Quilt Festival

Sssooooo, I helped Moda last week at this little thing called the Shipshewana Quilt Festival. Mom, Moda Mark and I were accompanied by Cheryl Ross from Heaven on Earth Quilt Shop in Wabash, IN. I was helping Cheryl with a little program on the Moda Bake Shop called 'Come Bake With Us'

 Do any of you have that fear of watching movies back of yourself??? Looking at this picture I have no clue why Mom (or how) she got me with this look on my face... Just saying... But this is Cheryl and I with a bunch of the goodies.

 Here's a bigger look at the front (and my adorable outfit if I do say so myself!). Let's see there's Ruby (LOVE) Sugar Pop (LOVE) Bliss (LOVE) Central Park (LOVE) - notice a pattern here?

 Mom was all over taking pictures for Cheryl and I - Thanks Ma!!!

 This was the bunch of ladies we were chatting with. These ladies are smart - they took soooo many notes and came prepared...they've done this a time or two...

 We know a bunch of people that tease Mom and I that we should be Italian with how much we talk with our hands (and feet too!) Here I have proof, the hands are moving so much they are blurred in the photo!!!! Aaaahhh, it is true and I can't deny it...

 This is the town of Shipshewana, complete with Amish Buggies and all...

 Yoder's to the left with a grocery store, knick knack store and clothing/fabric store all in one...

 Blue Gate Restaurant to the right, very very good Amish Food, either by Menu or Family Style. You can get a carriage ride around town from the little awning to the right there... And yes that is a sign for Kaye England. She was doing classes and lectures at the Blue Gate.

 And... Dais Mercantile. Home to Lolly's Quilt Shop and 22 (yes 22) other shops all in one.

 It's so cozy and nice inside. All the shops are accessible from the inside and each one has it's own little storefront inside too! There's an awesome secret on the third floor just out of range of this photo - you have to go visit to find out for yourself!

 And one of the doors to Lolly's. See all that fabric in there...

And to make it better there's this wonderful porch outside with rocking chairs! I was going to take a picture from the inside of the shop a bit earlier but there was a gentleman asleep in one of the chairs and I thought that would be mean...I can't believe this was my 3rd trip here and the first time I discovered this porch! I love porches!!!

Included in the Quilt Festival is also an entire show of vendor booths and a Shop Hop - there's definitely no shortage of things to do. And to think, this was only the 3rd year for this Festival, it's HUGE!!! I definitely plan on going back next year and see more of what the Festival has to offer...

So, did you attend? Do you want to go? Don't you want to go to a shop with a porch like that? Thinking about it though, thank goodness Mom's shop doesn't have a porch like that - I'd never be working. You could always find me lounging and doing handwork on the porch. Well, I got some sewing done tonight and I'm trying to wrap up a few other projects. I'll keep you posted on what's going on over here. Stay tuned for more!

Back Home

Well, I made it to Indiana and back all in one piece. We had a couple hiccups on our way out that weren't so fun like the highway being completely shut down due to an accident and massive rainstorms and wind. But we made it, we had a blast as usual and I came home with more fabric - big shocker there :)

So, I have one last post for you on some of the quilts at the NQA Show and then (you'll be so proud of me) I took several pictures while in Indiana and I even have some from the program at the Quilt Festival to share (thanks Mom!)

 There were inventive color and shape combinations...

 pictorial quilts...

 I'm still not quite sure how she did this and how it laid so flat!!!

 Alright, I want to go play in this woman's stash for a while, don't you?

 There were some odd shaped quilts (how do you bind that?)

 And embellished quilts

 If you click on the picture above to make it larger, you can see all the detail she embroidered into each and every piece...

 And this one was really neat, looks great as is, right?

 She continued the applique design into the setting corners with her quilting... Now why didn't I think of that???

 And if you subscribe to any magazines I'm sure you've seen pictures of this one before, it's a while cloth with black fabric and colored thread - lots and lots and lots of thread. But it's gorgeous!

So that's the last from the NQA Show and I'll be back soon with pictures from Shipshewana and a few other stops we made on our way home...Now I'm off to play with a bug bunch of fabrics that just arrived for my next Moda Bake Shop project... Today is going to be a fun day. What are you planning for today?

NQA Part 2

Simply Beautiful. That's the only way I can describe this batch of quilts...

