One of the best things about going to Market in Houston is the quilt show.  One of the worst things is that there are a lot of the areas that don’t allow photography.  Bummer!  I did, however (legally) take pictures of a lot of quilts.  Half of them are in this post.

Pinned to the Past by Michal Tammy Waschsmann.  This quilt was made to hold pins she collects.  Pretty clever, huh?

Dixie Dingo Dreaming by Susan E. Carlson is based on a photo of her dog Pippin.

La Luz by Betty Busby depicts a hiking trail in Albuquerque.

Outback – Beyond Broken Hill by Eileen R. Campbell.  The birds are called corellas!

One exhibit was about eating heathy!  This is called Delicious Bouquet by Nita Markos.

Galactic Daiquiri by Cherie Gooler.

Fruits + Vegetables = Good for You and Your Heart! by Dea L. Larson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the O Canada exhibit comes this quilt, Vancouver Cityscape at Dust by Terry Aske.  I was really taken with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheel of Teal by Marilyn J. Farquhar.

Skating by Joyce E. Seagram.  This reminded me of all the skating trips I took with my mom and sister.

This quilt was in the Traditional Pieced display.  It’s called Star Medallion with 96 Baskets b Kathleen McCrady.  It’s hand pieced and hand quilted.  She finished it one week before her 85th birthday!

Weitverzweight by Brigitte Morgenroth is all silk!

My Favorite Things by Meiko Sasano,  She was inspired by flowers painted on porcelain.

Both the appliqué and quilting were exquisite.

Carnival by Monica Troy.

YoYo2: Trip Around the World by Helen Remick.

It’s always fun to have a bit of whimsy, like Answering Nature’s Call by Kathy Augur Smith.

A lovely, traditional quilt.  Sawblades by Myra Hall.

Churn Dash Exchange by Kathleen Poznick.

More to come!

Pat P3, also known as Nana Pat, brought this pretty quilt for her show and tell.  I love how the checkerboard sashing is repeated in the border!

Mary’s favorite animal is the buffalo, so this is the perfect quilt for her.

She made this yummy batik top during the retreat.

Mary took Robin’s 1″ challenge.

Looks like she’s getting a good start!

Penny brought this beautiful cross quilt for show-and-tell.

She was working on another one during retreat.

While recuperating from surgery, she made this yo-yo table runner.  There are 78 yo-yo’s in it.  Can you imagine making enough for a bed quilt!?!

Penny and Nana Pat were both working on Hunter’s Star quilts.  I can’t remember if this is Pat’s or Penny’s!

This one is definitely Penny’s.  She did half blocks around the outside to make the start the center of every block.

Penny was also working on a layout for her split nine-patch.

Anna had several sampler projects that she brought to put together, including this pretty one.

She was framing these blocks to make them all the same size.  Smart trick!

Phyllis brought this wonderful wall hanging for show-and-tell…

…as well as this City Pavement quilt.

Barbara’s neighbor bought this quilt at a garage sale for $5.00!

During retreat, Barbara made my Center Piece Table Runner.

And from some scraps she made a bookmark!  Very clever!

Laraine showed this charming button-on-wool piece that she’d made.

She’s also made these wool hearts.

I kinda like this photo of me!

For show-and-tell, Stephanie brought this great Bear’s Paw.

During the retreat she put her Lollipop quilt top together.  This is one of my designs, and it’s so fun to see someone making things I’ve designed.

She’ll be ready for Halloween with this charming wall hanging.

During retreat, she was experimenting with the Hunter’s Star ruler…

…and got this all put together!

She also made this adorable cat block, appropriately called “Stalker.”

At the last retreat, Judy started this wall hanging, and she brought it back finished for show-and-tell.  It should help chase away the winter blues!

She also got this Halloween table runner together during the retreat.

And how about this adorable, seasonal wall hanging.  I think these blocks are just the cutest I’ve seen in a long time.

One more post, and we’ll be caught up with retreat!

 

Pat P1 (We had three Becky P’s) made this great batik quilt.  Every time I looked up, she was pressing strips.  Now I know why!

She brought this jacket she made for show-and-tell.

Her sister, Becky L, was working on this quilt at the last retreat.  It’s so nice to get to see them finished.

And look at the interesting back she has on it.

At retreat she made this quilt top.  I love the bear tracks.  Once the border is on, she will applique a bear there!

Sharon brought this row-by-row quilt for show-and-tell.

She knew about the Summer Bow Tie Challenge, so brought this to show, too.  I love the asymmetrical setting.

She also brought this adorable Christmas Redwork.

Robin is always challenging everyone to do 1″ square scrap quilts, so this was a perfect show-and-tell.  Every print, both the light and dark, are florals!

Another pretty quilt from Sharon.

She did a great mitered border demonstration for us!

Diana is ready for Halloween!

She got this pieced at retreat.

Love the needlework and shading in this piece.

