Meeting an Instagram Friend

Life is full of wonderful coincidences, have you ever noticed? Earlier this summer, Sheryll, one of my quilting buddies, mentioned that I'd be interested in her guild's speaker in September. It was to be Carol Shriver, a fellow Ohioan who lives in Coshocton, my husband's home town. Small world, right? 

But there's more! The reason Sheryll knew to mention it to me is that she knew I followed Carol on Instagram, and that Carol's work is impressive.

So, Thursday, she and Terry, another quilting buddy and guild member, attended the meeting with me as their guest. Fun! I was really eager to meet Carol and hear her speak to the guild.

I first heard of Carol from fellow Ohioan Annette Williams of Sewing The Good Life. Annette is a frequent vendor at quilt shows, and is just the nicest lady. In one pre-pandemic conversation I had with Annette, the subject of DH's hometown came up, and she knew of Carol from there, and proceeded to tell me all about her. I began following her on IG and the rest is history. (A convoluted story there; hope you were able to follow it!)

So let's go to the guild meeting. The Goodtime Quilters are known in these parts as a guild who puts on one of the best quilt shows around. It's a very active guild with retreats and shop and hops and speakers, in addition to the annual quilt show. Several of the Frankfort Girls are in this guild and I hear of their activities often. I'm glad they welcome guests, as I am not in a 'joining' frame of mind since retiring. 

After the business meeting, which was handled in quick order, Carol took the microphone and shared a trunk show of mostly applique quilts she has made since she retired from teaching Home and Consumer Sciences. She'd never quilted before retiring, but had a strong background in needle crafts. She told the story of taking her first quilt top to her LQS and asking if it just needed to go to the garbage can. Assured that "it would quilt out" - she didn't have a clue as to what that meant at the time - she has gone on to become a prolific quilter and often garners "Best of Show" when she enters her works in quilt shows.

Let's see a few that she shared. I did not photograph every quilt Carol brought, and these that I am sharing are amateur quality photos taken during her talk. I hope you'll pardon the distractions and focus on the quilts. All these will be linked to better pictures on Carol's IG account, so you do have a chance to see her exquisite workmanship more closely. My guess is that once you go to her IG, you will soon be following her, too. There are some gorgeous squares on her feed, for sure!

 

This album quilt is a pattern by Blackbird Designs called Fresh Picked.

 

This quilt is Granny's Garden by designer Lori Holt and was a block of the month project awhile back. Carol had it custom quilted; both quilt and quilting are gorgeous!

 

This is a Quilt Mania Mystery Quilt from 2019 called Marshal from designer Jen Kingwell.

 

This Kim Diehl pattern is an early quilt from Carol's quilting career and it illustrates how quilters evolve through their work. Carol explained that she was firmly into darker, reproduction quilts early on, and largely made pieced blocks. However, she grew tired of the monotony of making the same block over and over, so moved into applique and "happy colors" which afforded her the variety she desired. 

The variety in this quilt speaks to Carol's preference for "busy, happy quilts." I found the colors in this one particularly appealing. It's called Midnight at the Oasis by designer Jen Kingwell.

Here we have another Jen Kingwell design, a very whimsical quilt called Spring Fever.

Carol and I talked briefly both before and after her talk; we plan to meet up in Coshocton the next time we go to visit DH's family, and there's a good chance we take in some fabric shopping. Looking forward to it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilt Show Vendors

A week ago I attended the Circleville Quilt Show, shared here, and made a thorough round of both the quilts on display and the vendors present. I love checking out all the various booths; it gives me a chance to discover new shops as well as some local favorites.

I mentioned in the last post that I bought several FQs from a couple of vendors; the one I used for my UFO came from Annette at Sewing the Good Life. (Shown above at Hillsboro.) I love visiting with her and checking out her new patterns and displays. I always come away learning a lot, especially about applique, and grabbing up some choice precuts to add to my stash. I saw her at both the Hillsboro and Circleville shows.

Another vendor I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with in Circleville was Janet at The City Stitcher. She has an online shop out of Centerville, OH. That's a Dayton suburb, for anyone unfamiliar with the region. She has come to this show for years, and I even mentioned her in a post from 2016.

I am always fascinated by the variety of items for sale at Janet's booth. She makes blocks. That sounds like an ordinary thing, but that is the bulk of her display - well, it always draws my attention, at least. Check out the table of goodies in the photo, above. I see Economy blocks, Evening Star blocks, and 9-Patch blocks. Often these are separated by color with enough blocks for a whole quilt. I am sure mixing and matching options are available, too.

