Design Wall Monday--August 26, 2019

It's Design Wall Monday again--at least I get on this blog about once a week for the sharing party! See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog.

After multiple days of no machine stitching, I got busy sewing the Chunky Churndash blocks together, finally (free pattern by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com).

Two sets of three rows laid out casually on the floor, not joined yet.  I have 7 more rows to assemble before getting the top together.   I sent this pic to my Dad, whose quilt this will be, and he thought it was "looking good".  I'm using smaller hourglass pieces from another Bonnie Hunter free pattern, My Blue Heaven, as leader-enders.  Gotta get these project boxes emptied sometime...

Another job crossed off the list was getting 520 squares cut for the newlyweds' quilt.  I sent this pic to son Nick and his wife and they both replied enthusiastically.  It may be a different reaction when I have them help me lay these all out on the floor :)  

One of our local independent quilt shops, Superbuzzy, had an anniversary party this weekend.  I made a trip with a gift card aging since Christmas.  There was a raffle prize ticket given and another scavenger hunt for a special gift.  I looked over the store several times and kept coming back to a kit I'd wanted since I first saw it few years ago.  While I was at the register, the raffle prize number was drawn twice with no one present with the ticket.  Third time was the charm, my ticket number was called!

I won the stack of Japanese fabric fat quarters, and my purchase of the Mahalo Kit earned me a cute pin.  Desert Bloom is a fabric line from Sherri & Chelsi for Moda. Sherri blogs at "A Quilting Life" and if you search her blog for Mahalo, she shares many different styles for this Dresden-type block made in her classes.  The quilt design was inspired by an antique of Sherri's, her great-grandmother's quilt that was 30's fabrics.  I'll look forward to assembling my own Mahalo quilt. 

Happy last week of August!

Design Wall Monday--8/19/19

It's Design Wall Monday again.  See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

On my design floor are the Chunky Churndash blocks I have been making for my Dad's replacement quilt.  I cut and sewed hourglass blocks for days and finally had the stack ready. My sister Kathy, who was making peach cobbler in my kitchen, expressed her detestation of the scrappy blocks I had made--tiny pieces give her hives--as do CW prints.  I just smiled and proceeded to lay them out on the dining room floor.

I was really happy with the hourglass blocks' contrast with the Chunky Churndash blocks.  There was little switcheroo needed as there were so many unique color combos.  A couple of lighter blocks didn't make the cut, however.

The wood floor didn't look too bad as an alternate block either :)  

By this point Kathy was loving the transformation with the diagonal setting formed by the hourglass blocks, much to my amusement.  Once again, Quilt Math reared its ugly head as I ran short of hourglass blocks by eight!   Fortunately I had plenty of fabric and quickly cut and sewed up the remaining blocks. 

All credit for the simple and effective design goes to Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com.  This is a free pattern on her website, which I enlarged by a couple of rows. The quilt will shrink  to 66x78" before borders.  I will likely add only one border, if any, whereas the pattern has three.  I would note, however, that the pattern instructions do not include yardage requirements for the borders. The block rows are all stacked, numbered and pinned, ready to be joined together.  Hope to have the rows all sewn by the end of the week!

Art and More from the County Fair

Mom and I spent more time in the Home Arts building looking at the amateur fine arts category, including drawing and painting of all types.  We had a few favorites, scratched our heads at some ribbon winners, but were mostly impressed.  

I liked  this very fine colored pencil portrait.  Many hours dedicated to this one, for certain.

I liked this one too, of a ballet stretch. 

Another very well executed drawing that received Best of Show. 

A fun caricature self-portrait also won best of show.  Clever use of an old clipboard.  I took cartooning at our local college when I was in high school--still have some of my work around here somewhere.  

Neither Mom nor I was familiar with this art medium, but thought it a very clever portrait.

I was fond of this watercolor, all the rich autumn colors. 

A chilling rendering of the hills and sky during the Thomas Fire in December 2017, from midtown of the city.

Another fine watercolor of a leafless tree.  So much energy in the painting, I thought.  

I then took Mom over to the Youth Arts building to show her an amazing installation of an art form I had never heard of, Tapigami.  

Everything displayed here is made from masking tape!  It was a huge display, you had to stand back to see "VENTURA" spelled out. 

All kinds of towers, leaves, animals, flowers and shapes made with tape.

The creator of this inexpensive art form has written a couple of instructional books.  You can google Tapigami for more amazing installations. 

After a lunch of Fish Tacos from a favorite local vendor, we made our way to the Floriculture building, which had a dearth of the normal large commercial displays with hundreds of plants, water features, bridges, etc for yards.  While we missed them, there were plenty of amateur efforts.  

The editor in me cringed at the unnecessary apostrophe in Plants, but was happy to see someone else added the second "o" in too to correct it!  I posted about this on Instagram and found it funny that there is a hashtag #pluralnotpossessive :)

Here's a rendering in miniature of the Fairgrounds that was created by County Jail system juveniles who are being taught landscaping skills, apparently.  Pretty unique!

