Our niece, Kristen, came to visit with her two adorable children, Parker and Adeline. We decided a trip to Children’s Lake would be fun. My husband knew the local store sold duck food. Four bags of duck food later….
What a great way to end the morning…..with a good Popsicle.
A wonderful morning was had by all….the children, the adults, the ducks, the swan, the geese…..
“Thistle Pods” was made by Janice E. Petre from Sinking Springs, PA. Janice used a Judy Niemeyer pattern. You can find out more about Janice at http://www.jphoq.com
Kristen Vierra and others made this group quilt called “Magic of the Rose”. It won 1st place in the Group Quilt Category. You can find out more about Kristen’s custom quilting at http://www.kcustomquilting.com
Check out all the quilting.
Gail Stepanek and Janice Hutchinson made “Mistaken Identity.” It won Best Artistry Longarm Quilting”.
The award was very well deserved. The quilting was impressive.
Candace West and Sugar Cube Quilters from Floral City, Florida made “Learn and Grow”. It won second place in the Group Quilt Category. You can find out more about Candace at http://candacequilts.com
Carol Goddu from Ontario, Canada made “A Parliament of Owls”. You can find out more about Carol at http://www.goddu.com/carol.html
Sherry Reynolds and Alice Kay Arnett made “Fire in the Sky”. It won the best Domestic Machine Quilting.
And again, it really deserved the award.
Janice Reeco appliqued and Bellwether Dry Goods hand quilted “Black & White & Baltimore All Over”.
That’s all for this week. Enjoy your week…..
This past week my travels took me to Hershey, Pennsylvania, only an hour or less from my house. Nice to have such a short travel time. You can find out more about the show at https://server7.pacecomputing.com/quiltodysseycom/www/
Here are some of my favorite quilts from the show.
“Buried Treasure” was made by Mary Kay Mouton from Georgia. This wonderful miniature quilt is only 14″ x 14″. There must have been a million pieces (just kidding) in this tiny little quilt. Mary Kay won 1st place in the miniature quilt category. You can find out more about Mary Kay at http://www.marykaymouton.com/
“Flowers for my Valentine” was made by Janet Henshaw from Boyertown, PA.
“Princess Feather & Rose of Sharon” won “Best Traditional Quilt”. It was made by Susan Mordan from Danville, Pennsylvania.
“A Time Between Times ” won first place in the “Large Quilt predominantly Appliqued” category. It was made by Sara Madson from Suffolk, Virginia.
Pauline Salzman from Treasure Island, Florida won my Judge’s Choice ribbon. The name of the quilt is “Canine Chronicles”.
Mildred Sorrels from Illinois made “Luminous Stars”. It won 3rd place in the “Large Quilt Predominantly Pieced” category. You can find out more about Millie at http://macomb.com/~sorrells/MildredSorrellsBiography.html
I’ll have some more quilts to share with you again next week. Until then……
I have loved the Log Cabin block design since I first started to quilt and it still remains one of my favorites. “Duet” was made by Liz Fortino from Massachusetts and quilted by Carrie Zizza. In the write-up Liz said she made the quilt top almost 20 years ago and finally had it quilted.
Here is a close-up shot.
“Juiced at the Juice Bar” was made by Patty Gertz from New Jersey. Patty says this is her rendition of Judy Niemeyer’s Glacier Star pattern.
“Sakure II: Picnic at Naruko was made by Megan Farkas from New Hampshire. This quilt is hand appliqued and hand quilted. You can find out more about Megan by visiting her website http://www.meganfarkas.com
I love the black outline embroidery stitching on the applique.
“Spirit” was made by Georgia Spalding Pierce from Seattle, Washington. The design was used with permission of the authors of Learning by Designing: Northwest Coast Native Indian Art by Jim Gilbert and Karin Clark.
And a close-up photo.
Timna Tarr from Massachusetts made “Mass Maples”. In judging this quilt I need you to know that Timna is a phenomenal piecer. I could not find one single point that was not done to perfection.
I absolutely loved this quilt. It is called “Cathedral Windows” and was made by Patrice R. Johns from Burlington, Vermont.
