February Recap: Part 4 - Quilt Con!!!

 If you saw the icon on my side bar these last few months, you know what was the special event I came down to North Carolina for:  I attended Quilt Con for the first time!  

When we learned last year that it would be coming to my MIL's neck of the woods, she and I immediately made plans to go.  Since my DH and I usually go visit my MIL this time of the year, it was a perfect fit!

If you have ever been to Quilt Con or any of the other big national shows, you know how phenomenal yet overwhelming attending can be.  We had four days of viewing quilts, attending lectures and watching a few live vendor demonstrations, admiring the "attendee fashion show" that flowed past us daily,  shopping the vendor booths and having more than a few "sew-lebrity" sightings!  Click the links for better reports of some of those than I can provide here.

All the "hands on" workshops were sold out by the time we registered so we were were only able to attend lectures including Jacqui Gering's keynote address.  

All of them were great!  David Owen Hastings lecture on Quilt Labels and Christa Watson's lecture on planning your quilt stitching gave me some ideas I hope to try on projects I already have going at home.  The lectures on working "improv" and exploring color had me itching to want to try to structure some time for trying some truly creative (aka no pattern) work.  Although, the reason I rarely do that was also addressed in the lectures: some times it takes a lot of time for inspiration to hit!  However, I also realize that these are projects or sessions I have to approach with no deadlines in order to give myself time to see where whatever I decide to do takes me.  I also learned about a new-to me sashiko-style hand stitching technique from Diana Fitzgerald that I'd like to try as well.  

Even better, we met great people and had great quilty conversations while standing in line waiting for the lecture hall to open for each session.  So if you are afraid of going to these big shows because you have to go by yourself, I say don't be.  We're all there because we love quilting so just turn to the person next to you and strike up a conversation!  You will be surprised to find that you either have a lot in common (happened often) or that you are kindred spirits in the things you've discovered about quilting or about yourself as a quilter.

I had mentioned to DH that I should have brought a notebook down with me to take notes at the lectures.  While making a trip to the local Walmart, he bought us both some, bless his "good quilt husband" heart!  So the other pre-show quilting project that I did was to make a quick Quilt-As-You-Go Note Pad cover the night before our first day at the show.  

Good thing one of the projects I brought down with me was one using scrappy strings!  

Needless to say in a show with aisles and aisles of vendor booths, ya' know there will be haul!  I did come to the show with a list of specific things I was hoping to stock up on.

In the picture above, the Kaffe Fassette and Marsha Derse fabrics on the left that I got from the Villa Rosa Designs booth were just the inspiration I was hoping to find for Pat Sloan's "March Block A Day" project starting this month.  The low volume fabrics on the lower right were pieces I had hoped to pick up for a "Lozenges" project that will be teamed with leftover red and black fabrics from other projects and were purchased from the Web Fabrics booth.  The other bundle of low volume prints (also picked up from Villa Rosa) I am hoping to use as backgrounds for the "Stronger Together" quilt project I spoke about back in Part 1.  

At the top, the denim backed cork is from Sallie Tomato, a vendor I hadn't heard of before and will go towards a "Barbados Bag" project I've long wanted to make from recycled denim.  Ironically, I had been directed to check out their booth after a conversation with a nice saleslady at the Handi Quilter booth who liked the bag of the same style that I was wearing and that I had purchased on Etsy a few years back.  

The Quilt Con pin was one of four show swag items I purchased.  I also picked up a project bag (good for quilting or cross stitch!) and two pairs of MQG socks.  Unfortunately I missed out on the show t-shirt as they sold out and MQG did not get enough additional orders to do another print run.  So if you go to the show and want a shirt, buy that first!!

I picked up Cindy Grisdela's "Adventures in Improv Quilts" book from the C&T Publishing booth.  It is one that had been on my wish list for a long time and with 20% off I decided to go for it since it might add to the lecture concepts I was learning.  But it got better:  I purchased it on Thursday and was told by the woman manning the booth that Cindy herself was going to be in the booth on Saturday so I could have it signed.  Cool!  Well, on Friday we were scheduled to go to the "Evolution of Quilts and Color" lecture to be given by Sarah Bond.  It turned out Ms. Bond couldn't make it and guess who subbed for her that day?  None other than Ms. Grisdela!!  So I not only was able to get the book signed right after the lecture but I got the bonus of getting to hear her speak on the topic of color as she uses it in her improv work as well!

