Happy New Years Eve Eve!

Kirsten here.  2024 is almost over.  We did so much this year.  Astrid and I just finished our wall-hangings.  They are both machine-pieced, but totally hand quilted and bound, with a little bit of embroidery. I thought I would never hand-quilt another quilt, after the one I finished in 2020, which took me more than a year to get the hand-quilting done.  But there is a new stitch in town, called the long stitch.  Plus, I started doing more embroidery this year, too.

Astrid wanted to try doing the hand-quilting, so we decided to do primitive type wall-hangings, because they are not so large as regular quilts are.  We used up a few of our ever-growing piles of scraps.  It was fun to get together and sew without one of us lugging our sewing machine to the others' place.  This is a great travel project!

Jane Creates an Old-Fashioned Looking Quilt

Hi, Jane here.  I have all these old fabric scraps, and someone recently gave me some old nine-patch blocks which are amazing looking.  I decided to get scrappy and use some strips and include some of those large nine-patch blocks.  I did throw in a couple solids around the four-patch border to keep it from being too muddy looking.  Strange as it may seem, it all came together pretty well.  I just finished it up before Thanksgiving.

Christmas Quilts

It would seem some of us are on a red and green or a Christmas quilt kick.  Marsha finished her Christmas quilt, just as our weather has finally changed and it truly feels like November.  We met at her and Astrid's place and had tea and apple pie, as we just visited for a few hours.  I knew Marsha was working on a red and green quilt, but then she surprised us with a fabulous Christmas quilt.  

It is a medallion quilt!  What an impact the color and design make!  Marsha has come a long way in her quilting skills and design ideas.

Edna's Visit

When Edna came in August, she brought some quilts she finished this year.  We have all been pretty busy, even after our quilt show was over.  We recently met at Marsha and Astrid's place for a potluck and a bit of show and tell.

Edna sent us a photo, in July, of this one when it was just a quilt top.  She managed to get it finished before her trip up here, to help us with the quilt show.  I like the earth fabrics and dragon flies on this one.

This quilt is called Spinning Star.  It seems there are some videos out there that instruct quilters to use a "right on the edge" seam to make these star blocks.  Edna just added a quarter inch width and a half inch length to the white strips that make the stars, so her quilt has quarter inch seams that won't pull out with the least bit of handling.

Finally, Edna made this stunning Christmas quilt with some yule-tide scraps given her by a friend.  We had a wonderful visit with Edna, and it was so nice having her with us for a while.  She promised to keep us updated on her quilt adventures.

Welcome!

With all the hard work, planning, making, and then running our "Good Friends Quilt Show", we forgot to post a photo of our amazing welcome sign.  It was the first bit, we completed, that made us feel we were really getting somewhere.  It is at the entrance of our show.  The first photo, below, is when we were working on getting everything set-up.  The second photo, below, is on the first day of the show.

Good Friends Quilt Show Taking Place in Garden City, Idaho

It has been a crazy few weeks, getting everything ready for our quilt show.  It has been up and running for a week and a half.  We have had tons of people come through.  I am wishing we had put a guest book out for comments from attendees. 

Here is Astrid selling raffle tickets for the quilt Kirsten donated.  

Jane was monitoring the quilts.

Someone admiring Kirsten's hand-quilted Civil War Nine-Patch quilt.

Norma and Edna having a discussion.  

So many quilts to see!  This pink and brown beauty is a Stack N Whack quilt.  

Good Friends Quilt Show!

Our "Good Friends Quilt Show" is a labor of love.  We have all been working tirelessly to get it going.  Tomorrow is opening day!

Astrid brought in a ton of clothespins, that Edna and Carol painted.  We want to display our quilts in style.

Flashy clothespins, oh yeah!

Marsha and Norma working together.

Astrid and Edna hard at work.

Norma helps Kirsten with quilt hanging.

Jane and Marsha hanging quilts.

We really do need a step-stool, but that blue chair worked out just fine.  We worked hard all day. We got the skirt on the table, the raffle quilt ticket collection box fixed up, and all the quilts hung.  Tomorrow, Friday, August 16, 2024, is the opening day of what we have named the "Good Friends Quilt Show."

It is at Expo Idaho in the South Exposition Bldg, August 16 thru 25, from noon to 10 PM each day.  Please come, we would love to see you there!