My Nebraska State Fair Quilts

I know it has been a while since the state fair but I just have not had time to sit down and write a blog post about it.  I entered 4 small quilts and was very pleased to receive 4 ribbons.  Please ignore the wind blown hair but John took these photos after a long hot windy day of visiting the fair.  I really don’t like to see photos of myself as I see myself differently than the camera does!  Oh well I am what I am.

State Fair Ribbons VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This quilt received a first place ribbon for small pieced quilt a thrill for any ribbon and a first place, even more thrilling.  I blogged about it here and here.This quilt got a second place ribbon in the group quilt category.  This was a group quilt challenge pieced by 3 friends and me and quilted by me.  It did look strange at the fair though as they hung it a quarter turn around, besides the fact that I had a sleeve at the top.  You can read about making it here and here.This quilt received a 4th place ribbon at the state fair.  This is the family tree quilt I made for my mother about her family.  To read about the symbolism and the making of the quilt you can read about it here.This final quilt won a second place ribbon in the competition miniature class but the Nebraska state Fair also has special classes that any of the competition quilts can be entered.  I was so very excited to win the best machine quilting award with a domestic machine.  This was something I had been trying to win for many years so it really means a lot to me. 
There were over 600 quilts entered this year at the Nebraska State Fair.  That is a lot of time and talent from man,y many quilters.  It was so much fun to walk the isles admiring all the different sizes, techniques, and colors of these pieces of art.  Each year the quilters in the state step up and enter their precious quilts.  I appreciate all the ribbons I got this year and in past years as I know every quilter entered their best and hoping to win a ribbon.

Until Later,
Lynn

Spectrum–A Miniature Lone Star Quilt Part 2

Here are the fabrics I decided to use to make my version of Spectrum – class sample below. This is a photo heavy post - be warned.
To keep all the fabrics in the correct order this was the setup I used.  I taped small samples of the fabrics on my rotating cutting board with the larger precut pieces for the foundation piecing laid out in order above.  The tools I used for the foundation piecing are there too.  Left to right – rotary cutter, seam ripper, glue stick, wooden pressing stick, stiletto, add-n-eighth and cardstock.  I pretty much do my foundation piecing the same way Carol Doak explains on this web page except I use a small dab of glue to hold each piece of stitched fabric to the paper.
First the diamonds were foundation pieced.  You can see from the photo below why I had to know for sure the order of the fabrics as each diamond has the fabrics in different positions on the diamonds.  I will admit I had to rip a couple off when I pieced the wrong one.I chain pieced the small crown of thorn blocks that were about 3”.  I do love to foundation piece to get those really sharp points.Used my design wall to figure out where each of the Colored Crown of Thorn blocks would look best.Pieced the centers and outside of the Crown of Thorn blocks and the diamond set in pieces.  As you can see at this point they are all pinned to my design wall.  I had to be in the right mood to piece all those inset pieces so put it off as long as possible.Wearing black cotton sweat pants is probably not the best choice when you are clipping threads and working with fabric that is raveling plus all those tiny bits of paper that I was removing.  I used masking tape to get it all off before I left the sewing room as I was shedding like crazy!Now the octagon is all pieced together but the more I looked at it I felt I needed to make is square.  Square quilts are easier to bind and hang.  The Crown of Thorn blocks were the correct size for the corners.  I tested different fabrics for joining them to the quilt on the bottom right hand corner .
All pieced and ready for quilting.  Next post will cover the quilting and finishing of this miniature.

Until Later,
Lynn

Spectrum–A Miniature Lone Star Quilt

Last July one of the classes I took at the annual QuiltNebraska convention was called Spectrum, a pattern by Jill Vanderboegh of Auburn, Nebraska.  Here are the class examples of the miniature octagon version, the one I chose to make.  She offered a larger size, about 24” square as well. The bottom photo of the three is of the larger version that Jill entered in the 2014 Nebraska State Fair and it received a 1st place ribbon.

I have been working on my quilt off and on and now it is finished.  Come back for my next post to see what my version looks like.

Until Later,
Lynn