Quilt Collaboration Complete

Astrid and Jane got their scrappy liberated medallion quilt completed.  They both did the piecing of the quilt top.  Jane did the quilting and Astrid did the binding. 

It is in a very scrappy style using leftover bits and orphan blocks from several previously constructed quilts.  They are trying to not waste fabric.  I think it will fit into our Gwen and Freddie style for our next quilt show!

Edna Completes Her Tribute Quilt!

I have been working hard on my liberated nine-patch quilt with the amazing reds and aquas. 

I had to not look at it for a week, though, so I could stand back and view it with fresh eyes.  After working intensely on a project, it is good to put it out of sight for a while so you can appreciate it more.  I call it aging.    [to see the details closer up, click on the photo]

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.

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.  

Kuna Days Parade!

Guess who made it back up to Idaho?  Edna got here in time to be in the Kuna Days Parade with us.   That was last Saturday, the third.

Kirsten and Edna waving to the crowd.

There were six of us on our amazing quilt float this year:  Edna, Kirsten, Norma, Astrid, Marsha, and Jane.

Here is Marsha and Astrid between Jane and Norma.

Kudo's to our driver, who did an outstanding job this year; gradual slow-downs and speed-ups, with no quick take offs or sudden braking.  It was a fabulous time, with lots of folks on the street-sides, with a genuine air of festiveness.  We all went out to lunch, with Carol and Annita, after we finished the route.

Someone's Quilt is Coming Along

We have been very busy gearing up for our quilt show, that is less than a month away.  Here is the information:  

Good Friends Quilt Show will be open on August 16 through 25, from noon am to 10 pm at the Fairgrounds in Garden City.  It will be in the South Exposition Building.

This is no kidding!  We are all so very excited.   nb: the Fairgrounds are also known (to new-comers) as Expo Idaho.

Edna is coming up for the occasion!  Edna e-mailed us this photo of the quilt she has laid out on her design wall.  She said she will do her best to get the blocks sewed to each other and have it completed to bring with her to Idaho.

This is a very exciting time for all of us.  To think about it being less than a month away makes me want to hyperventilate!  It is good to have friends to help out, so we can all support each other in our excitement.  Please, come to our show!  See you there!

Jane's Confetti Quilt: Pockets Full of Posies

Jane here.  I have been looking through some of the amazing quilts that Kirsten has completed, and I got inspired.  One of my favorites is her confetti quilt.  The quilt is constructed by making the back, cutting the batting to fit the back, and making a solid top.  You sandwich those three pieces first, then you cut smaller pieces of fabric to just sew on to the top of the sandwiched layers.  The stitching that you sew around each small piece, is also the stitching that quilts the whole sandwich together.  This is known as "killing two birds with one stone", or "quilt-as-you-go".  

It is just another way to quilt-as-you-go.  The pieces, sewn on top, just have raw edges, and that is okay.  You could just use a bunch of small scraps to stitch on the top, and you would not have to cut any fabric down.  I used some scraps on mine, just the size they were, but I also fussy cut some flowers and some pocket shapes.  I, also, overlapped some of my pieces.  It is the same type of technique as Kirsten's, but they look completely different.  That is one of the great things about quilting.  You can add your own style!  To view Kirsten's confetti quilt, click here.

Marsha and Astrid Complete Their RWB On-point Four-patch Quilts

We have been busy quilting girls!  Astrid and I have completed our red, white, and blue quilts.  They are both the same design.  We each made our four-patch layouts with color differences.  Mine has two whites, and one red, and one blue.  Astrid made her four-patch squares with two blues and two reds.  It makes for totally different color and design-look outcomes.

When I cut the pieces for my quilt, I made the squares a little larger than Astrid did hers.  That has caused my quilt to be a little bigger than hers.  I think they both look awesome.  I particularly like the traditional sorts of fabrics that Astrid used.  Mine are a little brighter for a more contemporary look.  Be sure to try cutting out some squares and sewing them together; it may amaze you!

Red, White, and Blue Four-patch Quilts

Marsha here.  Astrid and I are making on-point four-patch quilts.  We decided to use our red, white, and blue stashes.  This quilt type of construction is great for string-piecing.  That means you feed the blocks, to be sewed together, through your sewing machine one immediately after another.  It saves a lot of thread and time.

This is Astrid and I holding up some of her blocks.  She has the cutest sewing room with a big design wall.