The Quilt Alliance also had a booth at the show as they are based in North Carolina.  Speaking of those lecture hall waiting line conversations:  I had one with a woman who had quilts made by her grandmother.  As I am a big proponent of using labels, we had a long discussion about how she might document the quilts for her family's future generations.  I only wish I had remembered about the QA booth in that moment and could have directed her to visit it for more ideas.  For myself, I picked up one of the label cards they were giving out...

...and this time I didn't wait to get a t-shirt!  

Another thing we learned at the show is that next year's event will be going back to Phoenix, Arizona and they have already decided to return to Raleigh, NC for 2026!  I'm already looking forward to it!! 

Once the four days of the show were done, it was finally time to tackle some of the projects that I brought down with me.  While I didn't get to work on many, I did get some significant work done on two of them --- but that is a story for tomorrow!

February Recap: Part 2 - A Little Valentine's Day Prep

 More on the February doings:  After enjoying Pat Sloan's Red and White quilt display at the beginning of the month, I realized that my own display that was up at the time needed some enhancement: 

So at the last minute I decided to make a little Valentine's Day wall filler using Pat's "Hello Luv" design.  Although it later appeared in her "Holiday Celebrations" book, I had originally picked up the pattern when she made it for the Fat Quarter Shop's Button Club back in 2019.

Pat's Button Club version

My addition to my Red and White display!

For the block units that make up the larger four patch "Hugs" and "Kisses" blocks, I had gone the die cutting route and used my Accuquilt 4-1/2" Finished Signature die and the 3" finished HST triangles on my Churn Dash die to cut out the pieces.  That made my blocks and wall hanging a little larger than what's patterned.  

Updated 3/6/24:  Now a smaller version of this same design is one of the blocks in Pat's "Block Wednesday:  What's In Your  Your Closet" mystery quilt along! 

Where Pat had used the buttons from the club to decorate  the X's and O's,  I am only now noticing the buttons in the center of the X's so didn't do that.  I did put something in the centers of the O's though.  Continuing with the "make it fast, cut it fast" scheme, I picked a heart applique to put in the center of my O's.  Originally, I thought I'd use the 2" Heart from their basic "Heart" applique die but instead chose to go with the Heart from the “Heather Feather #2” die by Sarah Vedeler.  

To further hasten the finish, I once again decided to save some time on cutting and assembling binding and pulled out my usually trusty "Quick Easy Mitered Binding Tool"....

....to turn the simple backing (with label area added) to the front! 

I say "usually trusty" because when I tried this technique back in January for my "Old Tobacco Road" quilt, it was the first time it did not work for me.   

I had started this one a few days before Valentine's Day and finished it up right on the holiday!   However, the holiday was only three days before we were scheduled to leave so it was now time to focus on packing!

There still a lot more to February, so watch for more posts this week!

Finished Or Not Friday: The Cotton Harvest Is Finally Done!!

I have fantastic news to share for this week's Finished Or Not Friday over at Alycia's Quilty Girl blog:

I have finally finished my "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" Quiltville mystery quilt!

This was Bonnie Hunter's 2010 Quiltville Mystery Season quilt.  After the mystery was over it was published in her book "String Fling: Scrappy, Happy and Loving It" (and a preview of the quilts in that  book can be seen here).  Although I followed and downloaded Bonnie's mysteries from when she began offering them in 2008, I didn't get up the nerve and organization to actually try to make one until 2016.  This particular quilt was started in 2018.  Yes, it was a looonnng harvest!!

Bonnie is known for designing scrappy quilts.  She gets her fabric for them from her prodigiously collected scrap bins that are organized using her "Scrap Users System".  Bonnie's quilt designs may have a definite color scheme but the fabrics in them will run the gamut of print style and time.  She is famous for finding and using millennium fabrics from the year 2000!  

While I have gone fabric shopping for some of the Bonnie projects I have made, with the exception of the inner border, backing and binding, this is one that is made all from scraps.  This project got started when I realized that I had fabric leftovers from three projects that used the colors that could get this one started.  

Double Delight, On Ringo Lake and Emeralds contributed.

