Lake City Quilt Walk 2010

Lake City, FL, had a Quilt Walk last weekend, and I was there to enjoy the fun.
What is a Quilt Walk?
It's when shops along a street decorate their windows with quilts so you can walk along and enjoy the views!

Lake City has a lovely restored historical downtown area (N. Marion Ave, right off Route 90...only 6 miles from the exit on I-75). With plenty of parking, it's easy to leave your car behind for a peaceful stroll. You may decide to stop in for a visit at an antique shop, old time drugstore fountain or several  other businesses.

This car-hop gal is ready to serve up some tasty looking quilts!

The Computer Guys don't think quilts are too "old fashioned". I bet they have lots of quilters come in for help with keeping their computers and printers humming along.

Amygene's Embroidery Studio really does turn out shirts, caps and other embroidered items, but they also have a great selection of fabric. Gene Perry is very active in keeping the historic area alive and drawing visitors into Lake City. He and wife Charlotte are opening another fabric shop across the street to take care of stitchers who have been left stranded when Wal-Big Box got rid of the fabric department.

Right next door is the grand old Blanche Hotel, currently used for office spaces. The second floor mezzanine had Teddy Pruett doing quilt appraisals, a couple of quilters doing some great demonstrations, and a one-woman show by Sandy Lindfors.

I love to see a large collection of one person's work, all hung together.

To the right in the back you can see one of the two Lastest Trends among Lake City quilters...a free pattern from McCall's Quilting magazine called "Scrappity-Do-Dah".

The other popular pattern is "Four Patch Posey", a version of the old four-patch kaleidoscope setting merged with cutting "Stack & Whack" style. Simple...but loads of fun!

Also at the Blanche Hotel's restaurant, Tucker's Fine Dining, was "Lunch & Learn" each day.

                      

I had the pleasure of sharing my talk "Pot Holder Therapy" with a group of very lively ladies. The food was great, and what's better than eating while someone entertains? The main idea of this humerous lecture is how to quilters can increase their mental health.

There was a quilt show planned for the Baptist Church at the end of the street, but at the last minute it was bounced out in favor of holding a wedding.

Never ones to be denied, quilters quickly found a spot at the mall in a vacant store space....though it was not within walking distance of the other events.

The show included quilts of all kinds and had quite a bit of hand-quilting. It's wonderful when quilters share what they've made...there were ribbons and awards, but the best part is seeing all the quilts hung up. There is so much to learn by looking at other people's quilts.

The "Goodwrench" quilt is crocheted...and yes, it actually is a quilt! It is backed, and therefore stabilized, with pre-quilted muslin, accounting for the layers neccesary to call it a "quilt". It's always interesting when things like this turn up to challenge our thinking! And even if it's not to my personal taste, it is obviously a labor of love. That's something we can all appriciate.

 

I can't show all every quilt, but this group-made Chicken Quilt is totally delightful! This great collection of appliqued and embroidered blocks, sashed with chicken-wire print fabric, must have been fun to make.
Also on display were two raffle quilts, one for the local guild Lady of the Lake, and another for Stephen Foster State Park where the guild hosts an annual show (October 15--17 this year). A demo out front, several vendors, and a private collection of antique red & green quilts completed the show.

Right across Rt. 90 from the mall is the Fabric Art Shop...I wish I had a picture of the beautiful purple building! Many quilters visiting the Quilt Walk found their way to this haven of fabric, art supplies and quilting machines.

The 2010 Quilt Walk may be over, but Lake City is always there waiting for you to visit when travelling on I-75.  Make a stop when you get to Exit 427!

Old Green Cupboard closing

It's a sad day when a quilt shop announces the doors will close soon.

Even though my wallet appreciated the 50% Off Sale, it's hard to imagine not being able to shop at the Old Green Cupboard.  Visit the website and get the latest updates...they are selling everything until it's mostly gone, including all the wonderful furnture and home dec items:

If you weren't able to see the shop, you may have seen OGC at some of the big quilt shows. They are just finishing at AQS's Lancaster show and will still make it to the April show in Paducah.
Last Monday was the first day of the sale, and Cheezdoodle reports that two ladies fainted while waiting in the check-out line!
Cherry-Cherry & I waited until after lunch to go, and the crowds had tapered off a bit...only 15 minutes in the check-out, instead of the 2 hour line in the morning.
The trick of a sale like this is to remind yourself it is 50% off...not "free"!
Mrs. Starbucks came up to check out what was left on Wednesday morning, and there was plenty. But that just indicates the tremendous amount of fabric there has always been!
The three quilting machines will be auctioned to those interested. Many of the shelving units are going to other shops (yes, I am nosy and read the papers taped to things that were SOLD)!
As long as there is something left, or until April 30, the shop is open....so you might want to check it out.

