Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat

I had a wonderful time at my retreat. I originally planned to write a post on Sunday but decided not to. Writing posts when suffering from sleep deprivation is not a good idea! But now I’m wide awake, most of the laundry is caught up, so here it my report.

We had very nice weather for the first 3 days of the retreat. One of the benefits of having the retreat at the Farmstead Inn is it is close enough to Yoder Department Store and Lolly’s Fabrics that I can easily walk to the stores in “downtown” Shipshe.

The Jane Stickle Quilt retreat is named to honor the quilt Jane Stickle pieced during the civil war. Elaine Frey’s Jane was on display for the week-end. This quilt was made and gifted to her several years ago by retreat participants. The quilt was a gift of friendship in appreciation for her time spent organizing the retreat for so many, many years. The retreat wouldn’t exist if not for her leadership.

The first Jane block I ever pieced is in this quilt. (G5-Poof)

Someone commented on my last post that I should make some shopping time, and I did! Most of my shopping came from the resale table at the retreat where I bought these treasures, Ayers House Dancing Dollies Quilt by Irene Carrig and Auntie Green’s Garden by Irene Blanck of Focus on Quilts fame!

I scored the patterns on Wednesday evening and then on Thursday, Irene actually stopped by at the retreat to see her friend Patty Harant. She autographed the pattern for me and then we took a photo together. The whole retreat was a wonderful experience, but getting to meet Irene Blanck was the highlight of the entire week-end. Here we are, Patty, Irene and me!

A friend and I took some time on Friday to shop at Yoder’s and Lolly’s. Well, she shopped and I did reconnaissance in anticipation of Wana Night Out on December 1st. I’m getting my list ready!

On Saturday, I drove us through the first major winter snow storm of the year to Caroline’s Cotton Cottage in Rome City. (Hey, it’s northern Indiana. Unless I want to stay home all winter, you just have got to drive in snow!)

I bought designated fabrics for projects there. The bottom 4 fabrics are for Lucy Boston’s Patchwork of the Crosses I want to EPP someday. Doesn’t that border edge look lovely! The top left fabrics are 30’s fabrics to be used in Sweet Surrender and the blues on the top right are for the Salinda Rupp quilt, Nearly Insane. Some of the blues for Lucy Boston might make it into Nearly Insane too!

The final purchase I made was also from the retreat. I purchased a used Grace hand quilting frame that has never been used and is still in the box. (Does that make sense?) Son 2 is my handyman and he will get to put the frame together when he and his family are here after Christmas. I won’t be ready to use it until I complete quilting Jane on the old sticks and stand quilting frame. A new quilt frame gives me even more incentive to get the quilting completed. We’ll see if I can have her finished by the start of the new year.

Thursday evening was a pink pajama party with the famous pj’s from Target. There were 115 women at the retreat and 70 of them had the pajamas.

Many of the retreaters participated in a service project Friday morning and made dresses for Africa. 47 dresses and 8 britches were completed.

Late Friday afternoon Anita Shackelford was our guest speaker and gave a presentation about rescuing quilts. This was a very fascinating program with pictures from before and the finished rescued quilt. I would have thrown most of the before quilts in the trash but she took what I considered trash and turned them into treasures. She posts about her rescues on her blog. She really has given these quilts a new life.

Friday evening was Show & Tell. Only retreat participants can show & tell but the public is welcome to join us in the oohing and aahing. I didn’t get pictures of all the quilts but will just show you a few of the highlights. I also don’t remember who exhibited what except in the pictures that contain the maker. To see all of Show & Tell, visit Rosemary Youngs blog and see her smile box slide show. The first photos on Rosemary’s smile box are from the show & tell at the November 20th Moda club held at Lolly’s. Get a cup of coffee or tea, set back and enjoy all the beautiful quilts!

Lori displayed her Jane made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone showed the start of their lovely Jane in blues. She changed up the cornerstones with itsy-bitsy 9-patches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Val showed her 9th (!) Jane. Instead of using the normal corners, she substituted applique and embroidery.

 

 

Edith Shanholt showed this lovely quilt from both the Affairs of the Heart and My Mother Taught Me to Sew patterns. This picture isn’t from show & tell but was taken afterwards. Rosemary shows the actual quilt from show & tell and looks much nicer than this one displayed on the floor. Edith hand quilted her and used 950 yards of thread.

I can’t forget to show Lynn’s Phoebe designed by Diane Ford. This was a very long-term project and looks just beautiful.

