5 Row by Row

A few more H2O Row by Row are finished. I made several vertical ones, the water pump, water balloons and Mermaid. They will help me expand the size of the quilt setting, and give me more options for making a large quilt. These things are addicting! I can't stop making them. I am on my way up to Washington to visit my sister, and plan on making a few stops along the way, to pick up more patterns. Now it is choosing which patterns I like the best. I'm not going to be able to do all the patterns I've picked up. I do like the applique ones, I am using fusible, which I am NOT fond of, I prefer raw edge applique, but for making them up ahead of time, fusible holds up well, to more handling. I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column, to see what other textile artists are doing.

6 More H2O Rows Done

I have completed 6 more Water Row by Row strips. The raindrops pattern is from Piece by Piece Quilt Shop in Eugene, Oregon. The pieced sailboats are from Aunt Sassy's Quilts in Geneva, Illinois. The "Rub-a-Dub Dub" is from Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia, Illinois. I made changes to the tub pattern, I used a curved tub lip, instead of the straight row stitching, that made the water look like it was sitting on top of the tub. I wanted the water to sit inside the tub. I also did not use the sailboat fabric for a shower curtain on the left side, I just continued the black and white check for the tiled wall. Most of the shops are out of the sailboat fabric which was made for the challenge.

These blocks I made yesterday and today, the top row is from Something to Crow About in Springfield, Oregon. The crow is their mascot and looks great with the umbrella and Wellies. The waterwheel blocks are made with different fabric in each block. I have not sewn them together, because I might need some rows to be used vertically. The cute turtle row is from Sew Cute Quilt Shop in Dillard, Oregon. I made the larger turtles a bit larger and made 3 instead of two. I think the hills are not in the right places either and I added extra coral. The Alaska style salmon row is from The Fabric Farm in Drain, Oregon, I made 3 instead of two fish. I like the odd number better. But I really like the bold graphic quality, and contrast was important here. I am having lots of fun making these, I have saved a few more difficult ones for later. Tomorrow the big "Quilt, Knit, Stitch" show in Portland, several of our artists from Fyber Cafe are going up together.

H20 Row by Row

I am participating in the national "Water Row by Row" challenge, participating quilt shops have a free pattern, that you ask for when you GO into the shops. Since I was traveling to NY and IL this summer, that gave me the opportunity to get extra patterns I would not normally get.

Here are my first four Water Row by Row strips. The top one, koi & lily pads, is from Utica, NY. The next, beach & courthouse steps, from Chicks & a Rooster in Sutherlin, Oregon. Sunset Beach with the bright colors is from Rome, NY. And the landscape with cabin is from Everything Sew Nice in Myrtle Creek, OR. A little bit of piecing, but mostly fused and raw edge applique, it has been fun picking the fabrics, I bought several water and sky fabrics on my journeys. I have 15 patterns, so far, I made a trip South of Roseburg yesterday, to Dillard and two shops in Myrtle Creek. Now to plan a trip to the coast, for another 3 or 4. That should about do it. No I take that back, we are going to the Portland "Quilt, Knit & Stitch" show on the 14th, we always stop at Greenbaum's Quilted Forest in Salem, and Fabric Depot in Portland. This could be a big quilt, I am mulling over possible ways to set so many strips together.

H2O Row by Row

At our last Fyber Cafe meeting, Pat G. & Lorraine were doing a National Row by Row Challenge. It is themed "water" and each participating shop has designed a free pattern. I checked their website click here and also some of the state Facebook pages. Created to get business into the shops, you must go to each and request a pattern. We are fortunate to have 8 shops with in an easy driving distance, and even more on the Oregon coast. The theme is very open and diverse, patterns range from scenic rivers, lighthouse, sailboats, to frogs,turtles, dolphins, whales, fish and rubber ducks. The Universety of Oregon football team's mascot is the duck, so a lot of local patterns have this cute rubber creature. I was quiet jazzed about this, since I was going to be traveling out of state. On my way to the Eugene airport, I hit 4 shops, and I printed out shops in NY, WIS, and Illinois. My sister-in-law was more than happy to search out shops around Utica NY. We found three, at Rome, New Hartford, and Utica. The Utica pattern is koi and water lilies! Score! We had planned on going to the 3 stores in Syracuse also, but my niece chose that day to have her baby! Onward, to Northern Illinois, stops at Batavia, and Geneva. We helped my nephew move into Chicago one day, and found the aptly named Second City Quilt Co. very close to his new place, and open on Sunday. Their pattern was a curve topped fire hydrant, that is distinctly Chicago. The search continues, as I head home, with a heavy fabric addition to my luggage. It has been lots of fun seeing the different shops, each has their own style and fabric choices. I can't wait to get home and start sewing these patterns up.

AQS Show Syracuse NY

In my trip to NY for my nephew's wedding, I was fortunate to realize the AQS Show was going to be in Syracuse, only an hour from my brother's in Utica. I took my sister-in-law Sue and we had a wonderful time. The show was awesome! I could not believe the extreme quality of all the workmanship. The intensely dense machine quilting, the thread painting with colored thread on plain background areas. All the details added to each art work. Every quilt was worthy of a ribbon. Seeing quilting on a National level was quiet an eye opener. Others always tell me I should enter my quilts into big shows, and my response is that I am not a perfectionist. I can see that I really need to up my game to compete at this level. But I am too concerned with the "art" of quilting, color, pattern, texture, design, embellishments. I could care less if all my points match, if the edge is straight, I make them crooked on purpose half the time. I do care if the tension is correct on my machine, but if I change thread, it may change the tension, and I often forget to recheck. Blocking a quilt, I don't have floor room for that. So I don't think I'll be entering a National show anytime soon. Maybe "Visions" show is more my art quilting style. Anyway, I digress, I loved the show, I'm not going to post any photos due to copy right considerations. There was a beautiful whole cloth painted tiger, with intricate thread painting. A "Dear Jane" quilt to inspire me to finish mine. Several photos printed in a large format, and the thread painting brought them to life. The applique florals, Baltimore and pictorial quilts had great deal of intracacy and must have taken hours and hours to complete. They had the SAQA show "Wide Horizons" which was diverse but rather drab. Also the Cherrywood Fabrics challenge "Wicked" based on the Broadway show. It was hard to vote on a favorite, among the many lime green & black art pieces. All in all it was exceptional, and I'm so glad I was able to go.