All Fused Up and Some Place To Go

I had a little help packing for this Road Trip - I think someone was trying to go along for the ride and for once it wasn't the dogs 'helping' me pack.

Zena in my red duffle bag

Here are the Blue Lagoon strips all pressed and ready for their fusing debut.

the spots are just water

All the hand dyes laid out and ready to roll.  This isn't everything in my hand dye stash but rather a pretty good jumping off point. Sometimes there is value in limiting choices.

I wasn't going to bring any sewing projects with me on this trip - too much stuff to drag and too many things to do out there. BUT the fusing all fits into 1 bag and there's an iron and board at the Michigan House sooooooo it's all packed and ready to go.

Light the Fuse!!

While I've done some fused quilts over the years, I've never been entirely happy with the results.  So imagine how happy I was to discover Melody Johnson's blog Fibermania. As one of the founding member of the Chicago School of Fusing, her blog is packed with information on making successful fused quilts, as well as knitting, gardening, cooking and life in Tennessee.  Check it out - it's AMAZING!!

And how does that affect me - since I have a few pieced quilts incubating in the design stage, I am going to play with some small fused art quilts.  Starting at the very beginning and following Melody's process step by step - not deviating, not thinking I know better (cause I DON'T) and not trying to reinvent the wheel.  It starts with hand dyed fabric. Hmmm, I have Cherrywood FQs and oh yeah, I almost forgot about the 6" squares of HD fabric that I bought back in September at the Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild show.  For the life of me, I can't remember the gal I bought these from but as soon as it comes to me, I'll share. I'll start with these.

 

 

Great bright colors that will go well with the Cherrywoods I have in mind - Blue Lagoon group.

 

 

Fusible on back

 To begin, all the squares are fused to regular Wonder Under 805.  I got mine at Wal-Mart, 3 yards @ $1.66/yd. = $4.98.  I'll do some of the Blue Lagoon fabrics later today. This will be an exercise in letting go of control and playing with color, so stay tuned.

Also on today's agenda is the baking of SCONES!! I'm getting ready for another Road Trip...

 

Iowa Trip Part 3

 

The trip took a day and a half but it's taken me 10 days to get the highlights posted!

 

When we were together last it was Thursday morning and I was headed out of Kalona, Iowa on my way back home. By rights since I had driven over an hour east of Des Moines the evening before, if I was leaving in the morning I should have made it home by noon. HA HA HA!!! Look I made a funny! No quilter worth her weight in fat quarters never, ever travels in a straight line when there are shopping opportunities along the way, or along a short detour from the way. 

 

You know, like down a gravel road, which was off a gravel road,over the creek, turn at the big barn, heading for the location circled in purple highlighter by the nice lady at the hotel.  Turns out there it is - JK Creative Wood Gifts.

 

 

They made FABULOUS wood items including custom laser engraving, along with selling local artists work including hand quilted quilts!  I found this great wooden trivet in the clearance area but I won't be putting anything hot on it. It may even be a future quilt inspiration but in the meantime it decorates the shelf in the sewing area.

 

 

Back on Interstate 80 heading east, I stopped at a rest area decorated in Quilt Blocks!! Actually the rest stop commemorates Cedar County's history in the Underground Railroad and the role quilts played in communication along the way.  Here's the outside.

 

They even have blocks laid into the floor inside the building.

And the Women's Restroom entrance wall.

A little further down the rode I spied a billboard advertising a Quilt Shop. Oh no way am I missing that.  I pulled off to fill up the gas tank and googled the shop. Oh - how convenient! Expressions in Threads was right off I-80 on the west bank of the Mississippi in LeClaire, Iowa. Since I was planning on stopping in LeClaire for an entirely different reason (more on the down below), this was fate!

 

Really nice quilt shop, with a friendly & helpful staff.  I bought a few batiks and some solids and then strolled around the corner & up the hill a half block to... Antique Archaeology.  

 For those of you who watch American Pickers on the History Channel, you'll recognize this as the home base of picker Mike Wolfe. I stopped and picked the pickers!  Who, by the way, are adding a new building to their property.

As you can see by this picture, the rain was moving in so it was time for me to be moving on toward home.  Only stopping again when necessary - food, gas, restroom - I made it home about 4:30 pm Central Time - 37 hours after I started this road trip! Thanks for riding along.

