Quilting and Coincidences

People who don't know quilters well might be of the belief that we make our quilts in the quiet of our homes, with little interaction from the outside world - a lonely pastime, perhaps.

No way!

This hobby is the most social and open hobby ever. Having Sharon over once each week is just a beginning. We also have a wide circle of friends who enjoy lugging their machines and projects to someone's house for a day of stitching together. Our Frankfort Girls group meets every-other-Friday morning to do just hand-stitching.

And then there are retreats and quilt shows and classes. And I haven't even touched on the community that can be found in cyberspace.

This lengthy introduction is surely going somewhere, and it describes just one instance of how all these various spheres of quilters eventually are bound to intersect.

A week ago, my neighbor and friend Dorothy shoots me an email saying that she and her daughter are taking a mystery class at Creations, a quilt shop in Chillicothe. Across the table from them are Claudia and Denise, my students off and on for the past couple of years! What a small world.

For some history on all these friends, you can check out some backstories, if you like. I first wrote about Dorothy in 2017 when she wanted help making a picnic quilt for her son and daughter-in-law. Claudia and Denise have been the subject of many posts over the past 3-4 years, and here's just one that represents a bit of the kinds of things we have tackled together.

Now, let's get to the pictures of the work Dorothy, Sarah, Claudia and Denise did in the mystery class.

The bottom photo is from Claudia who has her mystery parts laid out at her home. She is in the process of sewing the top together.

The emails I got from Claudia really speak to the nature of "community" -

Denise and I enjoyed meeting two of your friends from Frankfort yesterday at the Mystery Quilt Sewing Day at the Creations store in Chillicothe. There were seven steps. The photo shows Denise with her quilt at step 4 I believe. There would be five of the strips like she is holding next to each other. Her batik fabrics are beautiful. I left a little early as there were farm chores to do at home before evening, but I think Denise finished hers before she left. Just before I left at 5pm the first quilt was completed. It was fun to arrive to well marked piles of fabric and a little sheet (CLUE) to follow. And fun to meet new people with the same interests.

And Claudia is a true "learner" in every sense of the word; she later sent this with the picture above:

Here is my Mystery Quilt down to ten pieces. I had asked for red, white & blue figuring I would get something patriotic with stars, stripes, etc. but with the green in it too it is far from patriotic looking. I now know that I have to be more specific. At step 3 I had a snafu. I tried very consciously to match the two corners but alas my matching (which was with an angle) made the piece off center and I had to take them all apart and redo matching the sides and not a center seam. I just didn’t understand “quilters” language. Ugh!!

 You can be sure Claudia will know this "quilters language" next time - she learns fast!

I hope this post makes sense; I am a bit under the weather with some crazy congestion - maybe allergies? Maybe upper respiratory again? I think I will have a cup of hot tea, and take a nap.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Dorothy's First Completed Quilt

Earlier this year my good friend and neighbor Dorothy decided to take up quilting. Here's her first finish.

She signed up for a mystery class at a local quilt shop - Creations Sew Clever in Chillicothe - and finished this quilt top earlier this year. Then she turned it over to an acquaintance who does long-arm quilting, and LOOK!! It turned out great. I wish I had a better picture to show the fabrics more closely and also the quilting. It is really a great quilt for a beginner. Since making this, Dorothy has made a picnic blanket-type quilt for her son and daughter-in-law, and is currently working on a two-color quilt - blue and white stars - it will be gorgeous.

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!

Keeping Promises

In several recent posts I have said that a future blog would cover this, that or the other thing. I find, in reviewing things, I have not followed through on those promises, however.

This post will be the first of the follow-through posts!

These are the fat quarters I bought at Creations.
I think this completes the collecting of bright fabrics for an upcoming baby quilt.

Chillicothe, the nearest large town close to me, and the town in which I taught for 30 years, is becoming quite a destination for quilters. We have 2 chain stores -- JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby. We have had for 20 years or more, Creations Sew Clever. And our newbie is the growing and expanding Old Town Fabric Shop.

On Wednesday, I had some time to kill before my dentist's appointment to stop in to Creations. In recent emails from them, I knew that they were remodeling, so I was feeling the need to snoop. *grin*

Here are some pics featuring both the re-do and the fabrics and offering at Creations.

A really pretty fireplace in one of the front rooms. This shop is housed in a former funeral home in a very old building.

A colorful display of projects hangs just inside the front door, across from the check-out counter.

The entry hall used to house bunches and bunches of fabric - but while the reno is ongoing, things have been moved around just a bit. As you can imagine! ;)

This room is set aside for all the notions and rulers. Through that door you can tell that construction is in progress.

Need a quilt book? I think nearly every book on the market must be available here. The "library" room sure looks inviting! Rita Fishel, the owner, is an author herself!

I should have asked about this display piece. It looks very old, but I can't be sure. Both sides feature quilts - wonderful, finished quilts! What inspiration!

There is one entire room in the back - the classroom - that is finished, but my pic came out rather fuzzy. If you click on the shop's link, above, you will see better pictures than I have taken, anyway. The goal with the renovation is to improve lighting and brighten everything up, so the walls are all being painted and I think I heard one of the girls say that new carpet would be coming, too.

So, you out-of-towners! Come to Chillicothe! We have 4 great shops for you to enjoy, and some good restaurants to make your visit complete. Also, you could travel about 25 miles northwest and visit the Ben Franklin in Greenfield! What a lovely way to spend a day, right???

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Birthday Surprise

Tomorrow morning I will be hostessing a brunch for a group of very close friends to celebrate the recent retirement of one of our number. She is the one who will receive the quilt I've teased you about for a month or so.

My menu:
Spinach and egg strata
Cheesy potato casserole
Fresh fruit
Scones
Pound Cake with whipped topping
Bellinis

The strata, casserole and pound cake will be made tonight, leaving just prep work for in the morning.

In addition to celebrating the retirement, another of our group has a birthday this month, so I stopped at Creations Sew Clever in Chillicothe earlier today for a little birthday gift.

A pattern for making little quilts with fat quarters, 3 fat quartersin  red, white and blue for Sherrie, the birthday girl, who does a lot of quilts in patriotic colors, and a tiny pair of scissors. I have a pair of these little snipperstand they are really nice. So I think Sherrie will like them, too.

I hadn't been to Creations for quite awhile. I worked in Chillicothe for 30 years, however I surely don'g get over that way nearly as often as I did then. While at Creations,  saw several quilts on display that I liked, and a few pieces of fabric tried to get me to buy them. But I remained strong in my resolve to focus on using the stash.

Okay, so that's sort of a little white lie, because if you go back through this blog you'll learn that I'm not a real strong person when it comes to resisting the urge to buy fabric, but I did today, so good for me. In a few weeks, I know that I will be going to a big quilt shindig in Cincinnati. You don't think I'm going to be resisting fabric purchases there, do you???  *grinning!!*

Happy Quilting, Friends!