Farmpark Quilt Show!!! Part 1

Today I wanted to show you some of my favorite quilts from this year's show. I didn't get to the show as early as I normally do each year, but dang it was cold! I was a hibernating fool this winter. My best friend and I (and her kiddos) took advantage of a nice warm sunny day to check out the show and the rest of the park.

 When you walk into the Farmpark entrance during the show, this is what you'll see... The Best of Show is hanging in the entrance for all to see!

 This quilt is spectacular to say the least! Sorry for the sun spots, but I wasn't going to complain about the sunshine! You can't really see the quilting in this picture, but you can see the detailing in the picture below.

 This is the back of the quilt. It's really more of an off-white color, but I tried to enhance the contrast to show the quilting better. Those little pebbles and swirls are about the size of a pea... And don't even get me started on the outlined applique shapes and the stars!!! Gorgeous!!!

 Now, you've seen a bunch of Quiltworx (Judy Niemeyer) quilts on my blog in the past. I really liked this one for the use of solid fabrics and the simple yet effective quilting. It gives a totally different vibe this way.

 I can't even begin to tell you how many people told me about this quilt before I got to the show. They'd all start the story with - there's this quilt... when you turn down the one hallway it's at the end... By the third or fourth tale, I knew which quilt they were talking about and I hadn't even seen it yet! (I know someone somewhere is shaking a grammatical finger at my last sentence and I'm sorry, but I'm typing how I'd talk and sometimes it's not pretty)

Back to the quilt. This thing had to take FOREVER!!! There's applique and sparkles and rhinestones and the quilting!!! Here take a look:

 Can we say detail? There's even little other details quilted in... You could stare at this quilt for hours and still not see it all! It was gorgeous and I can't even imagine taking on such a task!

 I loved this quilt that blended a complex block with a traditional design and then threw in a wave applique on top of it all! For me, I don't know how to tackle adding the applique and blending it in with the pieces like that... This was very neat to see!

 And the hand quilting! I actually started hand quilting before I switched to long arming... I actually hate to say switch, I still like to hand quilt, but for deadline reasons I usually opt for the machine. Well, this quilt was made by the sweet lady that taught me to hand quilt. Her quilting is so dense in certain blocks, it adds texture rather than another element. She echoed around these flowers about every 1/8th inch!

 Here's another picture of the quilt. There were alternate blocks with a little less quilting, but her work is superb and she works hard to achieve these results! I love hand quilting, but I don't see myself quilting this dense!

 I also loved seeing the quilts with teeny tiny pieces. These aren't the tiniest I saw, but this was a large quilt with strips that finished at probably 3/4" or less... That's a lot of little seams!

We saw some quilts, then we took a break to see the animals and let the kids milk a cow! Literally right down the hallway from one of the rooms for the quilt show is the Dairy Parlor! And just on the other side of the Parlor is a room they use for quilting classes during the show. I took many more pictures and I'll show them over the next few days.

I had a blast checking out the quilt show and the park and it was even more fun to have these guys tagging along! I got to see what Katti thought of the quilts form her perspective. She and I used to quilt a long time ago and then life happened, but she's looking to get back into it. Plus it was fun to see what the kids thought of the quilts too!

Did you see a favorite quilt? This show had 186 quilts entered this year. There was something for everyone and then some! I'll show you more pictures tomorrow!

Since that seemed to go so well...

I'm entering another quilt!!! Please take the time if you can to join the Blogger's Quilt Festival and share what you've made. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be grandiose, it has to be something you enjoy. Really that is all a quilt show should be (even an online show) is sharing what you've done with people. Yes there are prizes to be had, but if you win, it's just icing on the cake, don't you agree?

So for more information on the Blogger's Quilt Festival put on by the amazing Amy Ellis, you can find all of the information needed to enter or to vote (voting begins this weekend!) by clicking here. 

For my second quilt, I am digging out one of my most nostalgic quilts that I've made to enter into the Hand Quilted Category.

 This is an older pattern of mine called From Grammy With Love. I made this quilt very traditionally with 1930's reproduction fabrics and I used solid white as both the border and backing.

 I quilted simple lines withing each of the pieces and then I quilted butterflies into the border. It's simple but sweet. As soon as the binding was done, I washed and dried this quilt and now it really has that crinkly vintage vibe to it.

 Here's how the quilt looks overall, it's been a fun small quilt to make.

I actually have had several people ask where I got this antique quilt from. They cannot believe that I actually made it myself with how it turned out! I think that is one of the biggest compliments for a quilt like this. It makes me think that all of those hours of quilting were worth it. This was my first hand quilted quilt and it was a doosy. I used Warm & White batting (not knowing any better) and it killed my fingers (and a few thimbles) to finish this quilt. It wasn't the batting I should have used, but now I know.

