What do a Fest, a Fair, a Factory and a Fall have in common?

On October 17, I headed to Tulsa for October Fest. We immediately headed for the food vendors for lunch.

Here we ate with Ash's best friend Matt and his Mom, Jennifer.

Grey and Hazel shared a ride in a pink car. They had to stop the ride early because Grey only liked about 3 rounds.

He did like riding the carousel with his mom, Eva.

Most of you that know me, know that I do not like heights, but I rode the ferris wheel several times with my grands!

My sister-in-law, Ruth, and nieces, Beth and Charity, met us at October Fest. This is Beth and Charity right up front in this scary ride! The answer is No! I did not ride this with them!

Beth, Charity, Ruth and I headed back to AR that evening. On Saturday morning we went to a couple of Craft Fairs. This was War Eagle Weekend in NW AR. Thousands and thousands of people flock to NW AR to go to one or more of the many fairs, the biggest being at the War Eagle Mills. We went to a couple of fairs in Fayetteville and Springdale. 

We then picked up lunch and had a picnic at Wilson Park in Fayetteville. It is such a beautiful place. This old tree makes for a perfect photo op.

After lunch we went to Terra Studios and the Bluebird Factory. The girls had a tea party while we were there. There was a first for us. There was a wedding! One of the guests was dressed as Gandalf!

The girls had told me they needed me to show them how to use their sewing machines so they brought them to my house. While helping them, I tripped on the extension cord and broke a metatarsal in my foot. 

So there you have it--a Fest, a Fair, a Factory and a Fall on in 2 days!

Kathy

Quit Congress Mountain Home

The Hill N Hollow Quilt Guild sponsored a lovely Quilt Congress October 10-11. I drove up EARLY Friday morning in the rain to get to my workshop by 9 am. Now, the weekend before a lady had backed into my car at a yard sale.

Here is my poor door!

Well, when I got to the church where I thought my workshop was, I saw a woman standing by a door. I rolled the passenger window down to ask her if this was the door to go into. Guess what? It wouldn't roll all the way up and it was really, really raining. I used my sun screens to block the rain out while I was in my workshop. More on the window later.

Our workshop was about printing on fabric. Here are a few of the blocks I printed. 

These are the ladies who conducted the workshop. They are called Sisterspeak. This is me in the tye-dye(of course) taking a pic while someone is taking a pic of me.

Here's my pic! The background of this quilt was printed with leaves and weeds!

After the workshop I took the plastic that I had been using and covered my window with that. I felt like a true redneck! I left the workshop and checked into our motel and then went to the evening session at the fairgrounds. I met friends, Jeanie, Nora and Adele there. They had driven down that afternoon, stopping at every quilt shop, and flea market along the way.

This was the silent auction. They really had great prices! I came home with 32 yards of nice fabric and 47 books for pennies on the dollar. A lot of the books will go to my guild's store. It was really fun.

After the evening events Jeanie rode back to the motel with me. I had to close the door for her so that I could position my plastic over the window because it was still raining. Not being experienced in covering my car window with plastic, I left too much of a ruffle on the outside so it flapped really loud when we were moving. Jeanie talked to her mother and she thought we were having horrible car trouble. My sister-in-law called and I was chatting with her with the bluetooth on the car and she thought we had a flat tire. We were really laughing.

Back at the motel my 3 roommates surprised me with one of their purchases along the highway. It was a small t-shirt which they stuck on a pillow while I was out of the room. I tried it on, but it was kind of like  •♫♪"Fat man in a little coat"•♫♪. I threatened their lives if they took a pic of that so there is no evidence of that escapade(BTW, I have no idea how this font changed!). We laughed a lot!

The next morning I loaded Jeanie in the car, covered the window with plastic and went to Quilt Congress. We put some of our stuff down to save our seats. We always located them by looking for my yellow slicker. Can you see it hanging on the chair at the table?

They had several mini workshops. this one was on pieced hexies. That's me on the far left and Nora is 2 down from me. The lady in between us won the door prize.

