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Feeding Needy Children

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A few weeks ago I asked if anyone had a vintage Burgoyne Surrounded or Pineapple Log Cabin quilt they might be interested in selling because I’m in need of those patterns for a new quilt lecture I’m putting together. I already had a sample of Mariner’s Compass and Rose of Sharon, but I was thinking I’d like a better example of those too – if I could find them.

Well, I decided to do a bit of searching on-line and I found a gorgeous Rose of Sharon top on a site called Buckboard Quilts, and it was in my price range! I contacted the owner, Judy Howard, purchased that top and conversed about the other quilts I needed. During those emails, she said she would send me information about a project that is dear to her heart. It’s a quilt contest to raise funds to feed children.  I decided I wanted in and I completed a small “Parallelisms” quilt I had in my UFO pile. It’s called Chasing Butterflies and the idea was that children should be concerned with childish things like chasing butterflies and not about hungry tummies. Here’s a picture of my quilt:

As a thank you for donating the quilt to the contest, Judy sent me a copy of her wonderful cookbook and I just knew I needed to share this information with you. I asked Judy to send me something to put on the blog and here it is. Enjoy!

22”Quilt Contest/Exhibit Feeds Needy Children

The overwhelming need to feed needy children inspired Buckboard Quilts to sponsor the “Food for Body and Soul Touring Quilts Contest and Exhibits.” The exhibits are touring the U.S. for three years with all proceeds from the $100/week-end exhibit rental and accompanying 1905 Cookbook—Food for Body and Soul going to local soup kitchens and food pantries.

     See http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com/food_for_body_and_soul.html for quilt photos, entry and rental forms, calendar of shows and sample recipes and stories.

   These two hundred-fifty 22×22” and larger touring quilts capture the essence of pioneer cooking, ethnic customs, vintage kitchen collectibles, passion for food, family, celebrations and holiday traditions, food stories from the Bible, fighting hunger; feeding hope–anything and everything food or anything that feeds your soul like quilting, grandkids, music, art, gardening, etc.

    

 It’s not too late for you and your children to enter your 22” quilts to receive a free copy of the 1905 Cookbook–Food for Body and Soul with each entry, free advertising on the story label and a chance to win $2500 in prizes and 33 rosette ribbons.

 

     Please mail your 22” quilts ASAP to 12101 N. MacArthur, #137, Oklahoma City, OK 73162. Reserve your exhibit today by emailing  or calling 405-751-3885. Displayed in as little as 20 feet, sixty 22” quilts can be hung in 40 minutes displayed 3 up, back to back, or spread out for maximum effect. Drop-down labels feature heart-warming stories.

     Judy Howard’s new cookbook for cooks, foodies and historians is based on recipes from pioneer days in central Oklahoma. 1905 Cookbook: Food for Body and Soul will inspire today’s cooks regardless of age or sophistication. Recipes like Molasses Drop Cake and Delightful Biscuits or Delicious Chicken Pie and Roast Beef with Oyster Dressing entice the taste buds and make you want to keep this book within easy reach to satisfy your body and soul. In addition to this amazing and often amusing collection of 300 epicurean delights, Howard’s book is flavored with 200 turn-of-the-century photographs, 1905 merchant ads and stories of the 89er/pioneers who compiled the original cookbook found at a flea market. This cookbook will complement any cook’s recipe collection and is the perfect gift at discounted price of $12.95 if ordered on http://www.heavenlypatchwork.com/1905%20Cookbook.htm.

     Enter your 22” Food Quilt today to help feed needy children. And reserve the $100 exhibit for your next show.

Also…

If you’re looking for some quilting fun this week. I’ll be teaching at the UW Platteville Sewing and Quilting Expo. For all the information go to: http://www.uwplatt.edu/cont_ed/sewing_expo/index.html

My View Quilt

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Greetings from Paducah! Wendy and I arrived this evening and we’ll be helping to  hang the show tomorrow. God is good :-)!

I decided I needed to do a bit of follow up on my window view challenge. I haven’t received any pictures of quilts from those who sent me view pictures, but I did get my snowman quilt done. We haven’t had a flake of snow since 3 days after this picture was taken.

So, I decided I’d better share it now before summer is upon us.

I decided to try a number of new techniques. To begin with I chose a vintage damask napkin for the background with the idea of creating the scene as a wholecloth on it.

Step 1 – I reversed the image on the computer and then enlarged it on the computer using the instructions in my May 23rd post.

Step 2 – I ironed Decorbond ™ stabilizer to the back of the napkin and pinned the enlarged picture to the center of the stabilizer.

Step 3 – On the paper pattern side I free motion stitched around all the trees, the snowman and the snow drifts using bobbin thread to match each area.

Step 4 – I turned to the napkin side and colored in the trees and shadows with watercolor pencils. Then I took a damp q-tip and blended the colors.

Step 5 – I thread painted everything from the napkin side (this is how the paper side looked after the thread painting).

Step 6 – I removed all the paper and layered the napkin with batting and backing.

Step 7 – I quilted around the main objects and the border (frame of the picture) and then bound the edges.

Step 8 – I couched yarn over the picture frame and inside the binding

and Voila! A fun experiment and a unique quilt!

Stay tuned – next week I’ll bring you the inside scoop on Paducah!

Welcome Sommer!

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Last week’s “snowman in the window” picture is but a chilly memory, considering we’ve had temperatures in the 70’s here for over a week. That is not just odd – it’s unbelievable for March in Wisconsin. Many are speculating as to the reason, but I have my own theory – my granddaughter was born this past Monday and her name is Sommer Elizabeth. So Sommer is here  :-)!