I'm glad they kept the hand quilting category in this years Blogger's Quilt Festival and I love the other entries thus far. Remember you too can enter your own quilt into one of the many categories through tomorrow, Oct. 31st! Voting begins Nov. 1st and I'd love to see your quilts entered! For more information about how to enter or how to vote, visit Amy's blog post here. Otherwise, if you'd just like some inspiration, head on over and take a gander at all of the quilts entered! There's so much to see, there's something for everyone!

Have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!!!

Dog Days of Summer

It is super hot and humid here in Ohio right now, so what am I doing? Crazy I know, but I've actually been staying inside and hand quilting! 

It seems like I have only had the opportunity to hand quilt during the summer these last couple years and not when I would like to in the winter. :(

But I am staying cool and enjoying this time. So is Paco. Today while stitching I looked over to see this adorable sight:

It just made my day and made me happy that I was able to be home to see it! Stay cool out there!

Old Fashioned

Christmas decorations are up and out (or as much as I'm going to get to this year) and I thought I'd show you a little of what I did. I love this hat box that doubles as wrapping accessory holder and I have to tell you about my color scheme.

Almost 7 years ago, Ben and I got married just before Christmas. I loved it and wouldn't have done it different looking back. I had already chosen red and gold as my color scheme for the original date we picked (in June) but changed the date to Christmas time and it worked so much better. We had hardly any decorating to do at the church, I had poinsettias in my and my bridesmaid's bouquets, and it was perfect. No matter how much I try, every Christmas decoration I am drawn to will always be red and gold. There's more, but this is the only picture I have so far...

 To the topic of the day, hand quilting! If you've read some of my previous posts about all sorts of topics you might see a reoccurring trend of "back to the basics". In art school, usually the first quarter to half of your schooling is fundamentals, basics, and principles (and learning the difference between them all). I really took that to heart and use that line of thinking in all things that I do. To advance yourself in most anything, you first have to conquer the basics.

I just love hand quilting! Sometimes it's harder, takes longer, and might not make sense to some people, but it's so relaxing to me. Hubbin is always asking me when I'm hand quilting, "Wouldn't it be faster and easier to do that on your machine?". To answer him yes it might be faster depending on the look I'm going for. Easier, depends on the project. Sometimes if I want to be really accurate and my machine just can't make the sharp turns cleanly, or I have a bunch of starts and stops I will hand quilt it instead.

Hand quilting uses very small needles that are only about an inch long, and I usually use a coated thread. The coating on the thread helps protect it since while quilting it will get much more abuse going through all three layers (top, batting, and backing) over and over again. You can use any thread you like, however if it's not coated, you will need to treat it with either wax or Thread Heaven and use much smaller pieces overall.

 There are several ways to hand quilt as far as technique. I "rock" my stitches which means I usually put on either 2 or 3 stitches onto the needle before pulling it through completely. There's a spoon method, a thumb method, single stitching (we commonly refer to as "Stick and Stab"). All of these are great and get you the same end result. The nice thing with quilting is there is no "right" or "wrong" way to do things, it's just what works best for you!

I quilt towards myself or to a slight left (but I'm working on sewing in more directions) because I'm right handed and it feels best for me. You can quilt away from yourself, or in any direction. The nice thing about using a hoop is you can move the hoop depending on where you need to stitch so it's more comfortable.

I use two different types of hoops to quilt. In the above picture you can see a resin round hoop. I like this style because it has a locking lip and groove between the two pieces so it holds the quilt better without slipping like some plastics can do. Other round hoops can be found in wood or other materials and it's good to have a variety of sizes. To help with slipping on hoops without a tongue and groove system like mine, there's a new tape out that has grips on it specifically to help keep things where you like it. Other shapes found in these materials are oblong and oval and they also come in different thicknesses.

Another style that I just started using recently is a snap frame. This is great for traveling or even embroidery projects as well. There are four parts that make up the rounded frame (like a PVC pipe material) and there are four pieces that snap onto the sides holding your project in place (on the top and side). I also like this for different reasons. One of the most important aspects of hand quilting is to keep your project taught through all the layers, but have enough give while quilting to allow the needle to glide through the quilt. If you have it too tight, your needle will just bounce back at you and you'll be fighting it more than needed. With the way this frame snaps the pieces onto the sides, to change the tension all you have to do is twist the outer piece to either loosen or tighten the layers.

Also it is rectangular so depending on the style of quilting pattern you're using, you can quilt more at one time without having to move the frame. The only thing to watch out with this quilt is with the nature of how the pieces snap together for tension, you are more prone to wrinkles and creases in unwanted areas if you're not careful. But overall, it's a great tool to have.