These are just a few of the quilts from show & tell. To see them all, check out Rosemary’s slide show.

What did I work on over the long week-end? The main project was a kit I had purchased several years ago at Lolly’s for a queen sized, purple and green Summer Lake Log Cabin quilt designed by Judy Martin. The pattern is found in her Log Cabin Quilt Book.

This is 60 V blocks, 30 W blocks, 26 X blocks and 4 Z corner blocks. The borders are pieced piano keys. I had the strips along to sew, but just couldn’t sew another stitch on this project. All of the center blocks are pieced and I’ll lay them out and get the center sewn together sometime in January. That’s the plan anyway.

I also finished appliquing another album block for the Pastor’s Attic quilt.

When I started prepping for this applique quilt, I cut all the background squares. I like to overlock stitch the edges so they don’t ravel. I finished 5 edges, then decided this was extremely boring. I bagged up the remaining 20 backgrounds and took them along to the retreat. They have all been edged and are ready to be appliqued.

This retreat always kicks off my start of the winter season, a time for slowing down and doing the needlework projects I so enjoy. I also spend time in the barn feeding calves and other chores but there is no field work in the winter for me.

There are 142 days left until the April 2016 retreat which will signal the end of winter and start of the busy summertime here on the farm.

I’m linking to the following blogs –

Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday

Quilting is More Fun than Housework!

Love, Laugh, Quilt

Cooking Up Quilts

Esther’s Wednesday Wow

 

 

The Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat

I’ve been home for several days from the quilt retreat. The retreat was formerly called the Dear Jane Retreat but at the November 2014 retreat, Brenda Manges Papadakis requested that we no longer use that name. We are a congenial group so of course we have acquiesced to her request and selected a new name, The Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat. Same group, same interests, same location, just a new name.

A week ago yesterday, I loaded up my car and headed off to Shipshewana to the Farmstead Inn anticipating 5 days of sewing, visiting, laughing, shopping and, of course, eating! I was NOT disappointed and this was the best retreat so far. They just keep getting better and better! Ninety-four quilters had plans and reservations to attend, but there is always illness and other factors that happen so we ended up with ninety in attendance.

There were several ladies working on the La Passacaglia quilt from the Millefiora Quilt book by Willyne Hammerstein.

This first star is English Paper pieced.

 

 

 

This star is pieced using inklingo. I’ve never tried inklingo but maybe I’ll give it a go sometime. It would certainly be faster.

 

 

 

 

I only saw one person actually working on Lucy Boston’s Patchwork of the Crosses by Linda Franz.

There were several other who had brought their blocks along to show others.

I’m going to EPP this quilt someday. I’ve been collecting border fabrics so I can make fussy cut blocks.

 

 

This was a hand sewn Grandmothers Flower Garden variation. I think she said she started it 20 years ago and is determined to complete it this year. She was removing part of the  white blocks so it wouldn’t be double white.

She just laid out the blocks for me to take a quick picture.

 

 

 

There were many other projects going on including several people working on their Jane Stickle quilt blocks but I don’t have any pictures of those projects.

Here are the projects I worked on. First I pieced a little quilt from the Prairie Women Journey 3 class I took a year ago. It measure 25″ by 30″.

I always do prep work at home and had already sewn the HST’s and cut the other pieced needed.

 

During the Shipshewana Quilt Festival they hold a Shop Hop. The shops involved request the participants piece and donate a designated quilt block. These blocks are sewn together into charity quilts and donated to various agencies in the LaGrange County area.

Last year’s shop hop block was a simple HST using a 5″ block cut in half. They were overwhelmed with blocks and are still working on getting them sewn into quilts. I was asked if I would be willing to make a crib quilt. I said yes and came up with this lay-out. The quilting is simple stitch in the ditch. I used leftover batting strips sewn together and put a medium blue flannel on the back. Looks cute and has been dropped off at the quilt shop.

It didn’t take long to finish the UFO I had sewn into rows in March. I was so excited to have her finished and placed her on the floor in the hallway to be admired. (We do a lot of oohing and aahing during the retreat.) Someone asked me if I meant to place the block like that? Uh oh, which block? The block in the top left corner is turned incorrectly. I quickly responded that was my “humility” block. For now she is staying like she is. She won’t be taken to the long arm quilter until fall and I’ll probably decide to correct the positioning, but maybe I won’t. Perfection is sometimes overrated. How often do we see an antique quilt with a block turned the wrong way? This quilt will end up with one of the grandchildren someday and they can just laugh about granny’s mistake.

