New Beginnings

This has been a year of changes. In late November we made the decision to stop traveling due to some health issues my husband had. A couple days later we learned that our youngest daughter is expecting a baby in August. About 6 weeks later we learned that our middle daughter who has a 2 year old is also expecting a baby this year. We already knew that our oldest was pregnant and due in March. Little Elsie was born on March 6, 2014. I took this picture of her the other day when she was at my house.

About a month ago my husband spent 5 days in the hospital with fluid in his lungs and a pretty severe case of pneumonia. I couldn't help but be extremely grateful that he didn't get sick when we were on the road. It was a very difficult time for our family. That was a lot of stress for two pregnant women, a new mom and me.

I suppose that there was a little part of me that thought that after taking a year off there might be a way to do a few shows now and then.  While Alan was in the hospital some good friends of ours who are restructuring their business too, called me to see if I would be willing to sell the pipe and drape for our booth. With him so sick I knew that our show days were definitely behind us. So I agreed to sell it to them. Goodbye to our blue drapes and the pipe to hang them from.

When Alan got home from the hospital he was very stressed out about a lot of things. The first thing that I had to take care of was selling our travel trailer. I wrote some blog posts about our adventures in it. That was our home away from home for about 6 years. But on April 11th we sold it. I have to admit it was kind of bittersweet to see it drive away.

A week or so after the trailer was sold, we decided that we would sell our truck too. We knew we were going to do it so it wasn't a surprise but again, it was another big step. There were 200,000+ miles on it and almost all of them were miles spent traveling from one show to another. Alan knows how many hours were on the engine; apparently diesel engines keep track of that information. I try not to think about how many hours I rode in that truck but obviously if we drove over 200,000 miles it was a lot of hours.That truck was so reliable and Alan loved driving it. When we ordered it he chose every option that he wanted figuring that he would spend a lot of time behind the wheel. He took excellent care of it and when we traded it in it looked brand new. Alan was an expert about getting every nook and cranny of that truck full as you can see in this blog post. This picture is of our truck packed and ready to leave for a show. It was very sad to drive away from it for the last time.

Now we have a Subaru Outback. It is much smaller but is more conducive to our life off the road. It is a car I can feel comfortable driving grandchildren around in. With three new babies and a 2 1/2 year old that was a big consideration. I have to admit that Subaru wasn't my first choice of car. But I also have to admit that seeing their ad campaign with totally smashed up cars and the phrase "They lived" definitely had an impact. It is a nice car and I'm enjoying driving it.

Things have definitely changed for us. I'm still doing business online. I am looking forward to working on new projects, many of which will probably be baby and toddler related. I hope you'll continue to follow me on this new journey.

Happy Quilting and Stitching,

Carol

Sew Batik Challenge at NQA

We traveled to the Midwest and East this summer for some quilt shows. One of the shows we did was NQA (National Quilting Association) in Columbus, OH.Our good friends Bruce and Diane from Sew Batik sponsored a challenge at this show. The show had a patriotic theme so that was the theme for the challenge quilts. I have been to a lot of shows with a lot of challenge quilts. These were among the best quilts I have ever seen at a challenge. I want to share them with you here.

Look at all of those star points in the quilt on the top right. 

The quilting on the award winning quilt is amazing. You can see the texture of the extremely close lines of quilting. All of the parts of the fighter jet really stand out because of the way it is quilted.

I like the braided border in the Statue of Liberty quilt. The wine glass has an organza overlay to make it more realistic.

Two of the quilts in this grouping won ribbons. The flag has charms in the center of all of those tiny red squares and there are a total of 50 stars in the blue squares. Here's a close up of that quilt.

Stars and Sunbonnet Sue - What could be more Americana than that?

I love, love, love this mini Storm at Sea. What a great way to take a traditional block and change it up.

Here are a couple very non-traditional entries. The one with the faces probably has the most of the red challenge fabric that isn't a solid piece of any other quilt in the exhibit.

The top right hand quilt is a fun way to celebrate America and stitching, sewing and quilting. There's a pair of scissors, a pincushion and a quilt block in the design.

Quilts of Valor is such a worthwhile cause. It is great to see it represented in the Challenge Quilts.

This quilt incorporated crochet which I thought was very interesting so I wanted to share that detail here.

