Prairie Star Quilt Show Part 1

I took lots of photos at the Prairie Star Quilt Show today.  There are well over 200 members of this quilt guild, so they have LOTS of talented quilters.  I'll split this quilt show into more than one blog post.

I started with the Bee challenge/exchange quilts.  I'm in a brand new Bee, so I was interested in what kinds of challenges or exchanges we might want to try.

It will be easier to show the description of this Bee Round Robin with a photo of the description (I'm too lazy to type all that up).  The last quilt I show reminded me of Barbara's (Cat Patches) Beach Bums quilt that she has been working on.

Another Bee only has 3 members, and they challenged each other to make a quilt using 1930's reproduction fabrics.

This quilter's husband wanted a robot quilt.  She told him that he had to design the pattern.  I think it's cute!

More quilts...

This one isn't a pieced quilt, it's a vintage table cloth that she quilted.  

up close of one of the blocks

I loved how this quilt started.  Here is her description:

This began as a free packet for one hexie from the Paducah show.  Began in April 2008 and finished in August 2023. It has 4,124 hexies and took 15 years.

I got one of those free hexie packets at a quilt show this past month.  I've received many of those packets over the years.

I loved the 3D flowers on this quilt.

Here is the story on this next quilt...

More quilts...

I'll leave the rest of the quilts for another blog post.

Quilt Show last weekend

I know, I've been missing for months.  Once you get behind, it's hard to figure out where to start blogging again.  I decided that I'd start with the quilt show I went to last weekend.  It's the Morris (IL) Quilt Guild's show.  It's a small show, but always a good show.

This cute lady greeted us as we arrived.

I've been wanting to make a duffle bag for a couple of years now.  This lady made 2 matching duffle bags in 2 different sizes.

The guild had a challenge.  People were supposed to finish or repurpose an old quilt.  One lady made the jacket from a quilt that was in bad shape (some of the fabric pieces are missing) and another lady finished a quilt top she found and quilted it.

The rest of the quilts are ones that caught my eye.

I can't resist sewing machines, even if they are plastic machines (not vintage;).

I love Churn Dash quilts.

I can't imagine making this quilt.  It is stunning!

I'm heading out to another quilt show this morning.  Maybe I'll take some photos at that quilt show, too.

Pattern Testing

I was asked to be a pattern tester for Rachel at Kohatu Patterns last week.  She is releasing a new pattern on May 10th in time for Mother's Day!

Since Rachel gives 2 different sizes for her Daisy pattern, I decided to make a Daisy in both sizes.  (Rachel also tells you how to make other sizes, too).

I picked a 'Sunset' background for the 12"x18" block.

I decided to do a blue sky background for the smaller block (7"x10").  Sorry, it was raining when I took the photo, so the blue looks a bit washed out.

I used the blue in the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt (almost done with that) and the white and yellows are from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks that I've been making (April's colors).

Of course I sewed both Daisy blocks on my 1927 Singer 15 hand crank.  I do all of my paper piecing on hand crank sewing machines, since the needle stops exactly where I want it to, and they make such tiny stitches, so the paper tears off easily.  I started both Daisy blocks while I was teaching a paper piecing class to a few of my little quilt guild's members at our sew-in last Thursday (they worked on spool of thread and sewing machine blocks).  Those blocks are way down towards the bottom of the page at this link.

stitching on one of the Daisy blocks

1927 Singer 15 hand crank

Go check out Rachel's website and all of her patterns.  These Daisy blocks were fun to make.  

February Stitching So Far

I keep meaning to post, but then things happen, and I don't post. I need to get better at posting.  Since I haven't posted in a few weeks, I have lots to show today.

First up, I've finished Clue #7 on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  Here are all the Clue #7 blocks.

stack of Clue #7 blocks

In my little quilt guild this year, we are teaching the history of different quilt blocks.  We have 3 different ladies each month that teach 3 different quilt blocks.  Last month I did Churn Dash. For February I chose the Storm at Sea quilt block.

Storm at Sea

I've been wanting to make a Storm at Sea quilt for a long time.  I used Christmas money to buy the Storm at Sea die from Accuquilt.  I printed out Accuquilts From Sea to Shining Sea pattern (free).  Accuquilt has several different Storm at Sea patterns available.  It took hours to cut out all the pieces!  I can't imagine how long it would have taken to cut this quilt out using rulers or templates.  The die is well worth the money (I got it on a BOGO sale).  Here is my quilt top.

Somehow I got 2 blocks turned wrong, so I'll have to rip them out and fix them before I get this quilted.  Oh well.  I will say that Accuquilts pattern is easy to follow, and I would make this again.  Hubby loves this quilt and said that we have to keep it.

My little quilt guild is starting a Round Robin challenge.  The first group started at the February meeting.  Since the first group is very small, I went ahead and added the first border to my center block.  I found the center pattern at a quilt shop in Rockford back in November, when I met up with a friends.

Wego Quiltin' Round Robin block

I've started on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks the month.  Red is the color for February (my favorite color).  I've sewn strips and sub-cut them for TONS of 3 1/2" 9 patch blocks (I'll be sewing these long past February) and I've finished the 4 Flying Churn Dash blocks. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I used 2 different reds for these blocks.  One was very scrappy, since I used the tiny amount of red left over from my Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  The other red is mostly leftover from cutting out my Storm at Sea quilt on my Accuquilt.

Flying Churn Dash

My birthday was earlier this month.  I got some quilting themed presents from a friend and from my Secret Sister at church.  I've already used some of these things.  I'll be using the seam ripper to fix my Storm at Sea quilt top. The neck light is very useful!  

I managed to get another 50 Ohmigosh! 9 patch blocks made.  I'm still a long way away from getting these finished.  I'm using them as Leaders and Enders, but the RSC blocks have become my Leaders and Enders now, so there will be fewer OMG! blocks for a while.