More Mystery Quilts

Our June Show and Tell brought in more wonderful mystery quilts.  What a fun project that was, and to see all of the different color and lay out selections is fun.

Barb shows her Mystery Quilt.

Leah and her Mystery Quilt.

Ruth named hers Black & White & Red All Over

Terri plans to give hers to one of her twin granddaughters as a birthday gift.

Laurie

Quilts and Stories

 I so much enjoyed the story that Joanie told at our June meeting about her and Sheila's mother, Velma.  Joanie had said that the winter before last her mother had become rather obsessed with making patchwork quilts out of velvet.  She first started by making one, and then had some blocks left over.  Well, there weren't quite enough blocks to make another quilt, so it was off to the thrift store in search of more of the precious velvet....and so this went on and on and on.  One quilt leading into the next, and the next and the next.  Many of the family members received these quilts.  What a nice legacy to pass on to her famiy, and friends!  Nice treasures and memories to hold on to!

Quilts and their stories go hand in hand.  I am asking members to share their stories about quilts. (and a photo as well, if you have one)  I am sure that there are many stories out there...funny, sad, touching, inspiring!

Here is one of Velma's velvet quilts which was donated to our community service project.  I am sure this quilt will bring comfort to someone in our community!
Laurie



Quilt Ideas from Everywhere

There are just so many wonderful views and ideas about quilting and they come from everywhere.  Inspired by a quilt at a Japanese quilt show, the Japanese X block tutorial done by Amy is a great way to  use up those bold and bright scraps.  I love the way you can use all types of fabrics with this one.

This quilt tutorial for a Corner Block Quilt brought to mind our soldier quilts.  Would this make a great one? Lisa's bold idea for the quilt caught my eye and I also went down the sidebar and check out tutorial for Jenna, another lovely quilt.

A not so masculine but really lovely quilt was the Garden Fence Quilt from Hyacinth Quilt Designs. I really saw a lot of fabric options with this one not just the modern fabrics shown.  Its really appealing.  Hope you enjoyed visiting these places as much as I did.   Diana

New Places to Visit

For those who might be travelling near northern Illinois from July1 - September 30, you might want to check out a six county quilt fest going on called Northern Illinois Quilt Fest.  The web site is calling it From Barns to Bedcovers and it tell about the festivities going on in each county during these months.  It really does look interesting and if your down that way, visit their site and make a plan.

Annemarie of GenX Quilters has a great blog aimed at the newer quilter perhaps or a young audience but this old quilters found it a great site to visit.  Thats the great thing about quilting I think, it's really ageless. GenX has a whole lot of information to offer.  The first thing I noticed was the blog about The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird.  This lady used to live in California and now lives in southwestern Wisconsin. She does presentations about her book and blocks so that's interesting...maybe an invite up North!

GenX Quilters also has great tutorials and she has a 57 block library that links to all these wonderful blocks around the web.  I have to tell you about one that really caught my eye, the Twisted Cathedral Window by Krista of the Spotted Stone.  This looks so different and what  a neat hand project for the summer so please go check out her blog.  I'm planning on checking out all 57 when I find the time!

I also enjoyed the Sometimes Crafter.  Christina has a blog with many interests and I enjoyed her pattern page and her tutorials very much.  Many of these are smaller, faster projects like a cottage mug rug, a Kindle case for those who use them, an egg cup pincushion and a crochet hook case.  I'm thinking gift ideas...

One last place today was CraftBuds.  Lindsay and Mary started this site to promote homegrown businesses and do a nice job of it in addition to have some great articles and tutorials of interest, I love the summer headbands project!  If you want to learn how to promote your blog, this is a great place to find out.

This should keep you busy for a while but hopefully, not too long away from your quilting.  diana

New Stuff and Old Stuff

One of the "old Stuff" is the Wisconsin Quilt Museum located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  I don't think everything at the museum is old but some is and they are very close to being totally open.  They are have many activities right now and you can visit their website to check them out and get their newsletter.  I know this project has been a long time coming and a labor of love for quilters.