OK, you want to know what I bought. I showed great restarint, but here it is:

I am always on the look out for a red batik. This is one I had used recently in a quilt (coming soon to PatchworkPie!) and knew it would be good for the ol' stash!

I never have enough greens, and that's funny, because I would not say it was my "favorite" color! But I always want to buy some.

These watery stripes just made me fall in love when I first saw them last year....

So many colorways....all just beautiful. The color changes over several feet before repeating. 

And when you buy stripes, it's usually a good idea to get some real yardage, especially if the stripes run along the selvedge. I got 2-1/2 to 3+ yards of all these stripes, including this challenge to the optic nerve:

It may come in handy for a black & white challenge that has just been announced.

So while I am happy to have some discounted fabric, it's sad that Old Green Cupboard is closing.
Best wishes to Gloria and all the great ladies who worked there....we'll be seeing you "around the block" somewhere!

Heirloom Quilts at Amelia Island

Last week I had the pleasure of showing my Heirloom Quilts for the Amelia Island Quilt Guild  (mark your calendar for their show Feb. 25--6, 2011!) These quilts come from both sides of my family, with Mom's side being mostly 1930's style. The ones from Dad's side go back to about 1850.
Here's a Double Wedding Ring made by my Dad's maternal grandmother. I put a sleeve on it because it's in good enough shape to hang on a stand:

I adore this quilt! It's definitely the way I would make a DWR....heavy on the scrappy bold polka dots and tribal prints!
Nettie Brookover Eichhorn was a quiltmaker even at the age of 16 (yes, I do have the quilt she made in 1889).  I use her photo as my "avatar" online. This quilt was made closer to her death in 1930. The red fabric in the connecter units gives unity to the scrappiness, and is repeated in the very fine and narrow edge-shaped binding.

It was my mother's dream that the two of us would show these quilts and do a lecture, so I am pleased to be able to offer this for awhile. The quilts will eventually be too delicate to travel. There is a lot of wear & tear as they go in and out of the storage pillowcases, especially on ones like this:

The silks, satins, velvets, and brocades are in remarkably good shape...only one log has "shattered".
This one was made by my Dad's paternal grandmother and her mother!

I have been working on making labels for each quilt, using my computer to print the maker's photo and story. You can see one on top of the quilts...I am still deciding on the complete format, so they are not all done, but at least the quilts all have cloth ID tags on their pillowcases.

This talk is a lot about how to care for vintage quilts...including both my good and bad examples! Extremely important is any kind of label you can get attached to the quilt. Cloth is best, even if you just write with a permanent pen.

On the left is the quilt Nettie made at age 16, and a photo of her taken with friends about the same time.

The one in the middle is another of my favorites, and deserves an entire post for itself! It may remind you of the 30's pattern that Eleanor Burns has re-published as Magic Vine...but is not!

The one on the right is a top made for my grandmother's wedding by her great aunt, who died before it could be finished.

The quilts are displayed folded on a table:

These are the ones from Mom's mother and grandmother.

I am proud to say my fore-mothers on both sides could really handle those shaped-edge bindings! The one here is usually referred to as an Ice-cream Cone border.

I like to be able to really share these quilts and let people come up and touch them after I talk.

We all like to "look with our hands"! (thanks to Cheezdoodle for a rare picture of me!)

With the exception of the Log Cabin and flower-vine quilts, all these were made to be used, and most of them were, so I see no reason to stop touching now. Someday I'll have to put them away, and then no one will be enjoying them.
However...
I'll be recording these treasures as part of the Florida Quilt Project, because they are now in this state. In the very near future, all the quilts recorded will become part of the Quilt Index  and live forever as digital images along with their stories, available to quilt lovers everywhere!
You know you will be hearing more about that!

Quilting at the Central Florida Fair

At the risk of being considered "quaint", I enjoyed a day of quilting at the Central Florida Fair!
Yes, many county fairs are still held across the country, and there are still quilt competitions. But don't be expecting a calico extravaganza...I believe today even "Grandma"" has a rotary cutter and keeps up with the latest fabric trends!

Since this is a picture of a display, I have not recorded the makers names, etc. But I wish I had! Do you see the fabric Oprah?

There were many different quilts, as well as a group selling tickets on a quilt to raise money for a local food pantry.

From bed size to fabric postcards, every kind of quilt was represented.

