Sunday, June 15, 2014

Prairie Fest and a Finish!

Happy Father's Day!  We tend to spend our Father's day at Prairie Fest, in Oswego, IL.  Hubby sings in the local barbershop chorus, and they always have a float in the parade.  Guess who gets to drive the float?  Yes, me.  Before the parade, I always stop off at the 'Little White Schoolhouse' to see the quilt show.  The show is small, since they only have one room to put up all the quilts.  They show off antique (and some new) quilts on chairs, when they run out of room to hang quilts.  The show is put on by the 'Quilter's Dozen', a hand quilting group that meets at the Little White Schoolhouse each week.  Here are some of the quilts.




For all of those that are doing the 'house' quilts, here is one for you to see.



my friend, Donna, made this one

antique quilts on chairs

I loved the colors of this scrappy, antique quilt.

This next quilt was tied.
This lady used a picture of her home to make this quilt.  Lots of 3D in the quilt.
A different take on Sunbonnet Sue.
The next quilt was from a Woolworths kit, years ago.  She cross stitched the blocks, then added borders.  It's hard to see (couldn't get far enough back for the picture) but, she added long white, scalloped edges on 3 sides. 


see how tiny those pieces are


lovely hand stitching on this one

modern quilts on chairs
my friend, Karen, made this quilt
Here are two of the ladies, stitching on the groups current project.  They take turns quilting each other's quilts.
hand quilting during the quilt show
The ladies in this group made this quilt as a 'thank you' to the Little White Schoolhouse, a few years ago. 
Little White Schoolhouse quilt
Here is the float I pulled in the parade.  Sorry the picture is blurry.  The guys sang great!
Lamplighter's barbershop chorus
We always head to Red Robin for a late lunch after the parade.  YUM!  I love those freckled lemonades!

Now for the finish.  I used the double 4 patch block to teach my ladies in the beginning quilting class.  I used the same block to make a wedding quilt for my son's best friend.  Since I've been so busy lately, and really needed to get some projects finished quickly, I decided to put the motor back on my Spartan, instead of using the hand crank on it.
my Spartan with a motor, not a hand crank
This is the first time I've used the motor that came with my Spartan.  I took the motor off as soon as I got home with the machine.  Sometimes a girl just needs some extra 'speed' to finish a project.  This wedding quilt is due July 14th.  The top is now done! (the colors don't show up very well in the picture).

Oliver's wedding quilt top

up close of corner of quilt top
I'm going to machine quilt this, using straight stitch only.  Straight stitch, I can manage.  Now, to figure out what machine to quilt it on (electric or treadle).  Maybe a bit of both, we'll see.  I have time to decide, since I still need to get a backing for this quilt. 

Another busy week here.  So busy, I'm not even going to attend the International Quilt festival in Rosemont next weekend.  I just don't have the time (and it's only an hour away).  "Too much time, not enough to do. Stop, reverse that...."


8 comments:

  1. Loved seeing the quilts--and the barbershop group. We went to see the Duke City Sound last Saturday, and next Saturday night we will go to the concert that is the culmination of New Mexico Youth Harmony Camp. I loe what unaccompanied voices can do!

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  2. Thanks for sharing all of the quilts. Love the wedding quilt. I'm sure you'll get it done in time! My week starts off with a couple of grandchildren visiting for a couple of days - I'm sure there will be quilting cause they think my sewing machines are power tools! ~Jeanne

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  3. Thanks for the reminder... mine needs to be finished the day after tomorrow! Just doing the binding yet, and I'm sewing that on with the machine.
    Love your wedding quilt. Nice colors!
    Hugs

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  4. I love Barbershop singers!! Just hearing one takes me back (in my mind) to a simpler time. :) how fun to be in a parade!
    I always love seeing your old machines. Does the Spartan have a light? I've always wondered about the lighting on all those old machines.....My hand crank has no light- no electricity of any kind.

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  5. What a great way to spend the day together!

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  6. These are just fantastic. Each and every one

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  7. What a great quilt show! I love antique quilts!
    Your little Spartan is so adorable!

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  8. I really like the quilt of the lady's house. I was wondering if it was a fractured quilt? I did one with a group once where we gave everyone a photo, sliced up the photo, and each person made their section out of fabric without seeing the other fractures. I LOVED that project.

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