Sauder Village Quilt Show, Part I

The Sauder Village Quilt Show was fun and inspirational.  Even though I was disappointed not to have my music quilt hanging, it was totally wonderful to wander around and soak up all the glorious quilts and their stories.  I took three quilts and received 3 ribbons, and I feel humbled to have quilts hanging with so many pretties!

"Folk Art in the Vineyard" won a second place ribbon in the Wall Quilt, Applique, and Hand Quilted category.  The center blocks are from the pattern "Folk Art Applique" by Lori Smith (the borders are my design).  It measures 44 x 53.

"True Friends," which I made for my husband a few years ago, won a third place ribbon in the Bed Quilt, Mixed Technique, Hand Quilted category.  It is from a book by the same name by Nancy Halvorsen, and is 86 x 100.  I used the fabric lines "Folk Art Christmas I and II" by Robin Pandolph (back when she was with Moda).  I LOVED that fabric...it was hard to cut up and use, if you know what I mean.

"Candy Parade Log Cabin" was a baby quilt I made for my daughter (during 2AM - 5AM, when she had me up, kicking the stew out of me and turning cartwheels, every night the last 3 months of the pregnancy).

I hate that it was hung on point, and kept wanting to re-pin the bottom, where the quilt had settled.  I had so much fun inventing and hand quilting the "sunshine" motifs in the white parts of the log cabin blocks.  It measured 52 x 52.

I think this Best of Show wall hanging won a first place ribbon at AQS Lancaster in March (I need to look back through the program book).  It is so beautiful.

Wow...just look at all those nice, skinny points...

A quilting acquaintance here in Ann Arbor made this Blackbird Designs quilt.  Some day I will get back to my baskets...

LOVED the bunnies...

More bunnies to love...

 This quilt fascinated me.  The tiny dresses were so beautifully made (smocking, embroidery and all kinds of amazing detail)...were they made for the quilt, or from a doll collection?  The owner didn't put any details on her tag...I may have to look her up and call her to put my curiosity to rest.

I loved this quilt, hated that they hung it on point, and around a corner...ick!  It won the overall "Best Traditional" award in addition to a second place ribbon.

I am a sucker for vibrant bargello quilts, and here are two of them!

This Blackbird Designs quilt is hexies on applique steroids!

Yippee!  Weiner dogs!

This was so elegant and stunning in person...with the fabric choices and the little mirrors in the centers of the posies, it really sparkled.

This is such a nice use of pink and brown reproduction fabrics...loved it.

 Very Sweet baby quilt...

This quilt was so exciting...it really popped.  Where's the ribbon, where's the justice??

Sweet dreams to ewe...hee-hee-hee.

My friend Mary Jones made this beautiful quilt from a pattern designed by Ola Rosselot, Mary and myself a couple of years ago (from a shop hop).  I love, love, love Ola's amazing center applique design!  It is made entirely with Jo Morton reproduction fabrics.

Another quilt featuring spools, this time by Edyta Sitar. Everything about this quilt was so beautiful!

I hope you found these as inspiring as I did!  There's nothing like a quilt show to lift the spirits.  I will post more next time.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Quilting is progressing...

 

Quilting is progressing...I must have been out of my mind to think I would have it finished by April 28.  One by one, I am working to do the outline and detail quilting of each block.

I have mixed feelings about hand quilting these blocks.  When I was in the applique stage, I worked so hard to make them completely flat, like a fabric painting.

As I add hand quilting stitches around the rose petals, things change to a 3-dimensional world...the rose comes to life, which is neat, but the perfectionist in me misses the flat "painting."  I almost feel like the totally "in-your-fac" quilting stitches distract from how hard I worked to make invisible applique stitches during block construction.

When I look at the roses from the side, I see the puffiness that the quilting causes.  I have to remember that it is a quilt, with batting, the hand quilting is supposed to add definition and life.