Two intrepid quilters who shall remain nameless!
This was the reason for being at the Fair....the Sunshine State Quilters Association booth!

These happen to be two SSQA projects I designed. The quilt in the back was a Mystery Quilt for the Symposium "Chicks on the Beach". The folded quilt in the front is a wallhanging I taught at a meeting, "3-D Scrap Baskets".

I have been to many county fairs over the years. I am sure when I was younger they never had this sort of stand in the food area:

At least they weren't fried!
There was the usual assortment of foods-on-a-stick, including the newest one (to me) the Chocolate Covered Key Lime Pie On a Stick. And there were several wild animal shows, as well as an elephant ride! That was a fun surprise. I could not convince Mrs. Starbucks to go on the elephant ride, though.
She claims to have done that already at some time.
I am not going to argue with her.

March has been...and will continue to be....a very busy month.
Stay tuned for more adventures as I travel around the state!

The Big Box Mystery Challenges continues...

It has been so much fun just cutting 2-1/2" strips and making blocks any which way! But I thought the quilt should be bigger, so I cut the all the remaining fabric into strips. Time to chain piece!

The least fussy blocks to make are the "floating square" ones, because the 9-Patches don't have any same-colored squares in them. So I had at it and made two of each color surrounding a black square, and one of black surrounding each color.

I kept the pieces close at hand and just whacked and sewed away at them ...until I was out of two colors! This is all that was left:

So I had a total of 49 blocks to play around with (actually there would have been 50, but one had some sort of glitch that caused it to disapper into the trash). I chose a 6 x 8 block setting, which accounts for that one poor orphan 9-Patch.

Up on the wall went the blocks, and I moved them around a couple times, but held firm to my commitment NOT TO FUSS!

Here they are un-sewn:

And here they are sewn together:

It's always interesting to me how different it looks when the sewing is all done. And these rows practically put themselves together.

Well, what to do now? I still had some fabric left, so I gave the quilt another round of strips & squares...sort of like a border, but what I really like is that it pulls the eye out to the edge and breaks up the block-by-block pattern. That orphan block got a new life, after being taken apart into rows!

Now this is really what's left:

I'd like to say there is enough for a plain black round, but there is not. So I'll toss those strips into the 2-1/2" box (the ones on the right are full width of fabric) for another project.

This quilt has several things I like (besides being super-easy!): it has bright colors with black, and floating effects. All I need now is a nice stripey binding...could there possible be the right piece waiting in my stash?

The Big Box Mystery Challenge

You may remember these fabrics from the previous post:

That's 1-1/2 yds of the black-with-bright-dots and the others were a fat quarter bundle. I decided to just start cutting strips and see what would happen. That's why this is a mystery and a challenge!

Sewing in a motel room is fun, especially since I was by myself and wouldn't be in anyone else's way. Many motels have ironing boards now, so that's a real plus! Were they tired of finding iron-shaped burns in the carpeting?

When in doubt, cut a 2-1/2" strip....I believe the quilting industry has proven that's a convenient width!

I was thinking about a block with a square floating in the center. Maybe even some plain 6" squares. I really didn't know, so I cut 4 strips of each fabric, which left me enough to have some plain 6" squares if I wanted them.

This is like a dream come true (at least on a temporary basis). The chair was not comfortable, but when sitting there, I could type on the computer with one hand and open the refrigerator with the other!

I do not have a computer in my studio, so it was fun to cut strips and have email at the same time. I even watched The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims & Alex Anderson!

Oops! A boo-boo cut needs to be redone. This shows making a new clean cut before I continue.

The boo-boo was savable...if not, you know it just would have gone into the Pot Holder Pile when I got home.

See...I really did watch The Quilt Show! It was fun to be quilting and watch quilting...thanks to my good friend who gave me the trial subscription (you know who you are, PT...or should I say, AP?!).         

This is what I call a sweet set up! A comfy chair, a sewing machine, a TV, and an ironing board set at half-height! The iron is on the other side of the chair, where I could just reach over and plug it in after setting the machine down.

This is really the ultimate in lazy, eh? But what fun! I totally enjoyed sitting down to iron...at home, I have things set up so I must get out of my chair and stand up to press.

Oh boy..."American Idol" is on! I really wanted to have a picture of sewing with Simon Cowel, but couldn't wait for the shot.

What? You don't care for "American Idol"? Well, you'd probably like it a lot after watching 3 hours of curling!

The Olympics are great for sewing with the TV on. I watched a LOT of curling, and I still don't understand it. But I sure can appreciate that it takes tremendous skill. And I loved the way the guys would slide from one end of the court...alley...lane...whatever it is...on their one Teflon foot, to get up there by The House to confer about what stone to try to bump.

