Well, I can't believe it's August already! I lost the last two weeks of July! After the Sisters quilt show, I babysat my grandkids for a week, recovered for a few days and then flew to Maine to visit with Wendy Reed (constantquilter), which was a great treat. Then I was home a couple of days and we drove up to our cabin in Oregon for an extended visit. That's where I'll be for the next 3 weeks... I think I'll stay here for the eclipse since this area is supposed to get almost the totality of the experience! Plus August 21 is my 40th wedding anniversary. NO idea how THAT happened!! Anyway, quilts anyone???
WHEW! Finally time to put something on my blog.
Here are Wendy and I, after nearly a week of laughing, talking, eating and shopping! In short, we are happy campers! (except that I was leaving)
Wendy and her husband Gordon are really the sweetest people and I feel so lucky to have been invited to visit them. We had a great time. They showed me a true slice of life as a "Mainer" or "Maine-iac!!". I can see why they love it there! I'd love it, too!
I want to give you a taste of Wendy's stash... This is her feed sack collection. OMG. Gorgeous! I think she said she's been collecting them for over 50 years!
And some of her fabrics!! Some... not all... ;-)
Want to see some of Wendy's work?? Mind you, Wendy does not follow patterns. Oh, how I wish I could do that.
Isn't this a great way to use up extra fabrics? Of course it wouldn't make much of a dent! She and Cyndi (Busy Thimble, now my favorite LQS!) exchange 1-1/2" squares of all their fabrics.
Just a small hexagon project! Isn't it great! Can you see her fussy-cut little white hexies??!!
Wendy has an uncanny ability to recreate antique quilts, using truly antique fabrics; then she replicates it with reproduction fabrics. I showed you a quilt she'd done and shared when I went to the Shelbourne Museum with her last fall. Can you tell which of these is using the antique original fabrics and which is the reproduction??
here's another pair! Can you tell which is which?
Since I'm extolling the virtues of Wendy Reed, here are a couple of quilts she entered in the Maine Quilt show, which was ostensibly why I went. The first one is made of orphan blocks she had accumulated! I just love it. She called it "Pot Luck" and she used only cheater-cloths on the back, which made it even more interesting. Of course, she used her pot-holder method of quilting each individual block separately before connecting them together.
Fabulous or what? Do you see the ribbon hanging on the side? One more to add to her extensive collection! Wendy also entered her Shenandoah Valley pot-holder quilt that she's been sharing on her blog. The quilt won First Place, as well as several other accolades and ribbons. I'm not able to show you the picture since the organizer of that sew-along wants to display them all together. It's spectacular!
These next two were a challenge organized by her guild. Each invited participant was to copy a block from the book "One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns" and then make a modern version of the original block. Here are Wendy's, amazing as always!
Can you see the rick-rack between the yo-yos?? Isn't her background fabric fabulous??
I've got many more pictures from the show to share with you but I'll do that hopefully tomorrow. I've got someone coming over in the morning to hopefully purchase my Bernina 1080, which is the first of my attempts at downsizing. If you have any interest in a Bernina 1130, let me know. That's next on my list; a Singer 301 will follow. I've also got a Rocketeer to sell. (Singer 401, I think).
Have I been doing any sewing? Hardly any. I did this when I was watching my grandkids a few weeks ago. I'm now completely behind on this project.
I'm going to sew a bit this afternoon, since it's about 100* outside and I definitely wilt and/or melt in that heat!
I'm BAAAAACK! And I think I figured out an easier way to transfer the pictures from my phone to my blog... anyone every use Airdrop?? Totally new to me...
Here we are, just arriving at the show. It was early in the morning, not yet hot or crowded. That's Anne, Claire, me and Lori. We were excited and very happy to be there! Sadly we forgot to get a picture taken of us at the park during our picnic lunch.
This was one of the first quilts we saw on our way to our first stop. I am pretty sure this one was actually made by Jean Wells, who is the owner of the Stitchin Post and the creator of the annual quilt show in Sisters. I love the simplicity and the ability to use large-scale prints. I think it's called Slide Show. We saw several others during the same using the same pattern but I loved her colors...maybe it is the background green that's so striking.
Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that the quilt I posted last week with the cute lettering was sewn by Sarah Fielke (not Tula Pink). I found it when I was researching that adorable block of the month that I loved.
Super simple log cabin but I really liked the fabrics and colors. Check out the cute border fabric!
And what's wrong with simple? Who said we have to make complicated quilts???
This is another one that uses a setting to showcase large prints. Also, the adorable large owl is too cute. I took a close-up so you could see how she pieced the corners:
The corners are made from a strip set: a wide gold with a thinner red; then she cut them into 45* angles (my math isn't the best... you get what you need to do here...figuring out the measurement is the toughest part, I'd think). Very clever and again, pretty simple.
This is one of those 365 day quilts-- there was a challenge to make a block every day for a year. This one had pretty striking colors and we all loved it. The setting also makes the quilt, I think.
I think I'm a sucker for samplers. Some people really do prefer to make the same block over and over and avoid samplers. I'm from the other side: I really do enjoy making a different block and playing with fabrics. Here was another great use of pleasing colors. I also love looking carefully at how people set their sampler blocks. This was a great setting as well.
I didn't love the colors in this quilt but took a picture because I liked the use of pieced blocks as well as "solid" (the large flowers) blocks.
This was one of the cutest. Oddly enough, none of my friends noticed this quilt at all. I can't remember where I saw it but I did think it was too cute to pass by without a picture. The quilting is pretty spectacular as well.
This one was actually an antique quilt. I loved the very simple colors; the quilting was amazing, as well.
I guess I did have more than one favorite! I really loved this. Of course, I've never met a blue and white quilt I didn't love; add a little red polka dot and you've got an amazing combination!
You know I'm always looking for ideas for Hawaiian quilts for the annual auction I donate to. I thought this one was cute as well.
To give you an idea of how the merchants decorate for the quilt show, here's Lori in front of a florist shop. The flowers are pretty typical for Sisters on the quilt show weekend. I think I heard that the quilt show is the biggest event they have all year. Not surprising: I hear different numbers ranging from a low of 10,000 people through upwards of 15,000. Keep in mind the town's population has grown to about 1,500 and there are two streets! You wouldn't find it odd to see a horse tied up to the front of a store!~ It's a very western-looking town.
I came home on Sunday in order to babysit for the 3 oldest grandkids for the week (lucky me!). I arranged a different fun thing each day; one day we went to a park where we used to take their mother for her birthday parties! I brought along one of my favorite quilts that I made years ago, called the Picnic Quilt, from a Quiltmania pattern. We set it up on the grass for a picnic and I taught them how to play Duck, Duck, Goose. They wanted to play it every day after that!
I propped up my phone and did a selfie with them. I couldn't have posed them if I'd tried. They just all put their elbows under their chins on their own! I'm going to have this one enlarged to add to my collection of pictures!
Tomorrow I'll post more pictures. There were a number of quilts following Lori Holt's pattern Vintage Farm Girl, which were very inspiring!
