Wednesday, August 19, 2015

More Amish Country purchases

Seriously you didn't really think all I bought was the two pieces of Minky Cuddle and the lake quilt beach-themed fabrics?  I had just short of $200 mad money from covering extra yoga classes this summer while other instructors were ill or on vacation, and I spent every dime of it. :-)

The fabrics below are going into a quilt a wee bit further down on my list of quilts to make.  Again, I had not planned to shop for this quilt, but you know how it goes, they percolate on the back burner of your quilt inventory in your head.  Well, mine do anyhow.  The bottom green I just liked, thought it might go in this quilt; didn't realize until closer inspection that it says "meow" or "mrow" on it amongst the yarn.  Darned if that nice grey isn't the same line, 'Purrsnickitty' - great name, very clever.
Most of the feature fabric is hidden, as the person for whom this is destined reads this blog--mysterious, I know.  It's background reads black here but it is a delicious deep navy.



Below you will see the run of fabric so far.  (recognize the Figures fabric by Zen Chic I picked up in Guildcrafters a little over a month ago?  I need to add some blue into this yet.  The two yellows are from my stash, the Sphere fabric by Zen Chic is left over from Pocketful of Sunshine, and the other is just stash, not sure if both will end up in the quilt or not.


I immediately fell in love with the green whirligig fabric, which will go so well with the balloons and moons fabric (do you see the blue pops in it?); it's an Alex Anderson, my first quilting guru, and love.  I taped so many of her "Simply Quilts" shows, made copious notes, did a Stack 'n Whack table topper just after watching Bethany Reynolds demo one of her quilts, took it to my guild, wowed everyone as they'd never heard of it...hmm, I'm suddenly seeing a pattern here, so allow me to digress (shocker):

Last night at my Erie Shores Quilters' Guild meeting, I showed my Graffiti Quilt, told them of Karlee Porter (a few had heard of her, but not many), told them, and I quote myself, "I've heard it said that blogging friends are not real friends, but I stand before you to say they absolutely are.  My friend Julie of Pink Doxies and I met up last week"....and I proceeded to tell them of our trip to Amish country and the wee-ooh, wee-ooh, Amish Mary incident.  They were as blown away as Julie and I were.  Anyhow, I seem to keep mentioning online things when I go up for Show 'n Tell.  The treasurer said to me last night that she had "gone on that site I mentioned a while ago...Leah Day? No, Angela Walters.  It's very good." The guild librarian asked me to repeat Karlee's name.  Someone else told me they checked out "that housework and quilting site"...  Grin!  An educator I am to the core.  Love showing new stuff I've discovered, new ways to do things, how I did something, seeing the lightbulb moments, the sharing...  That is what guilds should be about, right?  Anyhow, they needed a bunch of new people on the executive, and my hand went up for librarian.  I get to buy books!  Yippee!  I'm going to add some modern quilting ones, you betcha along with as many as I'm allowed to buy on free motion quilting.
Can you see the embossed daisy and dahlia-type flowers on long stalks on the white backing fabric?
I need (very embarrassed here) to get the borders designed and sewn onto Dayna's grad quilt (which was May 7), and then quilt this puppy to death.  I am practising on Avril using the Parisville Weave quilt right now, and my precision is improving!  See below.  I picked up this wide backing at Zinck's Fabric Outlet.  I wanted a solid or reads-as-a-solid since I plan to...well, as I said, quilt it to death.  It is 108" wide, so I got 2.5 yards, as she wants a queen size quilt.  I also got a yard of this purple there because I thought it might work in the quilt back if I don't have enough of the white.  I could probably incorporate it into the front because it is that perfect of a match.  I have a bit of a photographic memory, served me well throughout school, but I seem to have it for colour too, interesting.

Here are some other non-quilting purchases from Amish Country, which do act as incredible aids when quilting, voice of experience.


What you do not see here is the homemade fresh loaf of bread we devoured, along with cheese curds (haven't had them since I got some in the French quarter in Edmonton, yee-um) for an on the road lunch as we travelled home. 

From left to right:   Pearl Valley Swiss cheese.  Not only is there a huge contingent of Amish and Mennonite people in this area, there is a pretty strong Swiss contingent.  Cheese made right there.  In this factory.  Family owned since 1928!

Raven's Glenn Merlot.  Local winery.  A glass of wine prior to beginning FMQ is the ticket.  If that doesn't work, have a second one.  Your shoulders will relax, your body will sway, and your quilting will flow.  Uh HUH!

Walnut Creek Foods Elderberry jelly.  Oh MAN, it was hard to settle on just one kind, as there were so many varieties!  This spring I discovered a beautiful tree grown in Essex County, Black Lace Elderberry, so this one 'spoke' to me.  The jam is divine, as is the tree with its soft pink flowers and black lacy leaves.

Walnut Creek peanut butter spread.  Julie introduced this Amish spread for toast (or, ahem, just squeeze some onto a spoon and eat it) when we had lunch at Boyd and Wurthmann in Berlin.  (said BER-len.  Not Ber-LIN as in Germany, cool!)  She aptly described it as peanut butter mixed with that Smuckers-type marshmallow topping.  She bought this for me.  As if she hadn't done enough...but wait, there's more.