For the busy quilter who doesn't have the time, the skill or the inclination to cut and piece blocks, she does the hard stuff for you! Making them and selling them by the bundle is inspired, if you ask me. So all a seamstress has to do then is prepare setting squares (or not), sew the rows and create the quilt top. What a great service. To some, the piecing of blocks is so tedious and overwhelming. I can see where skipping this part would be desirable.

Janet also has other products for sale. She has lots of patterns available, shown on the wall in the photos (check the link above) and she has crocheted items.

Assorted flowers, leaves, butterflies and more in a wide range of colors - and to inspire people, she provides examples like the hat, above, for making use of these dainty creations.

If you love traditional quilts and designs, cross stitch, and crochet, and you have limited time, you need to check out her shop. It seems like she would have the exact product for you.

Hope you are having a super Saturday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Frankfort Girls

Our sewing get-together was Friday here at my house. Since we all were still in the thick of the Independence Day week activities, I used red, white, and blue as my theme for brunch. The table ware was easy. I made muffins with blueberries and cranberries, then I topped them by poking a star into the top of each. That's the extent of my creativity. *sigh*

A couple of the gals had some show and tell items to share with us. Terry had the most fantastic alphabet quilt made with a variety of polka dot fabrics. I think you will love it as much as I do!

Terry also had this little quilt, sort of in keeping with the theme of patriotism, too!

Jan had a quilt ready for binding - an applique quilt that is just recently back from the quilter. It is called Pretty Plates, designed by Annette Williams of Sewing The Good Life.

Short and sweet today, Peeps! Hope you are having a great Tuesday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Circleville Quilt Show - Vendors and Shopping

Gosh, there were some great vendors at the show. I enjoyed talking to many; they were so engaging and genuinely interested in visiting with customers. Maybe it was the excitement of just starting the show, as opposed to nearing closing time on the last day - everyone was upbeat and cheerful. It made for an awesome quilt show experience, for sure. (It would be an interesting experiment to go back towards the end of a show to see if everyone is still as upbeat as they were at the beginning.)

While I visited several vendors, I only remembered to take pictures of a few. That makes me a poor correspondent, right? Several vendors were quite busy with shoppers, and I obviously did not make it into every booth. (Please don't feel slighted if a shop at the show isn't mentioned here!)

One that I visited early on and later returned to was Sew Happy Quilting Traditions located in Belpre, OH. What a cute little shop with a vivacious young owner, Rachelle Yost. I would really love to take a trip across the state to visit her shop and I know some ladies who, too, would be up for such a trip. *wink* Most of the spending I did while at the quilt show was done in this shop; I will just show you a couple of fabric stacks.

This pack of baby-themed fabric will go into a quilt for a special little one due near the end of the year. I don't know if they know the gender, but this should work for either.

This second pack is just a random group of reproduction prints that I thought I might use as filler or neutrals for many of those hexagon blocks I'm making.

Many quilts displayed in the quilt show featured 30s prints, so perhaps this put me in the mood to stock up. A handful of these prints came from Rachelle above, but I bought most of them at The Laughing Ewe booth from Canal Winchester, OH. I talked to the a woman who I think was the owner quite extensively, but there was lots going on and I failed to get a picture. I do have a few ideas brewing in my mind for using this stack of happiness. I will report on that as things take shape.

One vendor came all the way from North Carolina - Karen Comstock of Quiltricks. Her booth's feature quilt is called Anna's Rose. (I have a niece named Anna Rose.) I learned that the Anna for whom the pattern is named was Karen's grandmother, who had passed before Karen was born. In her grandmother's things, Karen discovered an appliqued rose, so she adapted it into this quilt. What a sweet, sweet story - and an equally sweet shop owner!

I met Annette Williams of Sewing the Good Life at the Hillsboro show a few weeks ago, so I was sure to look her up while in Circleville. She was quite busy demonstrating techniques and answering questions, so I talked mostly with her husband. He knows his stuff in the quilting business! I picked out just one fabric (exercising restraint!) and he commented "that'll be great for fussy-cutting." I just had to giggle. So cute. Here is that fabric and the pic I took of Annette in Hillsboro.