Isn't that Route 66 quilt fun? We drove along part of that road in our travels this summer. We had some free time one day and drove along a stretch of it in Albuquerque.

This is getting to be a very long post and this is only half of the quilts. I will do a second one with the rest of them soon.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Minnesota Quilters Quilt Show

If you saw my last Blog Post you know that we had a LOT of unpacking to do. We did manage to get everything in our booth. Here's a picture of the booth all set up.

At one point I had to take a break from the chaos of set up so I took a power walk through the quilts on display in the aisles right near our booth. Unfortunately that is all I was able to see of the quilts during the show but there were some gorgeous quilts on display. There were some that I have seen several times. This one really caught my eye though.

Look at all of the Half Square Triangles and points.

When you see the next photo you'll be even more impressed with this piece.

I'm not touching it

Don't worry. I'm not touching the quilt. I had to put my hand by the quilt so you could get a feel for how small it is. Turns out it won First Place in the Miniature Category. Those are a lot of triangles and points in a full size quilt. I can't imagine doing it on such a small scale! Very impressive!

Just had to share with you.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Heading to the Midwest

We left on Saturday for the Minnesota Quilters Quilt Show and Conference. This is our first of three shows in the Midwest. One of the biggest challenges in getting ready for the trip was getting the truck packed for these shows. We had to order extra product since some of our vendors don't drop ship.

Fortunately my husband, Alan, is really good at packing. We were recently at a show and when another vendor drove by our packed truck he asked if we still had room for a can of sardines. This trip we have even more in the truck.

This is what the back part of the truck looked like the day before we left.

Those two orange straps are what holds our hand truck on the back of the truck. There might be a tiny bit of room above our poles on the right side but if there is it isn't much.

You can see our two DMC thread chests.They sit on top of the boards that give us some elevation in the back of the booth. Underneath that is all of our grid wall. Anything that is skinny enough to fit gets stuck in the little "dead space" created by the wheel well.

Crates are stacked on top of each other and small boxes that hold patterns are piled on top of them. You can see our tables and the racks that sit on the tables with our tea towel models on them.

Tuesday is set up day for the show. We will unload everything and get all of this in our 10' x 20' booth. I did a Blog Post about that process awhile back. That was before we added Bird Brain Designs and all the RedWork Accessories. But you'll get an idea of what is ahead of us tomorrow.

Happy Quilting and Stitching,

Carol

The Best of the Valley Doll Exhibit

I thought I'd do something a little different for this post. The Best of the Valley Quilt Show in Lindsay, CA had the biggest doll exhibit I've ever seen at a quilt show. They had a huge variety. There was everything from elaborately dressed women, to stuffed animals and mythological creatures.

I would like to share some of them with you. I know that the pictures extend a little past the usual display area but they really need to be big so you can see the detail.

"Where the Wild Things Are" is one of my favorite children's books. I love the display with the book and the little boy from the story. The collection of pincushions is very cute too.

My favorites in this photo are the the Japanese dolls with the fan behind them. Each one is holding a fan in front of her face. I also love the texture and detail in the doll that is bent into a circle. I love the tree bark texture and the unusual shape.

Aren't these bats fun? They make me smile. They are so goofy looking.

The detail on the brown and teal doll in the center is amazing. She is just gorgeous. On the opposite extreme you have the cute crabs and lobsters in the foreground.

Look at the whimsical creature on the bike. The spokes are tiny beads. This doll was made by Susan Bellamy. She was the featured doll maker at the show. I plan to do a blog post in the near future on her exhibit. You won't believe the rest of her work.

I wish I could have taken detailed photos of every single doll on display. The workmanship of all of these pieces was exemplary. It was a very inspiring display.

Carol

It's All about the Thread

I LOVE thread! I can spend more money on thread at a show than on fabric. Thread can add color, texture and detail to a quilt or wearable garment. Some people are purists and believe that only cotton thread should be used in quilts. I use whatever I feel enhances my quilts. When I saw this quilt down the aisle from our booth at HMQS (Home Machine Quilting Show) in Salt Lake City earlier this month, I knew I wanted to do a Blog post about thread.