Jeanie and I went on stage to show our guild's donation quilt. Jeanie is on the far left holding the quilt while I am helping a lady from our workshop show off the blocks she won at our workshop.

We all won door prizes and got goody bags. I won the centerpiece at my table!

Nora had to leave early to catch a plane so Jeanie, Adele and I headed out in the afternoon in my redneck car. Jeanie and I got the window rolled up better and we actually got to travel without the plastic. We stopped for diesel and Jeanie asked me how I got the window rolled up all the way. I had not done a thing, but somehow the window had gone up on its own. A Quilt Congress Miracle!!!

Kathy

I can't believe it! I actually completed some blocks this month!!!!

October was a pretty busy month. I will blog about some more of the happenings later, but now I need to post about the blocks I completed for the 350 block challenge at  Prairie Moon.

No 1 block

This is a block I started in a workshop with Jim Gatlin called The Insanity Block as is this next block. It was a really fun class!

No 2 block!

No 3-18

These are a few of the 16 10" blocks I made in a printing workshop at AR Quilt Congress. I actually made a lot more, but I intend to cut them up so I am not counting them in my total blocks. The workshop was a blast. We printed with stamps, bubble wrap, cardboard, netting, styrofoam, feathers, and plant parts. The plant parts were my favorite! I have fallen in love with papyrus. The blocks that look like fireworks were printed with papyrus. It is not a perennial in our neck of the woods so I will wait until next spring to buy a plant.  We also used ferns, peacock feathers, red bud leaves, weeds and various other plant parts.

 
                No 19-22
These are snail trail blocks I made to go into a bigger project. Stay tuned!

No 23

This is a small, modern block.

No 24

This is a small foundation paper pieced block that will be part of a quilt I will be making to commemorate my favorite childhood book, The Hundred Dresses. It is a story of bullying and really touched me as a child. My friend, Liz, was working on dog and cat foundation pieced blocks at our retreat and they looked like dresses to me. 

No 25

This is a small quilt top made from a pattern I bought while on vacation this summer. I think it will go in our small quilt auction in April.

No 26 and 27

These are the larger wall hanging tops made from the silverware pattern. They will be a Christmas present. Don't they remind you of the giant forks and spoons of the 50's and 60's? I actually have some of those painted in bright colors above my kitchen cabinets. They are made from a combination of new and vintage fabrics.

No 28

This is a quilt top that I am counting as one block which was made from a jacket and a couple of place mats bought at a resale shop. At our quilt retreat in Eureka Springs we went on a field trip to a resale shop to find things that we could recycle into quilted items. I wish I had taken a before pic of the jacket! It kind of has a Picasso look to it. Reminds me of an eye which is crying. 

So my grand total for October was 28. That now makes a total for the year of 382! Two more months--I think I'll crack 400 easily by the end of the year.

Kathy

Fun at the Fair!

I hit the ground running in October.  I went with my delightful grands, daughter-in-law Eva and various and sundry homeschool students to The Tulsa State Fair!
My grands and I made projects that were entered in the fair.

This is 8 year old Eowyn and behind her is her blue ribbon winning, denim, animal quilt. And, yes, it is me in the reflection, inadvertently taking a selfie.

This is 6 year old Ash and behind him on the shelf is his blue ribbon winning dinosaur, drawstring pillow case. 

Ash also won his heat of the cookie stacking contest.

T

This sprite is 4 year old Hazel and behind her is her blue ribbon winning Mooshka Kitty.

I was so proud of all of them!

Can't forget award winning driver in the toddler division, 22 month old Grey.

He also did some fantastic grocery cart racing.

Ash and Eowyn loved, loved, loved grinding and taking corn off the cob the old fashioned way.

It was a long, fun day! State and county fairs have been around forever and are iconic local and state wide venues for young and old to exhibit their handiwork and livestock. A friend told me that entries at fairs are declining which is too bad, because it is a great feeling to see something you made or raised displayed for all to see. I will have to admit that I have not entered anything in the Washington County Fair for the last couple of years because it falls at a time when I have trouble getting there to pick up my things after the fair. I will try to do better next year. Oh, and to top it all off, my grands each got a $8 check as a part of their awards.