 

 

 

 





 

Iowa Trip Part 2

 

In the previous post, I was in Des Moines for the AQS QuiltWeek but alas, I had to head back home at some point. So rather than try to do the whole trip in one day, I decided to spend a night in Iowa to see some other sights.  But where, oh where would that be. 

 

Research mode kicked in & I decided it would be best to head back part of the way on Wednesday evening rather than facing the whole drive Thursday morning.  So, I ended up in



 

 Kalona, Iowa - the largest Amish settlement area west of the Mississippi.  I stayed at the local motel - clean & friendly.

 I arrived pretty much just in time to see this sunset over the corn field across the highway from the motel.

Kalona is a nice little town with a couple of quilt shops, which I unfortunately didn't have time to stay until they opened Thursday morning.  But the whole town celebrates their quilt heritage.

 

They have a quilt block walking tour around the whole town, showcasing 42 different quilt blocks done in brick on the sidewalks, measuring 6 feet square

 

 One of my favorites - Blue Dahlia.

 

Double Wedding Ring 

 This one is called Kalona Star

Log Cabin

And around the countryside, there are barn quilts of course. I found this one right on Highway 22, heading into nearby Riverside, Iowa.

Riverside, Iowa has an interesting claim to fame.  Any Trek fans out there?

 

 

And finally, on my way out of town, I did a double take, drove around the block & had to stop and get a picture of this.

 

 

I mean just how often do you see a 600 lb. cast aluminum chicken? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was Early Morning Yesterday...

and I was up before the dawn.

On the road again, that is!!

It was early, dark, with just a sliver of a moon and foggy

 but I was on my way by 3:30 am, headed west to:

 

So it was over the River (the Mississippi) and through the Woods (more like corn fields) to Not Your Grandmother's Quilt Show.  It was a whirlwind trip, even by my standards - 37 hours, 751 miles in only 2 states.

 

I took over 200 pictures from the show & the trip combined, so stay tuned over the next few days as I sort them out - fabulous quilts, great scenic landmarks, and wonderful new shipping destinations.  But for tonight, the DH and the animals are happy I'm home and I have nice hot cuppa waiting for me.

 

 

Barn-ette Quilt Revisited and Here I Go Again

I have realized that all this road tripping is cutting into my quilting time - not that I am going to stop my mini trips anytime soon. Just an observation. I wonder if I can reallocate some cleaning time to quilting time...

 

Looking back over my recent posts, I discovered I never shared the barn-ette quilt installed in it's new home after the road trip to deliver it.  So I shamelessly borrowed the picture from Martha's site  Thistle Rose Weaving (check it out - her weaving is awesome) so I could post it here.

 

 

Copyright Thistle Rose Weaving 2013

Martha's Irish Chain variation barn-ette quilt

 

I think it looks good against the barn red barn, but I may be a tiny bit biased.  I still have to design & paint the one for the Michigan shed.  I do have a few ideas percolating on that one, just nothing on paper yet.

 

And YES, I am going on another whirlwind Road Trip this week.

 

I will be trekking west, over the Mississippi River, across the plains of Iowa to......Des Moines!!   I am fortunate to be able to head out to the AQS QuiltWeek in Des Moines to see my quilt hanging with 111 others in the first Modern Quilt Challenge.  I already packed spare camera batteries.

 

Departure is set for T minus 21 hours. 

 

YIKES!  I better go pack something!

 

Road Trip Recovery

 

We made it back from Shipshewana!!

Everyone in the group had a really good time and they are already planning a longer trip next time. There is just no way to fit everything into one day. It was another marathon 36 hour road trip with lots of shopping - fabric (from Lolly's Fabrics) and horse stuff and model horses and baked goods and some more fabric (from A Little Bit of Lolly's)and spices and seasonings and clothes - OH MY!!!  With all the shopping, I forgot to take pictures of the adventure - My Bad!

 

One of the highlights was a ride on the1906 Dentzel Carousel on the third floor of the  Davis Mercantile

 

My friend Pam was on this trip as a co-trip director and all I got was this tee shirt ;)

 

 

ARC Update - All 50 Arcs are *finally* appliqued to the background!!  Only 29 green junction pieces to go before I layer and quilt. So I need to start thinking about how on earth I going to quilt this one. 

