Barb and Kathy's Excellent Adventure, Part 1

A couple weeks ago, my friend Barb asked if I'd like to go with her back to our hometown for Corn Fest, an annual event that's become sort of a reunion for classmates.  This was a big decision, since we'd have to miss the Madison Quilt Show (always fun) to go to Corn Fest.  We decided if we stopped at a bunch of quilt stores along the way, we wouldn't miss the Madison show so much.  So that's what we did!  Here's our little Personal Shop Hop Across Iowa.  (A warning here ... never quilt shop with someone who's expecting a grandchild soon.  You will end up with bags full of baby stuff.  A whole bunch of that stuff jumped in my bags, and there are no babies in my near future.  If I get invited to a baby shower, though, I'm set for the next few years).  Our trip "back home" takes 7 1/2 hours driving time - with our stops, it only took us about ten hours - that's not too bad, is it?  We didn't stop much to eat, though LOL.


 
Our first stop was JJ Stitches in Sun Prairie.  (You didn't think we'd actually get out of Wisconsin before we found a store, did you??)  This is a great store, but I had been there just a few weeks ago with Donna, so didn't do too much damage to my wallet at this store.  I joined a BOM here last time I visited, so I'm anxious to get started on that.

Our second stop was Vintage Threads in Dyersville, Iowa.  This shop was a Quilt Sampler Top Ten Shop a few years ago, and it was wonderful.  Lots of vintage as well as bright fabrics, and a very nice, helpful owner.  We did a lot more damage to our wallets at this store!  The store is in a nicely restored historic building and is lots of fun to visit.

The owner of Vintage Threads suggested we travel a little on down the road to Manchester to shop at the store there.  That was "sort of" on our way, so we changed our itinerary a little to add that one in, and I'm so glad we did.

This is The Quiltmakers' Shoppe in Manchester, Iowa.  This picture doesn't do it justice - it was chock full of inspiration and models of everything from wallets to aprons to quilts.  It was a nice, bright, airy shop with something for everyone.

The Iowa stores all had flannel receiving blankets, made of only two pieces of flannel.  The backing is brought around and mitered on the front to give the appearance of a binding similar to the satin bindings you usually see.  A kit for a blanket like this jumped into my basket, and I'm anxious to try this method.

Our fourth stop was Inspirations in Hills, Iowa.  This store was also a Quilt Sampler Top Ten Shop, and it's full of reproduction fabrics and a ton of baby and children's fabric.  Another receiving blanket kit jumped into my basket at this store!  Inspirations is also in a neat, renovated historic building with lots of, well, inspiration!

Wisconsin has great quilt shops and we're a little spoiled, but I think Iowa can give us a run for our money.  The shops we visited we all wonderful, and each had their own special charm.

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you the rest of this story!

Design Wall Monday, September 2

You can tell summer is over by what's on my design wall!  These are the Block of the Week blocks from Primitive Gatherings.  I have 11 of the large blocks done, and 10 of the freebie small blocks.  There are thirteen blocks in each, I believe, so I have a little bit left to do.  I haven't inked in the words, and don't know if I will - I'll decide that after they're all done and trimmed.  The thought of writing on them in ink scares me a little after all that work!

Anyway, that's all the quilting that's been going on around here lately!  I don't know where August went, or summer for that matter.  I spent a fair amount of time running around with friends and shopping at quilt stores, but not all that much time actually making anything.  I'm well prepared for winter, though!

My big plan for September is to get Hocus Pocus Ville quilted.  This has been pieced for a very long time.  My big hangup on this one was my backing fabric.  I had ordered some Ghastlies fabric for the back, which I thought would be perfect.  It had a very white background, though, and my quilt is more tan, so I've been thinking about what to do about this - change out the backing (which I'd already bought) or dye it.  Yesterday I decided to just take the plunge and dye it tan.  I think it worked pretty well.

The original backing color is at the top of the picture, and the dyed one is below it.  They are laying on my embroidered block, so it looks like a pretty good match to me!  The white on the back would have just been too stark.  I love that Ghastlies fabric, though!   I'm going to get this basted tonight and hopefully quilted during September. 

That's it - if I can get this done, and my other few Blocks of the Week done, I'll consider September a good month!  I have one more running-around-shopping-at-quilt-stores excursion planned, and then I'm staying home to actually work on some of it!

End of July Update

Wow, July sure raced by, didn't it?  I did get a few things on my July UFO list done.  It's a good thing Carrie is cheering us on!

My Block of the Week blocks from Primitive Gathering are coming along.  I'm not caught up, as we are on Week 9 now, but I'm no further behind than last month, so that's progress in my book!  I'm enjoying working on them, though, so that's the main thing.

I finished two of the quilts from the Grand Old Flag gathering:

This is "Campaign", a little table topper from the Carol Hopkins class - it's quilted and bound and ready to use. 

