Westering Women finally finished

Finally finished my Westering Women this week - from Barbara Brackman's BOM in 2016 on her Civil War Quilts blog.  The blocks measure 12".   I've had the top waiting for I think more than a year - this week it was just time to get it done already!



I used mostly Japanese fabrics so I'm calling it Westering Women via Japan.




I used Fun with Barb's large baptist fan stencil




Free motion and Netflix -


To be honest I'm really *not* proud of my quilting... should have slowed down and engaged some quality control.  I was all over the place and not in the zone.  There was a lack of flow.  Errgh.   But, moving on folks...

And the overall baptist fan effect is nice:



Finished the binding and label last night, washed it this morning, and done!



And I'm enjoying this year's Civil War Quilts BOM for sure - Antebellum Album.  Here's the latest block - Madame's Star -




x
Cynthia

Vermont Quilt Festival - a few faves

David and I live about 3.5 hours from the Vermont Quilt Festival, and we've made a bit of a tradition of going up there, stopping by King Arthur Flour on the way, having dinner in Burlington (there is a fun pedestrian only street, with shops and restaurants), and staying in a hotel.  Early on Saturday morning David will drop me off at the festival, go fly fishing, and pick me up again.

Another great quilt show. 

My vote for viewer's choice - Gladi Porche's We Are Stardust - so dense and colorful, with teeny tiny masterful hand quilting.



This one was very cool - Thanks, Ralph by Dawn Sullivan, all made of recycled shirts:




And rounding a corner, I immediately recognized this as another one of Wendy Reed's amazing pot holder quilts.  I mean, wow!  All made of "orphan" blocks - !!! 



And Laura Lane's Basket Parade - so sweet and quiet, classic: 



DOT by Susan Painting - hand quilted, too -



And this one knocked my socks off - Zoo Bound, by G Wong - and I randomly met the young quilter - but before I'd seen the quilt - wish I could go back to say, well, "Your quilt knocked my socks off!"



And one more - I just loved this one- Indigo and Cheddar by Diane Wespiser -




There was a modest in scale, but nice, show of 19th century applique quilts, but no photos allowed.  Some nice vendor booths... ran into a couple of friendly faces... all in all a good good day in Vermont -

But speaking of photos, I think it's so important to give attribution when we post quilts on line.  Sometimes when I see a quilt image on Pinterest, I'm like, come on!  Name the quilter and keep that name and image linked together, forever, people! 

My simple system is to take one over all pic of the quilt, one close up of the card, followed by a detail shot or shots.  That way, the detail card is sandwiched between photos of the right quilt, on my phone. 

x
Cynthia

Vermont Quilt Festival - indigo dyeing class

I took an itajime shibori dyeing workshop at the Vermont Quilt Festival on Saturday.  Our instructor Cindy Lohbeck  made it fun and fast paced (though a bit too rushed at the end) and the venue was perfect.  Highly recommend, if you ever get a chance to take one of her workshops.   That gal completely knows what she's talking about.

Triangle folds, then clamp on templates for the resist:





Once home, around midnight I rinsed and revealed... totally fun... and I'm ready to order more fabric and dye from Cindy!



And (even though I'm sure these are rough) I'm thrilled with the results!



I'm not going to be too fussy with these - I will probably lob them together into a simple, utilitarian, fun quilt. 




Then.... I hit the crepe stand... I mean, of course!



Cute tip jar.  Which way would you have voted?  I say, one isn't better than the other - just different - but there is nothing prettier than a hand quilted quilt.




And then on to the quilt show, which I will blog about later tonight after a busy day.  I didn't take many photos -

By the way, with your blog, if you are having that trouble in terms of not getting email notifications when you get comments, Barb has clear easy instructions for the fix.   Thanks Barb!

Happy Monday everyone -

x
Cynthia

Antebellum album catch up

Finally got caught up on my Antebellum Album blocks (the BOM from Barbara Brackman, who provides us with fascinating history lessons too each month, with each new block).

The blue linen is gorgeous but so difficult to work with.   Starch, starch, starch!

Block #5, Cross and Crown -

Quaker Pride -

Friendship Star - I had a lot of trouble with this one and ended up doing a LeMoyne Star instead (with the circle appliquéd on):

It's OK, but the actual Friendship Star block really is so special.  Check out these examples I saw at the Worcester Historical Museum:

They remind me of "spritz" - the little Christmas cookies I grew up making with my Mom.

Meanwhile, the peonies bloomed last week - I just love them -

And David and I are off to Vermont for a quick night and day - fly fishing for David, Vermont Quilt Festival for me (I'm taking a class).

x
Cynthia