout the year except for summer vacation. He seems to find something better to do that reading (video games usually). So, we've been going to the library. But I had told him that if he would put in a good effort in his reading, I would read too.
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Now, I love reading also, but I've been too busy working on my quilty projects. And when I start on a good book, I can't seem to put it down. That's what happened! At the library, I have found The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini and that's what I've been doing. The work of my sewing projects have slowed way down drastically. I have promised to make both boys a book bag for their library books, but I can't seem find enough time because of this book! I know that I need finish them. I will post the photos as soon as I have them done - who knows when!! ;)
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I am almost done with the book and have the second in the series, Round Robin, ready and waiting. I just need the will power to set it down and get some work done!!
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Jane

It's Off to Shipshewana

I had shipped my quilt to Shipshewana today. They are expecting the arrival of quilts for their Shipshewana Quilt Festival on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (June 17-19), and the quilt show isn't until June 23-26.

In the rules, they had asked us to submit our quilts in a pillowcase or cloth covering. So, I whipped up this drawstring bag because I thought a pillow case would be too small.

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I hope there isn't any complications in returning it back home on time. I'm wanting to enter it into another smaller venue the week after the Shipshewana show.

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I haven't been around much. I'll update you on what's going on in tomorrow's post.

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Jane