Ironically the two projects on the left are also Bonnie designs!  The holiday quilts that I started for Christmas 2022 contributed more....

Leftovers were taken from Temecula's 12 Days of Xmas, Jelly-ish Snowflake, The Last Dash and Cherry Crunch (another Bonnie design).

The strings all came from cut offs of neutral/background fabrics and were collected over the years.

These....

...were turned into these!

Each time I mined scraps, I would complete one step of the mystery.   In 2019 when MODA Fabrics and Lori DeJarnett of Humble Quilts ran string piecing challenges, I began to focus on trying to get the string blocks for this project done but I found those blocks to be hard to leader/ender (a piecing concept popularized by Bonnie) with regular blocks.  So it wasn't until the holiday season in 2022 when I embarked on making "Cherry Crunch" which also called for string blocks, that I made significant progress on those. 

"Cherry Crunch" strings on the left, "Cotton Boll" strings on the right.

Working those together in tandem helped me focus on getting this last part of the puzzle done so I could proceed to finish all the blocks and then the top.

This was also a great project for pulling inspiration from multiple sources.  Right after I decided to get this project in gear, I saw some cotton themed prints on sale that I knew had to be the backing.

Then I saw an old episode of Georgia Bonesteel's "Lap Quilting" show from the 80's and knew that had to be on my label when I made my backing!

BTW:  If you are a fan of Georgia Bonesteel and a member of the Quilt Alliance, her "Birthday BOM" block and interview are up on their site now (and Bonnie made a block and interview for this BOM too)!

That's not to say a big project like this didn't have its challenges....  

Like that block on the end...

I didn't discover this one until after it had been quilted in!

When I had finished the basting, I realized I had a few pleats pinned in on one side of the backing.  I thought I had worked them out before the quilting.  Nope!

There are a couple more like this.  

As a result, I think they caused the back to be a little short of the width on that side.  On the plus side, to make it stretch I had to include a little of the selvedge in the back which I think adds to the charm and history of it! 

At this point, I think a little of "Bonnie's Collected Wisdoms" are in order:  

Back in September when I displayed my quilts in a show that my community garden held, someone said to me that my quilts showed I have "patience".  I countered that I saw it as a sign of persistence.  Let's face it, there were plenty of people who finished their "Boll" quilt right away during the mystery season so these can be run up quickly with the right amount of focus on them.  

However, I could have also given up on it at any point in the five years (!) it has taken me to get it to this point.  It was really (no, REALLY) wanting to have this one as a finished quilt that has kept me going and kept it always near the top of the "To Do" list.  Even better, it is the one thing I was able to completely cross off this year's UFO Challenge list even though it took all year to do it!

If you've hung on with me this long, you'll agree that this project has been a "long and winding road" for sure!

Now join me in heading back over to Alycia's to check out what other people have finished (or not!) this week.  This will be the last look at all the creative work for 2023 before we all start anew for 2024!!

Moving It Forward Monday: A Quilt Label and Cross Stitch

Continuing work on my "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" project during this year's Quiltville mystery season:  Having finished the top on Friday, I now need to make up the backing so I can then move on to the layering step. 

 

Finished Mystery Top

Backing Fabrics

However backing a quilt also means thinking about a label for it.  Early in this project, I had come across the perfect thematic design for that from an old Georgia Bonesteel "Lap Quilting" episode.  

Given the theme of the mystery quilt, this seemed like the perfect block for the label.

To make it up, that means I need to do applique.  I had considered doing this using the needle turn method but not wanting to turn the label into too much of an additional project (and spend too long a time on it),  I decided to default to easier methods.  

In the beginning, one of the things that got me interested in quilting was learning that most quilting methods could be done completely by machine.  I eventually learned that this was true even for applique.  My first introduction to that was from this book: 

Later on I learned about Beth Ferrier (on Simply Quilts, back in the day) and her methods for machine applique which called for using freezer paper templates and glue basting the turned edges:

I combined her methods with using C&T's "Wash Away Applique Sheets" (developed with Beth's technique in mind) which meant not having to remove the paper after the glue basting:

  After choosing the fabrics and figuring out the image parts....

