Putnam County Fair Cultural Arts

It's fair time again and I have entered five quilts this year

Last year, at an estate sale,  I picked up several containers of miscellaneous quilt parts... leftover parts from pieced quilts.  I played with the pieces for quite some time before coming up with this design

This yellow and gray Turning Twenty Again top was made last month while vacationing in Canada.  My husband and kids fished and I drove to Ottowa to meet an online quilting buddy and spent two days sewing in air-conditioned bliss with her :)  I'll have to get a full picture of it when I get it back.  Although it is complete as is, I am considering adding a border to finish it and make it a king size quilt.

I went to the Quilt Show in Paducha back in April and bought this one pound package of end-cut scrap strips at Hancocks.  I trimmed the strips to 2.5in and then made a jellyroll quilt.  I forget how many strips there were, but it was such an odd size I didn't know what to do.  After much pondering and calculating I decided to cut the top into strips and alternated it with coordinating fabric.  I found a teal minky to match for the backing.   I just love the results!

This was another estate sale find.  A box of various parts.  I call this one Serenity for its peaceful calm feel.  I love the "flower" quilting I did on it... I was thinking it looked like lilly pads.

This Easter wall hanging is a printed panel that I quilted with an all-over loopy design.

This last one is Globetrotting.. a BOM design by Pat Sloan.  I didn't get a reward for this one... I mistakenly entered it into the wall hanging category... for Christmas!   Yikes!! There was no category for non-holiday wall hangings.   I put in a request for a new category for next year.

String Quilt

While browsing the local flea market I spied this string quilt hidden in a pile of other quilted items.

I opened it up to discover that it was pieced, by hand,  using a Sears & Roebuck catalog

The booth owner told me her grandmother made it and she died 60 years ago so it has to be at least 100 years old because she was sick in bed for a long time.  Looking at the fabrics, that time frame didn't sound quite right to me so after a lot of investigation I found a catalog page selling spark plugs for cars in the years up to 1950.  She thought about it and remembered that she had sewn some with her grandmother when she was about 8... so that fit the timeline better.  She remembered some of the fabrics from dresses she wore.

I would have loved to take it home with me, but she priced it way too high....not really wanting to sell it... she just wanted to show it off.  She was happy that I had helped her date it and I was glad to have spied it hiding under other items.

On The Way Home, But First.... Part 1 quilts

Classes were done, cars were packed and I had a long drive home... but this was going to be a two-part drive.  Leaving Williamsburg around 6pm and driving 600+ miles straight through would have me arriving home in the wee hours.  After 4 days of sewing and late nights I was tired and found a room to lay my head after about 200 miles.  The next morning was dreary, but I had another 400+ miles to go to get home. I was heading into storms and heavy rain driving through the mountains of southern Virginia.  So, when it was time for a break I looked for an interesting place to stop.  I discovered a pair of antique malls with hundreds of vendors each and pulled over to explore. I am also searching for a Featherweight.  I have been wanting one for a while, and Mom recently expressed interest in owning one also,  but haven't had any luck finding one yet.  Both malls were filled with a vast array of  quilts and tops, most hand stitched, in a variety of patterns and fabrics, and a several sewing machines (but alas, no featherweight) .  There were many interesting-to-me  and unique items, remaining relics of days gone by,  but they will be for tomorrow's post...except for just this one:

A real feed sack!  I've seen the fabrics before, but never an actual sack.  I can only imagine how excited women would be to go to the grain store with their husbands in search of just the right sack fabric for their project! LOL!

log cabin

red baskets on white

9 patch

Grandmothers Flower Garden

large 9patch

quarter fan

feedsack squares

I thought this one was quite unique and intriguing.  I'm thinking it might be some kind of wedding ring variation, but I cannot figure how it was put together.

Churndash

simple red and white

Pieced baskets

look at the quilted in flower on these baskets!

dresden plate

I loved the blend of grays and magentas and reds in this string quilt!

feedsack stars

9patch on point

I love how the maker put most of the lighter churndash blocks in the middle and bordered them with the darker blocks.  I think she may have switched the blocks on the bottom left.. see how the lighter one is in the border.

lone star

Pieced baskets

Pig

I still have my doll just like this one!

dresden plate pillow

one-eyed quilted bear