We even went south to Roscoe, in Coshocton ("kuh-SHOCK-tun" cool huh?) County where there is a historic village restored to the original look of the 1830s town it was.  I felt many times that I'd stepped back in time over the course of the day, and this was another of those moments.  I bought the fudge in a little shop there, a shop that happened to have no power, a glitch with the company, the clerk said, which only added to the ambiance.  It's almond chocolate fudge, to die for.  I've been picking away at it every day since we got home, not sharing except for one sliver, with MacGyver.  Nope.  Mine!

My WIP, Parisville Weave, is still on the frame.  I'm just past the half way point, hoping for a Friday finish.  I'm really enjoying the quilting I'm doing, a little Christina, a little Angela, a little Kathleen... à la Sandra, of course!  Here are two shots to show how I've broken down the motif (one of Kathleen's) I'm using in the setting triangles:

I stitch in the ditch around the triangle, and then echo inside 1/4".  Then do a 1" line inside that echo.  Echo that line 1/4" again.  Do ribbon candy in the 1" trench.  From there I travel to the centre of the triangle and stitch a line perpendicular to the border edge, ending at the point of the setting triangle. 


Then do two lines of dot to dot inside the two facing triangles I've created.  You can see that on the lower portion of the setting triangle.  Fill in with figure eights, which you can see in the upper portion.  Cool, huh?  I love the look of two of these together (as in her quilt in the above link).

All right!  Off to get this baby done!  I just might have to get some energy after writing all this...hold on while I sip some wine, or munch on some cheese, or maybe nibble some fudge, slurp some pb spread... Ahh, and dream of Amish Country.
A barn quilt in Amish Country, pinch me
Oh! One last thing!  For a chance to win a bunch of Gütermann thread (and you all know how I love to piece with it, have since I started quilting 20 years ago) check out the Canadian Quilters Association giveaway on Facebook.  You can get there by clicking the link to their blog.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts.



15 comments:

  1. The quilting you have done on your "Parisville Weave" quilt is lovely! I also like the fabrics that you picked up on your trip. I have started buying a lot more green fabrics recently, so it is fun to see other prints that people are picking up that I haven't even seen before.

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  2. How awesome that you found perfect coordinating fabrics by eye while you were away. I love that you are educating your guild about the online community! Oh, and beautiful quilting and ruler work... there is so much in this post! :)

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  3. Your teaser on the Parisville quilt is amazing. I am looking forward to seeing the whole quilt. Thanks fir sharing my blog with your guild. Hope they are not going there for housework tips! ;)

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  4. Of course, we knew there was more fabric!! And great fabric. Really liked the quilting...hope to get to that point some day.

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  5. Oh Sandra, you crack me up and make me so happy to be one of your online quilty friends! And I had to think for a minute about what that "quilting and housework" site could be myself! Lol! Thanks for sharing your fabric purchases and advice for what to do before beginning FMQ! I will have to take you up on that!

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  6. With you as Librarian, they are in for some great reading Sandra!
    Online Quilting Friends Rock! You as one of my very best, so I know that to be the absolute truth!
    Love your fabric purchases, the fun you had with Julie, and the pictures of Amish country!
    Great work on your quilting, as always!
    Cyndy must have got a laugh about her blog being called "that quilting and housework site". Hope they don't expect any tips on vacuuming and dusting, LOL.

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  7. Oh, informative, wonderful post! Yummy drinks and food, and beautiful fabrics and quilting! :D

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  8. I continue to relive our happy time together through your posts. It couldn't have been any better a time unless it was longer! It's sounds like we went non-stop while you were here, and honestly, that's the truth. You and I covered a good part of 3 counties in one day, and there was so much left to see. (For those of you who haven't met Sandra in person, she's just exactly as wonderful as she sounds here. Her writing is true to her spirit, and I feel so honored to have met her.) Thank you for such a warm memory of summer.

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    1. Hi Julie! Can't resist replying to this just-so -sweet comment! So glad you two met up; Sandra IS pretty wonderful! Just have to add that she ain't half bad as a sister either LOL!

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  9. What a great post Sandra, and what a fantastic time you and Julie seem to have had. You are lucky to be within striking distance of a blogging friend! Love all your new fabric (I call it 'funny money). Good luck educating your guild - sounds like they are going to have a pretty cool library before too long.

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  10. Great purchases, that green whirlgig really stood out at me too!! Oh yeah online quilty friends are real friends indeed! I have met a few of them in person too and it is sooo fun! Especially when one lives right in my own town and another only 50 minutes away!! And another 3 hrs away. Happy sewing my friend ;-)

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  11. Wish I had a photographic color memory. I also love the looks of the ribbon candy and figure eights together.

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  12. Loving your quilting. Is THAT what a nice merlot does for you. :>)

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  13. You changing your guild from within ? One member at a time ? I go into work and say about reading blogs and I get the weirdest looks , worryingly looks of sympathy

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  14. Forgot to say your making me hungry and fancy a wee whine , sorry wee wine

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