Hand quilting the trombone block made the posies pop a little, which was fun (please excuse the crooked photo).  I had reverse appliqued the posie centers, and I think that helped give the flowers some height.

What possessed me to make so many tiny leaves to outline?!

"Pop" go the posies!

I think the outline quilting helped to make the skinny trombone more prominent. 

I let the flower jar print dictate how I quilted it.

Quilting between the "ridges" on the column pedestal deepened the feeling of actual grooves.

The clarinet block is done too.

Unlike the trombone block leaves, these are big enough to do a little quilting on them.

Weasley doesn't fit in this particular quilting hoop.  I wasn't fast enough in getting the camera while he was trying, bless his little kitty heart.  He had to settle for beside the frame.  It was hilarious to see!

In stitches, 
Teresa   :o)

"Folk Art in the Vineyard" - the quilt and the scoop...

This is what I call "Folk Art in the Vineyard," and it measures 
44 x 53.  The center 12 blocks are from a pattern by Lori Smith called "Folk Art Applique."

I drafted my own borders (Lori's were lovely, but I just can't leave things alone...).

Here are close ups of the blocks...I hand quilted in both white (on the colors) and black (to outline and quilt the background).

I just can't seem to be able to photograph this quilt and capture the black-on-black quilting.  I threw the gamma out on a couple of the pictures to try and show you, but it didn't work very well.  There is a chunky, diagonal crosshatching going on behind all the blocks, then piano key quilting on the outer borders.

Here's the bottom border, and below it a picture where I adjusted the gamma to wash the color out so you can see the quilting.

I am insane and like making these grape clusters.  Quilting around all the grapes was a challenge this time (read to the end for the saga).  I was inspired to make grapes on this due to my Dad's Muscadine grape arbor.

The corners feature a quilted arch that copies the scalloped flow of the inner border and a couple of hearts.

Now, the scoop...unfortunately, there is a scoop.  

I chose a wool batting for this quilt.  I had successfully hand quilted a larger wall hanging with a wool batt a few years ago (my "Home Sweet Home" by Blackbird Designs, from a book by the same name), and wanted to repeat the enjoyable, successful process.

That older quilt was so much fun to quilt, and the finished product has such a nice drape, and it is hanging on my family room wall.

Well, this time around was not a good experience.  My wool batt was very inconsistent in thickness...normal in some places, REALLY thick in others.  I went ahead and basted it together, thinking Hobbs wouldn't sell an inferior batt...it would "quilt out."

Well, if you've hand quilted a wool batt, you know there is a little compression you have to do as you go along with your stitching.  Well, there were places that were just downright impossible to compress easily.  

I felt like I was quilting a super loft polyester batt...something you would use in a tied comforter.  I put it aside and didn't bind it, and sort of forgot about it.  I was so disappointed in choosing the wrong batt.  I took it to Sauder Village last Sunday for the show, and after some urging from the family, I entered it in AQS-Grand Rapids...7.5 hours before the deadline, LOL.  I don't have a lot of hope for it...I think the quilting quality is not good...little stitches in some places, bigger stitches in the really thick areas.  But, I like the look of the bright colors on the clear Kona black background.

(I had a DEVIL OF A TIME getting the cat hair off of it, LOL.

All you hand quilters out there...I would love to know what batt you use.  Is there a kind of wool you like?  If you have a favorite cotton, do you pre-shrink it?  I am using a Dream Cotton "select" weight on the "Baltimore Rhapsody" quilt.  I did not pre-shrink it this time.  I have pre-shrunk that brand before...especially for high school and college quilts that were machine quilted (and I knew they would get washed a lot).

I chose the wool again because it had been such a good quilting memory before.  I wash all my fabric before using it, so I knew there would be minimal shrinkage with the wool.

Have you tried bamboo...or silk??

We put so much time into these quilts, using the right batt can make or break it for me with the hand quilting.  I used too thin a batt on my "Civil War Bride Quilt" (Dream Cotton, "request" weight).

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)