How Did I Do at the Fair?

My sister and I met yesterday and rode the free bus shuttle to the Fair; unfortunately, Kathy received some bad advice about free parking and had to pay $10 to get into the State Beach Park.  The fact that the bad advice came from me was a blow.  I was so annoyed that the info on the Fair website didn't mention the State Beach fee that I parked on the street and walked in to avoid paying. I then recalled that we used to do that when the kids were little, too! The shuttle ride was short.  I bought Kathy's admission ticket in and we headed straight to the Home Arts building.  Kathy had wanted to enter some jam, but had her dates mixed up and was too late to enter.  She didn't enter any quilts this year.  We wandered around looking at everything and spotting fellow guild members' work.  Before we located any of my entries, we saw the Thomas Fire Quilt display up on the wall. 

These are a few of the ways the Perkiomen Valley Blocks can be set (the middle bottom row's bright zig zag quilt is not a Perki).  I love the two lower right quilts that used the exact same fabrics in the Perkiomen blocks but set differently.  I'm pretty sure these came as finished tops, maybe even finished quilts.  

The first of my entries spotted was the Lizzie Kate May Stamp cross-stitch with an Honorable Mention ribbon.  Yay!  Boo for weird lighting through the display case.

My Michael Miller Fabric Challenge runner for Sewtopia was just a few feet away.  I was happy to see 2nd place. 

Next we found the Metro Twist Modern Baby Quilt, with a lovely 2nd place.  A fellow guild member we bumped into turned over the tag to read the judge's comments, which noted that the quilting in the negative space was a little sparse.  Huh??? I thought it was pretty obviously done that way, since I more closely quilted outside the pieced part.  Oh well, hopefully the more modern quilts that are entered, the more the negative space concept will be apparent!  I did get a nice comment on my binding :)

The remainder of my entries were in a display case.  Seems they preferred the back of the placemats, but awarded me a lovely 1st ribbon. 

Sorry about the lighting, couldn't avoid it.  2nd place for the Yarnover tablerunner!

My Dotted Big Bag got a lovely 1st place ribbon.  I was surprised that it was the only big bag entered, as many other guild members have made these in guild classes and on their own (Kathy made at least three herself!).  You can spot my Broken Dishes Pillow in the upper right of the photo. 

Another 1st place award!  How fun is that--a ribbon on each of my entries.  There were lots of other great arts, crafts, and quilts in the Home Arts building, and I'll share more in a separate post.  Kathy and I looked at a lot of animals, ate in the freezing cold wind coming off the ocean mere feet away, toured the midway and watched the teenagers and kids, and finished up with a favorite Fair Food dessert before catching the shuttle bus back to the State Beach.  I will probably go back another time in the next week to see the Photography and Horticulture exhibits and enjoy more Fair Food and music.

Roundup

This past week there was not a lot new happening in the sewing room, but I did join a local craft night at Superbuzzy Quilt shop after work one night, and put a few embroidery stitches in while chatting with some new acquaintances.  One of the other gals was a town native like me so we had a fun conversation; I also learned the shop owner lived in my childhood neighborhood.  Small world, in a town of 100,000!  

I spent so much time chatting I didn't realize until later that I used the wrong color for the butterfly, and those stitches had to be pulled out.  Oh well.

I had Friday off work so I got the last Thomas Fire quilt bound and ready for our Guild's last official giveaway event Saturday.  It was another big quilt that fortunately I found an appropriate binding fabric for in the stash.  We had a good turn out of volunteers, making quick work of setting up tables and arranging about 300 quilts to give out.  We had some early lookers, but held off giving away any quilts until the appointed hour.  Lots of folks who lost homes had registered for quilts, and the huge number of quilt choices was overwhelming to them.  We held up quilts and chatted about the Perkiomen Valley blocks we got from 49 states and a number of countries that turned into the tops and quilts.  We still had a lot of quilts left at the end of the event, but gave away over 100.  Our practically free office space that has been Thomas Fire  Quilt Central will expire at the end of August, and we hope all who are still in need of a quilt will collect one there.  We have been watching news of the other huge fires burning in California, particularly the Carr Fire near Redding in Northern California, where so many homes have been lost, and horribly two firefighters killed, and several residents.  Our thoughts are with them.  

The sewing room is emptier now, without the Thomas Fire quilts and Fair projects filling it up.  Today after some patio time with embroidery, I virtuously mended some sweaters that have been waiting months for a five minute repair job.  Mini caught some rays while supervising. 

Not sure why she thought my flip flops were the best place to rest.

Christmas in July is nearly over, but I'm thinking my next stitchery project will be one of these.  I scored these patterns for 95 cents at the thrift shop a few months ago, along with some others.

Quilt projects in play include the Jewel Box blocks that are ready to assemble into a top, however when stacking up the row I noted that some of the blocks are spinning the wrong way, which means they won't nest properly.  I'll have to take them apart and resew, which I am not looking forward to.  Sigh.  Perhaps I'll skip over to the Christmas quilt I showed last time.  It is ready to lay out and assemble!

I'll leave you with this photo of  Summer Teeth Corn--some 'er there and some 'er not (insert groan here). 