Another important thing to have is a thimble (or 5)! I prefer rubber thimbles and have a few on hand because or hands change, temperatures change....and with rubber thimbles they're easier to adapt to these changes than a metal one. If you put on your thimble and it's way too tight, throw it in the microwave for a couple seconds and it should loosen up a bit. Otherwise if it's too loose, throw it in the freezer or fridge for a few minutes and it should shrink a tad. You can't do that with metal! And for the right fit, get one that feels just a bit too tight, you'll thank me later. If you get one that fits just perfect now, after a couple hours of quilting your hands will be warmer, it will get warmer and loosen up and might be too loose. But that's also why I recommend getting a few. They will all naturally be different if just slightly.

The quilt above is one I'm working on quilting now, below is From Grammy With Love and it was my first hand quilted "quilt". I found this butterfly border and  love the way it turned out. I have since washed this quilt which gives it an extra "crinkly" feel that adds to the 1930's charm of the fabrics. I'm also working on a few other things that I can't show because Christmas is coming and inquiring eyes might be looking...

So to recap, the basics needed for hand quilting are:

* Hand Quilting Needles

* Coated Thread (or thread and wax)

* Thimble (saves your fingers!)

* Quilting Hoop or Frame

* Scissors

There is so much more to it than I can tell you here, but if you get the opportunity, take a class. This is a great technique to learn and it's very cost effective to quilt things on your own. If you have any other questions, please let me know by commenting here or e-mailing me at RubyBlueQuilts at Gmail dot com. Also, sometimes it can add a charm that machine quilting can't give you for period specific quilts. I love it not for just the charm and the savings, but it is so relaxing! This time of year I pop in a movie, sit on the couch, and just quilt away for hours.

Broccoli Cheese Soup & Snow

There's snow on the ground, more is expected to be here pretty much every day from now until May (okay, I could be exaggerating a tad...) and it's perfect weather to quilt and take a break with a bowl of nice hot soup.

One of my good friends put on Facebook last night: "The weather forecast for Northeast Ohio is expect Lake Effect snow for the next 4 months, have a nice winter!" She doesn't know how true that is! Yesterday we were to expect 1" of accumulation for the day, by 8am it was here and it snowed until about 11am but the sun came out and melted the excess, so all in all we did end up with about 1" on the ground.

Onto the recipe, this is a recipe I found in a cookbook and tried and it was off, so I altered it quite a bit and now I love it. Basically I took the bones of the recipe and added this here, took out this there, and tada!

Here's what you need to make my version of Broccoli Cheese Soup:

Half of a Medium Onion Finely Chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth

3 cups Milk

3-4 cups Chopped Broccoli (depends on how this you like it)

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Crumbled Bacon or Diced Ham or Something (completely optional)

I highly recommend gathering and preparing all of the ingredients before you start, this goes really quick. Oh, did I mention it only takes about 20 minutes to make this soup? You'll want to start by melting the butter in the soup pan.

Once melted, add the diced onion and cook until it's soft and slightly transparent.

Once the onion is cooked, add the flour and mix together making a roux.

Once the roux is mixed evenly, add the Chicken Broth and Milk all at the same time (see what I mean about it going quickly?)

Cover and bring to a boil, you'll know how thick the soup will be once it boils. If you feel you need to make it thicker, add more flour mixed with a little water first. For a thinner mix, add more Chicken Broth or Milk.

Bring it to a nice rolling boil and then add the broccoli.

I used frozen chopped broccoli (super cheap) and diced it even smaller and added a bunch so every bite had some broccoli in it, cook just enough to heat the soup through again.

 Bring off the heat and add the cheese, mix in evenly.

 At this point you can add in the "extras". We made bacon for breakfast and had leftovers, so I added that in. I really want to try the little diced ham you normally see on salad bars, but you can add virtually anything, or just leave as is.

 Spoon it out, top it off, and dig in. This recipe makes enough for atleast 4 large bowls of soup.

And this is the end result, yuuummmmmmyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Like I said, it cooks up really quick and with frozen broccoli, and other ingredients I usually have on hand or in the pantry, I can make this pretty much any time and without a lot of notice. Sometimes it's just nice to sit and relax with soup, a piece of bread, and the TV.

I hope you like it and let me know if you have any other ideas for optional add ins. More recipes to come, I promise, for know I've been hand quilting quite a bit, no new projects to speak of. The last month or so of the year I consider time to make Christmas gifts (which are almost all done) and catching up on quilting for the year. Especially hand quilting.

I love to hand quilt, however it is more time consuming and it's not the most ideal in the heat of Summer. That makes days like today with a high in the 20s and a wind chill in the teens the perfect day to sit back, relax, watch some movies (or "listen" to some movies) and quilt! Although the other night I DVRed a special on Cirque de Soliel (I hope I spelled it right!) and was so mesmerized, no quilting was getting done. But now I really want to go see a show or 5, any suggestions on Cirque de Soliel shows you'd recommend?

Alright, time to quilt, I'll show you some pictures soon and we can talk a little further into hand quilting. How's that sound? For now, looking at all of my pictures from cooking has made me hungry, so I'm off to the kitchen. Until next time!