Linda, Cheri Quite Contrary

The center of this quilt has hexagons and 1000 circles. The quiltmakers Linda V Taylor and Cheri Meineke-Johnson call it their version of Grandmother's Flower Garden. When I first saw it I thought that the background was painted or a soft hand dyed fabric. Upon closer inspection all of those pastel colors in the background were created with thread. Up close you can see that some of these threads are neon colors.

This is just one example of several quilts I saw at the show where thread played an important part in the look and feel of the quilt. Here is a whole cloth challenge quilt made by Teri Lucas of New York City that is just a plain white background with the color in thread. I have started dabbling with Zentangle and this quilt reminds me of that. It adds design and texture to the fabric.

Whole Cloth Challenge Quilt

Here is a close up of some of the quilting. I love the scroll looking design in the border. The row after row of straight lines really adds texture. I also like the tiny circles. This quilt inspires me to practice my free motion quilting.

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Bedazzled won a ribbon for Best Combination. Susan Ford only used three fabrics in the quilt. Thread adds additional colors making it look like there are more fabrics in the quilt. It is machine embroidered with designs by Sarah Vedeler. It was quilted by Sue McCarty.

Bedazzled

From a distance this looks like applique, but it is all machine embroidery. Here is a close up of one section of the quilt. In addition to the beautiful threads, 4000 Swarovski crystals were applied by hand.

Mandarin Duck is a quilt that was made from a photograph taken by Barbara McKie. She manipulated the picture she took in Photoshop and then printed it onto fabric. The quilt really does look like a photo.

Mandarin Duck

Here is a close up of the head. That is my favorite part of the quilt. She did an excellent job capturing the jewel tone colors and the thread adds the texture necessary to make it really look like feathers.

Feathers and Fills is a great example of a whole cloth quilt that primarily uses one color. Marie Eldredge started with the feathers in the border and then filled in the rest. Most of the thread is the same color as the fabric. So color is secondary, texture is the main effect created by the thread. It is another  Zentangle looking quilt. Unfortunately I didn't get a close-up of the quilting but I think you can still get the idea from this photo.

These are only a few examples of quilts from the show. They always have gorgeous quilts on display. If you are ever in the Salt Lake City area on Mother's Day weekend, think about attending HMQS. It is one of the few shows that offers numerous classes that really focus on machine quilting, including longarm classes.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Young Quilters

The display of Quilters under 18 Years of Age was right by our booth at the Best of the Valley Quilt Show in Lindsay, CA. I am looking forward to teaching my granddaughter, Tristyn to quilt. You can see her playing with thread and Perle Cotton Bubbles on the side of this page. She is also featured in my post about Perle Cotton Bubbles. She likes to carry pieces of fabric around the house. So I'm getting her used to all of that at a very young age (she's 17 months old).

I was very impressed with the work of the young quilters who entered their quilts at the show. I would like to share it with you here.

This first quilt was made by 11 year old Jada Wheeler from Bakersfield, CA. She plans to decorate her room with a jungle theme. Her grandma let her choose the fabrics for the quilt. I think this quilt is going to look great in her room.

Jada's Jungle by Jada Wheeler - Age 11

The next quilt was made by Evan Renee Carson of Porterville, CA who is 9.  It was sewn on her white Featherweight sewing machine. Her inspiration is to be just like her Grammie (Priscilla Girard) who Evan says is a great quilter.

My First Quilt by Evan Renee Carson - Age 9

Summer Sunset won a Third Place Ribbon. Abrielle Ward from Hanford, CA made this quilt. She is 13. It is her second quilt and is the first one she quilted herself. She started with Jelly Rolls. She said it was a fun and easy quilt to make.

Summer Sunset by Abrielle Ward - Age 13

Raine Palomino from Hanford, CA made Pandas at Play. She saw the pattern at Best of the Valley last year and decided to make it. Raine quilted it by herself. She is only 12 years old and did thread play, free motion quilting and some stitch in the ditch quilting. She is definitely a serious quilter. Her quilt was the Second Place winner. (Sorry the photo isn't clearer).

Pandas at Play by Raine Palomino - Age 12

This is Irelan Fletcher's "First Quilt." She is from Clovis, CA and is 11 years old. She made the quilt with her grandmother, Janet Fletcher and her friend Judy McDaniel. Irelan chose the fabric, sewed, cut, and pressed the half square triangles. She also sewed the short seams, created the design and free motion quilted the rose design on most of the blocks. Judy did the feathers in the borders and Janet sewed the long seams and binding. Irelan says she loves quilting! Her quilt finished in First Place.

