HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 I've been having a really great time visiting with my son's family!  Despite Covid restrictions we've been able to get out and about for walks and to the park.  The weather has been pretty cooperative!

I brought lots of craft projects to do with my Grandchildren.  It's so fun to watch how they approach painting and drawing and other such activities My older granddaughter, Ari (age 6) has even tried a little embroidery.  

J brought a lot of Halloween fabric and my old Singer 301 along in case I had a few spare moments to sew.  The girls play so well together there were times when they entertained themselves and I whipped up a few Holiday placemats!

I brought some Halloween orphan blocks along.  Randy over at Barrister's block gave me these little ghosties. they made cute centers for some of the placemats!

I've had this jelly roll of Moda Halloween fabrics for ages but they were perfect for the borders!  I was going for a Candy Corn look on this one.  I'm not sure the nontraditional color scheme really translated?!

I got a whole set of these pumpkin blocks from the Guild Flea Market.   They made nice centers too.

I made two of each.  Not exactly the same but similar.  The runner I made a couple of years ago but it looks great with all the placemats! 

It's been loads of fun being here but time to get back to the DH.  I'm flying home.  Another adventur in these times of Covid.  I hope you and your's are all Safe and Sound!  Take Care!

                                                                  Happy Halloween!

                                                                             CW

Iowa State Quilt Museum

As I mentioned in my last post one of my stops was in Winterset, Iowa.  The home of the Iowa Quilt Museum.

I first learned of this museum reading a post on Barbara Brackman's Material Cultures Blog Last Summer. She helped to put together an exhibit there called "Out of Control;  Quilts that break the rules".  Read more here .

The quilts looked like so much fun!  I really wanted to see that exhibit.  Alas it closed Oct. 5th before I could get on the Road.  But I did check out the museum Webpage and there was a virtual gallery walk which was very interesting.  I figured if I could get myself on the road I would definitely try to make a stop at the Museum.

The current exhibit at the museum features Two-Color Quilts.  Not quite as exciting as "Out of Control Quilts"  but definitely worth a visit!

An overview of the interior from the balcony looking back towards the entrance.  The Museum is actually in the old J.C. Pennies building of Winterset.  It is quite charming with pressed tin ceiling tiles, old wood floors and staircase and an old style balcony.

This was the first quilt as you enter the gallery.

I don't think I've ever heard of a Fundraiser quilt raising that much $$$$!

The quilts were mostly red and white or blue and white.  While the designs were mostly pretty straight forward a lot of them were amazingly quilted.

I included my thumb for scale it's not the best reference but you get the idea.  That grid is less than 1/2"!

There were several Red Work quilts. 

This one was really spectacular!

I confess I was not familiar with Helen Ericson's work.  But it is really impressive!

I thought this indigo fab was really pretty and so well preserved!

Up in the balcony were a number of educational exhibits.  Including this self-guided bed turning!

Imagine!  Now that's what I call trusting!

I did not have time to do the bed turning but I Really like this quilt!  It could have easily been in that All-Red-and-White-Quilts exhibit in New York, don't you think?!

And I think there was one like this in the NY exhibit.

I just love both of these quilts!

So Graphic!!!

Well if you are ever passing through Southwest Iowa I highly recommend taking the time to stop by this wonderful little Gem of a Museum!

TTFN

take care, CW

 

Road Trip

I'm on a road trip to visit my Son and his family in Indiana!   I have been waffling around about the idea of a road trip in these uncertain times for awhile.  If I don't go now I probably won't be able to go 'til next Spring and that is just toooo long without seeing my g-kids.  

I rented a car on Tues.  evening and loaded it up and on Weds. bright and early I was on my way.  I managed to get through the morning traffic smoothly and I made it to the rest area near Donner Pass (near Tahoe) before lunch.  I stop there to stretch my legs and enjoy the crisp clean Mountain air.

 

I made it to my first destination for the day by about 3:30 and had time to walk around the old downtown of Elko Nevada.  

The Stockmen's Casino is a real throwback to the days of old time Casino's.

I stayed in the adjacent Hotel .

Lots of mid century architecture!

Thurs. I was on the road by 6:00 and made it all the way to Laramie Wyoming by 3:00.  It was really windy and chilly so I went for a car tour of the old downtown and then had the idea to google quilt shops in Laramie and low and behold there was one right around the corner from where I had parked!

A very nice shop!  I managed to drop some $ there!

Friday my destinations was Greenfield, Iowa.

A wonderfully picturesque Traditional Midwestern town with a Historical town Square surrounded by many great Turn-of-the-last century brick buildings

Here's the old town hall.

