Quilts at the Indiana State Fair

On the urging of my friend, June, who has entered items in the State Fair for many years, I entered two quilts in this year's State Fair. Never having entered before (and never having even gone to the State Fair), I had no idea what to expect.

On August 10th, June, Tom and I rode the State Fair Train - another interesting experience. It was a nice ride and avoided the parking hassles at the fairgrounds. We headed for the Family Arts Building and located the quilts immediately. Cambrian Moon was the ribbon winner but it was just as exciting to see my other quilt displayed. Okay - it's actually Jeanie's quilt but I borrowed it for the occasion.

The had the quilts in locked display cases and Cambrian Moon was on the lowest rung of the display case. Not my best side but you can at least get a glimpse of the fractured effect.

There was also a display of a variety of antiques. Look at this bobbin and needle selector. There was quite a wide variety of sizes and types listed.

In one of the Pioneer Village exhibits, they had a raffle quilt hanging as well as some women working on needlecrafts. It was somewhat cooler the day we went - high temperatures were only in the low 90's.

After lunching on grilled corn and other goodies, we toured some other exhibits before heading back for the train. What a fun experience it was for us.

And what a shock to learn of the tragic accident at the fairgrounds and deaths the following Saturday. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were injured or killed.

Margaret

Shipshewana - Round 2

I bumped into a friend from the past a few weeks ago at a bicycle ride coordinated through church. Dennis and I used to belong to the Driftwood Valley Wheelmen, a bicycle riding club here in Columbus. As we were catching up on the past 30 years of our lives, he mentioned the Amishland and Lakes Ride sponsored by the Michiana Bicycle Association and asked if I'd like to go. After dithering around, I decided it would be fun. I've recently resumed riding my bicycle so despite my inexperience, I thought I'd be able to complete the ride as the area is relatively flat with gently rolling hills.

We loaded up Friday morning and headed north for Howe, Indiana, headquarters for the ride. Also along on the ride were Patti (I knew her from working at Hospice) and her husband Rick, Dennis' brother David, Dan - another friend of Dennis' from St. Louis - and Don, another Columbus resident that I knew from the Driftwood Valley Wheelmen days.

David and Patti relaxing in preparation for Saturday's ride.

Dan, Rick Dennis and Don (behind Dennis' knee) with their beverage of choice.

We arrived in Howe, set up our campsites and headed out for a Friday evening ride. It was slightly cooler in northern Indiana but very humid so the 14 mile ride was quite enough. We found a restaurant in Howe and had a pleasant dinner.

Saturday morning arrived and we were ready to roll. The above photo was taken at a SAG stop ( I think) and David was ahead of us. From left to right: me, Dan, Rick Dennis, Don, Patti.

This SAG stop was at the LaGrange City Park. The SAGs had wonderful cookies, lots of fruit - blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches and plums - along with peanut butter & jelly, gorp, gatorade and water. The SAG stops were well organized and placed frequently enough to allow adequate energy refueling.

Dennis getting ready to ride after lunch.

Saturday's route went through Shipshewana. We had lunch at the Garden Gate Cafe - a real treat. The food was excellent and the service was even better. But, I can't tell you how much it pained me to not even walk into Yoder's Department Store and look at the fabric. I didn't even make it to Lolly's! Oh, the withdrawal symptoms!!

The enticement of the day was the homemade ice cream at the end of the ride. This Amish couple had the one stroke engine churning the ice cream - raspberry and vanilla. Inside the dining hall was a quartet, the Goldmine Pickers, for entertainment. It was a wonderful way to end the day. Sunday morning found us back in the saddle, riding up towards Michigan and the lovely lakes that dot the countryside. We took a slightly shorter route and found more hills on the route than on Saturday. But the overcast skies and morning mists were a blessing.There were several picturesque churches on the ride but I found this one particularly appealing. It's actually the only photo I took on Sunday.

We completed the ride with just enough time to strike camp and pack the vehicles before the rains came. It rained most of the way back home; stopping somewhere around Indy. The fields in Bartholomew County looked even worse than when we left and the heat was oppressive.

It was a wonderful weekend of riding, friends and fun. Thanks, Dennis, for inviting me to join the group.

Cheers!

Margaret

Summer UFO Roundup

After our late June trip to Shipshewana, Deb, Kathy and I agreed to get together in early August to see our collective progress on projects new and old. Today was the day for our gathering.



Kathy has taken up knitting to fill the vacant hours of her life. (With a husband and two teenage sons, how much idle time does she have?) She's taken a class at Cottage Knits to learn how to knit socks. While at Shipshewana, she was working on the ribbing and here's a completed sock.

