A Win! (And Keeping Up Appearances)

I went to the State Fair Preview Night for the Fabric and Threads department last week and was happy to see my star block took 3rd place (far left).  The competitive part of me was disappointed that it didn't take first, but you can't have it all.  :)

I was glad that I placed, because it made me feel a bit better about something that has made me quite uncomfortable for awhile.  Let me tell you about it.

A little over a year ago I had to write an author bio for You Can Quilt!.  I had no idea how to start, so I googled "how to write an author bio" and got on my way.  One of the things the site said to include were any awards or prizes won for your work.  My first thought was, "None, skip to the next section" but then I remembered that I had a placed second and runner up in the State Fair quilt block contest and that a dress I made (the only one in it's category) had also placed.  Not a big deal in the quilt show world, but something, so I said something about winning a few ribbons at the state fair.

Much to my embarrassment, when AQS posted the book on Amazon they put in an abridged author bio that said in part, "Leila lives in Huxley, Iowa where she continues to quilt and win awards."  Continues to win awards?!?  First of all that is a lot of pressure to continue to win awards and second it makes it sound like I am a way better quilter than I am.  I am more of a make-quilts-to-use-that-are-pretty-good-quality quilter, but the level of perfection it takes to win awards at quilt shows is really high.  I can make one quilt block almost perfectly, but a whole quilt?  It made me feel really uncomfortable and embarrassed that someone that knew me and my quilts might read the bio and think that I was a big liar face and pretty full of myself.  Ick!  

So, I am very glad that this year I did indeed "continue to win (minor) awards" so it isn't a total lie.  :)

It was also fun to walk past the building with the frieze of quilt blocks.  This year I saw them with different eyes.  Because I have been working on the At the Fair BOM, they were all old friends and I have a real soft spot for each of them.  

I hope you all have a great week and that we all find time to "continue making quilts"!  :)

Quilt Block Contest

Tomorrow I am going to drop entries off at the State Fair Grounds.  As always, I entered the quilt block competition.  They send each entrant four fabrics about 10" square and we make a 9 1/2" unfinished block that uses all of the fabrics.  This year's (and last year's) fabrics were challenging because there wasn't a big difference in color and value between the fabrics.  Quilts with minimal contrast can be beautiful (note the low-volume quilts and this higher-volume quilt) but I think that a quilt made with only two bright colors and fairly small piecing is going to be too busy and the blocks will all mush together.

Given the fabric restrictions, I am really proud of my block.  The piecing is good, the fussy cutting adds extra detail and the block pattern is clear - no small feat.

I am also thinking of bringing some of the quilts or pillows from You Can Quilt!  Building Skills for Beginners - but it makes me really nervous, I'm not sure why.  Maybe because I feel like the book is being judged via the quilts?  ....  I'll let you know what I do and how it all ends up.

Next Friday I will host a link-up for anyone that has finished That Quirky Scrap Quilt.  I've got to get quilting!  :)

At the Fair Mystery Block of the Month 2015

It is no mystery that I love going to the Iowa State Fair every summer.  Love it!  The first time I went I was taken by the tiled quilt block frieze that runs around the exterior of the Richard O. Jacobson Exhibition Center.  I fell in love with it and decided that some day I would reproduce some of the quilt blocks in fabric.  That day is today and you can join me too!  It is going to be epic!

The At the Fair Mystery Quilt Block of the Month is based on the 36 of the tile quilt blocks on the exterior of the Exhibition Center and measures 96” x 92”.  The blocks range in size from 36” to 8” square.  For 18 months you will receive, via email, a PDF file with clear, detailed instructions for two quilt blocks on the first of the month.  The instructions will include color diagrams, pictures and foundation paper piecing templates, when necessary.  The block of the month program will begin January 2015 and end June 2016.

Layout:

When I started drafting the blocks for the quilt I quickly realized that they would need to be different sizes.  Some of the simpler blocks can be made in the smaller 8” size while the more detailed blocks require a much larger size to make the piecing manageable.  What started as a necessity quickly became the base for a unique quilt layout.  There is nothing boring about this quilt!  Over the course of the year we will make:  1 – 36” block, 1 – 32” block, 5 – 24” blocks, 3 – 16” blocks, 15 -12” blocks and 11 – 8” blocks.

Full and detailed instructions for setting the blocks will be provided in June 2016. 

Fabric requirements:

For the At the Fair Mystery Quilt you will need a total of 14 yards of fabric.

