Quilting and quilting

First I want to show you the rest of the quilts for the Quilt Expo in Madison from the 1st weekend in September.

Here is grand winner of them all: so inspiring!  Between the gorgeous quilting and the kaleidoscope designs, and even the different borders: Wow ! what a quilt! 

This one has beautifully embroidered Santas in the middle of each emblem.

This is just the center of another quilt. The very middle is a knitted doily that is tie dyed and cut to an unusual shape.

A grandmother created this design for the boy who wanted to become an astronaut. 

What a loving and inspiring gesture!

Second, I want to share the inspiration and fun I had this past weekend at my quilt retreat.

The best part to me is the location: it really is on a beautiful lake. I have seen all kinds of weather from snow to hot as summer, from raining to a beautiful sparkling sun on the lake. It is a camp, but having all of is in one room is so fun. Plus no cooking or cleaning.

Then, here are some of the quilting projects that I remembered to photograph: 

 This is such a bright and cheery one! She needs to add more rows, and then it has a small applique border.

This is an Edita Sitar quilt, but only the center. The designer has an refreshing blend of batiks and regular printed fabric in similar colors.

I love this Wisconsin pillow and even got the pattern to make.

This is the top I have put together for the beau of my daughter. The bright red print is a paisley for University of Wisconsin at Madison as he is a graduate from there. I am awaiting more paisley for the outside border. 

Two and a half days of uninterrupted time to work on projects.  I worked on others as well and will post more later this week.

More of Quilt Expo

Oh, to have unlimited time for sewing!  The second wish is the unlimited money for supplies: does that include an assistant to organize my stuff?

Anyway, here is the new hand work project I think I am going to start.  And the lady in the booth showed me a tailor's knot, something I had not known.  She also showed me how she pieced ( in very tiny stitches and leaving a little wiggle room.  These shapes are traced around a template, and cut in strips with a rotary blade and a 1/4 seam allowance.

 The cherry on top tip is the next photo: here is how she pressed it afterward to have it lay flat. 

But I promised more photos of the Quilts.  The quilts in a multitude of categories were from all over. 80% of the winners were from out of the state of Wisconsin.  These are what I would call pictorial quilts.

This one was so neat, beads, wool roving for the splash, and so many beautiful colors. I believe the creator is from California.

This is a close up of the next quilt : tiny snippets of colors under a netting.  Really beautiful!

I'll bet we see the following one in upcoming magazines and shows.

And here ends today's mini show with a Bucky Badger.  

I found another quilter who also posted pictures and close ups from the show:
https://paulabquilts.com/2019/09/06/quilt-expo-today/  Enjoy Paula's photos.  ( really neat as well)

September goal

My July/August goal setting worked out fairly well, if I do say so myself.
I selected 6 projects to work on and completed 3: my mini Kim Diehl QAL, my Christmas 9 patch block and the top to my grandson's big boy quilt. 

Three cheers for me!

So September goals:

1) Quilt top for daughter's boyfriend started before Christmas, but dropped when I knew I could not reach the deadline. These are the fabrics selected, and they are somewhat cut into strips for the Yellow Brick Road pattern by Terry Atkinson.    It is an easy scrap quilt or made from yardage and fat quarters.

And yes, he is a Wisconsin badger graduate. And his birthday is in October.

                 

2) 3 pillow cases for my grandsons, Jude and Jensen. These are both boy fabrics, trucks and dinosaurs. And the 3rd is for my mom which is blues and has butterflies. A lovely vibrant digitally printed fabric.

        

3) Prep and start handwork on last 2 blocks of Henrietta and pumpkins:

These are the completed blocks, but as you can see there are 2 missing ones.
I have the background almost pieced and some colors of wool selected.


This should be easy to do as I have a retreat next weekend: two wonderful fun filled days on a lake with friends.
I so wanted to join One Monthly Goal for the first time, but didn't get this done in time.  That will however, not prevent me from working towards completing these and maybe more.

Quilt Expo in Madison

I survived my first week of school.  It went well and we are off to a great start for the year. 

( Although my feet are very sore. Hmmm. not sure why?)

And this week was the Quilt Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. 

It has been going on since 2005, and I have attended every year  on Saturday except the 1st.

Who knew how great it would be then? 

Nancy Zieman of Nancy's Notions created this. What a wonderful legacy!

And here I am at the entrance!  

And prior to walking 6000 steps that day.

I can't say enough for the one hour lectures, quilts on display and fabulous vendors and vendors and vendors. Next year I will get to choose some half day sews or classes during the week. Can't wait!

I feel it is better than some of the national shows although I have only attended Rosemont and Paducah. There are so many volunteers from Public TV that make it run efficiently.

So I will reveal parts of the show during the week. 

Here is one of the displays on log cabin quilts. These were all small wall sized quilts.