Beautiful colors in the sock and I'm sure the pair will be wonderfully warm when she gets the second one completed!

Kathy then went on to show us the quilts she had completed. For many of them, she had the blocks already completed and just needed to put them together. She's also getting adventurous and is quilting the smaller quilts, doing a lovely job. She even used a decorative stitch to do the diagonal quilting on the blue and white quilt (if my memory is right). We oohed and aahed over the the quilt with the bold colors and black and white mixed in - you can see a touch of the black and white border peeking up on the left hand side of the couch. Notice, too, the wonderful baby sweater. While not technically a quilting UFO, we counted it as a completed project. It is gorgeous.

I showed my quilts next - having completed the quilting on the quilt I made while in Cambria this year. But...I'm saving the picture for later as it has some Christmas and housewarming presents in the picture as well.

Deb finished out the show with her quilts. The Irish Chain is for son John as he heads to college. The stunning quilt in purples with lime green accents was a kit from Shiisa earlier this year. If she lets me quilt it, it may get "lost" in my house! I should have taken a close up picture of the orange and blue quilt. The borders are lots of eyeballs - silly goblin eyes, funny monster eyes - just lots of fun. And we're waiting for completion of the plaid quilt in white, pinks and greens. This was fabric purchased at Calico Point during our Shipshewana foray and she has one block completed thus far.

Kathy completed the most projects - no contest with a total of 9 completed projects. We're talking about setting another date a few months in the future to measure our progress at that point. Any bets on who has the most done next time?

Cheers!

Margaret

New Albany Field Trip

The Carnegie Center for Art & History has long been one of Carol's favorite area museums. Housed in a former Carnegie Library (Indiana is home to more of the Carnegie Libraries than any other state!), their exhibit space is small but they have a great variety of excellent exhibits.
As our quilt guild doesn't meet in August, we thought it would be a good time to take a field trip to see the current exhibit titled Heartbeats: Art Quilts by Penny Sisto. So Carol, Vickie and I headed south for the day.

It is an interesting collection of her quilts and other creations including the tipi shown below. Carol is resting on a bench made by her son-in-law with some of his wooden bowls inside the tipi.
The collection of quilts is quite interesting. They even have recordings of Penny Sisto talking about her inspiration for several of the quilts. I think my favorite is of Crazy Horse. The strip of fabric running down the left hand side of the quilt was unique to this quilt. More often the quilts are composed of fabric scraps, utilizing hand dyed fabrics, silks, leather, foil, feathers, paint and other materials.

Another of her unique creations was this sculpture titled Trail of Tears. This was one of the pieces that she talked about creating - her thoughts behind the depiction of the uprooting of the Indians and their forced move to Oklahoma - as well as the materials and techniques she used to create this sculpture. It is even set up so that tears fall from both the man and woman into a pond at their feet.

Moonwalker, the quilt below, interested me because of how perfect the halo is around the head of the Indian. It is even more noticeable as the remainder of the fabrics in the quilt are bits and pieces, sewn together or appliqued or held down with netting. Also interesting are the hangers that are used to hold the quilts - walking staffs and pieces of driftwood.

Although not quilt related, another interesting exhibit are theThe Yenawine Dioramas. Merle Yenawine was born and reared in Georgetown and carved the scenes. He created each tableau based on his childhood memories of Floyd County, Indiana. In addition to the exquisite detail work of the carvings, portions of each diorama are motorized. In the picture below, the ferris wheel goes around. The bird in the shooting gallery flies back and forth as the man attempts to shoot it. Several other areas of the diorama are motorized as well and there were several dioramas - fun for kids of all ages.

This was definitely a wonderful museum for a daytime excursion. In addition to the wonderful displays, DeLicia (I hope I'm spelling her name correctly) was a wonderful museum hostess. She was excited about all of the exhibits, knew lots of details about Penny Sisto's other exhibits that had been at the museum in the past 5 years, and had great suggestions for a Cuban restaurant just a block away...Habana Blues Tapas Restaurant. Their food was DELICIOUS, reasonably priced and very attractively displayed. The mahi mahi was wonderful. Check it out!

Cheers!

Margaret

Microwave Mania

My microwave finally went ka-plooie (technical term) about 2 months ago. It had been repaired at least 20 years ago and I know it was at least 30 years old. Rather than repair it again (and where do you get a Montgomery Ward microwave repaired, anyway??) I searched for a new microwave that would fit the cabinet space. Easy, right? Wrong!