Design Wall Monday--Fair Entries

Off the Design Wall!  It was a sweatshop weekend trying to finish everything I wanted to enter into our County Fair, with the deadline of Sunday at 5:00 pm for turning in entries.  My main project was the Metro Twist baby/wall quilt.  I made the bias binding from a purple woodgrain print and rounded the corners using the Quick Curve Ruler, and even made a hanging sleeve.  

I spent many hours hand stitching down the binding to the back, but I did a lot of it while sitting out on the patio enjoying the summer skies and a nice breeze on Saturday.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  It didn't get a label, but someday it may be a gift for a baby so I'm okay with that. 

Next were two squirrel projects, a pillow from the Frolic Turnover (Sandy Gervais) made into Broken Dishes blocks, and the Yarnover tablerunner.

I chose a simple stitch from one of the four stitch menus on my Husqvarna and used the walking foot and a Hera marker for the quilting.

I was happy to find this aqua blue flower print and the binding fabric in stash.  I used the same quilting stitch on the pillow back hem.  This is such a great way to make a pillow cover, assembling it just like a quilt with the bound edge.  I overlapped the back pieces by about 3-4 inches. 

I think it turned out well.  The pillow form I used was a bit flat but I thought it would be better for display at the fair. 

 The other squirrel entry is the Yarnover tablerunner (Anka's Treasures) from Mini Charms.

After some simple stitch in the ditch I decided to add the embroidery detail, again with a stitch from the Husqvarna.  I selected it from the "utility stitch" section, but liked the way it kind of echoed the yarnover points.    To these three projects I added the set of four Tea Time placemats, the Big Bag of all dotted fabrics I made a couple of months ago, a modern tablerunner I finished for Sewtopia, and the May Stamp cross-stitch in  the hoop, so 7 total entries.  Sadly I didn't end up finishing Sue Goes to the Orient, but chose backing and binding and plan to make a mini quilt. 

My timing was good for getting down to the Fairgrounds, there were a lot of folks sitting around waiting for something to do.  We all had a laugh when I pulled out the Metro Twist and had a bunch of thread tails still sticking out.  A kind volunteer gave me some scissors to trim them off.  They were pleased that I had already looked up the categories I thought were right for my entries, saving a lot of time.  A few more people trickled in the last 1/2 hour of the day.  I'll look forward to seeing my entries when the fair opens next week.  

See more Design Walls on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

Zig Zagging in the Sewing Room

I'd call it flitting from project to project, but I'm not that lithe or speedy!  Ignoring the big pile of binding was easy, as the weather was still pretty toasty.  I played with more squirrel projects last weekend when it was too hot to sew under the hot lights or to iron.

 I had a container of precut 2.5" squares, mostly green prints but also some solids, and laid them out with the "garlic knot" shape as I used in grandson Hunter's quilt. 

The final layout included more white and some knots turned the other way.  I can't say when these squares will get sewn together but they were fun to play with.  It's almost looking mid-century inspired, to me.  

The upcoming County Fair is upmost on my mind.  As usual, I'll be working up to the last minute to get my projects done.  #1 task was to get my Metro Twist quilt ready for quilting.  I made a quick trip to the fabric store last weekend for thread and spray baste, and got the sandwich made on Thursday.  It seems I got more spray baste on my fingernails than anywhere else, but the sandwich did get made before work.  Saturday morning I got my machine all set up for quilting and started in. 

Metro Twist is a pattern using the QCR ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful.  The neon orange was from a guild challenge a couple of years ago.  I stitched in orange abutting the print pieces, then switched to gray to stitch 1/4" inside the curved pieces.  I decided to quilt straight lines in the background and marked them with my Hera marker and a ruler.

I used some Steady Betty quilting bands to help move the quilt around as I stitched. 

I plan to round all the corners with the QCR ruler and bind with a bias cut purple binding.  The entries are due next Sunday so I've got a lot of work yet to to.  This quilt finishes at about 45x48",  so about a baby or wall size.  I have a bunch of threads to bury, binding to cut, make and apply,hanging sleeve and label to add.  

We had a family barbecue Sunday and I enlisted daughter Erica to help me with border choices for the Yarn Over mini charm pack runner.  I want to enter it as well in the Fair.  

She liked the brown print with the green linen.  I hope I have enough of the linen to make a matching binding.  Another not-yet-finished piece is Sue goes to the Orient.  I have dragged my feet for months adding some embroidered detail to the background, but finally got some lanterns traced to quickly stitch up. 

I thought Sue looked like she was in a doorway, so needed something behind her.  I'll backstitch the lanterns in black floss, then make a mini quilt. If I can manage it, I'll finish the binding on three remaining placemats---I've got the binding stitched to the fronts and pinned to ditch stitch.  Oh, and if there is any time left, I want to make a pillow out of the Broken Dishes blocks I sewed up some weeks ago. Wish me luck!

Blogger is not sending me comments through email despite going through several steps to regain this feature, so I will try leaving the first comment again on this post.

Binding and Piecing

It is bloody HOT here in SoCal, meaning not much is happening in the sewing room. Those with air-conditioning may be getting something done today but not me! Earlier this week I continued the binding blitz with one of the Tea Time Placemats (Pineapple Fabrics Alice pattern).