And this is Sampler Baskets, also quilted and bound and ready to hang.

And these goofy banners are finally done.  It took all of 20 minutes to finish them, once I got around to it.  They only needed the hanging sleeve on the back.  A couple people asked about these - they are a pattern from Lily Anna Stitches, and were a Banner of the Month deal from Primitive Gatherings.  They fit on one of the small wire stands from Ackfeld Manufacturing.  I believe I have 11 of them done, and they were fun to make.

And last but not least, I finished the cross-stitch on this sampler started at the Grand Old Flag in June.  It needs a frame yet, but the stitching is done.  I really enjoyed getting back to cross-stitching, although this sampler was a challenge due to the high stitch count.  I had to use a magnifying glass to stitch on it. 

So, what's next for August? 

1.  Get these blocks trimmed and set together.  My friend Donna posted about this quilt a few days ago, and I got out my blocks to see where I was with this project.  The wools are really pretty, so it's time this one gets out of the cabinet and done!

2.  Keep working on my Block of the Week blocks.  Maybe I can get caught up?

3.  Get this Hocus Pocus Ville quilt quilted, so I can have it done for fall this year. 

That should be enough to keep me out of trouble for August, don't you think?

Earlier this year, I was having trouble with rabbits eating my tomato plants.  I came up with a solution that worked pretty well, so I'll share it in case anyone else has this problem next spring.

I took a clear trash bag and put it over the tomato cage, taped it pretty tightly around the cage at the bottom, and cut the top open and taped it inside the top rung of the cage so it couldn't slip down.  A really determined critter could have chewed through it, but apparently my rabbits are dumb and/or lazy, because they left them alone.  The plants seemed to like the trash bags - I think it made a little greenhouse for them.  I left the trash bags on them until about three weeks ago, because the tomatoes were starting to get ripe.  I know the die-hard gardeners will say that I should have been pruning these tomatoes, etc., but my tomato-growing process is to plant them and leave them alone.  We have six plants for two people, so we'll have plenty of tomatoes regardless.  Neglect seems to work in this case!  The plants that were eaten to the ground by the rabbits came back up inside their cage/bag, and they're nearly as tall as the ones that weren't eaten.  The tomatoes I've been getting have been great - there's nothing like a home-grown tomato.

Have a great August - hope you're getting lots of tomatoes to eat, too!

July UFOs and Ten Things This Summer

Sherri at A Quilting Life has inspired me to think about and list Ten Things I want to do this summer, and Carrie at A Passion for Applique is encouring us to finish UFOs.  Several of the things I want to do are on both lists, so this is a dual-duty post.

For UFO finishes in July, I have four things in mind:

1.  Quilt this table topper pieced at summer camp.  I don't remember its name, but it is cute and I want to get it done and bound so I can enjoy it.

2.  Finish these Banners of the Month from last year.  I think these only need hanging sleeves, so 30 minutes should take care of these projects.  What is my problem and why aren't these done?

3.  Quilt My Favorite Things.  This was the free Block of the Week pattern from Primitive Gatherings last year.

4.  Quilt the Sampler Baskets quilt, also from camp.  This is basted and ready to go.

For the rest of my Summer of Fun, I have these projects in mind:

5.  Put together the Primitive Gatherings Block of the Week from a couple years ago.  Julie at Julie K Quilts inspired me to get this out and take another look at it.  I love these little blocks and they are all finished, so just need to be trimmed and put together.

6.  Catch up on this year's Block of the Week from Primitive Gatherings.  We are on Week 5 already, and you can see I only have two done, along with three of the freebie blocks.  I haven't trimmed anything yet, because I hate that part and save it for last.  I don't know if I'm putting the words on these or not.  I'll wait to see what the quilt looks like finished before I decide.  I really enjoy sitting on the deck in the summer and working on these, but those days haven't been plentiful this year.  Hopefully July and August will be less rainy so I can do that.

7.  Get the Bee in My Bonnet Row Quilt quilted.  Which leads me to...


8.  Start the Quilty Barn Along at Bee In My Bonnet.  I don't have pictures, since I haven't started it, but go to the link and you can see lots of cute blocks.  I love the tractor she did a couple weeks ago!

9.  Quilt HocusPocusVille.  This top has been done for quite awhile, but I've been too intimidated to start quilting it.  I've seen some finished quilts on blogs lately, so I need to dive in.
 

10.  At Country Sampler's Summer Camp, I was lucky enough to win this wonderful door prize - a fat quarter of Jeanne's entire line of American Spirit.  Each of the teachers also gave us door prizes, and the one from Paula Barnes was a pattern I plan to use with this beautiful line of fabric. 