Evie passed on info about the Superior Threads newsletter.  You can access their website and sign up for their newsletter which had just a ton of information about thread.  They are truly experts about the subject and also about needles, so check them out.

Carol sent in a place with good deals rotary blades.  The LP Sharp Company claims to have the best deals around so its worth checking out next time you need blades.

Crazy Mom Quilts has a wonderful tutorials about a quilt called Running in Circles and she also shows a lovely baby quilt made in circles.  Both are really great.

I don't think I've spoke about Jaybird Quilts before but if you read a bit down her blog, she has a great tutorial on binding curves.  Also her free tutorials page is wonderful with a Life Cycles Quilt,  Mon Sheri Waves quilt which uses the Drunkards path foot with a video,she also show how to do multiple mitered borders. 

Bee Square Fabrics featured Crazy Mom Quilts as a guest quilter and she featured a Zig Zag quilt which is really nice.

Diana

The Sheperd's Purse...Another "Woolly" Place

Back in April when a group of us went to the quilt show in Pulaski, there was a lady who was spinning wool fibers into yarn.  Her name is Ann Reiser and she lives on a working sheep farm in Sobieski, Wisconsin.  You can check out this fiber artist at The Shepherd's Purse, to learn more about her.
If you are interested in seeing her studio, and learning more about the hand spun yarns, woven cloth and wall art she creates, Ann, as well as other Northeastern Wisconsin artists will be participating in an Art Studio Tour on October 7, 8 & 9th, 2011.  If you are looking for a different kind of outing this fall, go check out these area artists.  I am sure it would be inspiring!
Since we had just visited the Carding Mill at Embarrass recently, I thought maybe some of you would find interest in another "woolly" place.

Embarrass Carding Mill Field Trip

Fifteen members of the Pine Needle Quilter's went on a field trip to the Embarrass Carding Mill in Embarrass, Wisconsin.  Some of the services they offer are washing and carding of used wool and polyester batts, washing and carding of raw wool, new polyester and wool batts, as well as a full comforter service including hand tieing of your quilts.  Check out the link above to see their full line of services and price lists.

First raw wool, or used quilt batts are brought in and washed.  It is a tedious looking process to clean the raw wool, as the straw, manure and sand must be removed.  A special mixture of cleaners is used, as the lanolin must be removed from the wool as well.  For every 2 pounds of raw wool brought in, 1 pound is lost in the cleaning process.

Nate is carding polyester fibers through the machine. The poly or wool fibers are laid on a bed of the machine, and then begin the process of going through the rollers, which are covered with small metal teeth.

Here you see the fibers are beginning to progress through the rollers.

This carding machine is about 105 years old.  It came from the New York area by train, and then came the rest of the way from Clintonville by horse and wagon.

Again, you can see the progression of the fibers.

As if by magic the fibers are fluffed and bonded together to make the polyester quilt batt.

Nate removes the batt from the large roller at the back of the carding machine.

Andrea straightens the fluffy batt on a table behind the carding machine.

Thank you to Andrea and Nate for showing us the carding process.  It certainly was interesting!  We are fortunate to have this unique business located close to our area.

After leaving the carding mill we headed for Pinery Patches in Tigerton.  Members made purchases, and happily headed back to the town hall for an afternoon of sewing.  What a fun day.  Thank you to Deanna for organizing this fun field trip, and to the ladies who drove.

Laurie

Memorial Day Activities and Soldier Quilts

Its been a while since posting but like many others, I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and getting some outdoor things done. 

We did do a very wonderful "outdoor" activity and that was celebrating our veterans with the local VFW at the cemetary.  They always present a stirring ceremony for the vets and have a coffee and donut get together at the Tabor Lutheran Church.  It is here that we display our quilts that are going to various places like Afghanistan and Germany to hospitals.

The variety was very pretty and I'm sure they will be much appreciated.  We ended up with a total of 48 quilts.  My sister Jenny has friends who also donated 2 quilts,  quilts were also donated from the quilter's at Tabor Church, we certainly appreciate their contribution and that of our members.  So thank you so much for your efforts and that of those who showed up to display them and get them ready to ship. 

Diana