The Quilts at the Quilt Show

The quilts on display at the Good Time Quilters' Quilt Show last week did not disappoint. Rather than do a lot of words, I will focus on the eye candy - quilt pictures! This collection of quilts represent the ones I found attractive, interesting, or unique for any number of reasons.

One quilt in the show has a very personal connection. Remember when the Frankfort Girls did an Ohio Star block exchange? The only rule was that we should use reproduction fabrics on off-white backgrounds. Sheryll finished hers and won a ribbon in the show!

I studied this quilt quite a long time trying to remember which blocks I'd made. Six or seven blocks in this quilt are mine, but I could only definitively identify five. Here's a link to a post about our exchange. 

I included this final picture in the previous post, but I did not elaborate on the fact that it, too, was made by Sheryll. At a recent Frankfort Girls gathering, we 'oohed and aahed' over this beauty live and in person. Click back here to get the quilt's history and to see it as she had just gotten it back from her quilter. 

I plan to do one more post about the quilt show. The guild conducts a BOM challenge, and while I don't know all the rules and guidelines, I do look forward each year to seeing the variety of the finished quilts. That will be the focus of the final quilt show update.

Have a great Monday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Good Time Quilters Quilt Show

Oh my goodness, I sure wish I'd done a post earlier this week to remind you quilters in reasonable proximity to Circleville, that the quilt show is this weekend. It's too late to even tell you to GO!! Unless you live super close.

This beauty by my quilting friend Sheryll was amongst the offerings.

I contend that this is the best quilt show in Ohio, although, to be honest, I don't really go to many others and don't, therefore, have a true comparison. My opinion is balanced against all the previous places I've gone for quilt shows - in and out of state - this one consistently ranks right up there with the best.

Since I am so tardy in sharing this, I will just tell you to plan ahead to go next year - last weekend of July. 

First, I will give some props to the vendors by sharing some of their booths. I didn't spend a lot (my stash is already out of control!), but I sure did enjoy visiting with many of them.

First shop inside the door was Annette Williams and her sweet hubby, of Sewing The Good Life. I got such a lovely welcome from them both. I've been a long-time customer of Annette's, and I so admire both her work and the massive growth her on-line business has made. The photos above don't do it justice! I follow her on both Instagram and Facebook just to see all the inspiring new projects she comes up with.

The two photos above are from a new-to-me shop in Maysville, KY, called Apron Strings Quilt Shop. The two gals manning the booth were tons of fun and laughter, so I imagine a trip to their shop would be quite the adventure. They are on Facebook and Instagram and say on their card to call for current hours as they vary by season. Location is 113 W. Second Street, Maysville, KY 41056; phone: 606-584-7414

Side Stitchin' Quilt Shop is a new shop located in Belpre, OH. The owner greeted me with a big smile as she handed me a pen and a business card. She said she bought out a shop there (which I was familiar with), and has put her own stamp on things. She features a lot of bright, happy fabrics, which definitely matched her cheery welcome!

Neff's Country Loft has been coming to this quilt show for years and years. The Frankfort Girls and I have visited the shop frequently. Beverly has a lovely variety of reproduction fabrics and patterns and always has fun decor items to enhance the reproduction vibes. Click on the link to go to their Facebook page.

The shop featured in the two photos above was quite unique in that they sold heavy-weight materials useful for bags and rugs. It was really fun to peruse all their samples. Note that there are rugs on the floor for visitors to walk on. I was really fascinated at all the potential projects one could create using the fabrics and patterns available here. The shop is called Felts or Handbehg Felts.The website offers a plethora of ideas for the creative stitcher. I fear I could so easily be pulled in yet another stitching direction after seeing all the options they offer.

I got a big hug from Kathy Skinner-Shaw of Homestead on the Hill when I got to her wool booth. Kathy is an absolute master at rug hooking, and she specializes in primitive colors, designs and patterns. The three photos above are from her shop. Contact Kathy at tswool1959@gmail.com.