And the Hotel Greenfield where I stayed.  A beautifully renovated 1920's Hotel!

Saturday morning I headed to the next county;  Madison County.  It might sound familiar because it is The Madison County of the best Seller, "The Bridges of Madison County. 

I was going there to visit yet another historic town,  Winterset.  The birth place of John Wayne and the home of the Iowa Quilt Museum!

The museum is situated in the old J.C. Penny's building across from the Town Hall and next to the Ben Franklin store which is still an operating Variety Store!

The Museum was having an exhibit of Two-Color Quilts ( pix in the next post).

I did not have a lot of time to spend in the exhibit because I had to get on down the road.

My Final destination Avon, Indiana where my son and his family live!

I made it just in time for dinner Sat. night!

I hope all is well with you and your's!

Take care!

CW

More Thank You Blocks

A couple of years ago I got a huge pile of Blocks from my fellow guild members as a Thank You for being the the Quilt Show Chairperson.  People went all out,  I think I received well over 200 blocks!  Some people were Extra generous and gave me Whole Stacks of blocks.  This top-in-progress was one such stack.  I think this collections was definitely from some 'Block of the Month'  drawing based on the size variation.  But that's OK with me!  Life is not perfect. My quilts are definitely not perfect.  I can cope with a little size variation!

Since I've been working on quilts for people who've lost their homes in the Santa Cruz Fire I've been going through my stash of 'Thank you' blocks to find groupings that will make bed size quilts.  And with a little help these blocks fit the bill.

I took this pic before I started sewing the blocks together just to check on the overall balance.   It's a good thing 'cause I caught a problem.   The pale pink block in the middle left does not have enough contrast to the toile patch next to it!  I always try to take pix before I sew for this reason.  Sometimes you just can't see the lack of contrast or balance of a project when you are in the midst of it.  Photos help to objectify the design.

Something else I hadn't noticed 'til I was laying out the blocks was that there were actually 2 block types.  The upper right and left blocks are one pattern and the lower middle block is a different pattern!  From a distance you can't tell because they look the same but up close you can see they are pieced differently.

That doesn't bother me either.  They are all cute so go-with-it!

To expand the blocks to the needed size I found the romantic themed  Toile in my stash.  I thought that made a nice compliment to all the hearts.

Unfortunately I did not have enough for all the needed spaces.

But I recently saw a vintage quilt that had patches 

in between blocks in the center that were a different print than they were on the outer sides of the quilt.

 It was quite effective so I borrowed the idea!

At this point the top will be 75" square. 

I think it might need a border.

Maybe another Toile?!

We shall see ...

Stay safe,

Take care!

CW

Renovation project

Every once in awhile I find a top at the Guild Flea market that has structural and/or design problems that tell a story of frustration.   That is to say, the maker just did not want to go through the pain and / or aggravation to fix the problem.  Let someone else deal with it!  I get it!  I've been there.   I generally take a pass on such projects.  Let some braver person adopt them.  But this top seemed to have  a fairly easy fix.  It was nicely designed, the blocks were well constructed, the top was square.  The only problem was the floral panels between the basket panels were stiff as a board because they were heavily glued.

The flowers were carefully cut out from the border fabric and glued down with some kind of white paste kind of glue.   But I think the problem which caused the abandonment was due to the fact that once all the motifs were glued down the panels were so thick with glue and extra layers of fabric it was impossible to sew them down?! 

Imagine going to all that work and realizing the problem!

Come to think about it we've probably all been there once or twice?!

Any who,  I thought it would be an easy fix to simply extract the 'over glued' panels and replace them with some print that worked with the over all design!

Ha Ha Ha!

I Rarely ever back stitch!  I will go through all kinds of contortions to avoid back stitching but I thought this was a good cause so I patiently picked out one panel.  

By the time I finished picking and carefully easing in the substitute my patience had run dry.

So the laugh's on me, someone else's UFO had become my UFO!

I put it away for several years.

But with my new "Finish 'um up" program I decided to get this one done!

So here's the new improved version with both panels replaced!

 I was going to quilt it the original size once I fixed the panels.  But last week I got an email from my local guild.  A call for donations for the folks who have lost their homes in the recent fires in the Santa Cruz mountains (CZU).  Over 900 homes were burned in that fire!  Bed quilt donations were preferred.  Luckily I had more of the pink fabric and plenty of greens so it was an easy expansion.  The extra borders will make it about 90" square.   I don't think I've ever made a donation quilt so big?!  But it's been kinda fun making the green piano keys.

And lucky for me I have a Longarm so quilting it won't be to much of a chore.

I hope you all are safe and sound!!!

Take care!

CW