If you wish to use the same background in all of the blocks you will need:

·         7 yards of background fabric

·         7 yards of a variety of solid or print fabrics (yard cuts of two or three fabrics recommended)

·         1 yard of binding fabric

·         3 yards of 108” backing fabric

Pick fabric that you absolutely adore!  You will be working with this fabric all year and you will not want to work with fabric that you think is just ok.  Large scale prints will be appropriate for the jumbo blocks and smaller scale or tone on tone prints for the smaller blocks.  I would recommend including some solids so that there is a clear contrast in fabrics, especially for the smaller blocks.  For background fabric, choose a solid color that contrasts well with your prints.

I will be using Michael Miller Cotton Couture in the following amounts:

•          7 yards Bright White
•          1 yard of Shell, Turquoise and Sail
•          ½ yard of Apple, Limeade, Sea Foam, Clementine, Tangerine, Berry, Bubblegum, Mango and Lemon
•          1 yard Clementine for binding

Skill Level:

Adventurous!  The variety of block patterns and sizes will keep this quilt interesting, but there are only a few basic techniques: half square triangles, quarter square triangles, flying geese and foundation paper piecing.  All techniques will be thoroughly explained with step by step photos and illustrations.

Community:

A flickr group has been created for this quilt along.  Post pictures of your fabrics, blocks and finished quilt at: www.flickr.com/groups/fairquilt.  You can also post pictures on Instagram using the hashtag #atthefairmysteryquilt.  I can’t wait to see them!

Cost:  $35 for the entire year and a half!  If you sign up after January 1st all previous months' PDFs will be emailed to you within 24 hours.  Sign up here!  You are going to love making your At the Fair Quilt!

2014 Iowa State Fair

So we went to the fair on Tuesday and I finally got a picture of my quilt block.  It didn't win anything - no huge surprise there - but it was fun to see it and see a block a friend made too.

The walls of quilt blocks were...intense.  My friend Tara who loves orange and green together even thought it was a bit much.  It will make an interesting raffle quilt next year.

Every year they make a raffle quilt with the blocks from the previous year's competition.  Here is this year's raffle quilt with my Circle of Geese block in the middle.  A much calmer color palette.

This was the second year of there being a Modern Category at the fair.   Here are some of the entries.

And some more.

And more.  The entry on the right was perplexing.  I can only assume if was miss labeled and put in the wrong area because, while beautiful and well constructed, it is in no way modern.

Other favorites from the Fabric and Treads department were this cross stitched "quilt" and teal dress.  Each of the patches in the cross stitch was made to look like fabric - amazing.  I would love to make a quilt with that mix of colors and color gradation.   I also need to find (not make) a dress like the teal one for myself.  So classy!

The model gardens at the fair always get me motivated to do more in our yard.

Happy and calm before the ride

And I even went on a ride.  I am a ride wimp and it was scary and I felt like I was going to throw up.  The kid rides that I was too tall for seemed much more my speed.  :)

I am almost done appliqueing the stars on my Megan's Star quilt and hope to have pictures of that to share early next week.  I hope you have a great weekend!

Iowa State Fair Block

When I got back from vacation two weeks ago I found these fabrics in the stack-o-mail.  They are the fabrics for the 9" Quilt Block competition at the Iowa State Fair.  This is my third year entering (see my other entries here and here) and I have to say that these were the most challenging fabrics to work with so far.

The first year's fabrics weren't my favorite, but there was a good distribution of color and value.  The second year they used some of Vanessa Christensen's fabric (loved them!) but this year.... Well... None of the fabrics is bad by itself.  I actually really like the orange dot.  The green is a nice basic and the others...well, I wouldn't buy them, but they aren't yucky by any means, but all together they were really hard to work with.

Because the values were similar it was hard to decide on a block pattern that would look good.  The orange and the dark green didn't have enough contrast and the stripe blended with all of the other fabrics.  And if I cut the leaf fabric too small the dark orange leaves blended with the orange dot fabric.  Ugh!  After looking through tons of block patterns trying to find one that would look good with the fabrics and look decently challenging without being too hard to make I came up with this foundation paper pieced block:

Nothing fancy, but the best of all the options.  (The chartreuse around the center is the stripe - fussy cut to add more interest.)  Unfortunately, I have forgotten how to blog this summer and didn't take a picture of the actual block before turning it in.  Don't worry, you aren't missing much.  ;)   But I will for sure take a picture of it when we go to the fair in two weeks.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.  Only three more weeks until school starts here.  I can't decide if I should put multiple exclamation points after that sentence or a frowny face.  Being a mom is such a mixed bag.  :)