There were plenty of models that fit the space. It was just that my space was too big for the current models. Width wise, they fit pretty well. It was top to bottom where I had way too much space for today's smaller models.

No problem, just get a trim kit. But even the trim kits were too small for the space.

Eventually, after ordering and returning a microwave and trim kit, reordering a different model and getting a trim kit that was too wide for the cabinet, and reordering the correct trim kit, I finally had all the pieces.

I was still a little bit stymied so called a friend whose husband had retired from the cabinet making business. I thought he would have some ideas about how to get it installed correctly. Dick was wonderfully helpful in getting a base built up so the trim kit would fit correctly. After some difficulties matching up screw holes and getting the microwave leveled, it's finally done.

While I was able to reheat my tea on the stove and cook soup in a pan, it is so much more convenient to use a microwave.

Yeah!

Margaret

Kentuckiana Gathering in Columbus...Indiana!

The Kentuckiana Longarm Group met at my house this afternoon. It was a small gathering and we welcomed several new attendees. Here, Lois, Becky and Donna are enjoying the treats prepared for the meeting. Carol and Kim are likewise helping themselves to the goodies. We love to have munchies when we gather, don't we?

We really did gather to talk about quilting tips and techniques. The primary topic for the afternoon was crosshatch quilting. I had done some research on the different types of crosshatch rulers available. As we neared the end of the demo, I realized I had purchased some of DeLoa Jones' Boomerang rulers, developed specifically for crosshatching. I've GOT to get more organized!

As I worked through the demo, I used one of Renae Haddadin's Arc templates. You can also use a variety of templates from other vendors or even oval templates. That would give an interesting curvature in a larger space.

As a part of the gathering, we also do a Show and Tell with both completed quilts and quilts on which we need ideas. Where was I with my camera then??? Congratulations to all who had quilts win ribbons at fairs and other shows. Kathi did bring her wholecloth quilt (ribbon winner at the Bartholomew County Fair) and Rosemary brought her applique quilt that won a ribbon in the Brown County show. Vivian's quilt won a ribbon at the Jefferson County Fair. She had shown the quilt to the group a few meetings ago so didn't bring it again. Congrats to all.

Cheers!

Margaret

Fireworks on the Fourth

While at MQS this year, the friends I stay with mentioned they had never been to Washington, D.C. Having grown up just outside of D.C., this is a city I love to visit. We planned the trip so we could experience the fireworks while standing on the National Mall. They started this tradition after I moved from the area and it's been on my bucket list for a long time.

We headed for the Mall early in the day. There were lots of things going on - the Fourth of July Parade with several bands from across the country. Here are the balloon holders preparing for their walk down Constitution Avenue. The semi on the left has the helium tanks they used to inflate the balloons - heavy duty tanks.

The Smithsonian's Folklife Festival was in progress on the Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. We spent some time enjoying the various music tents, sampled some of the ethnic foods, and walked through the display areas. And look at the sewing machine being used to create some wall hangings in the Malawi booth! No electrical power here - this was a treadle machine. There were several other countries who displayed their crafts, including some beautiful scarves made from lambs wool. They were luxurious to touch.

Cheryl and John - looking somewhat hot. It was in the low 90's but the humidity was high. We had planned it so that we spent time in the Air and Space Museum, viewing the movie "To Fly!" I remember seeing that movie shortly after the museum opened. It's still a fun movie to watch in the IMAX theater. The museum has lots of wonderful exhibits and we took our time strolling through them, delaying our return to the outside as long as possible.

We found a spot to sit along a reflecting pool and this manhole cover was right at Cheryl's feet. Despite the dirt clogging some of the veins, it is a graceful design and would work well in a circular block, don't you think?

Finally it was time for the fireworks. This is one of the better pictures I took. Although you can see them well in person, pictures tended to show lots of smoke. It took me a minute to realize that the blue screen in the lower right is a movie camera another couple was using. When I asked them to take a picture of us (didn't turn out too well), we got to talking. They are from northwestern Nebraska, near Gering, NE, where Judy Woodworth, one of my favorite quilting teachers, lives.

During the week, we also toured Mount Vernon, Arlington National Cemetery, and Gettysburg. The museums at all three of these places have been recently updated and are tremendous. Even if you've been before, they are worth a return visit. The 34 star flag was on display at Gettysburg. While my father pointed out that there were probably flags with the number of stars ranging from 13 to 50 through the years, I don't recall ever seeing a 34 star flag. I love the graceful way the stars are positioned on the field of blue.

It was a wonderful trip - lots of walking, lots of talking while walking, and lots of visiting important sites in our country's history.

Cheers!

Margaret