11. OK, I have more than Ten Things, apparently.   Last but not least, get together with a few quilting friends.  One I will see in August, one in September, and one I could see theoretically anytime as we only live 20 minutes apart, but between jobs, families, outdoor work, etc., we just never seem to get together.  I'm making that a priority in July!

Thanks for the idea, Sherri!  Having a list helps me get things done.

Claiming My Blog

I guess I'm moving to Bloglovin' with everyone else!  Please follow using the button on the sidebar.



<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4276149/?claim=ctuwyjzrma7">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Summer Camp!

June has been a great month so far - I got to attend Summer Camp at Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin!  This was their Grand Old Flag retreat, held June 10-15, and it was fantastic - 5 1/2 days of quilting, cross-stitch, eating and shopping (not always in that order).  We even had root beer floats and S'mores one night, to make a complete camp experience.  The weather was great, and lots of the attendees thought they should move to Wisconsin.  (PS - The weather isn't always like this!)

This retreat was attended by ladies from all over the country.  I shared a table with three new quilting friends - Marie from Texas, Leigh from California, and Jodi from Illinois.  We had a great time and hope to go back next year.

All the projects had a Civil War/patriotic theme, and the store made up kits for each of our projects.  If you know this store, you know how beautifully they wrap and tie their kits.  I never want to take the kit apart, because it's too pretty!

Our project Monday and Tuesday was presented by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts.  This project was Sampler Star.

 

This picture doesn't do it justice - it is wonderful, and Paula taught us how to use Star Singles for piecing the half-square triangles. These are square papers, and very easy to use.  I loved this method, and this top is done and ready for quilting.  We also enjoyed a beautiful trunk show of Paula's quilts, and lots of fun stories behind her company.

On Tuesday evening, Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie and Me started her projects - a cross-stitch box and scissor fob, and a Gettysburg 1862 Sampler.  Among other things, she taught us how to stitch over one thread.  That's something I didn't know how to do and have always avoided patterns that have it, but I won't now that I know the tricks!  We had stitched the pieces for the box ahead of time, so she taught us some finishing techniques for this cute box.

We even got to decoupage some scrapbook paper inside the box to finish it off.  I don't think I've used Mod Podge since high school, but it was sure fun!  Also fun to bring home a completely finished project.  The sampler is still a work in progress, and will be for some time, I suspect.  It's a lot of fun to work on, though.

On Thursday, Carol Hopkins (Civil War Legacies patterns) started teaching her two projects.  The first was a fun table topper, which I guess I don't have a picture of.  That top is also done.  On Thursday night, we had a trunk show from Carol and Linda.  They showed some current projects, as well as some beautiful and interesting antique quilts and samplers they own. 

On Friday, Carol taught her Sampler Baskets quilt.  All the patterns were created for this retreat.


These pieces were small - the tiny squares in the top middle basket finished at 1/2".  Carol had some good tips and tricks for us, too.  My version of this quilt just needs the borders added.  I loved all the color combinations the store picked for our quilts.

Then on Saturday, we worked on this until time to go home.  All week we had wonderful food, sometimes prepared by employees of Country Sampler, and sometimes we walked to local restaurants.  They also had great desserts and treats for us, and lots of door prizes.  This store really knows how to put on a party!

All in all, it was the perfect week and I can't wait until 2014.

Hands 2 Help Link-up

Can it be June 2 already?  It's time for our Hands 2 Help linkup.

Both my quilts are done, and just came out of the dryer.  They're both really warm and cuddly!

The first quilt is Times Three, which will be going to Happy Chemo.

 

I couldn't seem to get the whole quilt into the picture, but you get the idea!  This quilt has lots of fun stuff for a little boy - robots, cars, cats, Pokemon and pirates.  I hope it makes some little boy's chemo a little easier.  It has flannel on the back, so it's pretty cuddly.

The second quilt is going to Quilters Without Borders.   This one is full of happy, bright dinosaurs.

I had some fun with free-motion quilting with variegated thread on this quilt.  It's not perfect, but this quilt won't fall apart!

So now I need to find boxes to pack these quilts up and send them off to the correct places.  This was a lot of fun again this year, so "thank you" to Sarah at Confessions of a Quilt Addict for putting this program together for us.

I have one other finish to show for May.  On the cruise last August, we started this wall hanging, called Friendship Garden.

I believe this pattern was in one of the recent issues of Primitive Quilts and Projects, also.  The piecing was pretty quick, as it used a jelly roll.  We also added wool appliques and English paper piecing.   It took me awhile to get it finished because I hand-quilted it.  I used to do a lot of hand-quilting, but I haven't done much for awhile, and I was a little rusty.  This wall-hanging brings back fond memories of the cruise.  This quilt is hanging in my sewing room.

Now I've got to get back out to the garden and devise some way to keep the critters away from my tomato plants. Spring has finally come to Wisconsin, and everything is planted, so the critter-watch has begun!