County Fair Quilt

This is the first quilt that I organized for our quilt guild to be quilted at the Alameda County Fair. This was in 1992 I think. Our quilt guild did exhibit quilting for the county fair every year. We usually were given the first week on the fair schedule and another local guild was given the second week.

I volunteered to chair the committee for the fair quilt for several years. I realized early on that often a committee consisted of a committee of one. For this quilt I found a pattern I liked, shopped for the fabric, sewed the blocks together, and passed around a sign up sheet for members to sign up to volunteer to quilt at the fair. Any member who signed up to work on the quilt was given a free admission ticket, and preferred parking behind the building where we quilted.

The first Friday of the fair schedule we set up our quilt frame and began hand quilting. We used a silk thread that I really liked. I had made a quilt design, and marked the blocks and borders beforehand. It was such a delight to work on the fair quilt. There were so many people who came by and stopped to talk to us. They would share their family quilt stories.

There were many men who would stop by and tell us about sitting under the quilt frame while their grandmothers and their friends would quilt. They would often tell us that their grandmother would set up the quilt frame outside somewhere in the shade and the ladies would quilt all day. Lunch would be served. The men often commented that this was their favorite part of the quilting bee! One man said he would sit under the frame. When his grandmother would push the needle down, he would push it back up. He always got in trouble for that he said!

This quilt is completely hand quilted. When I look on the back, I can see all the beautiful quilting. I remember that the day before I was to take the quilt to the fair, I was putting the rows together. I realized I had sewn 24 blocks incorrectly. So I sat all afternoon and evening unsewing the blocks and sewing them together correctly. I did not get to bed until 5:00 a.m. the next morning. I slept for two hours, got up and headed to the fair with the quilt. I stayed all day. I quilted part of the day, but mostly talked to folks the rest of the day.

For each hour a member helped with the quilt, they were given a ticket. At the end of the fair, we placed all the tickets in a container. At the next guild meeting, someone pulled a ticket from the container. The person whose name was on the ticket won the quilt.

For several years I worked on the fair quilts. I never won a quilt, but I always had a good time trying. It was fun to talk to the folks who came by to watch us quilt. They had lots of questions about quilting, but also lots of wonderful stories to share with us. The stories were the most interesting part of it all for me.

Happy Quilting

More quilts found at the bottom of the pile

Here are pictures of some of the quilts that I unearthed at the bottom of the pile of quilts on my quilt rack. This house quilt I made back in the early 1990s. I remember how much fun I had picking fabrics for each of the houses.

This Carpenter's Square quilt has Laurel Birch Jungle Song fabric in the background, and for the back. I fell in love with that design and bought yards of it. I made two quilts from this fabric. The other quilt was bigger and I gave it away before I took a picture of it. I think this was done during my "lime" period.

This quilt was made in a class at the Laurel Leaf quilt store in San Carlos, CA. This was my first Stack and Whack quilt. I have made a few quilts with this technique. Each one has a different number of blades.

I made this quilt while I was taking classes during the summers at the Adobe Art Center in Castro Valley, CA. Since I was working the school year, I was only able to take the classes during my summer break. The teacher was wonderful. She taught us hand piecing, as well as machine piecing. I had such a great time in these summer classes. This quilt was called Picket Fences.

This last quilt is another Stack and Whack technique. There are more blades in this quilt. The edges/points of each blade is loose, not sewn down. My mother saw me making these blocks and fell in love with them. When I finished this quilt I gave it to her.

I hope you have enjoyed going down Memory Lane with me today. I certainly enjoyed making each of these quilts. They represent different times in my quilting life. The best part of these quilts is that they are "finished". Now if I can just get that pile of tops finished that are under my sewing table! LOL!

Happy Quilting

Snowbound is found

During all this reorganization of my sewing room I have been finding lost/forgotten items. Maybe I should say that these are items have not been seen in a a few years. While I have been visiting old projects, I was thinking about my Snowbound quilt. I have thought about it for a few days, trying to remember where I had seen it last. I have not seen it in a few years. I started wondering where it was, did I still have it, had I given it away? I have gone through all my boxes that were under my table and I know it was not in any of those boxes. I went through them again just in case I might have missed something. No Snowbound. I thought about the closet and knew it was not there either because that was the first place I cleaned out.

There is a quilt stand in the corner of my sewing room. I have several quilts hung, and folded and stacked, on this stand. Truthfully I have wondered how this little stand has supported the weight of all the these quilts for all these years, but it has. I decided to pull all my quilts from this area and see if maybe Snowbound was there. I removed all the folded quilts. Then I pulled up all the quilts that were hung on the rack itself. Lo and behold, at the bottom under two other quilts was my Snowbound quilt. I was so excited. It was like meeting an old friend that I had not seen in a long time. I hugged that quilt, and danced around the living room with it and hollered at my husband, "Eureka"!

