Houston Fall Market

The Fall Quilt Market has been great fun. Market started on Saturday with retailers checking out the newest patterns, fabrics, buttons, and other miscellaneous sewing and quilting items. On Saturday, Roxane--quilt shop owner--and I walked the entire floor to see what things were new and the vendors that were there. After lunch we started on the first row to stop at most of the booths to see their wares and make notes on items she wanted to order. Many of the smaller items, like patterns, she purchased and took with her. Some of the items were ordered to be shipped ASAP.

It was fun to talk with the vendors. The our other two people worked Vicky's booth which was selling her latest patterns. Her newest pattern, splitting image, has been a big hit. It is a very simple pattern but looks complex and is an awesome quilt. This quilt is made with fabric from Marcus Brothers called Mocha Meringue. Roxanne and I work the booth during lunch when Vicky and Jeanette need a break.

I have chatted with people from all over the US and also met three ladies from New Zealand. There were such fun. We are across the aisle from Thangles and the owners are a very nice couple.

I am having a good time. I spent some time today walking through the quilt show. The quilts are great pieces of art. I always feel like such a neophyte after seeing quilts at a national show...I'll include pictures when I have time to upload them.

Houston here we come

It was an uneventful 14 hours of driving today. I am in Houston to attend market with Roxane from the Overbrook Quilt Connection and help Vicky set up her booth for market. Then we will change gears and set up the booth for OQC and be here for the quilt festival.

Yesterday afternoon, I headed to the quilt shop to help load the trailer. It had been raining all day in Kansas, so we had to contend with that. But we loaded everything in fine time.

Pictures and more information later in the week.

Two exciting events

Becky from the Kansas City area had her ticket drawn Sunday afternoon at the end of the quilt show as winner of the donation quilt. She came to my house today to retrieve her treasure and we spent a fun hour talking quilting. This is the second quilt that she has won from this area--she won a quilt from the Overbrook Quilt Connection after the April quilt shop hop. In fact, she purchased her winning ticket for this quilt at the shop hop. It was great fun to meet her and to know that she will cherish our quilt.

The donation quilt of the Santa Fe Trail Quilt Guild was the most extraordinary that I have ever seen made by many members of a guild. I know I was part of making it, but I still love it. All members were given a piece of the focus fabric and then asked to make a block of their choice. The blocks were set together and then it was quilted by JoAnn Rodgers, our present secretary and a former president of the guild. Her quilting helped made it a great quilt.

This afternoon I attended the 830 Bernina party at Bob's Bernina in Lawrence. It was fun to learn more about the newest Bernina. I would have to get a job to afford it at the present time. I did get to sew on the machine and also watch it embroider a design--1000 stitches per minute. Refreshments, a goodie bag, prize drawings, and new friends made this a great afternoon.

Bernina's 830

The 2008 SFT Quilt Show is history!

Carol Vermillion received the large quilt viewers' choice ribbon. Her quilt was a sunflowerquilt with an applique center and pieced blocks. She was thrilled with the honor. Her quilt is the one pictured.

Monica Prim received the small quilt viewers' choice ribbon. The quilt was a hand-embroidery, colored block center with 30's reproduction fabrics. I will try to get a picture of the quilt later. Congratulations to both winners.

The Donation quilt was won by a lady from Kansas City who had visited the show on Saturday. She was just tickled that I had called her and so surprised that she had won. We talked for quite a while as the idea of winning the quilt sunk in...I am so happy it went to someone so overjoyed to have it.

The quilt show was a great unifying experience for all the guild members. Everyone was there to help set up the show and everyone was there to help tear it down. We started at 4 pm and we were all walking out the door one hour later. Everyone just quietly went to work taking the quilts off of the frames, with others dismantling frames, and then carrying the frame to the trailers to be taken to storage.
Everyone enjoyed the quilt show. We usually have a show every third year, but there is talk of having a show every other year. It has been fun to be part of this group.

Santa Fe Trail Quilt Show

The quilt show is great! Everyone showed up at 6pm last night to help set up the quilt show. We had purchased some used wooden frames that were only partially put together. So after everything looking like chaos for an hour because all the holes were drilled differently, we made progress getting them together. In another hour we had the frames set up. At 10 we had the gym cleaned up and ready for the show. Everyone pitched in and made the work enjoyable.

We have 139 quilts in the show. I was worried that we would have just a few quilts, but everyone brought out their best for display. We are a small guild with 20 members but we are growing and learning from each other. Visitors have the opportunity to vote on their favorite quilts. Half of the quilts had points as I left this evening. We have a variety of quilts that tickles someone's fancy.

I have met several people who I have only known online. It was so nice for them to visit the show and introduce themselves. Quilters are so friendly and love to talk about their work and know about the work of others.

We will be open tomorrow afternoon. Then it planning for the next show...