 

And it's time to start planning this week's road trip - Iowa looms ahead.

 





Road Trip Recap and a little different kind of sewing

3 states, 36 Hours, 664 miles.

The trip to Metamora to visit Martha & deliver the barn-ette quilt was a lot of fun packed into a short time.  I don't think we stopped talking the whole time - lots to catch up on. Her house is so pretty, situated at the top of a small rise, with cornfields behind.  Unfortunately, they had a predator move into the area that wiped out their small flock of chickens and inflict damage on their neighbors flocks as well - so no chicken visit. Martha & her DH are planning the new larger chicken yard as free ranging is not an option any longer.  In the meantime, the two of us were hatching even larger plans for converting an existing shelter into a more all-weather mini barn for an few alpacas (fiber boys) and the necessary fencing. Not entirely sure her DH was thrilled at all the work we were planning for him. We were so busy chatting that I forgot to take pictures!  Martha promised pictures once the barn-ette quilt gets installed.

We even managed a visit to the Metamora courthouse right on the village square.

 

 

The first floor is the local historical museum including the history of Abraham Lincoln practicing law in the second floor restored courtroom.



 

The trip continued and allowed me to find the solution to the design brick wall I've hit with the Summer Stripes quilt.

 

YES - the answer to my dilemma - more fabric!! Stay tuned

 

And finally, yesterday - a different kind of sewing. Horse blankets!  It will be winter before we know it so it was time to shake out all the horse blankets, inspect the damage, repair & waterproof everything.  My friend Pam & I set up two machines and out of 27 blankets, 12 needed repairs.  Most were minor repairs but one of the horses (Bob) managed to rip clear through both layers in a most interesting way - requiring an inner and outer patch! 

 

 

 

Out of the Repair Shop!

My sewing machine is ready to be picked up from the Repair Shop!  Going to get it today before we start back working on the floor in the upstairs hallway and possible storms moving in the area this afternoon.

What kind of sewing machine do I quilt on?  This is my workhorse machine - bought 12 years and many, many, many sewing miles ago.

 

 

Hopefully, the tension issues are all resolved and the insides are cleaned, oiled & ready to go.  Not that I'll have a chance to sit down to sew until the weekend because I'm going on a ROAD TRIP!

 

Yep - very early tomorrow morning, I'll be loaded up and hitting the road.

Destination: Scarlet's house in Metamora, Illinois - 159 miles, 3 hours 9 minutes.

 

Scarlet, aka Martha Witcher, is a very talented fiber artist with her primary focus being weaving but she also knits, spins and can quilt but only under duress, every 10 years or so.  Please take a minute to visit her blog - Thistle Rose Weaving.  While you are there, please vote for her in the Martha Stewart American Made contest - details on Scarlet's blog.

 

I am taking down her barn-ette quilt & spending some time just visiting. I'm quite sure fiber will be discussed. :)

 

 

 

 

 

New Week - new fabrics, new inspirations and a quilt show visit

Monday, Monday...

Was able to attend the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison on Saturday.

 

 

Nice Show - did not take any workshops, but saw all the quilt exhibits and shopped the vendors, of course.  The Alliant Energy Center is an easily accessible facility and the show is large & well run.  I always come away from shows of any size so inspired.

 

First on my list was a visit the Cherrywood Fabrics booth for an addition to my hand dye stash.  It's so hard not to just want one of everything but the checkbook would have died on the spot, so after reviewing what I current own, I settled on a yard of onyx (nice black!) and the 'Blue Lagoon' colorway.

 

 

I'm thinking this group would just glow when paired with the Onyx.  That's going to be down the road as there are several projects in various stages of planning and graphing at the moment. Not to mention the blasted Summer Stripes blocks that are giving me fits.  The last layout on the design wall is okay but not large enough and has a few 'holes' in the color wash effect.  I think I have a solution for this but I won't get to work on it until the weekend at the earliest.

 

And then I found a new temptation.

 

 

Yes - it's SILK. Silk Dupioni to be exact. 