Last summer at the AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I bought a kit called Snowman Love from the Red Button Quilt Co. booth. I pieced the little quilt at the guild retreat in February and saved the hand sewing for the April retreat.

The embroidered design in the border was supposed to be a free hand curvy line with little curly curls. I’m not good at free hand so pulled a small quilt stencil from the stash and marked it.These are Amish snowmen. I’m not going to embroider faces on them. The hand quilting will take place sometime this summer.

 

 

Of course I pieced some little 9-patches,

 

 

 

 

 

And a lot of strips to be cut into sections for more 9-patch blocks at home.

 

 

 

I’m going to give you a link to  Rosemary Youngs blog. Click on the smilebox to see all the quilts shown at show & tell. This is beyond my computer skills but Rosemary does a fantastic job.

The days away at the retreat were a wonderful end to my winter. Now it is back to work.

I have 1 more row of the center part for the Jane Stickle quilt to be pieced before the first of May. The grass grew while I was gone and now the yards need to be mown. The rhubarb is ready to be cut and, surprise!, the asparagus is ready to eat too!

Just a couple more pictures. As I was loading the car to leave for the retreat, the Farmer opened the gates and let the cows down into the bottom pasture. They were so happy (me too!) and I snapped some quick photos.

Quilt Gardens Along the Heritage Trail

I left yesterday morning for a quilt retreat, my last retreat of the season. I’ve prepared some posts for you to read while I’m gone.

Several years ago, someone from the local tourism board got the bright idea to have “Quilt Gardens” along the Heritage Trail. This is a driving tour that is free of charge. You just drive and look at the flower gardens planted in quilt designs. Click on Quilt Gardens for the website and a free map of the tour. Click here for information on each of the quilt blocks from 2014.

I admit I’ve never visited most of the gardens. I’m just too local but last fall I did take some pictures of the gardens that I drive by in my comings and goings. All of the gardens have a descriptive marker that tells you the location and pattern of the garden. The first garden is in Wakarusa.

 

 

 

Quilt Garden in Wakarusa, Indiana.

 

 

 

 

 

They also have quilt signs hanging on buildings. A local Wakarusa woman designed this quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

The next stop is at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury. I took these pictures on my way to Shipshewana. Sorry about the  blurriness. I remember it was a very bright and sunny day.

 

 

 

 

I had to walk way into the yard to get a good picture. The best view would be from the motel rooms.

 

The next stop is at the Dutch Country Market on the Middlebury-Shipshewana Road. It has an official road number but I don’t know what it is. We’ve always called that road the Middlebury-Shipshewana Road.

 

 

 

 

And the quilt garden.

 

The last stop is at the Farmstead Inn along State Road 5 in Shipshe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the garden.

 

The last picture I’ll share is a barn quilt photo I took on the Goshen-Middlebury Road. I would love to have a barn quilt on one of our barns, but I just can’t get the Farmer interested in this idea.

I hope you enjoyed your partial tour of the Quilt Gardens Along the Heritage Trail.

I’ve planned all winter to post these pictures but didn’t get to it until now. Sorry.

 

Maple Leaf Guild Quilt Retreat

Last week-end was the Maple Leaf Guild’s annual quilt retreat held at Epworth Forest Campground in North Webster. I had a wonderful time!

I was tired Thursday and didn’t want to think very hard, so I just pieced these little 9 patch blocks which will finish at 3″. They are made from fabrics leftover from other projects. I try to strip piece as much as I can, but some pieces were just big enough to cut a 1-1/2″ block so I had to do some individual piecing. I actually made more than what is shown, but I had already removed the ‘bright’ ones and put them with a work-in-progress.

I felt more ambitious Friday morning and sewed up the pincushions I have been embroidering this fall and winter. They are from the Patchwork Loves Embroidery book by Gail Pan. My friend Deanna and I filled them with walnut hulls I purchased at a pet store.  I had remembered to bring a funnel along but they still spilled some. After they were filled, I hand sewed them shut. They could have probably used more shells for filling, but I think they look pretty good for a first time. I liked the hexagon pincushions better than the rectangular ones, when I was embroidering them, but now I like the rectangles best. For your information, if  you decide to buy the book and make your own pincushions, I reduced the size of the hexagons to 75% of the original in the book. It was just too big. I just realized, the hexagon pincushions are supposed to have a button in the center, that’s why they are baggy. I’ll get that done sometime.