Holiday Redwork

It is finished! This morning I stitched out the corner snowflakes and put the top and bottom borders on. I had it hanging on the design wall and was admiring it when I saw the "Let it snow" blocks said "It let snow". I had looked at that for two days and never read it...With a little unstitching and some restitching I really did have the top completed in another 30 minutes. Now to decide how to quilt it.

I am very, very pleased with it. The quilt is called Holiday Redwork by The Stitch Connection. I purchased it as a kit from a vendor at the Wichita Quilt show.

My guild's quilt show is this weekend, so stopped at the school in Overbrook to see what I needed to know about our space. Then checked on the frames to see if we would need more hanging straps and what they looked like so I could make a few extras. I think we should be ready for set-up tomorrow evening after school. We are not a big group but we should have some fantastic quilts.

It's almost completed!

The Christmas quilt is almost finished. I still have the top and bottom borders to stitch onto the quilt. My sewing time was cut short today because of going to Topeka for a medical test for my husband.

I did get him to make a quick stop at JoAnn's for some pins and a pattern. I have a couple of older quilts from which I want to make memory bears. Lucy's blog shows the bears that she is making from her mother's clothes. I really like her pattern and plan to use it.

PINK & GREEN

Almost two years ago I wanted to make a quilt with Kaffe Fassett fabric. I decided to make a pink quilt similar to one I had seen at one of his trunk shows at a Kansas City quilt shop. Well, I never could figure out which pattern he used so I finally made the PINK quilt with Turning Twenty Again. Then since I was going to give it to a granddaughter I had to made a GREEN quilt for the other granddaughter. The picture does not do justice to the boldness of the fabrics. Both quilts seem to shock those who see them but they are well-loved by their owners. When I make quilts for kids, I usually embroider the label into the quilt after it is quilted.

The Christmas embroidery quilt is taking shape. I have a few more pieces to sew together before starting to work on the border. I really do like it. I may make another one that has some appliqued pieces instead of just redwork.

It's coming together!

Most of the squares have been embroidered. They are relatively quick when the colors are white for basting and then mostly redwork with a few green trees sprinkled in. I washed the red sashing fabric three times to get out most of the dye that was turning the colorcatcher bright pink. So I was ready to put a few of the cute blocks together before quitting this evening. They are really cute and this will make a smashing Christmas quilt!

It has been a cool day with a gentle rain most of the afternoon and evening. The temperatures have dropped into the 50's. We may get some more rain during the night.

Three more quilts to put sleeves on for the quilt show. That will be the first order of business tomorrow.

Starting a New Quilt

Earlier this year I attended the Wichita Quilt Show. This was the first time that I saw so many quilts at a show that I really liked. While I was there, I purchased an embroidery quilt kit that is a Christmas redwork-like pattern by The Stitch Connection. Today I started by cutting the background fabric and stitching out some of the designs.

My biggest problem with an embroidery quilt is deciding which stabilizer to use. I know to use cutaway with stretchy fabric and tearaway with stable fabric. Since this is a redwork design, I have decided to use water soluble stabilizer. It is working okay.

Special Saturday

The heart quilt top is finished. The borders are pieced blocks. I have them sewn onto the quilt top and thought about quilting the top but could not find a good fabric to use for backing. So guess I will just give it to the shop unquilted.

My granddaughter is spending the night. This afternoon she climbed the ladder to pick the apples from the tip top of the tree. There are only about three apples left that were a bit too high for her. Then it was back to the kitchen to make an apple pie. Haley loves to cook. I taught her how to make an oil crust and she liked how easy it is. We each had a piece of pie while it was still warm. Mmmmmm good!

Getting it Together

Today is my "baby's" birthday. Joe is 43. So the first order of business was making a birthday cake for his birthday dinner that will be late this evening. Joe and my husband are farmers, so they are busy with corn harvest and will not finish today until long after dark.

The big project for the day was finishing the borders of the heart quilt. They were completed in time to put the heart blocks together. So a preliminary picture is in order before I upload the official one. Each of the hearts are machine applique embroidery with different types of fancy stitching around the heart. This quilt is being made as a sample for the Overbrook Quilt Connection. Roxane, the owner, picked out the colors. I would have picked out more medium browns and more bright pinks. But I enjoy the fabrics she chooses. The quilt top should be finished tomorrow.

Sewing up a Storm (or creating a cloud of threads)

The Santa Fe Quilt Guild's show is next Saturday and Sunday. So I have had to make a list each evening of the things to have completed the next day. Today was putting on sleeves and a few missing labels. The quilts are almost ready for the show.

My grandson is in Iraq, so today is the day I send his monthly package. His favorite treat from grandma is homemade jerky. Then he has no-bake chocolate cookies and snickerdoodles. I add a few personal items like toothpaste, aspirin, shampoo, and deodorant. After packing all the items in a flat rate box, I take up the little spaces with wrapped hard candy. He says he is always excited to get one of my boxes of love.

My quilting enthusiasm right now is embroidery quilts. I am working on a heart quilt by Smith Street Designs. The hearts are finished and now I am working on sewing the strips around the blocks. It has been a busy day!