One of my very favorite things about this show is that they really encourage and support young quilters. They have a category called “Youth Quilts”. I am not positive of the age group but I think it was 17 and younger. Anyone who entered this category actually received a Janome sewing machine! There were 28 entries! Yes, I said each and everyone of them received a Janome sewing machine for entering. How amazing is that? The quilt below was the top winner in this category and it was called “Kyla’s Kittens”. The maker is Kyla Perry, age 12, from Vermont. Way to go Kyla and all the youngsters who entered.
This week I am off to Quilt Odyssey in Hershey. I love these short drives!! Until next week……….
This past week I visited the Tater Patch Quilt shop in Merrill, Oregon.
If you are any where near this area you must stop and do some shopping at the quilt shop. You will love the owners, Diane and Robin, who jumped or ran out of all the photos! Merrill is a lovely little town and the shop is located right on Main Street.
When you first walk into the shop it has that warm and friendly feeling. Diane’s and Robin’s personalities add to the warmth.
Their class room is located in the back of the shop. You can see the ladies were hard at work.
I loved this panel quilt made by some local quilters. I’m sorry I did not get the entire photo in the picture but on the lower left of my photo you can see a section of the photograph that was the inspiration for this piece. Beautiful.
I flew into Medford. The drive to and from Medford was incredible. I pulled over and took several photos on my journey.
Blue skys, lots of pine trees and farm land for many, many miles. Beautiful.
This was only my second trip to Oregon and I know I will go back. I love it there.
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While on my long flights to and from Oregon I finished reading an excellent book.
For those of you who read my blogs regularly you know I am a big Jodi Picoult fan. Sage Singer is a baker who befriends an elderly gentleman who came into the bakery. Sage normally works evenings and does not see anyone but happens to cross paths with Josef Weber. They become friends and Josef asks Sage to kill him. She is shocked by the request. Josef tells her he deserves to die because he was a Nazi and killed many Jews when he worked in the camps. Sage’s grandmother is getting older and has some health issues. Sage spends time with her grandmother and asks her to talk her about her life, of which Sage knows little. Jodi connects all the characters in an amazing way. One of my favorite things is how the author shows different points of view. I had a hard time putting this book down and when I did I kept thinking about it.
Thank all of you for the response to our sale which began today.
I told you that I would share more from the Vermont Quilt Festival so here we go.
I was one of the judges at the show. And like most shows the judges get to award a “Judge’s Choice” ribbon to our favorite quilt. You might be surprised at my choice. It is not the style of quilt I would make, but I loved it. The name of the quilt is “Fathers and Daughters” and was made by Joann Major from Lebanon, New Hampshire. Joann wrote this about her quilt, “The quilt incorporates a number of fabric folding techniques from two sources: 30 Folded Blocks by G. Baron and E. Vermeer and Folded Fabric by Rami Kim. The beads in harlequin tucks represent the complex relationship between fathers and daughters. I made this quilt to honor my father was passed away in February 2012. Hand quilted and quilted on a home sewing machine” I did not know the information about the quilt during judging but after the judging was over and I read what Joann wrote I felt like I had a bond with Joann since I lost my father not too long ago also.
It is impossible to tell this in this photograph but all of the pieced blocks used a folding technique and were not sewn in the traditional method of piecing. I thought it was very interesting.
Here is a close-up shot of the dimensional tucks with beading on the border.
“Peppermint Swirls” was made by Pauline R. Charpentier from Maynard, MA. She writes, “This original design was made in response to my guild’s 2012 summer challenge of red and white. I was looking for something very different from the rectangular projects I was doing. The piece was inspired by a friend’s vase.” I really like this little quilt. You know how much I like circles.
“The Star and Crown” was made by Consortium, Malone, NY. She wrote “Twenty-four reds and twenty-four background off-whites made into Peaky and Spike, four-patches, half-square triangles, solid block units and paper pieced four pointed star were arranged to create a circle and star within,”
“Masquerade” was made by Birgit Schueller from Riegelsburg, Germany. She writes, “This gorgeously wild Mardi Gras fabric used in the kaleidoscopic star centers inspired this quilt. The four masks in the center were traced from this fabric and enlarged. Feather and star quilting designs, plus hot fix Swarovski crystals add to the Mardi Gras feeling. Long arm machine quilted.”
