Fair News

We made it to the fair and had a wonderful time watching our 9 yr. old granddaughter S. show her rabbit. She was a little, maybe more than a little nervous for the showmanship class though. I would have been nervous too.

For showmanship they have to give a little demo-speech about their rabbit in front of the judge and all the crowd watching the event. She did very well and spoke right up, wearing the microphone didn't seem to bother her either. She got a blue ribbon in that class, a blue ribbon on the rabbit (Fuzzy) as well as a blue ribbon on her pillow that she made. The wildlife project she entered got a purple ribbon gets to go to the State Fair and boy was she excited about that.

She had taken plaster and made molds of wild animal foot prints that she could find, had to make a reverse mold then mount them on a board with photos and a description of where she found the print, etc. She worked very hard on it and it did turn out nice. She had prints of a prong horned antelope, raccoon, wild turkey, duck and bobcat. They had a pretty wet spring and summer so tracks were not so hard to find.

Don't you love the girls hair in the photo below? Their other grandmother fixed it for them that morning. S. wanted her hair out of her eyes when she showed and the braided look really was cute on her. Here she is sitting with her sister D. watching some of the other kids show their rabbits. D. is planning on showing next year and S. said she was going to work on her rabbit speech more next year as she really wanted that trophy they gave to the top Jr. showmanship winner.

Have not touched the quilt today so need to at least get it layered and ready to quilt. Am thinking of using some of the quilt spray glue. That might make it get done faster. I do like to baste my quilts with thread but don't have the time for that on this one.

Lynn

Question on Pattern

A question was asked about the pattern for this Linus Project Quilt - where I got the pattern to be precise. I was browsing through the fabric manufactures free patterns and ran across this pattern called "Savanah Streets" by Toby Lischko for Hoffman Fabrics . I liked the way it looked but didn't want to do all the extra cutting and piecing required to do it. If you look at the pattern it has small light strips surrounding each dark piece that when joined give the look of a wider light strip - kind of like doing one round of strips on a log cabin block.

I opened up my EQ6 and drew my own pattern using the look I saw on the Hoffman pattern but made it much more simple. I decided how big I wanted the finished quilt and worked backwards to draw the design. Since I own a ruler that is 6 1/2" that is the size I made the squares and the width I made the alternate strips. (After stitching they became 6".)

I varied the light fabrics in between the 2" x 6" bricks and the 6" x 6" blocks. Since it seems like I buy mostly fat quarters I didn't have any light fabrics with enough length to do the vertical sashing. I pieced different lengths of the light fabrics together to make them long enough and then cut them to fit my pieced block strips.

The pattern I guess is half inspired half my own but as simple as it is, I am sure there are lots of others out there just like it. That is the beauty of quilting - not much is truly unique in traditional looking quilts.

If you have never looked at the fabric manufacturer's web pages you are missing a wealth of free quilt patterns and other information. A lot of them are not too difficult and most have pretty good directions too. Check out the web pages of any of the notions, sewing machines, etc. for other free tips, directions and patterns.

Lynn

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, I Sew and Sew and Sew

Is there nothing more exciting than a pile of cut fabrics waiting to be sewn? After my grandsons left yesterday morning I pulled my box of bright fabrics out and started cutting. Found some white background prints with white colors to use in the quilt along with the brights.

I wanted to make a quilt for the Project Linus that the Nebraska State Quilt Guild is collecting quilts for at QuiltNebraska, our annual convention this year (By the way it is next week so had to get hopping in order for me to get it finished in time.)

I chose to make a simple strippy type quilt with 6" squares in rows alternating with 2" strips. The cutting was easy as I just cut around my 6 1/2" square ruler and away I went. The cutting went quickly so I could get to sewing by mid-afternoon. Had it all put together by the time I went to bed last night so now I need to get it layered and quilted.

I also need to take time to figure out what I need to collect for the classes I am going to take this year. Friday I have "Brazilian Embroidery: Quilt On Point" by Christine Hause. I won't have to collect much for this class as she has it kitted up - love to have a kitted class then I have all the right stuff needed for the class.

I am also taking an all day class on Saturday too. It is "Wacky Bird" by Suzanne Marshall. Can collect the fabrics and notions needed for this one from my stash but will have to leave time for that at the beginning of the week.

The celebrity auction catalog is posted to the Nebraska State Quilt web page here. My quilt is on page 10, Item 36. That auction will be held on Saturday night and will let you know how it went when I return.

Better get off the computer and get my shower as we are making a trip to watch our granddaughter show her 4-H rabbit at her county fair today. She is so excited. She called a couple of days ago to tell us her wildlife project gets to go to the State Fair. For a first time 4-Her that is pretty nice.

Happy, Happy Quilting!
Lynn

Long Day of Play

Three year old M and his 6 yr. old brother C are visiting us for 4 days this week. So far we have attended the county fair, helped Papa John irrigate and run in the lawn sprinklers today. The photo below is of M after he fell in the mud. He really got it plastered in his hair. I guess he didn't mind too much because they both had fun playing in the sprinklers next. M managed to get the chunks of mud all washed out by the time they were done so there wasn't so much for me to clean out at bath time.

Now they are enjoying watching a movie - The Apple Dumpling Gang. This grandma hopes it calms them down so bedtime will go smoothly.

Lynn