Shipshewana Quilt Festival

Deb, Kathy and I headed north for our second annual trip to the Shipshewana Quilt Festival.  This year, we added a few stops at quilt shops on the way.  We had intended to stop at the two quilt shops in Wakurusa, but Deb and I didn't quite have our navigating/driving coordination in gear so we whizzed right by the turn into town.  Rather than turn around, we headed toward Calico Point and were much more careful to take the right road (24856 County Road 40, Goshen, Indiana) as this is a wonderful shop that we didn't want to miss.  If you're ever anywhere near Goshen, make sure you check out Calico Point.  They have a wonderful system for displaying fabrics on these racks so that the entire range of fabrics can be seen at one time.  And their prices are several dollars less than the typical quilt shop.  If our purchases are any indication, they make up for it in volume!

After spending an hour or more there, we headed north to Erica's in South Bend.  More fabric than you can shake a stick at and plenty of notions to go along with it.  They always have fun fabrics for kids quilts, too.

Having exhausted our eyes (believe it or not, you can have fabric overload!), we headed for the hotel and dinner.  We were near the Notre Dame campus and knew there had to be eating spots close by.  We found a good one and had a delightful dinner on Ladies Night.  After dinner, we enjoyed a walk around the Notre Dame campus...

Kathy and Deb pointing to "Touchdown Jesus" - the mural that is visible from inside the football stadium, just over the football goalposts and score board.  The real title is "The Word of Life."  To learn more about this mural which is 134' x 68' and contains over 5700 granite tiles, watch the 6 minute You Tube clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XnqAdSI5MU.  It includes comments by Father Hesburgh, president emeritus of Notre Dame University.

The first floor walls of the Hesburgh Library included many symbols of Christianity.  I liked this one for its quilting design possibilities.

We then were able to walk through the Basilica and view the gorgeous interior.  There were actually quite a few people admiring various aspects of the architecture and art in this lovely building.

 On Thursday, we headed over to Shipshewana to scour the quilt shops in town for bargains and fabrics not found elsewhere.  Not that we were slow getting started, but by the time we got to Shipshewana, it was time for lunch so we ate at the Blue Gate Restaurant.  Good food - and lots of it.  The meatloaf and sweet potato casserole were excellent.

Then it was time for Lolly's bargain basement (fabrics at $5 - $6 per yard) and worked our way upstairs to Lolly's main store.  There were several other shops in that complex that we wandered through and our one regret is not stopping for a hot pretzel.  Next year!  On to Yoder's for another round of fabric buying.  They had wonderful black, white and red fabrics so I indulged and now have a good selection of fabrics for at least two different quilts.

Friday we finally hit the quilt show.  This is only the third year of the show and they had 114 quilts entered in the show and a special display of quilts set on point.

This quilt intrigued me - not only because of the stunning color palette but because of the creative ways in which the border print fabric was used.  You can see one aspect of the border print in the sashing.

Look at the creative way in which another part of the border print is used as one of the borders.  The side triangles are actually appliqued to the pieced orange and border print fabric.  What an interesting way to achieve this beautiful effect.

I just love the bright colors in this quilt.  But I took this picture because I have some leftover blocks pieced like the border.  I like this idea and have been thinking about what type of quilt I want to have in the middle.  Stay tuned!

I was thrilled that my Cambrian Moon quilt won 1st Place in the small pieced category. 

After looking at all of the quilts in the show, we ended by looking at the vendor booths.  While we did purchase a few items, we had pretty well decided to stop at Calico Point on our way home.  We spent another hour or so buying more fabric there and I was able to get a picture of this stunning quilt.

 Although the red, black and white fabrics I purchased on this trip aren't quite the right combination for this quilt, I have some fabrics in my stash that will work quite well with this design.  I purchased the pattern but will make some adjustments to simplify the piecing.

Finally, we headed home with a trunk full of fabric and gobs of ideas for upcoming quilt projects.  We're meeting on August 5th to see what progress we've made in getting any projects out of our heads and into the realm of a completed quilt top or wall hanging.

Cheers!
Margaret

DN Rides and Great News

Yesterday was the Girlfriend Ride here in Columbus.  This is the third year for the ride that raises money for Turning Point Domestic Violence Service.  My P.E.O. Chapter DN has several members who joined together yesterday for an enjoyable, if somewhat soggy, ride. 

Linda made the sign that expresses our love for baby Julia.  In the picture are (crouching:  Sydney, McKinsey, Lynette, Linda, Laura and standing Kelly, Alyssa, Debbie, Hannah and me.  Not shown are Kathy - who registered when it was pouring rain so she went home, and Susan and Kaelin who were working at one of the SAG stops)

Because it was sprinkling when we arrived to register, we ate lots of chocolate covered strawberries and other fruits, talked with friends and just waited for the rain to stop.  Stop it did and we decided to go on the 10K ride as the skies were still threatening.

The ride was enjoyable and we completed it in good time.  Good enough, it turns out, that most of the group decided to do the loop again.  I bailed on them so didn't complete the second loop.  They were going to stop at the SAG stop to see if they could connect with Susan and Kaelin.  I'm sure they completed that loop before the rains started again.

So...if you ride, come join us next year.  We talked about perhaps trying the 50K loop as that goes to Hope and includes complimentary shoulder massages - a real treat.

And now for the best news...Julia was released from the hospital on Saturday.  I saw her on Tuesday and was able to hold and rock her.  She improved steadily through the week and was released to go home - a blessing for everyone.  She does have a heart monitor and, while I'm sure that's a comfort so her condition can be monitored, I'm still praying for a total recovery and no more scary incidents.

Happy Father's Day.

Margaret

Prayers for Baby Julia

Quilt for Julia - dinosaurs and bright colors make a fun baby quilt.