I prepped the pieces to be sewn onto the the label background

I will say that I hadn't realized just how hard doing all of those points and curves would be to prep given the smaller size of the block I was using.  In the end,  my "Boll" doesn't look just like Georgia's but for a label, it's good enough:

So the backing is now done, next will be layering and further quilting stitch pattern considerations!

Also in the "Continuing Work" category:  I have put more stitches in my "Give Thanks" cross stitch project (last seen at the end of this post).

First reported on here.

I had hoped to get this done to hang up for Thanksgiving but am now continuing to work on it until it's finished.  This way, it will be immediately ready for display next year.   So a little hand work finished off the Thanksgiving holiday weekend --- or was it to rest up for today's Cyber Monday shopping?  You decide, LOL!

The Start of This Year's Quiltville Mystery Season!

All the Quiltville fans like me were tuned in to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site today because....

...Part 1 of the new "Indigo Way" mystery has dropped!  Bonnie says this year's mystery was influenced by her experiences traveling in Vietnam.  I was soooo tempted to do this one because the colorway is Indigo Blue, Red and Neutrals, a color scheme I love to work in.   If you are starting on the mystery now, you are making Half Square Triangles for this part.  Bonnie gives you instructions for rotary cutting them either the traditional way or using her "Essential Triangle Tool".  I see that if I make this one in the future, I have a die to cut them the size needed.  That would also take care of removing the "dog ears" from the finished HSTs like she suggests. 

If you are not doing the mystery now, the good news is that you can pick up the instructions now and file them away for when you are ready to make it.  I've made many a Quiltville design long after the mystery premiered so now or later, it will still be a gem!  

Also note: Bonnie is giving a 30% discount on her digital patterns.  She says this is the last sale of the year on her site so if you've coveted any of her patterns, go to the post and pick up the discount code and instructions for use!   If you would like to get the "Essential Triangle Tool" she is also giving a discount on "Notions and Tools" purchases too.

As for me, in my last post I talked about how I plan to spend this year's mystery season taking the tops for the previous mysteries that I have pieced and get them to finished quilts.  However, I still had one more top to complete: "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll".  Earlier this week I trimmed, stay stitched and measured the top and then started work on sewing up the pieced outer borders:

By Wednesday I had finished piecing all the borders.  Part of that meant also making corner units out of the extra side border parts although I had some extra strip pieced units I had put aside for this purpose as well.

I had tried comparing the finished borders and the top measurements to determine how wide to cut the inner border but it was hard to get an accurate read on it so I just cut them the width Bonnie suggested and figured I could cut them down if needed.  

The good news there was that the size she gave for cutting them was the same size strips that Fabric Cafe calls for their "3 Yard Quilt Economy Binding" and one of those was the last quilt top I pieced.  So I already had my Stripology ruler marked with GE Designs Ruler Stickers for the "shift cutting" I needed to do to get the width of strips I needed.  BTW, Bonnie also has these stickers in her "Notions & Tools" section so they are on sale if you need some!

After applying the inner borders, I actually wound up extending the top border and one side border by a pieced strip, taking a border piece off the bottom border and the last side border needed no adjustment at all!  The good news is that in the end, it all worked out and the borders are all on and now this old mystery top is also complete!  

The backing fabric is also already in house.  Aren't these just perfect for this?

I lucked up on them all the way back in 2019 and even better they were on sale.  In addition to making up the backing, there is also one other thing I have to do.  Literally, the same week I purchased the backing fabric, I happened to catch an episode of Georgia Bonesteel's "Lap Quilting" show from 1987 on You Tube.  She was talking about her "Cotton Boll Quilt" in the episode and this flashed on the screen:

Oh boy!  I was thrilled because my first thought was "Quilt Label"!!  I traced the image off of the screen to copy the applique design.  

So now I have to audition fabrics for it so I can stitch it up.  BTW, in a recent Pat Sloan video she mentioned that Georgia Bonesteel will be doing the December Birthday Block of the Month for the Quilt Alliance.  If you are a member (and you should be), you will be able to revisit Georgia's work and her many years of influence in the quilt industry.  

I had been wondering which of the mystery tops I'd work on first.  It looks like I will continue with "Cotton Boll" until it's a complete finish.  With its Red, White and Pink color scheme, it goes with the Christmas decorating I will do this year -- a rehash of last year's Red and White scheme.  So when this is done, it can be my holiday bed quilt!  Works for me!!