One more quilt I forgot to share, a fun one.

Wall-E!

County Fair Visit--Home Arts

The annual County Fair is over, but I wanted to share some photos from the visit my Mom and I made--we spent a lot more time at the Home Arts building than my husband wanted to when he and I went :)

I liked this Jack's Chain quilt and the Eiffel Tower stained glass piece.  The metalwork butterfly was pretty, too. 

Mom was getting a closer look at my quilt in that booth, and I don't know what else!

We both laughed at the chubby mermaid sculpture that was in the sea themed booth.  

A fellow guild member made the amazing quilt--can't remember the pattern designer at the moment.

This entry in the Table Setting contest was cute, but I noted a creepy item on the menu...

A "C" needed to be added to the appetizer description to avoid cannibalism of a religious sect :)

A beautiful Dear Jane quilt. 

Another traditional favorite--Seven Sisters.

A Lone Star quilt has been on my "Must Make" list for many years.

I loved this hodge-podge quilt made from all the leftover blocks and "singles" that never became a quilt.  It won a special Fair award. 

This animal themed booth had lots of variety.  I liked the stuffed Yak bookended by Amigurumi critters.   Cinderella's carriage was pretty impressive on the lower left.

Another guild member's Mt Hood quilt by Violet Craft.  I have yet to finish my version, of which I have one section done!  Judy hand quilts all her work.

Beautiful piecing on this purple quilt. 

I liked this Crooked House quilt too, it was hung above my ModZ baby quilt. 

I have more photos I'll share in another post. 

Cutting, Sewing, Painting

Things are getting done, in fits and starts, as is the norm with the projects I get myself into. I'm continuing to work on the Chunky Churndash quilt I'm making for my dad to replace the now tattered Turning Twenty quilt I made for him 10+ years ago. 

This photo shows the slate blue background pretty well in the darker print.  I'm enlarging the free pattern from Bonnie of Quiltville.com to an 11x13 block layout, eliminating a couple of borders.  Using her Essential Triangle tool to cut the triangles from matched strips is working well.  I am cutting bonus triangles from the start of the strips--maybe I'll make Dad a coordinating pillow.  30 hourglass blocks done, 41 to go for my setting.  These are 6" blocks so it takes a lot to make a good sized quilt.

Cupboard doors and the vanity base have been painted with three coats!  I want to change out the shelf liner before reinstalling the doors, but haven't found one I like very much.  I saw a post on Pinterest where someone used oilcloth and sticky tape in the corners, but I'm not sure that would work for my builder-installed vanity  which is particle board.  I surely don't want clear liner :)

I'm taking my mom to the Fair this morning to check out more of the Home Arts displays (hubby was not interested!), a bit of the photography building, probably wander by the livestock and horse barns, the gardens and floral, and perhaps the Gem and Mineral Building.  I'll be taking more photos for sure!

County Fair Results

My husband and I spent a few hours at the County Fair on Thursday night, mostly to see how my entries did, but also for the music, food, people watching, and fun.  We rode the free shuttle in from a satellite lot, saving us $15 parking fee at the Fairgrounds.   The Home Arts building was lightly populated so we were easily able to hunt for my quilts. 

A lovely red ribbon on the Falling Charms quilt.  This photo isn't the best!

A blue one on the ModZ block baby quilt.

Red for the embroidered center small quilt.

The Christmas Tree skirt got a 1st ribbon...

..as did the Round Robin Star quilt.  The lighting showed the spiral quilting well. 

My version of the Humble Quilts blog Sajou quiltalong mini earned a 3rd place.

The horrible lighting aside, the placemats showed another blue ribbon--even if they did have the backs facing up, lol.  Adding up, I was awarded 4 first, 2 second, and one 3rd place.  Lucky me!

My sister did very well on her quilts too. 

She earned a 2nd place ribbon on this quilt she was reluctant to enter---so many people love the DreamBig panel and she had fun quilting this on her longarm but didn't think it was show-worthy.  I told her to put it in anyway!

Kathy's Row Robin from Guild also did well.  I made the bottom row of this quilt top and love what Kathy did with all the quilting, so fun.  

Her shadowed squares also got a 3rd place.  This quilt is destined for a family member, I believe.  Again, Kathy did the quilting--love the texture.  

Another 3rd place on a modern quilt she made and quilted.  Love it.

Very poor photo of an H Bag Kathy made.  She has made dozens of these by now!  She had a couple other entries I did not get photos of.   There were a few fellow guild members who entered quilts but overall the number of quilts and other Home Arts categories gets smaller and smaller each year, which saddens me.  While I've been lucky each year with my entries, even if I don't win any ribbons, I love to see the work other crafters make and enjoy all the variety.