First Quilt by Irelan Fletcher - Age 11

Last, but certainly not least is Payton's First Quilt. Payton Evan is 8 years old and is from Porterville, CA. In her artist's statement she said that her favorite part was pressing the fabric. She says her grandma pressured her when her hands were tired but told her "Don't stop, we are almost done." I met Payton at the show. She was so excited about her quilt. Hers won Best of Show in the Under 18 Category.

Payton's First Quilt by Payton Evan - Age 8

Congratulations to all of the entrants! These are some very talented young quilters. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of their work for a long time to come.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

Quilt Show Themes

Many of the shows we do, especially quilt guilds have a theme. It is always interesting to see how that theme translates into the show. I recently did a post about the Hi-Desert Quilt Guild's China Lake Tribute at their show last month.

The following week we were at the Glendale Quilt Show. I have to say that they win my prize for the best way of presenting their theme. The theme for this year's show was "Any Holiday on Quilts." As soon as you walked in the door, you knew that.

This was the doorway on the right side as you walked in the building

Someone spent a lot of time on the Welcome Sign. Various holidays are depicted in each letter.

When you looked to the left as you walked through the door this is what you saw.

Again the sign that says "Holidaze" incorporates the theme.

I walked past the entrance several times a day for various reasons. Every time I saw one more little detail. When I saw what I call the "Halloween Hunks Quilt" I couldn't resist taking a picture to share it with you. 

Isn't this a fun quilt? I love Halloween prints with bright colors and this definitely uses a lot of them.

The guild is moving their show to a new venue in Pasadena next year. Since Pasadena is the home of the Rose Parade the theme for next year's show revolves around roses. It will be interesting to see what they do with that.

Happy Quilting,
Carol

Hi-Desert Quilt Guild's Quilt Show

Hi-Desert Quilt Guild in Ridgecrest, CA used their recent show to Celebrate 70 Years of the Navy at China Lake. Many of the guild members made quilts to commemorate this event. It was interesting to see how each person interpreted the theme. The military plays such an important role in all our lives and in our country that I wanted to share this exhibit with you.

We were fortunate enough to have our booth near these quilts. It was a pleasure to be able to look at these wonderful pieces all weekend. These are the quilts that were directly across from our booth.

These quilts were across from us at the show

Here are pictures of the individual quilts from this exhibit. The photos and the quilter's statements about their work, if available, are shown below. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did.

This Square Dance Flag Quilt was made by Nancy Buchner. The flag was made from instructions her cousin Carolyn Tysdale gave her. Nancy copied the logo from the Internet. The quilt is machine pieced and appliqued. The lettering is machine embroidered.

Square Dance Flag Quilt

This Flag Quilt didn't have any comments. I love the random scrappy background and the spinning stars.

 Semper Fidelis is an original design made by Peggy  Murphy. It was made for her son who joined the Corps several years ago. It recognizes the USMC presence at China Lake. There is a metallic braided cord as a small border. The first verse of the Marine Corps Hymn is quilted into the four wide borders.

Semper Fidelis by Peggy Murphy

Somehow we missed the quilter's statement about this quilt. It was one that I had the pleasure of looking at. The vibrant red, white and blue really stood out. I love the pieced background. From a distance it looks like solid fabrics but on close inspection you see the individual squares that form the background.

Sidewinder Missile and Petroglyphs was made by Carol Wilcher. She designed the quilt from the logo of the Sidewinder missile that was invented at the then China Lake Naval Ordinance Test Station (NOTS). It is rough edge appliqued. She added linoleum block printed Coso Range Petroglyphs. The background has Sidewinder snakes quilted into it. I am absolutely terrified of snakes so this one is hard for me to look at. I had the pleasure of speaking with Carol about her quilt. The technique she used for the snake skin is part of what makes it so realistic.

Sidewinder Missile and Petroglyphs by Carol Wilcher

A Woman's Career at NWC/NAWC/NAWCWD is another quilt that I had a chance to speak to the quilt maker about. I love the irregular shape. She told me that it was a real challenge to do but she is pleased with the way it turned out. It represents one woman's career at China Lake , developing new target recognition technologies for a variety of sensors and applications. The design recasts and personalizes an Information Warfare Systems Division logo to represent some of the work that she did during her career in that division. It is machine pieced, embroidered, appliqued, and quilted.