It was a great day for staying in and piecing quilt blocks, because it snowed today!  Now, we just have to snip the threads between each block and press them.  Then we can sew the rest of the white triangles to the other two sides of each block.  We are movin' and shakin'!

What's on the Design Wall in December?

I saw this cool looking quilt somewhere.  It was a simple design of crosses in squares.  I decided I wanted to make one, especially since I have so many lovely fabrics to mix and match with.  I tried to use a nice combination of small prints, large prints, and solids.  It has been a lot of fun messing around with all these colors.

This is the entire bunch of blocks on the design wall.  They have not been sewed together.  I want them to look random and scrappy, so I think I will just stick with this layout.  My eye is happy.   I like them this way so much, I almost don't want to square them up to a bit smaller size, but I have my trusty square ruler already to trim them down to size.  After I trim them down, I will sew them together in rows, then sew the rows to each other.  I am not going to put a border on this one.  It will be perfect without borders.  This is Kirsten, showing you my latest work in progress.

Astrid's Kawandi Quilt

Astrid has been extremely busy these last couple of months.  Astrid really like's making quilts that represent different cultures.  She recently went to a retreat where she met another quilter who had an amazing quilt.  She said it was a Kawandi quilt.  Astrid had taken her big box of scraps, to the retreat, so this quilt was easy to make while she was at the retreat.  

Of course, Jane was over for a visit, and she put on the new outfit that Astrid made for her.  Wow! Those rose-colored overalls and striped shirt fit her perfectly.  Jane love's her new outfit.  Jane was really impressed with Astrid's Kawandi quilt, too.  Astrid said there are lots of websites and blogs about Kawandi quilts, if you are interested.  Apparently, Kawandi is an India quilt style that was brought to India by Africans, who call their style of quilting Siddi.   If you need to write a research paper, this is a great topic, and a great way to learn about another style of quilting!

Now, Jane has a dilemma.  She cannot decide which quilting style to teach in her upcoming January tutorial; Hachi or Kawandi.

Marsha's Coin Quilt

Something we quilters come to realize, sooner or later, is every time we make a quilt, we also make scraps.  Marsha has been trying to get all our scraps under control, but it seems like a futile activity.  She used some scraps to make a lovely coin quilt.  

Astrid helped Marsha hold up the quilt for a photo.  It is lovely and very scrappy.  Marsha said she is going to do another scrappy quilt with chunks of fabric scraps, the way Karen Brown shows in one of her videos about how to make an ugly quilt.  The funny thing is if you use the right scraps, they turn into lovely quilts, instead.  That is just one more thing we have learned about the magic of quilt making.

Tomato Tree Orchard Quilt

Since I sold my wonky house quilt, that I put in The Fair, I had to make a new wonky house quilt.  I decided to make the trees with this lovely tomato fabric that I only have a little bit of.  I don't know where I got it.  I also made two wonky houses: one with a family of chickens, and the other with a family of bunny rabbits.  I just completed it last night.

I think I can make up a story about them.  Two families that live in a little place called Tomato Tree Orchard. 

Astrid Completes Her Hachi Quilt

Astrid worked very hard on her Hachi quilt.  She used mostly Japanese fabrics and her favorite fabric from South Korea (the big flower print with green background).  

She included unexpected visitors, and she did not back-stitch on her stitch-in-the-ditch, but left long threads at the beginnings and ends, so she could tie knots in each thread and pull it inside the quilt.  She said, "it took forever!"  She really wants it to be perfect.  

She also read about the tailor's clapper, and how to make the Japanese binding, which is called "end-cap facings."  That is why it appears to have no binding.  The joining of the front and back is on the exact edge of the quilt.  She did not have a clapper, so she used the handle of one of our hardwood cooking spatulas.  Astrid thinks that did the job, but when she gets her clapper, in the mail, she is going to press the edges again.

Kuna Days Parade 2023

This is the third time we have been in the Kuna Days Parade.  We get invited by the Piecemakers of Idaho to join them, when they do the parade.  It is so much fun waving at everyone.  We were between Idaho Central Credit Union and the Challenger Chicks, this year.  

The theme, this year, is "Out of This World", so there were lots of space aliens about today.  We just had out-of-this-world quilts!

It was so much fun to see all the people involved in the parade and how they decorated, and to see all the people who came to watch the parade.  Everybody had a fun time.  What a great way to spend a Saturday morning in August.

Ta-da! Astrid and I Completed a Quilt!