“Happy Scrap!” was made by Dominique Ehrmann from Ste. Sophie, QC, Canada. She writes, “It is a tradition for me to make a scrap quilt in between two 3-D quilts. For those who have seen my work, you will recognize the left over fabric from “Sweet Memories”. I tried to use many techniques in this reversible quilt. All are original from my drawings.” This quilt looked like it was a lot of fun to make. You can find out more about Dominique by going to her website http://pages.videotron.com/quilt/indexEN.html
“Meet Me at Giverny” was made by Margaret Solomon Gunn from Gorham, Maine. She won Best of Show. She writes,”With fabrics reminiscent of the colors and texture found in Monet’s gardens, I created an original and traditional design. Floral vines are hand painted in gold, while other garden motifs are depicted in the quilting. Long arm machine quilted.”
The workmanship was impressive.
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I just finished listening to Harlan Coben’s book “Six Years”. The book starts with the main character, Jake Fisher, attending the wedding of the love of his life to another man. They talk after the wedding and Natalie tells Jake that after today he must promise never contact her again. For six years Jake abides by his promise and thrives at his career as a college professor. He then sees on a computer screen the obituary of Natalie’s husband. He feels he must attend the funeral and this leads to a lot of questions. As Jake searches for the truth he uncovers much more information than he ever intended.
I’ll have more quilts from the Vermont Quilt Festival again next week when I return from Oregon!
I’ve had several students and customers share photos this past week. I thought you would like to see them too.
Sara Thompson took my Ocean Sunrise class a while ago and then worked with Linda Hahn’s book called “New York Beauty Simplified” to create this quilt. Great job Sara.
Pat Shepard sent me this photo of her finished Oriental Flowers quilt. Awesome. Really awesome! I know how long it took to sew all of those leaves.
Jan Wright sent me this photo of her and her winning quilt. Jan worked from my “Midnight Floral Fantasy” pattern. I met Jan when I taught in Oregon a couple of years ago. She won two ribbons on this quilt. Way to go Jan!
While I was teaching in Vermont one of my students, Patricia Beaudoin, shared her Magical Medallions quilt made from my pattern. The quilt is fabulous and I do mean fabulous. Again, I do know how much work it took to complete this quilt.
Mary Bauer just took my class “Fiesta Mexico-Block Three with Borders” when I taught in Vermont. She already has the top completed. Way to go Mary. You might be the fastest class finisher of all time!
This really was my week to receive amazing photos of some great quilts. Noreen Poole sent me this photo of her finished project using my book “Applique Basics: Flower Wreaths” book (now out of print). I love the quilt and the border. Stunning.
Thanks to everyone who shared their quilts. It makes me happy.
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I mentioned above that I was teaching in Vermont. I was invited back to the Vermont Quilt Festival held in Essex Junction. You can find out about next years show by going to www.vqf.org If you have never been to this show you really need to make plans to attend. There are lots of quilts on display, lots of vendors and lots of classes. They hang hundreds of quilts. This show is not juried. It’s first come first hung so to speak. They hang a certain number of quilts and apparently they meet their quota shortly after the date they open for quilt entries. I thought I would share some of the quilts from the show with you.
Elizabeth Poole made “Under the Southern Stars”. She said in her write-up that it was her first attempt at English paper piecing. She used Susan Daly’s Pattern called Patchwork with Busy Fingers. The quilting was done by Eileen McCabe.
“A Basket of Love” was made by Pauline R. Granger and Dorothy Valuch (deceased). The basket blocks were made by Pauline’s mother, Dorothy using fabrics from the 1930’s. Pauline assembled the top and hand quilted it.
“Eclipse” was made by Debbie Rouse from New Jersey. I liked the way Debbie used her colors and the placement of the buttons on top of the complimentary color.
“Kate’s Tree” was made by Anne Kimball from Massachusetts. This is Anne’s original design which she machine appliqued, hand painted and constructed using commercial fabrics. If there was an award for the best tree quilt this would be in the running. Loved the tree.
I’ll have more quilts to share with you from the Vermont Quilt Festival next week. See you then……
On my flights to Kentucky, I finished reading “At Home on Ladybug Farm” by Donna Ball.
This is the author’s second book in the series. It follows the life of Cici, Lindsay and Bridget, three very good friends who purchased an old “fixer-upper” house in the country. Life in rural Virginia is picturesque but has it’s trials and tribulations. Cici’s teenage daughter has moved in with them. They are also taking care of a teenage boy who lost his father. As renovations occur on the old house, they find things in the walls which help them to learn more of the history of the area, the house and the people who lived in the house. I enjoyed reading the first book in this series, “A Year on Ladybug Farm”, along with this one. Enjoyable and comforting.