NWC/NAWC/WPNS by Annette DeMay

Deanna Ripley-Lotee's quilt Rocket Men came from a photograph of her husband Mike and his friend Scott O'Neil taken during their early careers at the China Lake Skytop Static Test Facility. The image, taken in the late 1970s shows them in front of a Vertical Launch ASROC rocket motor on its firing stand after completing a successful test in preparation for a flight test. They are accompanied by other "rocket men" of note depicted on the front of the quilt. Hand pieced, machine quilted, and hand appliqued. 

Rocket Men by Deanna Ripley-Lotee

End of Chase by Terry Millett depicts an F/A-18 as it pulls away after a "flying chase" for a Tomahawk cruise missle shortly before its land impact on the land range at China Lake. The desert Big Horn Sheep are in no danger and idly stand by. This quilt was created in honor of the Navy's 70 year presence in China Lake and in homage to the style of Larry Zabel, former China Lake employee and renowned western artist who passed away in 2012. This quilt is hand pieced and machine appliqued and quilted.

End of Chase by Terry Millett

Marian Bruce was commissioned to make "Andy's Career in Naval Aviation" for a retiring Navy pilot. She used his T-shirts and memorabilia from his career in the navy.

Andy's Career in Naval Aviation by Marian Bruce

The F/A-18 aircraft and sidewinder missiles have been a big part of the Navy at China Lake. A Desert landscape and the Sierra Mountains are the backdrop for lots of Navy activities. This quilt is an original design by Elene Gravelle. It is machine pieced, appliqued and quilted and hand appliqued.

China Lake 70th Anniversary of the Navy by Elene Gravell

In the Beginning - Rocket Riding' Rabbit was made by Charlotte Freeman. It is a quilt she has wanted to make for many years. This special exhibit of quilts honoring China Lake's 70th anniversary gave her the perfect opportunity to finally get it done! The quilt is her rendition of the "rocket ridin' rabbit" which was the first logo adopted for use by the Naval Ordinance Test Station from its inception in the early 1940's. Various versions of this popular logo are still in use today. It has appeared on everything from flight jackets to t-shirts and caps and can be found adorning walls in bars and in informal publications. I overheard a gentleman who was white gloving at the show telling someone that it is a perfect copy down to every detail of the logo. It is an original design and was hand appliqued and machine quilted.

In the Beginning - Rocket Ridin' Rabbit by Charlotte Freeman

Sandy Bosley made Open House which features a picture of her kids posed with the aircraft their dad supported on the base. The quilt is based on photos taken at the open house on the base in the 1990's. It is machine pieced, appliqued and quilted.

Open House by Sandy Bosely

RDT&E was also  made by Terry Millett. A mad scientist represents our China Lake heritage of independent free-thinking, can-do culture. His hand is on an AIM-9L/M Sidewinder missile, which is surrounded by a light bulb representing the brilliant, innovative idea that makes Sidewinder a shining example of China Lake at its best. The scientist holds a chem stick and stands on a molecule, both representing Research, the gears represent Development, above the ranges are an explosion representing Test and a graph representing Evaluation. It is an original design that is machine pieced and quilted. Hand appliqued and embroidered.

RDT&E by Terry Millett

NAWCWD was made by Kathleen Schumacher. From the beginning she had no idea where this quilt would go next. She started with the center patch after looking up insignias on the website for the China Lake Naval Station. Then she just kept asking the quilt, "Okay, where do you want me to go next?" So, this is what the intention of the quilt became. It is an original design that is machine pieced and quilted with hand applique and embroidery. It think she did a great job interpreting what the quilt told her to do.

NAWCWD by Kathleen Schumacher

This quilt is called In Flight and was also made by Sandy Bosley. In flight over desert scrub and sands naval personnel test aircraft system design to perfection. With the optimum number of flying days available here there are also a few beautiful sunsets in the mix. It is machine pieced, appliqued and quilted.

In Flight by Sandy Bosley

Thank you to all of the talented ladies who created these beautiful and diverse pictures commemorating 70 Years of the Navy at China Lake and to all of the men and women who serve our country.

Happy Quilting, 

Carol