 

I am dipping my toe in the 'using silk to make a quilt' water.  It will be a relatively small wall hanging - thinking like 18" square range.  And to make it eligible for Pieceful Gatherings (LQS) quilt show next year, I am planning on having it long-armed there.  I've talked to Vonnie (one of their experienced Gammill Girls) and though she hasn't quilted silk before, she is excited at the prospect.  I bought her a FQ to experiment on.  This will be quite the joint adventure. 

 

The fabric run is the silk dupioni jewel tones colorway of fat eighths from Country Keepsakes (Rome, PA) and I added the fuchsia, new teal & violet FQ, as well as black.  Now I just need to think about quilt design to show the silk off to its best.

 

Work on the kitchen and hallway floor is planned for today & tomorrow so probably won't get to the sewing machine but I have some pattern drafting to do. And there is a Road Trip planned for later this week - stay tuned!!



 



 

 

 



Road Trip Detours or How Long Does it Take to Drive 120 Miles

Since I drove up from Harbor Country, Michigan to Grand Rapids on Interstate 196, I decided that to take a different route home - Highway 131.

 I had to be back to my folk's place Thursday evening and it's only 120 miles taking the new route. My decision was based on a few things - I love exploring new routes, I had a bookmark/coupon from Dancing Dogs Quilt Shop, and I wanted to see the Gun Lake Casino. How much longer could that take?  The route up was 106 miles and took an hour and a half. So I figured the new route would be an hour and forty-five minutes plus shopping time, for a total of 2 and a half hours - putting me home around 3:30-ish - perfect!  Ah, optimism is a fun state of mind.

 

On the Road - I was able to finally drag myself out of the Quilt Show right around 1 pm - it was soooo hard to leave. I could have easily stayed until close on Saturday.  That would put me at my folks about 3:30 p.m. Traffic was minimal, road conditions clear and directions easy.  Off I went, heading south and made it about 20 minutes before I found the first distraction - a Western tack and saddle shop.

Off the Road - I saw Jackson's Western Store (Wayland, MI) billboard advertising boots, boots and more boots. The place was huge and well stock, including a great pair of RED cowboy boots that I almost drooled on. I'm always on the lookout for used saddles of many kinds.



On and Off the Road -  Back on the rode and just a few miles south, I stopped briefly at the Gun Lake Casino to check it out.

 

On the Road and Off Again - Just a bit further down the road, I pulled off the highway again to check out the Dancing Dogs Quilt Shop (Plainwell, MI). What a neat little quilt store!



The staff was friendly and they cut fat quarters.  A quilt hanging on the wall really caught my eye. They call it the Colored Pencil Stripe Quilt.  It made from the Michael Miller Siren Song Group, utilizing 8 inch finished blocks.  While the sample was cool looking, I didn't like the larger blocks so I decided to buy the kit anyway & just resize the blocks, recalculate the yardage and cuts, alter the layout, oh and I later found some yardage in two other colors (giving me a total of seven colors to work with) that I neglected to buy while I was there. I wonder why I can never just leave well enough alone...

I was told Plainwell has some awesome ice cream that I didn't stop & try but now have one more reason to head north :)  I did some research after the fact (insert head smack here) and discovered that the Plainwell Ice Cream Co. has been in business for 36 years, have over 30 flavors, was voted in the top 5 ice creams in all of Michigan and is located just blocks from Dancing Dogs Quilt Shop.  Now I really, really need to head back north.

 

 So back to fabric -

Here's the final selection I picked out of the collection (I added Twilight & Grass). I love how the colors actually run together from fabric to fabric.  I'm house sitting for friends this weekend and planning on getting started on this quilt. Just need to do some math...

 

 

On the Road - Back on the road, it was time to put some miles behind me. And then I realized, I really didn't have a schedule to keep (for once) and there was a sign for the Lemon Creek Winery (Berrien Springs, MI) and they didn't close until 6 p.m.

 

 

Off for an Adult Beverage Adventure  - I had always wanted to taste their wines & I wasn't disappointed! I focused on the sweet wines on this trip so I have a reason to stop back and taste the dry whites & reds.  They craft 28 different wines including 2 ice wines. Of the wines I tasted, I brought home the Cherry Wine and the Peach Spumante.



 

Okay, so how long does it take to drive 120 miles  - this time, about 5 hours! I think that may be a record for me.