Well, maybe I absorbed more about curling than I thought! I love the sweepers.

By this point I had decided to sew some 9-Patches (both X and O). I tried to make each one with all different colored squares, hence these strip sets. Nope...I did NOT plan it out!

But they all came out great.

I ended up with 15 blocks that had colored corners, 9 with black corners, and 5 each with a black square surrounded by a color or a color surrounded by black:

Here they are back at home, just smacked up on the design wall. I like what I'm seeing....the way the background makes the block edges fade in and out.
I knew I would need both X and O 9-Patches (look at where the black is in the blocks to see why they are called that) if I wanted to put them together for a checkerboard, as you can see at the botton right.
That's as far as this project got (what? can you hear the steady thrumm of a UFO apporoaching????).
But I think I'll just whack up the rest of the fabric into strips and make more of the same blocks, then have some fun arranging them.
With a nice border, they'll make a wonderful kids quilt for the guild's charity project!

Fun with the Gwinnett Quilters in Georgia

I'm just back from a lecture and class with the Gwinnett Co.  Quilters' Guild in Georgia.They meet in the Snellville/ Lawrenceville area, outside of Atlanta, not far from Stone Mountain (for those who like to tour around and know the country).

The QuiltMobile was loaded up, gassed up and ready for a drive!

Gosh, I've had lots more in there that on this trip!

The big question was the weather: snow or no snow? Or maybe lots of icy rain.

Heavy clouds began to gather about an hour away from home...

But after a bit of rain the blue sky came through and the rest of the trip was no problem.

  

COLD...but no problems!

The Gwinnett Co. Quilters are a large group and very active.

The day I was there attendence was at 122, and seven new members!

This was despite the fact that the day's lecture was "Pot Holder Therapy"!

Here's my display...that's for the people who may become bored. It gives them something to look at!

I think the lecture went really well. It is NOT about how to make a Pot Holder (though I do provide a hand-out for that, just in case). It's really about mental health for quilters.

I taught the BLOOMS class the next day, but at the meeting my sample was hanging on the podium:

I was so impressed with this guild. They have a load of great activities. For a group this large, they have a friendly policy of assigning a Quilting Sister to each new member.

They had a Brown Bag Challenge going...I didn't get the rules, but there were a lot of bags! A Block of the Month was set up on another table., 

"Just-4-You" was using a fair amount of space. That is the excellent charity work division of this guild. They give quilts to a local charity (children's hopspital), a state charity (the name escaped me), and a national charity (Quilts of Valor)! You can read all about it on their website, plus see the free patterns passed out each month to encourage members to make quilts (over 400 last year!). They also had bundles of fabric to give out for starting the quilts. The Gwinnett Quilters really know how to do good charity work!

Yes, it was like a carnival for quilters with the Birthday Auction fund raiser, display of a raffle quilt with the center painted by artist Pat Buckley Moss, a silent auction for books and lots of other goings-on.

Way to go, ladies! Long may you quilt!

As usual, I forgot to get my camera out during the class.

It might make for a boring blog, but at least you know when I am teaching, I am focused on the class!

We had a great time making BLOOMS and had many beautiful flowers and leaves. I always enjoy the new ideas that pop up in class, including how the flowers look when made with a print of lots of different flowers! And...this is really good...one lady had fabric she got for free at the guild meeting. It featured BIG orange lilies that were a very nice size to cut for a 6" block...and since the background was very dark, those "plain" squares will fill in any place a pieced flower may have gone!

My husband had loaded my small Janome into the van, although I had not planned to take it along.

But I'm glad he did!

I had some extra time in the evenings, so I went to that Big Box of Fabric store and bought a cutting mat (I did have rulers & cutter) and some fabric so I could make myself The Big Box Mystery Challenge!

There were lots of 5 fat quarter packets, so I went with the bright colors, and then found a bolt of black with bright polka dots...1-1/2 yards of that.
It's a challenge, because I have to use just what I bought. And it's a mystery, because I had no idea what I'd do with it when I bought it!

But I did do something...you'll see what in the next post!

For Shayla Fans:

For the many people (well, one...) who asked for Shayla's latest photo, here she is on her throne.

She is the real cat at the front!

The stuffed cat was made for me by D. DeLuna (I don't remember the pattern...June Colburn? If so, it's no longer in print). The chair belonged to my great grandmother. The dolphin pillow was from a class I taught in Panama City.

What's in the box?

I'm not telling!