 Well the pictures flipped, this is the back...

...and this is the front--but they are reversible after all.  I was happy with the navy dot but then got bored with binding and decided to let another project in.  Squirrel!

Years ago I won a mini charm pack or two from Kate Spain, one or her fabric line became a pillow a couple of years ago.  The other was a Fig Tree line called Buttercup, and a couple of weeks ago I pulled an Anka's Treasure pattern and the charms I wanted to use.  Making mini table toppers is a fun escape from the big projects!

 I laid out all my mini charms first before assembling into groupings per the pattern. 

This pattern is called Yarn Over, from the Mini Charmers I booklet.  Aren't these fabrics yummy?

Clever construction with good pressing directions, which I always appreciate. 

There are two rows of sashing to add.  I had this piece of Fig and Plum set aside with the mini charm pack, but looking at this photo, am wondering how the purple in the print is going to look  with the Buttercup fabrics.  It is a pretty narrow sashing at 2" finished.  I may end up using it on the back.  Anyway, it was fun to play with small pieces and finish the center in a few short sewing sessions.  

We're off to babysit the grandsons tonight--our daughter and son in law don't have air-conditioning, but they do have a pool!

Design Wall Monday--Another Stitchy Weekend

Design Wall Monday is here.  My favorite weekend activity was again in play, there was progress on several projects--and a little cleaning up in the sewing room. 

Rick Rack Nines received a few hours of attention.  I did chose to machine stitch down the binding after all, in the interest in finishing this UFO that has been on my list for years.  These 9 patch blocks were swapped many years ago, and I finished the quilt top in 2012, the quilting was done a year ago.  Yikes. 

For those who were in favor of the slow stitching binding method, never fear, wherever you  see a binding clip is a place I missed the edge and have to hand stitch it. Sigh. I told my husband that I'll have this finished for our bed just in time for the hottest day of the summer, as it seems to be traditional for me!  It is supposed to be 95 here on the weekend.  I mentioned before that we don't have central air conditioning, yes?  Fortunately the R2D2 room unit keeps the bedroom cool at night. 

The Tea Time Placemats got trimmed and I cut and sewed the binding, so they are up next in the binding queue.  

I'm happy with the blue dot and look forward to using these placemats after the 4th of July decor comes down. 

While looking for something else, I came across another UFO box that needed more pieces cut in order to progress.  Since the cutting table was half cleared off (cough), I prepped the fabric for setting squares and triangles for a Christmas quilt. 

Some Charm squares and stash fabrics became large 4 patches last year.  I purchased this setting fabric at Superbuzzy during the holiday season.  It is a Lori Holt fabric called Cozy Christmas.  I was so happy to find a light fabric with all the colors to match my 4 patches.  The yardage was a bit narrow, so I just squeaked by in cutting the needed pieces for my layout of Barefoot In The Park.

I sure miss the Loft Creations blog and my friend Stephanie who authored it.  Her design is double sided, my plan is to make just the front but I want it a bit larger so added another row of the 4 patches.  Leftover charm squares will have circles cut and then applied to the setting squares as on the pattern picture. 

Bright, scrappy, and cheerful.  I selected an aqua background Christmas print for the border.  I'll look forward to finishing this one.  

See more design walls on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Design Wall Monday--Binding Extravaganza

Design Wall Monday is here again.-- on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.  On my to-do list has been large quilt binding.  I have had a king sized quilt awaiting binding for many months, with an almost-enough pile of binding awaiting final measuring before applying to the quilt.  I don't know why I let these jobs linger for so long! 

Looking back in my files, I got it back from the quilter almost a year ago.  Shameful!  So yesterday the binding--all 400 inches--got stitched on. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, I think it's called Rick Rack Nines.

Now that the binding is on, I'm trying to decide if I am crazy enough to hand stitch it to the back, or if machine binding will be fine--I'm leaning towards machine!  It's a quilt for our bed.  

More miles of binding were cut and sewn for two donation quilts.  We are still giving quilts to victims of the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide disasters.  

Isn't this one pretty?  These are Perkiomen Valley blocks, which can be laid out so many ways.  I only added the green binding.  We have been stitching bindings to the back and bringing to the front to machine finish. The next Perkiomen Valley quilt I worked on looked so familiar, but it wasn't until I took a final picture that I realized why. 

It is so amazing that this one came back to me for binding, as I originally laid out all the blocks months ago at a sew-in, from a pile of  "mostly go together" disparate blocks.  You can see that the lights and darks are a bit muddy in some places but there is still enough contrast in most.  It needs a label and then is ready for our next pop-up giveaway next month.

I also ventured out over the weekend to find binding choices for the Tea Time placemats I was working on--they are all quilted now.  I had a lovely time breathing in quilt shop fabric fumes and being in the company of other makers.  A number of fabrics jumped in my basket but here are the top two binding choices:

The mini-dot is actually navy that reads purple.  The gray crackle finish looks good too.  Maybe I'll make two of each color binding since I love both, lol. The four placemats will take far less time to bind than all those huge quilts!