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OK, I said I had more quilts to share with you from my trip to the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society and I do. Here are some more quilts from the challenge.
“Color Play” was made by Mary Bauer from Crestwood, Kentucky. She writes, “I was excited about this year’s challenge since my favorite quilt projects are colorful geometrics, something I used to draw as a child. Drawing circles, squares and triangles was just “my speed” artistically. Stick figures were far too challenging for me. As I started to plan the quilt, I just happened to have a large section of strip pieced fabric (strata) left over from another project. It had every color stipulated in the challenge except black, white and purple. So I found a purple fabric with black in it, made a circle pieced into a white background, then sliced it and inserted 1′ strips of the strata. As I was finishing I realized I needed another shape so I inserted the triangles in to the border. What fun! Thank you Claire!” I think Mary was awarded “Best Workmanship”.
“Circus Dot-To-Dot” was made by Debbie Lewis Poole from Frankfort, Kentucky. Here is what Debbie wrote about her quilt. “I loved to color and paint when I was a kid. Actually, I still do! This quilt was made by enlarging pages from a coloring book. I copied the pattern onto fabric and painted it with fabric paints and markers. I quilted it and embellished it with beads, sequins and crystals. I have used all 8 colors in the basic box of crayons. There are many shapes in the elephant and lion. The background quilting has triangles, squares, circles, rectangles and lots of unusual shapes.”
“One Brown Button” was made by Cindy Vough from Lexington, Kentucky. She writes, “I started this challenge a number of times, I was probably making it a bit complicated and not at all happy with the results so I simplified and designed a diagonal strip pieced quilt. It was made using a “quilt as you go” technique, so when it was pieced it was also quilted, got to love that efficiency. I found a package of pretty buttons at JoAnn’s, chose the fabrics to coordinate, when I had most of the buttons sewn on the quilt I read the challenge again and realized I had omitted the color brown. If you know my work, brown is my favorite color. I use it extensively in every piece. So to compensate for the omission I found a brown button and added it to the quilt. Can you find it?” I believe Cindy won “Best Use of Color”.
Joanne Rigsbee from Union, Kentucky made “Longing for a Box of 64″. Had to Settle for a Box of 24!” She wrote, “This is a Teri Henderson Tope pattern, called ‘Doodle in Reverse”. Teri taught at the 2012 KHAS Retreat in March at Blue Licks State Park. She was an upbeat energetic teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed learning this new applique technique. As I was completing the piece, I thought it fit the theme, “A New Box of Crayons” because almost every color required in the specs were in this piece. (I used a pigma pen to make sure every color was represented.) I hand quilted in the ditch of the recessed applique and echo quilted around the design.”
Here is a photo of my students at the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society workshop hard at work.
On day one of teaching, we worked on blocks for the Ocean Sunrise quilt. At the end of the day, we taped all of the finished blocks onto the wall. There were a lot of finished blocks. Way to go ladies!!
This week I will be at the Vermont Quilt Festival. I’m sure I’ll have lots to share with you when I return.
I just finished listening to “The Innocent” by David Baldacci. Great book.
Will Robie works for the United States government as a hit man. The book starts with a hit gone wrong. Robie never questions his orders, until now. He’s supposed to kill a women in her bedroom late one evening. He quietly makes his way into the room where a mother is sleeping with her young child. For the first time ever he refuses to do the hit. Now Robie becomes a target. He crosses paths with a teenage girl on the run. Robie has never had an emotional connection to another person because of his job. Now, things begin to change. Good read. It really made my trips to Delaware and Maryland more interesting.
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Theresa sent me this photo of her appliqued Fiesta Mexico-Block Three. She recently took the workshop and moved quickly through this 10″ block. It looks great. Thank you for sharing your block.
This week I traveled to Lexington, Kentucky. Sara shared her Fiesta Three Block with Borders that she has finished except for the binding. She took the class in March at the show in Pigeon Forge. Sara and I both agreed….great quilt!
And then Cheryl shared her Oriental Flower project she made when I taught for her guild a couple of years ago. Cheryl’s had her piece finished for a while and was just waiting to see me again so she could show it to me. Cheryl did a nice job on the entire quilt and I especially liked her cording and her quilting.
