More from Shipshewana

This is my second year attending the Shipshewana Festival. Last year I was there to teach Schoolhouse sessions, that event happens on Thursday. This year we also had a booth at the Vendor Mall in the Quilt Show.

It is a wonderful festival in an Amish town in northern Indiana. The drive there is totally relaxing as you watch the cities disappear and the corn fields roll by. Every business in town participates in the multi day event that starts on Wednesday and runs through Saturday and it also corresponds with the local Shop Hop.

This year the featured speaker was Kaye England. If you don't know Kaye, you should! She is one of the funniest quilters I know with tons of stories to share. She was a shop owner for years, but she has sold the stores to travel, teach, write and design fabrics. Kaye's personal collection of quilts were displayed in the automobile museum - sorry, I didn't have time to take photos there, but I can tell you that my husband thoroughly enjoyed his visit to see the cars!

The photo above was another of the impressive quilts in the quilt show and vendor mall. Beautiful piecing and lots and lots of quilting to show it off!

This ribbon winning quilt absolutely knocked my socks off! The applique was trapunto, the quilting was done by hand and the over all effect was absolutely beautiful. Look at all those stitches!


What made it even more impressive was the size. This photo shows that quilt hanging next to another ribbon winner.

From a distance I couldn't imagine why this Mariners compass wall hanging didn't have a ribbon on it. The colors are beautiful, the points are precise and the information indicated that it had been hand pieced. Upon closer inspection I could see that the quilting was done by machine. For some reason the quilter decided to quilt each point using a blanket stitch, making it appear that the points had been fused in place. All that handwork and no ribbon!

This Ohio Star quilt has 221 stars that measure THREE inches each! They were all set on point with three inch solid squares between them. Look at the amount of machine quilting there is in each square.

The blue border points were micro stippled and the white ones had these beautiful feathers.

I thought this large bed sized quilt was impressive! Bargello quilts have always been one of my husbands favorites and this multi directional one had him thinking that I should make one for our bed. It had me thinking that he should learn to quilt!

Why not put the Shipshewana Quilt Festival on your list of things to do in June 2012?

Hello from Shipshewana Indiana

We are currently vending at the Quilt Festival in Shipshewana, Indiana. My husband has been helping hold down the booth while I taught a few sessions of the Schoolhouse program and spend the rest of the day demonstrating my Quick Trim Ruler. It's been fun!

I though you would enjoy seeing some of the quilts from the show.

It is hard to appreciate the colors and workmanship of this sampler quilt in this larger photo. It is a big quilt and I wanted you to see the whole thing. The next photo shows just the one corner. Every block is different and they were very well pieced. I think the border choice was perfect.



This quilt had a ribbon, best of show for machine quilting.

Here is why! Although I do have to wonder if a Statler Stitcher was involved.

This quilt caught my eye immediately. The setting is unique and the blocks are all hand appliqued. The message from the maker says that this quilt will be given to her grandson when he marries or reaches the age of 35, which ever comes first!

The quilt is hand quilted. I hope he finds a bride worthy of this kind of work.

More photos later! Right now I have to get to the booth and get ready for another day!

Quilt Something - It's Good For You!

Not that I have ever needed a reason or an excuse to start another quilting project, but the next time my husband gives me that look - you know the one - I intend to peer at him from behind my stack of unfinished projects and quote directly from this article from the Daily Mail in Scotland.

Why Quilting Improves Your Health In Ways That Even Exercise Can't Manage

Is that good news or what?

This study found that quilting offered health benefits including increased brain activity a better sense of well being and cognitive ability. They didn't even mention that you have a beautiful quilt to show for all of your healthy efforts as well!

I consider this a wonderful way to start my work week! Toss those running shoes along with the guilt of not using them and forget that gym membership. I'm off to stimulate some brain activity and improve my cognitive ability. To improve my heart rate I think I just might cut into some $14.99 per yard fabric that I am not sure I have enough of to finish the project - that should get the blood pumping.

If you would like to read the entire article, here is the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2002862/Why-quilting-uniquely-good-us.html

Now go improve your health!

Quilts of Valor

While I am on Grandma duty, I thought I would share a little bit about the Quilts of Valor group that meets at our shop on the second Monday evening of each month. I think you will be impressed with the amazing things they have accomplished in the last six months. Bonnie, our coordinator and mother of an active duty Marine, does a fantastic job. She also has a wonderful team of volunteers that work with her to make quilt tops that are then professionally quilted and returned for binding. Some members of the group cut, some piece, some quilt and some bind and a few of them do it all. They selflessly give their time to make these gifts of love for wounded soldiers that have given of themselves for out country. If you are looking for a way to give a little something back and share your quilting skills, they would love to have you join them!

Quilts of Valor is a national organization and it is my personal feeling that if every chapter had a coordinator like Bonnie and the volunteers that help her, every wounded vet would be wrapped in a quilt of love as a thank you that cannot begin to express our appreciation for their sacrifice. If you don't live near our store, I encourage you to seek out a Quilts of Valor chapter in your area. Even if you have never made a quilt, there is a team of volunteers that would love to help you learn.


Here is an excerpt from Bonnie's last newsletter:

Hi Everyone,

I have given General Jones 4 more quilts that he has presented to soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital on our behalf. I also had the pleasure of delivering one of our quilts to the USMC Reserve Unit in North Versailles. Brian asked that we make a quilt for the entire unit to hang in their headquarters. He told me that this unit returned from Iraq in 2005 with 90% of the men injured and they wanted a quilt that they could hang for everyone to enjoy. They loved the quilt!

I received an email from the Region Nine coordinator regarding the men and women that work at Dover Air force Base in England. These are the men and women that have the honor, but unfortunate duty of taking care of the bodies of our fallen heroes and preparing them for transport. Missy gave me 5 finished quilts this weekend and I have two of them boxed and ready to go to Dover.

I also have two quilt tops to ship to volunteer longarmers in New Jersey and two more to ship to longarmers in Vermont and another going to Maryland. Those tops are in addition to those being quilted by Maryjane and Mary right here in our area. The CCAC Child Development Center raised $60 on our behalf and I am using that money to cover the cost of postage to ship the quilt tops to the quilters. A co-worker also donated a check for $100 and I am sure that we will put that to good use as well.

We have made and donated 41 quilts since January 2011 and 30 of them have been distributed. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication, this program could not be successful without all of you.

Our next meeting will be Monday evening June 13th at The Quilt Company and we will be using the AccuQuilt to cut 10" charm squares to put kits together. I hope to see everyone there!

Bonnie

The Grandma Zone

Caution:

You are about to enter the Grandma Zone. That wonderful place that is inhabited by those of us that have just been blessed with the most adorable grandchildren in the world, and we can't stop talking about them or showing you photos of them. There is a desperate need to let the entire world know how wonderful they are.


The twins arrived on May 28th. Grant Emory and Madeline Rae are perfect, except that they live 5 hours away. I was there for their arrival and their first 5 days. I would still be there, but they have another set of Grandparents that we have to share them with and they are entitled to some cuddle time too. I'm headed back for a second visit as soon as they leave and I'm actually looking forward to the 5 hour trip. It will give me plenty of time to think, design, plan and decide on the next twenty or so quilts that I want to make them so that they always feel like they are wrapped up in Grandma love!


Who knew that two tiny little people could rock your entire world!