Have I ever mentioned how much I want to make a wholecloth quilt??? I love the idea of simple beauty and showing off quilting in this way. There's also great ideas on using your favorite lap quilts as an accent to rooms that have wholecloth quilts on beds - by switching the smaller quilt and a couple accessories you can change the look of a room in minutes!

 There were small ones...

 And colored ones...

 Look at the feathers on that one! I wish I could make mine look like that... I guess I have to practice some more...

 There were different styles used, sometimes all in one quilt...

 And scalloped edges on larger quilts (you'll have to click on this one to make it bigger to see the details)

 And the biggest shocker of all - this is a wholecloth quilt with a pieced back - as in the quilt top is on the back... but the quilting is stunning, no wonder she entered it this way!

 I love the idea on this one and I plan on using it soon - this is a wholecloth quilt. I promise. It's quilted with a darker thread in sections that give it a look similar to applique - minus the applique. This was definitely a moment for me of "Why didn't I think of that?!"

 And this one... oh, the micro (REALLY micro) stippling that made the bigger quilted pieces and vines stand out even more.

Do it, I dare you - click on this one to see that stippling. Oh, and did you notice the beads in the flowers. I wonder how many yards of thread are in this quilt? Probably too many to count.

So, that's my inspiration for today. I plan on working on my own wholecloth quilt this winter - okay maybe two. One hand quilted and one machine quilted. And maybe if that goes well I might do more. I'll let you know when I start working on those...

I'll be back soon with the last post about the NQA Show with some of the other show stoppers hanging there. They're good, really good. They were hanging at a National Quilt Show for goodness sakes!

Tomorrow I'm off to Shipshewana for the Shipshewana Quilt Festival. Don't forget - I will be at the Moda Bake Shop's 'Come Bake With Us' program at the Farmstead Inn. Stop on by and say hi! Oh, and another thing I'm super excited for - I'll be making my first trip to The Doormouse Quilt Shop in Bettesville, OH on my way home. 5,000 bolts - yep bolts - of fabric calling my name. I think I might be able to find some goodies there. Wish me luck and I'll have pictures to show you when I get home!

NQA Show Part 1

So, I survived the long day to the NQA Show! It was a wonderful show and for Mom and I, it was nice to go to a show and be a spectator/shopper rather than the seller for a change.

We had 2 buses of ladies, each with 45 women on it going down to the show. The bus had two stops, I met it at the first stop at 6:30 in the morning. We left there, gathered the last of the ladies at stop #2 and were on our way. It's roughly a 3 hour drive down to the show and the trip went without a hitch!

The vendors were wonderful, there was so much to look at like these:

 This gentleman was amazing! These were wooden ornaments that are all handmade. There were also some jewelry boxes and earrings and all sorts of stuff.

 And then there was the show, all sorts of quilts. I'm going to try and break this up into a few segments so today I'll show some of the quilts with thread painting and amazing details today.  This lion was huge and it was covered with sequins, beads and a bunch of other special touches.

 Look at the tiny rhinestones in the eyes and the quilting!

 This quilt amazed  amazes me to this day. I grew up drawing, I know how hard portraits are - but a portrait on a quilt with thread painting!!! I'm not quite sure who did this quilt but if they read this - You are my hero!!!

 Just look at that detail. It was even more striking in person... If you made it to the show I hope you saw this one, it was worth it!

 I know many people that are obsessed with english paper piecing. That or the diamonds and hexagons are still really popular. But could you even fathom this? I love all the color and texture you see.

 Look at how many colors and fabrics are in this quilt. Whoever did this must have had a ball! Oh, and the backing was bias strip appliqued to echo the quilting... it was magnificent!

 I love the colors in this quilt, the smaller leaves were quilted with metallic thread in several colors. I love the way it all works so well together.

And this one... do I really need to go on? This was called Ruffled Feathers and each individual feather was one piece if not several pieces... all fabric... and batiks at that... No wonder it got multiple ribbons...

So that's Part 1, I'll have more to show soon. I'm gathering some ideas from the next batch on how to quilt some upcoming projects and I'm sure you'll love them too.

Did any of you make it to the show??? What do you think of these spectacular quilts??? Let me know and I'll be back with more soon!

Psst...

Wanna know a secret?