Thank you ladies for sharing.
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My travels this week took me to Lexington, Kentucky for the Getaway/Retreat held by the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society. To find out more about this state guild go to http://www.khqs.info/index.cfm I loved these ladies. What a great group. They were positive, upbeat and laughed a lot. When I entered the lecture room there were several wall quilts hanging along the side walls. I started to wonder what the challenge was all about. As the meeting moved along I finally found out. This state guild allows the incoming president to create a challenge for the members. This challenge involved childhood memories and a box of crayons. The concept is this…..each of these wall quilts will travel throughout the state for one year. The traveling exhibit goes to schools, libraries, assisted living communities and more. Each quilt includes a story from the maker. As the quilts are shown the stories of each quilt are read to the attendees. I thought this was a fantastic idea. What an excellent way to promote quilting and educate others about quilting. Did I say I loved this group of ladies? Yes I did. Here are just a couple of the quilts that will be traveling this year along with the makers name and story.
This quilt is titled “Ops!”. It was made by Davie Saari, Lanesville, IN. Here is her story… “I was a budding artist from an early age. Crayons were my choice of medium and sometimes my venues were not appropriate. OOPS! I have since learned to control my artistic urges, sort of.” (Davie’s quilt was nice and rectangular but it was hanging high so it’s at a bit of an odd angle.)
“Lollipop Flowers” was made by Lynette Brown from Sylvania, OH. Here is her story: “When I was a child I used to color a lot with crayons and I doodled on paper, creating things like flowers and faces. This quilt refers to doodling with crayons in the form of “lollipop flowers”, sort of a stick-flower often drawn by small children.”
Anne-Marie Miro from Gatlinburg, TN made “Color Monster”. She writes…”When I was in grade school the teacher would tap her ruler on the desk and say, “Color inside the lines” as she walked around the room. I silently called her the color monster. Now, I am old and the color monster is gone…..I can color any way I want to!”
“Happy Little Doodle” was made by Ashley Bandy from Lexington, KY. She said….”Although a fresh box of crayons is still great as an adult, most of our crayon experiences were during childhood. And most of the doodles as kids usually involved things like trees, houses, stick figures, clouds and the sun. I chose to scale my quilt to the size of a sheet of notebook paper (but I ‘tore off’ those scraggly edges that get caught on everything?) The design and quilting are done as through a child’s hand, adding to the whimsy of the theme. The title of the quilt is meant to remember a television figure that inspired so many people to be creative, even if it wasn’t with oil paints. Bob Ross’s happy little trees and clouds live on within “Happy Little Doodles”
I’ll share a couple more of the traveling quilt exhibit with you next week. Have a great week!
“Poppy’s Rainbow” was made by Mark Sherman from Coral Springs, TX. Mark got a first place in the Longarm/Midarm Machine Quilted Wall Quilts.
Leslie Rego from Sun Valley, ID made “Four Seasons”. I loved this little wall quilt. It won third place in the Longarm/Midarm Machine Quilted Wall Quilts. You can find out more about Leslie on her website http://www.leslierego.com/ArtQuilts/Welcome.html
Liz Jones from the United Kingdom made “Love-in a-Mist”. She won third place in the Large Wall Quilts-Home Machine Quilted category.
Jaynette Huff from Conway, AR made “Celtic Summer Celebration”. She won second place in the Large Wall Quilts-Home Machine Quilted category.
Lois Podolny from Tucson, Arizona made “My Journey to Baltimore”. She won first place in the Large Wall Quilts-Home Machine Quilted. Lois’s blocks in this quilt were designed by Mary Sorensen
You can find out more about AQS Quilt Week by visiting their website http://www.americanquilter.com
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This week my travels took me to Delaware and Maryland. I started with a great group of ladies from the Ladybug Quilt Guild in Newark, DE. To find our more about this group go to http://ladybugquiltguild.weebly.com
And from Delaware I drove to the Baltimore area. I was actually in Towson, north of Baltimore. The name of the guild is the Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild. To find out more about this guild go to http://www.baltimorequilters.com/
Honestly, if I lived in either one of these areas I would want to be part of these guilds. Both were very welcoming and had enthusiastic and organized program people which makes my job so much easier.
Until next week.