6 lbs 15 oz and 21″ long, with lots of dark hair ……. we’re all thrilled! Thanks for letting me share our joy.

So what does the view from my window look like today?

Quite a change, but I am still excited about making a small quilt from the picture with the snowman. I’m thinking of thread painting the entire scene on a vintage white damask napkin. I’ve never thread painted an entire scene and I think it will be quite challenging. I think this challenge should be  about trying something new.

A number of you responded to the challenge, and  so far 3 have sent me pictures which have been posted to the Window View Challenge page on this blog. Click here to see them.

I’m looking forward to  receiving more pictures and there is still time to get in on the fun. The quilts can be any size, from  a post card on up.  The prize will be an autographed copy of my new book: Compass Capers (which should be available for purchase through my website very, very soon). So send me a picture of your view at , and join in on the challenging fun!

 

Are You In?

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The weather in Wisconsin has been unique this year. A week ago Friday we had a very wet snowstorm that left 8″ of beauty all over the woods. After clearing the driveway Mike invited me out to build a snowman. It was dusk and the scene was lovely!

By Sunday the temps were heading up into the 60’s and I discovered snowmen can’t do backbends.

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

So what does this have to do with quilting? Well, this was the view I enjoyed through the window above my sewing machine while quilting on Saturday.

I had an overwhelming urge to create a quilt about it. Then I got to thinking that many of you probably have inspiring views from windows in your home too. This led to the idea of holding my first blog challenge! I hope many of you are up for this. It’s quite simple.

1. Email a picture of your view to me at: by next Sunday, March 18th.

2. I’ll post them to a “Challenging Views” page on this blog for all to see.

3. Then make a quilt inspired by your view, any size, any shape, any technique (small is good). You could repliqué the picture, but there are many other ways to be inspired by it: create a traditional pieced pattern using the colors of your picture, pick any item in the photo as a theme for your quilt or ……..any other direction you care to go.

4. Send me a picture of your finished small quilt by April 1, 2012 to be posted on the blog (that’s the deadline – its not a lot of time, but the project is small – and you’d just put it off until the week before anyways :-).

5. The following week’s blog we’ll have a viewers choice vote and the winner will get a wonderful prize!

Here’s a sample to get you started thinking. This is much more involved than our simple challenge, but it is the only other time a window view has been my inspiration.

When we lived in Sun Prairie my husband and kids built me a wonderful “aviary” post with bird houses and feeders hanging from it.

It stood outside my kitchen window and I delighted in watching the birds each morning. When we had to move I couldn’t take the post with me, so I made this quilt which was inspired by it.

Perhaps you’ll think of this as a chance to try a new technique or just play with fabric. I can’t wait to see what you come up with :-)!

Mischievous Blues

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The latest Milwaukee Art Quilter’s challenge is entitled “The Blues”. The quilt needed to be 31″ square, at least 1/2 blue and fit the theme. My grandson Willy has the most beautiful blue eyes, so my subject matter was simple. However, creating him in fabric was truly a challenge. I have done very little in the way of faces, so this was a great learning opportunity. I used a mixture of Repliqué  and my version of Caryl Fallert’s Appli-piecing technique, all accented with thread painting.

So here’s the picture of Willy with big sister Hanna:

 

and here’s the quilt:

As you can see, the real Willy’s a whole lot cuter than the quilt Willy, but overall I’m pretty happy with my first attempt and have learned a lot. We all need to try new things :-).

The one part I was pleased with was his hair and that (along with his eyelashes) was my thread painting adventure.

I used a fabric which contained areas of all the right values of golden red to brown, appli-pieced chunks of it together and then the fun began. I changed thread often and truly scribbled horizontally all over. It was freeing and almost fool proof! A great technique to have in your bag of tricks. I hope you have the chance to try it!

Anything Goes

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The most unique challenge I’ve participated in is among my favorites. A number of years ago the Milwaukee Art Quilters discussed doing a “round robin” sort of challenge as Sarah explained in her comment (thanks Sarah). The theory being that one person makes a block or row and passes it to another who adds whatever the challenge rules dictate and after 3 or 4 additions the originator gets it back. The problem was that fiber artists seem to really dislike rules. So, we did an “Anything Goes Round Robin”. Each participant put something in a bag (block, piece of fabric, or whatever – no rules) and the next person could do anything they wanted to it! After 4 rounds the originator got it back and could finish as desired. The only real rule was that you couldn’t be upset about what anyone did to your item along the way.

My finished Anything Goes quilt is entitled “Puzzling Spumoni” :

It began as 3 hexagon log cabin blocks from a failed 1995 workshop where the teacher discovered half way through that the blocks wouldn’t fit together and the class ended. The fabrics were dated and I had no need for the blocks, so in the bag they went.

The first person chopped 2 of the blocks up and sewed them back together into a long strip. The second person thread painted a peacock feather on a light pink background and bordered it with the pieced unit. The third chopped again and added a bunch of stuff from her scrap bag. She then cut this new “fabric” into puzzle pieces and threw them in a bag. The fourth artist stacked them into a pile on a black background and put a cherry on top. This is how it was returned to me. I put it in a dish and added the spoon.

It is an odd shaped and humorous piece which I love, even though it really doesn’t go in my living room. I learned a lot working on the other quilts and feel its a good excercise in creativity. I challenge you to try it in your own group!