A Heavenly Walk Quilt Show in Franklin, NC

A small group of five traveled to Franklin, NC to attend the guild quilt show there. I love a quilt show, and arrived there eager to see some inspiring quilts. The show was staged in two lovely churches just across the street from one another. We parked at the Methodist church and began the quilty day.
I must say, I was disappointed to see the quilts draped over chairs placed on low tables. There were three or four quilts on a table, and it was impossible to see the entire quilt. Part of the experience is to see the quilt as a whole, how all the components work together and how the colors interact across the face of the quilt. There were some beautiful quilts that I really wanted to see hanging, because of the intricacy of their piecing and use of exciting fabric combinations. A real bummer for us quilt junkies.
A short walk away was the Presbyterian church, with quilts in two locations, as well as the vendors, boutique, silent auction and basket raffle. Here, the quilts were a little easier to see because they were draped over the pews in the sanctuary. Still not ideal, but impressive as we came through the doors and saw them all at once. I would have spent more time looking at my favorite quilts, but some were in the middle of the row and not readily accessible to see up close. One of the ones I would have loved to see hanging was draped over a chair...rats!
I guess the take-away from the show was 'make the best of your situation'. Maybe there isn't a venue in Franklin where the guild could hang all the quilts, or maybe they couldn't afford to make or rent display racks. Either way, the show would have been wonderful, if we could have really seen the quilts. I give it a 4 our of 10.
The slide show features my favorites. There were loads of quilts, but I didn't snap them all. Enjoy!

This slideshow created with Smilebox

Honeycomb, won't you be my baby...

If you remember that song, you're at least as old as I am!! A customer brought three baby quilts with the cutest Winnie the Pooh fabrics, and honeycomb fabric in the blocks. She wanted the quilting to be honeycomb, so that's what I did!!

Folded so they fit on the rail, here are the three quilts.

They are all like this

Here, you can see the honeycomb quilting pattern.

And this is the honeycomb backing!

While quilting the baby quilts on the computerized machine, I worked on the custom quilt some more.My stupid foot kept me from standing for longer than 20 minutes at a stretch, so it was slow going. I'm doing the appliqué blocks now, and using simple feathers and echo lines. The blocks are pretty, and don't need  gobs of frilly quilting. I hope to finish the last row and get on to the outer border by the weekend.

It's hard to take a good picture with the quilt flat on the machine. There will be better photos when  the quilt is off the rollers.

I hadn't taken a picture of the inner border quilting either, so here it is.

Now, I have to take Molly out and then go straight to bed.

A repair finish

I'm happy to say that the embroidered quilt is finished! Way before the deadline, too. After the appliqué and replacement of the worst block, I set in to do the hand quilting. The two blocks next to the ripped one needed to have their feathered hearts re-done, and the setting triangles had to be requilted, too. I also quilted the replacement block to match the others. A soak and wash, and voila!! Good as new.

This is where I started. Giant hole, and no quilting on any of the surrounding blocks.

The binding was completely gone all along the edge. Notice, no quilting in the setting triangles, either.

Ta-Da!! Clean and ready to go home.

The new block is in the center on the right side. I hand quilted the corners and setting triangles, and all the missing quilting from the surrounding blocks. 

The new block

One setting triangle

Another setting triangle

A better look at the new block.

New row at the bottom in this picture.

The fun never ends here at Wazoo. This is the next repair job...

Each grandchild got a quilt when Grandma died. 

My customer got this one. Simple utility quilt, but she told me of the fond memories of sleeping under this quilt on trips to Grandma's house as a youngster. She loves the feeling she has snuggling in this quilt, and wants it fixed.

The batting in the quilt is another quilt! I could see the 9 patch blocks under some of the larger holes.

This evening, I went to my guild in Blue Ridge for a wonderful meeting. There were loads of pretty show and tell projects, and a demo of making multiple half square triangle blocks at one time. Diane did a great job with the demo, and I can't wait to try making 54 -2 1/2 inch HSTs at a time from two fat quarters! My cookies, cupcakes, cheese and cracker platter and pico de gaillo with chips were all a hit. We had enough food for a group twice the size of ours. Pasta salad, veggies, fruit, mini eclairs, banana bread and more cookies from the other two ladies!! Quilters rarely go hungry.

My foot hurts...

Mr Wazoo is getting tired of me saying my foot hurts several times a day. Trust me, I'm tired of saying it...and feeling it! So far, the physical therapy isn't making a difference at all. If anything, my foot feels worse. Oh well, I've had to suck it up and keep working. I finished both cabin quilts for the same customer!

The first quilt is for a 7 year old granddaughter.

She likes flowers and butterflies, so I used the panto Butterfly swirl

Sweet vintage backing

The second, bigger quilt, is for the customer's bed. 

She requested feathers, so I used this pattern for the center...

...and this pattern for the blocks.

The quilting shows nicely on the back.

While I worked the two cabin quilts, I was doing more custom quilting on the blue quilt. I have all the pieced blocks done, and one of the borders. In case you wondered how I mark and quilt them, I have taken some pictures while doing the quilting.

Here is one of the finished blocks

I decided to mimic the triangles in the border as part of my quilting design. 

The triangles are 90 degree angles, so I used a small square ruler for the marking.

Starting at the edge of one of the white triangles, I use a Bohin chalk marker to make triangles until I reach the corner.

Like this!

I use my favorite eight  inch long, quarter inch thick ruler to guide the hopping foot along the chalked lines.

I flip the ruler top-bottom-top-bottom until I reach either a corner, or the point where I need to advance the quilt to keep going.

I do the same on the top and bottom borders.

I did a freehand design in one side of triangles, and echoed the straight lines on the other side (not seen here)

Making progress!

I have been working on this quilt today, too, and need to get back at it. Sometimes, I have to get off my foot for a bit.

 Mr Wazoo has been quilting, too. He quilted a modern "plus" quilt, and a cute Cat in the Hat quilt.

Here is the man, hard at work in his Man Cave.

The customer said this quilt used scraps and clothes for the plusses.

Panto: Double Diamonds

Look closely and you'll see the cardinals on the back!

I like the 3-D effect from the different values in the blue and red sashing.

Panto: Popcorn

Lots of "Things" on the back!

I need to make a speed trip to the grocery store and then get back to work! I'll be doing some baking later tonight. I have guild tomorrow evening, and my friend and I are doing the snacks!!