Local Themed Quilts

Here is our Saguaro Sunset hanging in a good company at show. And do you know what? It came home with some nice judges comments. Don't laugh, ok? But I thought judge comments were only for quilts with ribbons. This entering show stuff is so fun! I love a report card!!
OK, you must be laughing by now, very well. But the way I see it, if you've already gone to all the work of finishing the thing, and you really want to get better in the art, why not take a report card when you have the chance? I'm going to find more quilt contests:):):)

 Here is President Sue hanging in President's Challenge. Yes, our President Sue was super surprised:)

And here are more local themed quilt from this show:

The View Before They Jump by Trudy Cowan

Forest Fires are a big deal here. This is Trudy's Smokejumpers quilt. There are variegated logs quilted in the tiny border. The "smoke" is wool roving and the "fire" is machine stitching. Even in my bad phone pic you can see the depth Trudy crated by stitching half the trees before putting the backing on. Genius! Trudy says the background fabric is something hand dyed she found in an estate sale, and it has sat in stash for ages waiting for the perfect quilt! Don't you love happy stash stories?

Mogollon Rim Strata by Catherine Clark

You thought there would be lots of cactus quilts in this post? Wait, they are coming;)

But canyons and their resulting exposed rock layers are such a part of our state landscape, even school kids here can name the strata. Catherine is so creative; stash comes in strata too, right? BTW, There was a MQG retreat on the Rim last year. I wonder if Catherine's quilt started there?

 

Blooming Desert by Barbara Nicholson

You know Prickly Pear is my favorite:) Do you have a favorite cactus? Barbara's is extra cheery, fun batiks, perfect orange+green. Prickly pears bloom yellow and pink too, but I've found these orange blossoming ones have the best pears for making jelly.

 

Fork & Spoon by Liz Stark

How fun for a southwest kitchen! Reverse Applique? More "strata," this time desert novelty prints.

Yes, kitchens need quilts too, right?

 

saguaro spine stitches - sew cute!



Okay this next one is unusual. It is a group strip quilt in progress. I hope you can see all the fun details in this collage. There is a studio with a big window on a flower garden with quail. There's a hogan with quilts on a clothesline. And there is Sue and Sam flying a kite by delectable mountains. I've posted the attribute card at the end. I understand this will be next year's raffle quilt for guild. For sure, I'm saving for these tickets! Can you imagine when this all quilted!?!

 

 

Happy Quilty Trails



My Quilt Show Faves

Finally got these quilt show pictures out of my phone, thanks to Alex's help.
Yes, I am old enough to realize how silly that sounds. Remember when pictures were something you picked up from the Kodak Kiosk in the grocery store parking lot? Alex doesn't believe me.
Anyhow......these are worth waiting for:

Arizona Starry Night by Alicia Sterna You won't believe how tiny the pieces are for these raw edge stars!
I hoe you get to see this somewhere someday. Genius; design, construction, quilting, everything!

Summer on the Shore by Pat Roche Wish I had taken more pictures of this one. Just HST boats, but.......

Swoon by Cheryl Benjamin

Next post I'll show you some local themed quilts from our state guild show.
You know I LOVE hometown commemorative quilts. If you have local themed quilts on your blog, please post your link below, I would love to visit!

Schooled at Guild

Schooled!
To me, this is a fun word. Means I'm not too old to keep learning.
Here is what I learned at Guild this month:


rail batik from Indonesia travels

Batik from Indonesia.
It's the same on both sides--two quilt tops, sans batting!

Because it is so hot there, and because fabric is so expensive,

it would be crazy to use a giant run of cloth for a blanket.

 

1896 Smith

 

Old sewing machines were small- toy sized by modern standards.
Everything shown here is toy-sized.

 

Wilcox and Gibbs

 

First sewing machines were sold by door-to-door salesmen, on credit, $5 down.

In the 1850's, a home sewing machine cost $100. Household average annual salary, $500.

By WWI, Singer was a 4 billion/year international industry

 

Mr. Singer left America with his 5th wife when he was convicted of bigamy.

The 5th Mrs. Singer was the model for the Statue of Liberty.

Yes, I should have taken better notes. I was too amazed by this point.

 

crimper? pinking shear?

 

Gold net under the purple applique covers much sequins/beads, makes the whole thing glow!

Stars for the Road

Thanks for Reading!

Periwinkles

Dying to try this cover quilt, Periwinkles, from Missouri Star Quilt Co.
BLOCK Magazine Late Summer 2015 - Vol. 2 Issue 4

Jackie @SewExcitedQuilt sent me this!

She shared her trip to the real life Missouri Star Quilt Co. with me.

 



So when Karen devised a unique fabric game for our neighborhood club,
I knew exactly the pattern I would go to!

At Christmas, Karen gave us each three 1/4 yard (9" wide) cuts. They were mystery cuts, wrapped, you couldn't see what you were picking. Next, we each invent something with them by St. Patrick's Day. It's a great game to break you out of your same old go-to stash selections.

Except......Periwinkles is a layer cake pattern. So I had to talk the pattern into 9" blocks.
Furthermore, I don't have the Periwinkle template.

How hard can this shape be?

Take your HST, fold at center, bisect the angle, and you get...

No!

Not Periwinkles.

Ha. Should have seen that coming.

After much experimentation (and I'm sparing you all the pics, ok?),

I discerned a 3-1/2" cut makes a good Periwinkle.

LOL we shall see how it all turns out:)

 

Thank goodness, Pearl is supervising.

 

 Thanks, Jackie:)