 

 

 

I had pieced the HST’s ahead of time so I could get right to work on Red Radiance. I pieced the star points Friday evening. Saturday morning I sewed the embroidered pieces together and then sewed the HST border. This isn’t the finished project, there is an embroidered border (I have 2 sides embroidered) and then another HST border (which I sewed together). Once I’m finished with the embroidered border I should be able to finish it quickly. I already know how I want to hand quilt her, so she will be going in the frame right away.

We had a special treat on Saturday, the 2015 charity committee showed us the Relief Sale quilt we members pieced and appliqued blocks for. This is Kim McLeans’ Stars and Sprigs pattern. We have several members who do beautiful applique work so 4 of them each appliqued a border. This quilt will be hand quilted by our guild.

 

Last August I attended the AQS show in Grand Rapids for the first time. There were beautiful quilts and lots of vendors. I bought a couple kits for small projects but haven’t had time to work on any of them. I brought  Snowman Love along, which I had purchased at the Red Button Quilt Co. booth. I completed the body of the project, but need to do some handwork. I might put this away and save her to finish at the next retreat I attend.

 

I had two Apple Blossom and an orangey/red Amaryllis bloom while I was gone. Aren’t they just beautiful? You can see there are several more to open in the future. I need these flowers to keep me happy in the winter. I’m pleased that staggering the planting has made the blooming staggered.

 

All Around Tempe & Phoenix

 

On Saturday my daughter and I caught the light rail and journeyed to downtown Phoenix. First we checked out the Farmers Market.

 

 

 

The sunshine was very bright. We bought a loaf of cheese bread from this vendor.

 

 

 

 

Look at the sign in this photo. The cheese is made from Raw Cows Milk! I’m impressed that Arizona allows artisans to make and sell their products from raw milk.

 

 

 

My daughter works on the 12th floor of this building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entry door to the offices.

 

 

 

 

The view out the north window.

 

 

 

We also visited the Phoenix Public Library.

 

 

 

We rode the elevator to the 5th floor. I faced the door as we rose up. I can’t handle heights. This is a picture she took looking down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While in Phoenix, we checkout the Three Dudes Quilt Shop (of Missouri Star Quilt Co. fame) where I bought some fabric to make a southwestern quilt for the young couple.

 

 

 

The quilt on the pattern was made with batik fabrics but I think the fabric we chose will look very nice. Of course I will have to make the quilt longer. The pattern is for 66″ in length. Since the son-in-law is 6′ 2″ or 3″ tall, it will have to be longer to be able to sleep under.

 

 

 

 

Palm tree are prevalent in the city but there weren’t any in the desert. I didn’t know there were so many varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the smell of rosemary but I can’t never ever get them to overwinter here at home. This rosemary is growing in a flowerbed. It’s been trimmed to give it a rounded shape. Wow! They grow rosemary all year around . . . in flowerbeds!

 

 

 

This is a common bush that I saw growing around the Tempe area. We did NOT see it in the desert anyplace, just in the city.

 

 

 

This lovely yellow flowering bush was growing near the Tempe Public Library. I smelled her before I saw her. I also noticed there were no bees flying around in the blooming bushes. In fact, the only bees I saw were on 1 plant at the Botanical Garden. I guess it was too hot for them.

I enjoyed my visit/vacation in Tempe. I saw many new places and ate many new foods, but what I enjoyed most was spending time with my daughter. She didn’t take off of work everyday I was there. Days I was alone I walked around the city. This place is really walking friendly. (Of course it was nice to walk without worrying about black ice!) Sometimes I walked around the extended block or I walked to the Tempe library. I also toured the Tempe Historical Museum one day and learned a lot about the early history of the area.

I’ve learned there is beauty in the deserts and they are green, just a different shade of green than what I am used to.

 

Of course I had some hand projects along. I completed 3 more embroidered pieces for pin cushions and I knitted 2 dishrags.

 

 

All good things must come to an end so it was with my stay in Tempe. I had flown on a direct flight from South Bend into the Mesa airport. It was dark when I arrived on the 5th, so it was nice to see what the area looked like in the day light. I don’t know why there were 2 police cars parked in front, but I decided they must have stopped in for a coffee break.

I had an uneventful flight home and now it is back to work! I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures. I look forward to going back again, but NOT in the summer.