Anne's First Quilt

Anne decided to make a Lisa the Unicorn quilt from Elizabeth Hartman for the fair. Like most of her patterns, Lisa is a little intense to cut out as it has many unique pieces. Anne got a little overwhelmed and a few weeks before the fair, we decided it was not realistic for her to finish it.

She had been playing with my scrap basket all summer and began organizing pieces into strips. With some encouragement, she assembled an improv top for a quilt for her American Girl Doll. I may have bribed her a little by promising Minky for the back if she finished the top before she went to a week of summer camp. While she was gone, I sandwiched and quilted the piece (acceptable for her 4-H level for someone else to quilt it). She finished it with a facing when she got home.

The county fair 4-H judge was not impressed. She pointed out nearly every aspect of the quilt as something she did not like - the colors, the fabric, the design, the size, her seam allowances, it should have a hanging sleeve, the facing, the hand stitching on the facing. Honestly, the only thing she liked was the quilting, which she was aware that I did. One of the lessons of 4-H that is sometimes hard for youth to learn, is that the result is one judge's opinion on one day. Usually judges provide constructive criticism to help youth understand that decision and provide a learning experience so the next project is better. In this case, every statement started with "I don't like ..." Had she phrased her opinions using elements and principles of design or quilting procedures from the project manual or acknowledged that she read the one-page narrative Anne provided, I would understand. Yes, the quilt could use more contrast. No, it isn't the most complicated pattern ever made by an nine-year-old. The hand stitching was pretty awful. As a 4-H judge who has been through judge's training in many disciplines and taught it, I was frustrated with this judge's feedback. (And, I've shared my frustrations with the 4-H staff in my county office.)

We had decided to enter her quilt in the Nebraska State Fair Open Class show prior to the county fair. It was a better experience not only because of the appropriate feedback from the judge, but also because Anne had a wonderful moment with some of my quilt mentors who took the time to encourage her and give her feedback that will make her next quilt better. Thank you for great mentors!

2018 Fair Quilts

For awhile now, I've shown quilts at my local county fair and the Nebraska State Fair in the Open Class Division. In 2018 I finished a couple of quilts that had been in the works for awhile and included a class project and my one and only entry in a Project Quilting Challenge.

Make It Fun Quilt
The Make it Fun quilt was begun as a part of the Improv Sampler Quilt Along hosted by Patty Dudek of Elm Street Quilts in 2017. Each block was improv-pieced in response to her weekly prompts. The blocks were showcased in previous posts: 1 and 2. I designed the setting. This quilt was special and then Marsha Gormley Swanson of Dog Ear Creek Quilts added her magic. It was fortunate to win the best of its lot at the Saunders County Fair and was named the Best Improv Quilt at the Nebraska State Fair in 2018. It also hung in the 2018 Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Lola the Llama
Using one of Elizabeth Hartman's adorable patterns, Lola the Llama is Kona and batik on linen. It was quilted at David M. Manglesen's in Omaha. It was begun for my neighbor's baby who is now two but should have a llama quilt to go along with her real-life kitties, dogs, horse and herd of goats. Hopefully I'll finish her sister's quilt soon so she can have it. Lola earned a blue ribbon at the Saunders County Fair and hung in both the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show and the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show.

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
I was fortunate to participate in a workshop with MJ Kinman at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum early in 2018. MJ guided us through creating a gemstone quilt using a freezer paper template piecing method. I quilted it on my Pfaff. My mini was finished just in time to hang in the Lincoln Quilters Guild Biannual Show. It also earned a fifth place ribbon in the Nebraska State Fair Open Class Quilt Show.

Nebraska Home
Kim Lapacek's Project Quilting challenges have caught my attention for quite some time. I really wanted to dive in this year but life got in the way. This was my lone entry for the first challenge: Hometown Proud. Since Nebraska, in some ways, is one big small town, it seemed apt to try out Cassandra Beaver's raw edge appliqué meets quilting via many stitches. I was pretty pleased with the effort. The Saunders County Fair judge wasn't as pleased. :) It received a red ribbon in its class.

Upcycled Picnic Blanket

One of my quilting mentors, Dorothy Heideman Nelson, has encouraged me for a couple of years to enter in the Textiles Open Class show at the Nebraska State Fair in addition to the Quilt Show and I finally had a project in 2018 I wanted to make and enter. One of the challenges is that the entry cannot be eligible for the Quilt Division.

When planning a denim upcycle night for my 4-H club, I found a post on Pinterest that was a denim quilt I wanted to make. Simultaneously, I had been looking for projects to use the feedsacks chicken feed comes it. It is a woven plastic, much like a lightweight tarp. Thus, the upcycled denim picnic blanket was born. By sandwiching two sturdy layers without the batting in the middle, it would not be a quilt by definition and only eligible for the Textiles Division.

As the blogger describes, I cut six- and two-inch strips of various shades of denim and used a 60° angle ruler to join pieces to make strips. I happened to have one pair of red denim capris that had an unfortunate incident with a purple crayon in the laundry to add some accent to the blues.

The top was sized for four chicken feed sacks cut open and stitched together. For added interest, I rounded the corners. The binding is a raw edge denim strip.

It earned a fourth place ribbon at the Nebraska State Fair in the Open Class Textiles Division in an upcycling class. It took me a bit to find it in the show because it was hung with the feedbacks facing the viewer and the denim "quilt" hiding in the cabinet. :)