I loved all of them and here are my favorites: 

Take a little trip

School started on Tuesday.  And it was mixed blessings. I teach a group of middle/high school kids sporadically all day in a class called guided study. These kids are chosen based on their struggles in classes. They are not in special education, although I am licensed in regular and special education. To me, it is all about the kids and helping them make decisions and then deal with their consequences.  I do think that hard knocks are what define you and what make you think.

I really do love my job.

Having been in education about 40 years, I feel it has been my calling and my heritage as I am a 5th generation teacher.  I do very much care about my kids ,and I  express my opinions and values, and hope to make a difference in their lives.

And I know that it is my last full year.  I am getting tired of getting up and going every day. It is time for me to do other things. So I plan to retire at the end of the year, but substitute for a while the following year ( to cover the health insurance we so greatly need until Medicare).

So it has been a time for looking back and forward. God has given me a lot to enjoy as a teacher. And as in all things, there are good times and others not so great. But always there have been kids and staff and parents and we NEED each other.

Last week was returning for meetings, a different classroom to set up, and all the organization and materials to get things started. It was the first time that I have not been truly excited about returning... maybe because of all that occurred this past summer.

So I am back, and now thoroughly involved and working hard to improve these kiddos and make this a great year.

And fortunately, my husband and I did take our weekend to Door County in Wisconsin. We love, love, love the lake and the sunsets and the walks and the food. We have a great bed and breakfast we have been back to for at least 6 years. The weather was definitely cooler than years past, but we had a wonderful time.  ( Also visited 2 quilt shops.)

Here we are by the water...notice the long sleeves and jeans. 

This is one of those gorgeous sunsets by the marina.

After returning, I did get a little sewing going. I am prepping my last blocks of Henrietta and her pumpkins, just 2 of them.

Then some sawtooth star blocks for our mini raffle quilt for guild. I have 4 more to make tonight. They are cut out and the half square triangles made. These are 8 inch blocks.

Jude's quilt

I have been working steadily to get this quilt top done prior to the start of school.

And I can say I successfully succeeded.

Here first is the pieced part of the back: all 10 inch blocks left over from the solids to put in between that bright cheery print on the right.  This print was all the yardage left over from the quilt store.  I made a baby quilt and  big boy quilt for his brother from it  ( both were backs).  Now just to assemble it in between rows of the print.

It was also the inspiration colors for the appliques I started for him 3 years ago.

These are several of the appliques I have made. 

Since this photo, several are framed in pieced blocks as framing. 

 

And here is the quilt or at least most of it.  It is rather cool and damp outside. There are 2 shades of orange, green, purple, yellow  and 3 of the blues plus a red. It only took 2 additional trips to quilt stores for additional solid colored yardage.  It only took 2 additional trips to quilt stores for yardage to finish. The blocks were easily pieced are are all 2 and a half inch strips. I did not use a pattern. 

Now off to the quilter.  I have a stripe for the binding. 

Machine workout

Deadline is looming: a.k.a. Monday is the start of working at school.

So I have been making my sewing machine run and run and run. 

First I finished quilting this cutie's pink and brown baby quilt. I meandered all over in the cute pink color.  You can kind of see the pattern on the dark brown squares.  I ran it until I had no more thread. Ugh. So I picked up a small spool of Mettler.  I don't use pink often. 

Then I added the large ric rac to the name section, a rod pocket which is the flap at the top and the binding  This is all flannels, with a light batting in between.  

All that is left is the hand stitching. Easy peasy. 

Then I finished almost all the blocks for my grandson's big boy quilt. This is the new design after I canned the transportation applique.  I am not going to throw the 7 blocks out that I so carefully designed, pieced and machine appliqued. But I have decided to make wall hangings for their rooms from them.  Both quilts go with the colors . The 2 brothers  will have the same backing fabric for their big boy beds, which was also Jensen, the little one's back to his baby quilt. Love the bright colors for them. 

Here is the lay out I have a few more easy blocks to piece, then I need to figure out if it is big enough. Right now it is 4 by 5 blocks with each block having a large and small square and 2 rectangles. That unit totals 16 inches; so 64 by  80 total inches. 

The bright orange and red look identical in this photo. Night photos don't do justice. 

I want to have this sent to the quilters by early next week. My issue will be piecing the back.  All I have is one length of 2 yards of the print. My plan is to slit it up the middle and add more solids to that. 

Mini finishes

But I have been on a mission to complete some things prior to going back to school  Aggh. 

One more week and then it is back for teacher's meetings.

Kids come back after Labor Day.

So this was a precut kit I bought online and assembled it a couple weeks ago.

It was quite easy and went together in a afternoon. 

  This week I quilted it and then added the binding. 

 I just stitched in the ditch using a Grunge dot on the back and binding.
I feel like it is a little puffy, but I don't know that I want to add more. 

And now....here is my Kim Diehl mini that was a Quilt a Long with her book Simple Friendships 2.

You can still find the instructions on the Martingale site, but do need the book for block cutting sizes and assembly of individual blocks.  These are all little blocks 3, 4, 5 and 6 inches for the largest one.