Julia was born May 15th and has already been to a P.E.O. meeting.  She's an absolute doll.  Her mom is our chapter president and a vivacious, outgoing and energetic woman.  Unfortunately, Julia ran into some medical issues and is now at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.  While I know she is getting excellent care there, it is scary that she is having such difficulties so early in her young life.

Please say a prayer for baby Julia, her parents, her brother and sister, and all of her extended family.  Although the last report is that her tests results show improvement, she is still in critical condition.

I'm looking forward to the day I can give this quilt to her and it will wrap her in tenderness and love.

Margaret

I admit - I'm a Ding-a-ling

I've been a Ding-a-ling for a long time, no question about that.  But last week we celebrated the music ministry of another Ding-a-ling who was retiring from her position as Head Ding-a-ling.  I'm talking about ringing handbells and choir chimes, an activity I've enjoyed for more than 25 years.

Karen has been our director for several years and retired as our director.  At our end-of-the-season gathering, we celebrated with a pitch-in dinner.  Good food, good friends and great memories of our times together.  And we haven't let Karen entirely off the hook - we hope to be able to call on her when we need a substitute ringer.

We had a smattering of token gifts for her, including a T-Shirt that proclaimed she was just "Lion Around," some musical socks (I need to get some of those!) and a table runner I concocted.

I took three separate pictures of our bells and chimes, starting with the larger bells and chimes on the left and graduating to the smallest bells and chimes on the right. 

On the back side is a signature page - current and former bell players signed and left messages for Karen.  Cynthia donated some music fabric to incorporate in the table runner.

Here's Karen reading the signatures and messages on the table runner.  Her daughter and husband are seated to her left.



Future bell players around the table with some former ding-a-lings seated on the couch.

It was great to have some time to catch up with former ringers, including Janie, a cancer survivor, and Sherri who is recovering from a double transplant operation.  Although only a month out from her operations, Sherri looked great and will soon be returning to her home in Arizona.

And the food was delicious!  Aren't pitch-ins always that way?

Cheers!
Margaret

CSQ Guild Show and Tell with a Threadpainting Kicker

June 1st was another Guild meeting.  Our UFO challenge has resulted in some wonderful quilts getting completed and appreciated by members.  It's interesting how many times a member will display the quilt and say something to the effect that the challenge was what motivated them to get the work done on a particular project.  YEAH!  Just take a look...

Ruth (at right) finished this wonderful feathered star quilt.  She hand quilted it, too.  It drew lots of Oohs and Aahs as well it should.

Alice (at right) had this sampler quilt she completed.  Another beauty and I love the blue and yellow color combinations.

I think this was a quilt brought by Harriet (not in the picture) and is one she quilted for a customer.  I love the layout with the brown squares in the cream that march around the outside of the quilt.

Another UFO completed - and loved by her sister.  Too bad I'm blanking on the name of the quilter who in this picture is holding her own quilt.

Kathi talking about one of the Rock Creek quilts her daughter worked on in 4th grade - 2 years ago!

Another quilt for Kathi's daugher as well as a smaller quilt for the daugher's baby doll - cute!

Susan completed this McKenna Ryan pattern - one of a set of 12 (I think) or so that she has been working on.

Then it was time for our guest speaker.  I'm STILL pumped up about the things I've seen and learned this week about threadpainting. Threadpainting is something I've wanted to do for several years - originally on my longarm machine. I took a class from Claudia Pfeil last year and have practiced a few times but haven't really gotten the hang of it on my longarm. Then I saw Terry White's work at the Rising Sun Quilt Fest last year and have been salivating ever since. Terry White is a studio fiber artist (her words), very talented and great teacher (my words).


Terry came and did a trunk show for our Guild on Wednesday. She talked about various aspects of threads, fabrics, how she threadpaints, the different fabrics she uses, issues she's bumped into and how she has resolved them. Interspersed with this narrative were lots of fun stories about her kids, her life and her work. She had glorious examples and let us parade them around the room so each guild member could see the work up close. For example:

You can see the basic design of the scene depicted in this wall hanging. 

Look at the detail of the lion and lamb - threadpainting can give such wonderful detail and Terry's work is fantastic.

The Coleus quilt is for her son - a much more masculine looking quilt than the angel quilt she did for her daughter.

This is probably my favorite of Terry's quilts.  Not sure if it's the colors that appeal to me the most or the subject matter - Sun and Moon.   Regardless, I love it.  The fabric is hand dyed different colors but the background thread around the sun and moon is the same blue thread, yielding a different look onthe different colors. 

Carol doing the holding so Vicki and Jan can look at "My Big Fat Greek Still Life" quilt up close.

 Then on Thursday, Terry came back for a threadpainting workshop.  I learned several things about using my machine, about different types of needles (microtex vs. embroidery vs. universal), threads for the bobbin when threadpainting (serger thread or bobbin thread) and threads for the top - just about anything else.

Terry is demonstrating one of her techniques.  I had studied her book but it's always helpful to hear the instructions and see the technique demonstrated.

New Threadpainters enjoying lunch and a break.

JoAnn (Jiffy JoAnn) gets the prize for having completed the most on her sample.  She has wonderful background fills that are in a lighter thread and so aren't quite visiblein the picture.

Susan completed quite a bit using the different techniques discussed in class.

Gayle chose to emphasize the swag on the bottom - an artistic way to turn an oops into a new design choice.  I laughed with her because I had some of the same problems starting out that she did but it truly looks good.  She should be proud!

Notice the color of Ann's snail and her shirt.  We do have our own color preferences don't we?

Carol with her threadpainting sample. 

  It was a fun class and I learned quite a bit.  I've had a design in my head and actually drawn out for several years.  Now I have the knowledge to start working on it.   Time to get started!

Cheers!
Margaret