Our collaboration quilt is completed!  Marsha here.  It looks great and we are happy with it.  If you compare the finished quilt with the photos in the previous post you may notice, or not, that one strip of fabric in the center block has been changed.  We ripped it out and replaced it with a strip not as blue/green as all the other ones surrounding it.  Astrid may be a little bit anal.  

We have no idea what this pattern is called.  We think it is a modified courthouse steps quilt.  We hope you like it as much as we do.

If you have not tried sewing different pieces of fabrics together to see how they look, you should try it.  It could be a pillow cover or a placemat.  It does not have to be a quilt.  See you next time!

We Lost Something . . . Where Did It Go?

How did that happen?  We lost the month of February of 2023!!  We will never see it again.  Things are just happening, then the next thing we know it is March, and we had not managed to post anything in February!  I guess after helping Jane with her amazing tutorial, we all just got back to our own stuff.  We all apologize.  Marsha and I (Astrid) are actually doing some collaborative quilting (that means working together).  Below are photos of it in the design stage, which is where we are today.

These blocks are rectangular. They start out like courthouse steps, then the final round is sewn in the off-set frames fashion.  We have been thinking we are making the blocks too big, but too late now.  

They are on our design wall, which we made out of foam core board that we covered in black flannel.  The blocks really pop on that black.  We have four more blocks to sew together, then we can sew the blocks to each other, etc.  Our goal is to get it all completed by the end of March.  I am telling Marsha, we should probably make another one of these with wonky blocks and some solid black backgroundishness.

Dutch Treat!

Astrid and Marsha went on a road trip in the RV with C and P, to Oregon and Washington!  Astrid finished up her Dutch quilt, before she left, but did not have time to come over and share it with us.  Jane cleared off our design wall, so that we could put Astrid's latest creation up for us to see.  This one is a quilt in the Dutch tradition, not just a design to reflect the image of a country.  She even made the back of red fabric, as the Dutch do.

We had tea and a nice visit.  She told us all the amazing things her and Marsha got to see in Oregon and Washington.  They traveled on Highway 26 most of the way there.  They stayed in a small town called Cascade Locks.  They crossed the Bridge of the Gods to get to the Washington side of the Columbia River, where they visited the Bonneville Dam Interpretive Site.  They got to see fish going up the fish ladder, in their upstream migration.  They visited Multnomah Falls and got to see Mount Hood.  They watched trains and visited the "Train Appreciation Park."  They also stayed in a campground, in the Ochoco National Forest, just east of Prineville on the way to and from the Columbia River area.  

Astrid at Multnomah Falls, in Oregon

Astrid said they were looking forward to stopping at the quilt shop in Prineville, on the way back, but it is closed on Mondays.  It was poor planning on their part!  C was disappointed, too.

2022 Winners at the Fair(s)

We friends who quilt, decided to each put something in the fair this year.  There are five of us in our little group: Kirsten, Marsha, Jane, Astrid, and Edna.  Edna lives out-of-state, so she entered her liberated medallion quilt at her location.  The rest of us entered ours in Idaho.

Edna said she had a wonderful time at the fair.  She was so excited when she found out she got a blue ribbon on her quilt!

Astrid entered a quilt and an outfit that she sewed.  She won blue ribbons on both!  She is major awesome.

Marsha did a fine job on her paisley log cabin quilt; another first-place ribbon here.

Jane said she had a wonderful time at the fair, too!  She was quite surprised at her first-place ribbon, in the contemporary pieced class.  It is a stunner!

Here am I, Kirsten, with my winning nine-patch sampler.  It was a treat to stand up here and get my photo taken, when I came to pick up my quilt.

I may be posting photos of Marsha and her "Fair" adventures, if I can figure out how to 'add a page' to our blog.  Stay tuned and start making your own project for next year's fair.

Quilts at the Fair!

Jane and Astrid entered quilts in The Fair.  Guess what?!  They both won first place ribbons, and Jane also won a bag of batting.  It was so fun looking at all the quilts. There are so many creative people in the valley; especially quilters.

Here is Jane with her amazing sixteen-patch on-point quilt and blue ribbon.  One of the remarks on her grade report was about the nice grid-work quilting.

Here is Astrid with her amazing Civil War nine-patch quilt, made completely with Japanese fabrics, and her blue ribbon.  The judges liked the Japanese fabrics.

We also ate caramel apples and rode the Ferris Wheel.  Marsha took the photo, below, of the setting sun, while we were on the Ferris Wheel.  We were wondering if it was named after Ferris Bueller.  If I had a day off, I would spend it at The Fair.