Other shops I visited - in some I made purchases, in some I did not - are worth mentioning, for sure. Lavender Street of Cincinnati. She is selling out her store inventory and going totally on-line, so I got a great deal here. Quiltmakers Workshop (the website is under construction, but she's on Facebook) run by Mary Beth Simms had tons of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and I got 2 fat quarters - how to decide on just two??? I know; it was tough.

A shop local to me, Creations Sew Clever, had a booth which I visited, but did not linger; I can go to the store anytime, so I visited booths of those who came from greater distances. I know Rita Fishel takes her shop to lots of shows across the country; she has more energy than I can fathom! I hope you'll look for her if you are out at shows. Or better yet, come to Chillicothe!

I stopped by The City Stitcher of Centerville, OH, and I recall visiting with her last year. The thing that strikes me as interesting in her shop is her many premade blocks that busy quilters can buy for finishing up. The picture below shows a few of the options available. Blocks are packaged by color, or by design, or by size. Lots of variety. I didn't get to talk to her because she was with another customer, but her business fascinates me, and based on the crowdedness of her booth, lots of others were fascinated, too.

Finally, I will tell you about The Soap Shepherd out of Brookville, IN. She had so many soaps and lotions - all made with goat milk. I loved talking to the owner, Rebecca Meyer, and I had intended to go back to her booth before I left, but I forgot. I have looked at her website and I see that she offers on-line sales, so certain folks on my Christmas list might well see some fragrant-filled goodness wrapped up come holiday time.

That pretty well wraps up the 2017 Good Time Quilters quilt show. I hope you've looked at the quilts in the previous two posts, and possibly gained a little bit of inspiration.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

The Hillsboro Quilt Show

Over the weekend, nearby Hillsboro (my home town) had a quilt show sponsored by the local guild. I didn't even know about it until the last minute, and found a bit of time available on Saturday to go have a look-see.

I was majorly (is that an actual word?) disappointed to be prohibited from taking pictures. The guild offered a CD with all the quilts pictured on it for minimal cost - I think $5 or $10 - but, gee whiz, I want to take pics of the ones I most admire and skip the rest. Oh well, I can't have my way all the time, I suppose.

I did see some quilts that were familiar to me, though, and I can pull one of them up from my files to share.

My cousin Marilyn entered her gorgeous applique quilt which I'd seen in April at her local quilt show in Peebles. This quilt continues to leave me in awe of the workmanship; it's just gorgeous from the careful applique to the fantastic custom quilting. It actually won first place in the machine quilting category of the Hillsboro show. Here's the link to the post about the Peebles show.

Not only did I see Marilyn's quilt, I also got to see Marilyn! She was there along with some of her quilting buddies. One of them also won in the small quilt category, so the Adams County group did well in neighboring Highland County.

The other exciting thing to happen from this quilt show is meeting pattern designer and EPP queen, Annette Williams. I stopped by the vendors (of course) and noticed that one particular shop was promoting her patterns. I asked the gentleman in charge some questions about his shop, and went on my merry way. I later came back and asked him if he was affiliated with Annette. Ha! I think he was her husband! He pointed behind me, and there was Annette in person! Wow. What a delight. They have an on-line business out of their home in Jeffersonville, OH, which is just a half hour from me. I had a wonderful chat with her and made a small purchase.

She was gracious enough to pose for a picture in front of a couple of her quilts. She had a little station set up in the booth where she demonstrated her techniques for appliqueing; these were fascinating. I look forward to seeing her again in a couple of weeks at the Circleville show sponsored by Good Time Quilters.

Later on Saturday, while browsing Facebook, I saw that a high school classmate had tagged me. Imagine my surprise when I saw the photo above. Talk about a small world - get this - the woman pictured is Helen Sprinkle, Kathy's 99-year-old mother, with a quilt I definitely remember noticing at the quilt show; it had been voted the People's Choice Award! Here's what Kathy tells me about her mother, "She did those quilts almost 10 years ago...she is so very proud of getting that award." Aww, so sweet! In Kathy's FB post, I learned that Mrs.Sprinkle is no longer quilting, but when she was, she hand-quilted all her quilts. Isn't this great!? And, like so many, Kathy says that she never realized that quilting has been such a fulfilling pastime for her mother. I suspect that many could make that same statement.

Here in my quilting room, I am very nearly finished with the first of two t-shirt quilts I agreed to make and should have a finish to show you tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!