Finished size is 17 by 20 ish inches. 

Sometimes I find I am more exact at piecing little blocks. But these are all fabrics in my stash

It is a little wavy after traveling in the car to do the hand stitching. 

Here is the back: I just used a mottled navy backing with lots of straight line quilting.
Many of these lines are 1 inch apart.

We have had a lovely weekend. Saturday, my spouse and I went to the Summerfest grounds in downtown Milwaukee for Irish Fest. Lots of Irish dancing, Irish singing stages and food. 

This is one of my favorites: We Banjo 3 from Galway, Ireland. 

So much fun. We saw them in March and love their songs and their wonderful instrumental skills. 

Not a passive concert at all, lots of dancing, clapping and singing for audience participation.

Sunday we went to and art fair on a lake in Oconomowoc.  I love the setting and all the little booths.

It was nice and cool and a little windy, but nice for August.

The food sales all make money for local organizations. 

Wool

First I have to show the photo of my grandson on his first day of kindergarten. He looks so grown up!

He is attending a school in Louisiana that has requires a "uniform" as well as unified backpacks, lunchboxes and such.  So much for wanting to get him something to start the new year. 

But he has cousins who are in the same K-8 school. 

 Then I have been working on my wool group:

This is my hexie I made for Dee's table mat. I had much more success with the A product that fuses on the back, but is not an adhesive that gets sticky like Heat and Bond or similar products.  That made it so much easier to sew it onto the background. It is an adhesive but like a tight fabric weave. It has letters and numbers something like AK 50  or something. I can't find it at the moment. But it really made the sewing so much easier. I did buy it a JoAnns in the adhesive section on a bolt.

And here it is on the round robin one we are doing for her. As you can see we only have 2 rounds left.

 And then since I had cut out too many squares for the block of the month for guild, I made a second one.

I have been working on my flag quilt, grandson's quilt and my Kim Diehl mini, but they are much different than the last photos. 

Although I did make our new block of the month for guild from last nights meeting.  Love the background which we all were given to unify the blocks at the end. 

Field trip

First I can say I did complete my block of the month for my guild.
And I cut so many I will make a 2nd block as well.

Primitive Gatherings had their warehouse sale.  I haven't had the chance to go in the past and wanted to see what they had on sale. I love Lisa Bongean's taste and follow her blog and store blog.  I am lucky to be in Wisconsin and only have an hour and a half drive.  You can buy online tomorrow as well. Some really good prices.
            

There were some strip bags: precut for minis.  Great for the assortment of fabrics and there were a couple of different prints in the sizes of inch and a quarter and inch and a half.  I loved the solids as well as the reproductions and the lovely prints and different colors. So much easier than having to buy and cut all the fabrics.

        

Then while perusing in line I saw a quilt kit . The pattern is half inch half square triangles. So there was a great background as well. I may not make it as is, but am excited to have the array of colors.

Then my friend and I went to the other quilt store in Appleton, which was expanded so much from the last time I was there last.  I also got a quilt of Kim Diehl fabrics half off.  Yeah, again for the assortment. She has such rich color saturated colors.

August has begun

Well, two big things are crossed off my summer list:

First, my husband has completed the radiation ( Cyber knife treatments) . He is doing well physically and has almost gotten back to eating all his regular foods as he was on a low fiber diet: the purpose was to have better imaging of the lower torso region during the radiation. He has lost some weight, but he has kept very active.

Second, we spent the week packing for my son as he has left the state for Louisiana. We helped him pack up the house with all that goes in it from his wife and kids and himself.  A huge 26 foot Uhaul. The boys and his wife have been down there for a month. All that is left is to clean up the empty house. I already miss them terribly.

The last thing I should do from this past 4 month life changes is to visit my mom in the nursing home. Her Alzheimer's took a toll and she was no longer able to live at home.  I need to get ready to take the 800 mile drive each way to Canada.

So August is here and I need to get to my projects.

My husband and I took a trip to see the Tall Ships in Kenosha, WI.  Fascinating recreations or remodels of old schooners. There were 5 ships to tour: one from Baltimore, 2 from Nova Scotia, One from Milwaukee ( which we have sailed on), and one from Michigan.  Plus there were 2 other small ships for taking short trips on.

 There was food, and music and assorted other things to buy.  But it was a beautiful day to be in the sun and by the water. I envied the little sailing boats whipping around in the bay.  I miss the days when I did.

A little sewing has been done. 

I finally completed the top for Kim Diehl's Mystery: the blocks were from her Simple Friendships 2

book. But the arrangement was the quilt along with separate directions for it. The blocks were all from her ( and Jo Morton)'s book most having at least 2 sizes of blocks. 

These are all small blocks 3, 4, 5 and 6 inches big. 

Finished quilt size: 17½" × 20½"  I have to put on borders and corner stones. 

The directions for the final mini quilt are here. 

It was certainly a lesson on color and a very important seam allowance.