These two pictures (above) feature Janet Miller of The City Stitcher. Her specialty is selling the tedious (to some) parts of a quilt to makers who might prefer to get to the rewarding finished part a lot faster. Let's say you don't rightly relish the thought of making 100 9-patch blocks measuring 3" finished. Janet has you covered! She makes such things and has them ready for your next project. I can see where that is an attractive option for some quilters. Her contact information is jmcitystitcher@yahoo.com. She also has a page at Quilter's Warehouse (click on The City Stitcher).

Last, but not least (it just happened to be the last shop I visited on my way out!), I browsed through Kari's Custom Quilting. She is located in Anna, OH, and her booth had a wide variety of samples to inspire shoppers as well as kits, patterns and precuts. The temptation was real, I tell you, because her samples were eye-popping!
 

Of course, there were other vendors present, but I couldn't talk to everyone. I hope this gives a decent overview of the quilt shops represented however.

In some upcoming posts, I will share some of the quilts on display, a couple of which have personal connections!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Summer Days and Fall Foliage

The hot, hazy days of summer are upon us and I am here to talk about Fall Foliage. That doesn't make a lick of sense.

Not much blogging action here lately. The stitching I have been doing does not warrant writing about. Slow stitching has limited appeal. Day after day of hand quilting, repairing and hand binding is not the most scintillating content, don't you know. *wink*

I have been slowly binding Fall Foliage, and yes, I did repair that boo-boo with my backing.

I had plenty of backing to both make my binding and repair the corner needing attention.

The repair blends in wonderfully well, and we're none the wiser for this little snafu.

Details for Fall Foliage: she's not a huge quilt, measuring 54" x 62". I began it in 2010 after seeing a version of it made up in a local quilt shop (now defunct). Generally, I don't need or ask for help in finding fabrics, but I specifically recall that I did have help putting these five fabrics together. The pattern - in the Lynette Jensen/Thimbleberries book, September Morning (2001) - was fast and super-simple; I really ought to use this pattern more often; it'd be perfect for baby quilts. 

I let the quilt top wallow or age, call it what you will, until 2018 when I needed a quilt for demonstrating at History Day. And Fall Foliage has been on the frame ever since. Obviously, there was more wallowing/aging through these last five years. It gathered quite a lot of dust in the quilting room, and I was forever having to move it out of my way for this and that. 

At last this spring, I decided there had been enough procrastinating and gave myself a stern scolding. Quilts never get done if you don't work on them! With hot muggy days keeping me indoors, and Tour de France and MLB to watch on television, I thought I would certainly have enough time to finish Fall Foliage once and for all.

 One bonus with this particular quilt is that there is virtually nothing left over. I might have cut a dozen 2.5-inch squares from the remnants and that is it. All used up. Wonderful. 

I am itching to start something new, but I have several more UFOs that I ought to work on first. Wonder which direction I will go?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Fall Foliage Quilted!

 It is with great satisfaction that I announce the finish of the hand quilting of Fall Foliage. Yes!!!

I turned the last corner of the border quilting a few days ago, and late Thursday night, I took the final stitches. Wow, what a journey.

And thank goodness that we choose to watch things on television that are long and involved - like the Tour de France, which runs 3+ weeks and 21 stages at 4-5 hours per stage. That's a lot of viewing time to watch as I stitch. We record everything, so we are never watching the stages on the days they occur; no worries as far as we are concerned! The beauty is that we can fast forward through the commercials, and rewind or pause for whatever reason. Hey, it works for us. *wink*

I waited until daylight to take these pics of the removal from the frame. You can sorta' see the gridlines of stitching, if you look closely. Once it's bound, I will take proper pics.

I've trimmed off the excess, and have plenty to work with for binding. I do have a bit of an issue on one corner that I intend to take care of. There must have been some shifting of layers as I put the quilt on the frame way back at the beginning of quilting (in 2018!). I have about 12" of white selvage showing on the back, and no backing the the outermost edge in that area. I will use some of the cut-away backing to correct and hide my error, which shouldn't take me too terribly long. I am motivated to have this done, so I won't allow any procrastination. 

Which I am prone to, you know. *wink*

My fingertips are quite calloused, and a bit tender with all this quilting, but I do not mind in the least! I am actually thinking of which quilt I will put on the frame next.Keep the toughened-up fingertips awhile longer. Looking ahead to October and History Day, I will need to have something to demonstrate, so why not get a little head start between now and then, right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!