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!

Finishes - Frankfort Girls

 All six of us met on Friday morning at Sheryll's and we had some finishes to share. Terry and Jan had been successful in producing completed quilts this week, so let's have a look.

Terry stitched the binding on this Kim Diehl pattern called All In a Row. Remember the little challenge we had at retreat a year ago? It was loads of fun. Here's a link if you want to look back.

Jan was the busy bee for the week. She had four finishes to share! She bought the country scene panel the previous Friday in Indiana, and now has not only a quilt top, but it is quilted, as well. The same holds true for the snowball quilt just above. The fabrics are crayon-themed, and she said that she whipped this up in just a few hours. The center picture is a composite of two table runners - one with honey-bee theme, the other Christmas. How nice to have 4 really nice projects finished in one week. 

I hope I can share a finish with you this week. Monday always fills me with optimism! We shall see.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Sunday Hexies

This past week has been one that was rather productive for me and now I reward myself with some slow, relaxing handwork. The EPP possibilities continue to fascinate me, so I am ready to work on some more.

For our Friday morning group - Frankfort Girls - I glue-basted this wonderful little stack of elongated hexies for that waterfall-type quilt I want to make. The two fabrics are those random ones I bought at Pohlars in Indiana a week ago. The waterdrop blue is a fabric I bought back in April for this quilt; that stack will be glue-basted after I cut the hexie points. Below is a picture of a few of the hexies put together in random fashion. It's hard to make this look like water with such a small sampling; I definitely need more blues.

Then, I have also been hankering to do another POTC block, so I have this center for a start.

I have a wonderful piece of Marcus fabric which lends itself to fussy cutting. I definitely need to work on perfecting my fussy cutting skills.

So besides stitching, I will also spend a good portion of the afternoon with my friend Cheryl poolside. Rest and relaxation, ahhh. 

I am linking up with Kathy and her Slow Sunday party.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Found It In Quilt Sampler Magazine

Last week when I made the trip to two Indiana quilt shops with a group of friends, I discovered that one of the shops - Back Door Quilts - had been featured in APQ's Quilt Sampler magazine. Such a distinction is a pretty big honor, and I wondered if I might have that particular issue in my collection of magazines. I did, and wanted you all to have a look.

First, I pulled out all the Quilt Samplers I have amassed. Very few things in my quilting room are neat, tidy and organized, but my magazines are lined up in chronological order, so this was an easy task.

Next, the browsing began. I began getting APQ magazine (and all the related magazines) in 1999. I searched into the 2005 issues before locating it. The cover shown above is from the spring/summer issue.

Here's the spread on Back Door. Very interesting to read about this store's background. For those of you unfamiliar with how each Sampler issue works, all the stores featured provide a unique-to-them pattern for a quilt. Let's see the one Back Door used.

Back Door Baskets looks fantastic! I have been finding myself more and more drawn to basket quilts lately, so perhaps I was meant to find this pattern. And who doesn't love a blue and white quilt?? This has potential written all over it.

You can click here to read about our visit to Back Door. Also that day we visited Pohlar's. And here's a link to what I bought.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Just a Little Diversion

On Tuesday when Sharon was here to sew, I finished the Swoon flimsy, which I have written about already and am thrilled beyond words to have finally finished. I am particularly fond of the little added touch I put on this quilt - those little stars in the sashing.

As I began sewing Tuesday, I had only a mental idea of what this sashing would look like. I decided I'd better make a sample just to be sure everything would work correctly. I didn't want to have to waste time unsewing and redoing things like wonky star points. I ended up with this quilt block which measures about 9 inches. If you read the link above, you'll find the measurements for making these stars.

It was just too pretty to leave in a pile to be forgotten, so I had the idea that I would trim it down and make it into a pincushion. This would be after the Swoon flimsy was finished, by the way. I actually followed through, and whipped up this sweet little guy on Wednesday.

It measures 6 inches. I had all the necessary parts for constructing this easily accessible here in the quilting room, so it was easy as pie to do.

Trim off the excess. Quilt the top. Add the back, leave an opening and turn right-side-out.

Pour in the stuffing. Whipstitch closed. Voila! A nifty pincushion!

Short and sweet today, Peeps! Frankfort Girls are meeting at Sheryll's this morning, and I must be off!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sharon's Elizabeth

You saw my finished Swoon flimsy yesterday, so today you will get to see a recent finish from Sharon. She had the chance to sew over the July 4th weekend and finished her Elizabeth! It is gorgeous!

You may recall that we began this project back in January. We really do work well when we have occasional common projects; it's a matter of keeping each other motivated. I managed to get mine done in quick order, but Sharon has taken a little longer. I think it was worth the wait, don't you? It's just gorgeous!

Most of the fabric in Sharon's version is Luna Notta by 3 Sisters with perhaps a neutral added in from some other line. Her Elizabeth has lighter blue and darker pink, whereas mine is light pink and more vivid blue. You can compare the two below.

We had a few good laughs yesterday with Sharon's reveal. She told me with a very straight face that she was calling her quilt "Loser." What?!?! No! It's is definitely not a loser! But her meaning is that she "lost" so many points! Then she said maybe it should be called "Pointless." We then proceeded to quickly take stock of how many points the two of us cut off - this pattern has an abundance of points to mind, and decided that if anyone calls us on our lack of points, it was a problem with them, not us!

What a great day to spend sewing with a dear friend! Besides having a few laughs, we really got a lot done, too.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Flimsy to Show You!

Oh, my gosh - at long last I have a finish to share! How long has it been? I've spent so much time procrastinating these past few weeks. (Is there an award for that? Hah!) Woe is me!

Yesterday, I changed my ways. Sharon was here to sew and boy, oh boy, did we have a productive day! I checked my list for something that I thought I could finish in just one very-focused, industrious, nose-to-the-grindstone day. I decided that I could turn my Swoon blocks into a flimsy - so I did! Yay!! Before I went to bed last night, I had my lovely Swoon flimsy pressed and ready for a photo shoot.

For years, I have wanted to make Swoon, and now I finally have. Here's a link for my very beginning on this quilt, but I have had the pattern since quite a lot longer. I guess good things are worth waiting on. I sure don't think I would  have used my blue KF fabrics had I decided to make this 4 or 5 years ago. I really love it in these fabrics.

I did take a few pictures last night, but I just can't account for the dark lighting with my limited editing skills. Daylight pictures are below.

I don't know what the pattern instructions say to do about sashing and cornerstones. I didn't dig it out to see what the designers recommended because I had another idea: I'd seen a picture of someone's Swoon quilt with plain dark cornerstones. This prompted me to take that a step further and make little stars - what do you think? I think they are just as cute as can be. I used a 2-inch sashing and 2-inch square, then to make the points I used 1.25-inch squares with the sew-and-flip method. It took some figuring, but it wasn't too difficult.

I will show you a little bonus project from this experiment in an upcoming post. I made a sample star and have an idea of something cute to make out of it. I'll try to whip it out today.

I'll be linking up with the gals over at Sew Fresh Quilts for their weekly Let's Bee Social party.

Hope you are having a productive week! I would like to think I can carry this momentum on to the next item on my to-do list.

Happy Quilting, Friends!