Kathy

Goals for Last Quarter of the Year!

Here's my goals for the Littlest Thistle Finish Along 2014.

This was a goal from the last quarter that I did not complete. It is a doll that has been in progress for several years. I have already been working on it and plan to finish it before the end of the year.

These 3 tops still need the appliques stitched down, borders, backing and quilting. I really need to complete the larger ones for a Christmas present.

These are exploding blocks from the Jenny Doan workshop in June. They were also on my 3rd quarter goals. I have finished all the blocks, put them together and put a border on. I may enlarge it and then need to quilt it.

These are my goals for the end of the year. This is a very busy time for me--basketball, holidays, grandkid activities--but I will do my best to get these done! Stay tuned for my results!

Kathy

July, August and September Blocks finished!

I have been very negligent in documenting my completed blocks so I am playing catch-up.

 These are exploding blocks I started in a Jennie Doan workshop in June. I completed 37 of the blocks.

This is my Row by Row quilt that I completed in 4 days and was the first one completed in Arkansas. I turned it into Sager Creek Quilts and won 25 fat quarters! There are about 26 blocks in this one.

These are arrowhead blocks started in my Scrappy Ladies group--a total of 9 so far!

 2 split 9-patches started in a workshop, my name tag block made for Calico Cut-ups, and a small 6 1/2 block made for an exchange.

Here are all the blocks turned into the exchange at the itty bitty retreat in August. I turned in 4 of those--2 kitties, a house and an exploding block. I also won part of them!

This is a flag quilt I started in Featherweight Club back in the spring. I completed the stars earlier and made 36 flag blocks to complete the flag. 

This is a total of 116 for the past 3 months. This brings my grand total to 354--4 over the goal of 350 for the year and I still have 3 months to go! Woohoo!!!! I am Quilter hear me Roar!

Kathy

Crazy Completion

Finished the crazy quilt blocks started 20 years ago! I don't know if you can see, but there are beads and buttons and tassels. One of them will be for our guild's small quilt auction at our quilt show in April. The other one will be for the itty bitty quilt committee display at the quilt show. Save your pennies--one of these could be yours at the next quilt show!!!

Kathy

Lori's Courage Quilt

Finishing this quilt was one of my goals for this quarter.  My friend Lori was preparing for the first of many surgeries this summer and I wanted to make her a quilt for comfort. This one seemed to fit the bill so I finished it, got it in the mail and it arrived the day before her surgery.  She has since had a second surgery which involved her brain. I hope she has been able to take comfort from it. 

You know we all have parts of the quilting process that we prefer over others. It seems to me that the most common agreement amongst quilters is that we all love to share our quilts with others. Quilters are some of the most generous people I know.

Keep on Quilting and Giving!!!

Kathy

Late Third Quarter Goals

These are my goals for the 3rd Quarter of 2014 for the UFO  Challenge over at Littlest Thistle. I am only about a month late, but I had the goals in mind earlier, honest!

Goal Number 1: Foundation Pieced 

Crazy Quilt  I started this project over 15 years ago. I pulled it back out a couple of months ago and finished the individual blocks. Now I need to put them together and will probably make a couple of small quilts out of them.

Goal Number 2: Unfinished Doll. As  you can see it is a pile of unstuffed body parts. This has been a project about 10 years in the making. The fabric has been embellished with various doodads and covered with tulle. I plan to put it altogether, stuff and finish!

Goal Number 3:  Scrappy Blocks.  I have 12 blocks finished and plan on putting them together to give to a friend who has a debilitating illness. I started these in June.

Goal Number 4: Exploding Blocks.  I took a workshop with Jennie Doan in June on this block and this is what I got done. I actually did a lot of socializing and networking along with the blocks!!!! I will complete a quilt.

Wish me luck!!!!

Kathy