Since all the quilts were out of the corner, I put several of them on our bed and looked at them. I tried to remember when I made them. Was it in a class, or at a retreat, with a bee, or just because I liked the pattern? It was like going down Memory Lane. Unfortunately, none of these quilts have labels. I decided right then and there that every quilt I make from now on will have a label.

I have heard for years that we should document our quilts. I had not thought it was such an important thing for me because none of my quilts were going down in history in any eventful way. Well, I was wrong. I wish I could remember when I made each of these treasures. Yes, I said treasures as each and every one of these quilts are a treasure to me at this time of my life.

I remember reading in Teresa's Fabric Therapy blog how she documents her quilts. It would be fun to know when I made the quilt, if it was from a class and if so where, and what was I doing in my life that prompted me to decide that this particular quilt was one that I desired to create. I looked at the fabrics in my Snowbound quilt, and found scraps of most of the pieces in the box that was under the table. I know have made more than one quilt from those fabrics, but when?

I made Snowbound during my "country period". I am now into my purple/brights period. I may not be using the older fabrics anymore, but I love my Snowbound quilt. I want to keep it close to the top of the pile as I have decided to hang it during the month of January. We do not have snow where I live, but when I look at Snowbound, I think of winter. With the Santa block in this quilt, it also reminds me of Christmas. I want to have a quilt to hang each month that depicts the season. My idea for January has been a snowflake quilt. I think that Snowbound could be my version of a snowflake quilt. January is now covered! I can mark a snowflake quilt off my "To Do" list. Whooppee!

Happy Quilting

P.S. Nadine, do you remember what year you taught this class at Going to Pieces?

Slow Progress

When I decided to reorganize my sewing room, I decided it was also time to get all the bags/boxes of scraps out in the open and start working on them. After I made four big blocks (from scrap strips I had in a container) for a workshop I am teaching this month, I pulled out a bag of scraps and sorted them last night. I did get some cutting of pieces last night and this morning. I have a start, at least, on decreasing the number of scrap bags. The next bag to tackle is one of the bigger ones that I am tripping over on my route around the table on the way to my sewing machine.

The second picture is of some of the bags. There are a couple more bags around the corner. Over by the closet door are four boxes, also of scraps, but one box is 5 inch charm squares that quilt friends gave me for my 50th birthday. Each person gave me 50 squares, some of them were duplicates, and some were actually all charm squares, each square from a different fabric. I have been thinking about these squares for years trying to decide what I want to make with them. I haven't hit on that solution yet, but I have played with them several times hoping they would give me an idea.

The third picture is of a baby quilt I put together from a pattern a friend gave me just before the reorg happened. It uses 6 fat quarters, and you use all of each fat quarter. Now I must decide on a border treatment. Any suggestions? I cut fat quarters from each of the fabrics I used, so I have a little of some of the fabrics left. I don't think I have enough of any particular fabric which would be enough to make a border all around the quilt. The blocks are 15 inches square. I think this is big for a baby quilt, but it could be a small bed quilt for a toddler.

I am making progress on my sewing room reorganization, but it is slow. I keep getting distracted when I find little treasures, like a bag of teddy bear blocks in blues and reds. These were made by one of the teachers I worked with. She was giving away all her fabric, and even a Singer Featherweight sewing machine. She had so many projects in the UFO stage. I have finished a couple of them. While opening bags and boxes during my reorg, I found a bag containing five finished blocks, and some additional fabric to make five more blocks. I want to finish these. I think it would be a cute quilt for the new baby (a boy we are told).

The other day I found a bag wedged between the wall and a bookcase full of fabric. This is also where I store my round quilting frames. I pulled the bag out and there were two quilt tops inside the bag. I have no recollection as to where I obtained these two quilts. They are both made with solid fabrics. One is yellow and white, and the other is pink, red and white. I will get pictures of them and post them at a later date.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. If you celebrate this holiday, have a safe and sane one. I will be spending part of the day at Ardenwood Farms working with other guild members. We do exhibit quilting at the Farm on holiday/festival weekends. We set up frames and tie Community Quilts, sell tickets on our opportunity quilt (which by the way is gorgeous), and offer a childrens' table where the kids can make paper quilts. That is a very happening place. The kids really like making their own quilt. They can take it home with them. Parents tell us on return visits that this is what their children remember most about their trip to the historic farm.

Happy Quilting