Well first off I should be stuffing patterns right now but I've been watching The Voice (LOVE!) and checking emails since I'll be gone all day tomorrow.

And I should work out soon, especially after the Wildwood Quilt Guild picnic last night and Chinese tonight... but we won't go there right now...

But honestly, tomorrow is my first trip EVER to the NQA Show in Columbus! I'm so excited and it's going to be a really long day, but it'll be worth every second of it!

If you're going to be at the show I hope to see you there! I am charging my camera as I type this so I can take a ton of pictures and share them with you here!

That's it. I guess I gotta go work out now...bummer :) j/k

The Latest On This End...

So, the two newest patterns will be ready to ship this week! Here's pictures as promised of the larger version of the Charmed Living Tote:

So the one on the left is the larger version compared to the smaller version on the right. They're both quite large, but the larger version is HUGE!!! It would be the perfect bag for a day at the beach or to haul a quilt around or something...

Or I was also thinking this could be a wonderful reversible bag if you made the lining out of lined fabrics that are more and more available these days to coordinate with the outer fabrics. you could have the lining out while at the beach and then flip it with the lining in to put all the soggy clothes in for the drive home. Just thinking...

And I'm planning to start a new project sometime soon (if the garden and weeds let me!) I wondered what you think of the fabrics and colors?

I love the paisley print in the stack above, but I'm a sucker for paisleys...

I'm not quite sure of the goldish one in the center there, but if I blend in a couple other prints it might not seem so bold. It's actually pretty neat and I didn't notice it til I got the fabric home - that piece fades from milk chocolate brown to gold.

It was all inspired by this piece here. I was looking for the newest and greatest three color quilt combination. I was so afraid of something too traditional or primitive, and I didn't want to do the same thing that's been done a hundred times over. Any guesses on what this might turn into?

Speaking of that, I need to go sew a bit before I have to cook dinner. I'm going down to the NQA Show in Columbus on Thursday, I've never been to it before and I'm so excited to go! I'll take tons of pictures and show them later this week.

Also, I'm going to be at Shipshewana in a couple weeks for a day with the Moda Bake Shop at the Farmstead Inn. If you're planning on attending, let me know and I'd love for you to come up and say Hi! I'll have all sorts of goodies there and it should be a fun time.

So, tonight's the first dinner with herbs straight from the garden - Fish Tacos with fresh salsa using some of the Cilantro from the herb garden. It smelled so good when I picked it! I can't wait to try it! I'll let you know how it went! Talk to you all soon!

They're Growing!!!

I feel like one of the biggest dorks on the planet. I know it's only been a little over a week, but I have baby produce!!! Just look how much my garden has grown in a week:

 I have baby yellow beans...

 and green beans. I planted these just last week and look at them already!

 Corn that was planted just last week too

 Baby tomatillos... these are gonna be perfect for Mexican Nights...

 And I was all excited, then I woke up yesterday to really dark clouds. And then the wind came, the horrible rain and the hail - Oh, the hail. And when it finally started to let up about an hour and a half later - this is what my back yard looked like. Sorry it's blurry but it was still raining cats and dogs.

 And do you see my drowning garden. Yes that is a raised garden in that mess - not so raised if you ask me. Luckily it came quickly and went away. The garden is drying out nice and only 1 yellow bean plant was harmed in the storm. We got over 2 inches of rain in about an hour. That water there is about 6 inches deep or more...

 But today it's over 90 degrees and it's all drying up. Then I looked in my window box to see my finger carrots growing. Only another week or so and they'll be ready!

And last but not least, some baby strawberries. I love my garden and I hope to make it wonderful and big to fill my pantry for the winter. And some snacks for now...

I live being outside but for the first time ever I had a really bad allergy attack - sorta. Over the weekend I was doing the normal runny nose, goopy eye thing. Then I woke up Sunday and had pink eye! I had allergies so bad my one eye was all bloodshot so off to the doctor I went and I've had to put drops in my eyes and wear my glasses (BOO!) instead of my contacts for the last few days. I'm thinking tomorrow might be the first day back to contacts (I despise my glasses). Thank goodness for 24 hour non-drowsy allergy meds!

I'll keep you updated and try to get some good pictures of the larger Charmed Living Tote tomorrow. They're calling for more storms, so wish me luck! Talk to you again soon!