I did the Lemoyne Star demo…

…and Dianna whipped out this little sampler with two 12″ and three 4″ Lemoyne stars.  It’s really that easy–and no set in seams!

J
Julie made this pretty log cabin.

Pat P2 wore a jacket that she made with batik blocks.

I don’t know which came first, this quilt or the jacket!

Don’t you love the color combination in this Chain quilt?

Still more to come!

More great show-and-tell.  This is Patti’s Double Wedding Ring.

This Colorwash Cross was her project at the last retreat.

This time she was working with these great batiks.

Marsha was making a pretty pastel quilt for her granddaughter’s big girl bed!

Rosemarie had several Hmong embroideries that she had finished.

This nativity was charming!

She did a lot of embellishment on this one.

This pretty quilt is hers, too.

As is this black, white and red one.

Annie was duly proud of this quilt.

Here’s the back.  She did a quilt-as-you-go technique.

During the retreat she was working on this Friendship Star with a Twisted Ribbon border.

And this was the second car quilt she had on the design wall!

Pat T. (not to be confused with Patti or the other three Pats that were there!) made this sampler from shop hop blocks.

She also made two pillow covers to match.

I love the sweet embroidery in the center of this one.

For show-and-tell she brought her Crossroads quilt.

She also got this top put together during the retreat.

I believe this train pillowcase is for her grandson, who has a basement full of trains.

Sue brought a beautiful Twelve Step Program quilt from my book, Bundles of Fun.  I think this is the most frequently made quilt from the book!

She also brought this Checkerboard quilt that she’d made, but I heard a rumor that someone else tried to claim it, perhaps two someones!

Isn’t this soft and pretty.  I don’t know the pattern name, but it’s lovely!

Sue’s niece is going off to college, and Sue is making a quilt for her in her favorite colors–pink and orange.

I have to tell you, in high school, my bedroom was pink and orange.  I’m so old, it’s popular again!

There were 50 of us at Falls Creek Retreat Center for our retreat last weekend, and everyone was very productive.  I have lots and lots of photos to share, and will break them down into six posts.  Here goes!

Evelyn brought her Postcards from Hawaii quilt that she started at a previous retreat.

She put this top together…

…and gave us a tutorial on how she did it.  Thanks, Evelyn!

She was extremely productive at retreat.  If you’re counting how many tops she completed, this is #2.

#3.

#4.

#5.

#6.

#7.

And #8!  Amazing!  I should have given her a prize for getting the most accomplished.

Quynh brought two quilts for show-and-tell.  This one…

…and this one.

She also pieced a strippy quilt.  It may look like solids, but it’s actually tiny gingham fabric!  Very cute.

Chara joined us for the first time and brought this pretty quilt for show-and-tell.

She finished this top made with a combination of fabrics, including linen.

Can you spot the expectant mother?

This is Melissa who had embellished some adorable onsies.

She also completed two tops while she was there.  These adorable houses…

…and this great batik one.  I was just at her blog and she’s posted some retreat photos, too!

I was so touched when Sarah brought a quilt that she had made from my book, Fat Quarter Fun! I love how it turned out!

She also got this log cabin top put together at retreat…

…and was working on these blocks.  The pattern is designed by my friend Michelle and the fabric is by my sista-friend, Monica!

Kirstie’s show and tell was this great old Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  The story is even greater than the quilt.  After a car was abandoned at her husband’s business for two years, he was going to have it crushed.  Before he did, he opened the trunk and found this in there!  Good thing he knew enough to call his wife!

Kirstie got this wonderful star quilt top together.

So, that’s a start!

 

When Bob and I were in Montana last month, we visited the State Penitentiary, now a museum!  I love this old post card image I found on the net.  I was just wondering, who was the intended consumer for this postcard???

It was interesting but also kind of creepy touring the prison, which was still in use until the late 1970′s.

The prison is in Deer Lodge, Montana, and is now part of a large museum complex, including a fabulous car museum and a doll museum as well as the prison.

Nearby is the Grant Kohs National Historic Site, a part of the National Parks system.  Don’t you love the visitors’ center?

The entrance to this cattle ranch was down a path which took you by this old wagon…

,,,and these teepees.

Fittingly, the public restrooms were in a log building!

At one time, the Kohrs family ranched 10 million acres.  Can you even imagine?  It is still a working ranch, but now there are only 1,000 acres.  Still sounds like a lot to me!

In the beginning, the Kohrs family had a modest home, but they prospered and added on to the house.  The result is a beautiful Victorian farm house.

No photos were allowed inside, but I did find these on the NPS website.  The parlor was lovely.  Mrs Kohrs was born in Germany and made many trips back, bringing lovely things to furnish her home.

The kitchen was quite modern!

The dining room was in the addition and was fabulous.

The tour exited through the back of the house.

I love the old steps….

…and the picket fence…

…and the flower garden.

The most beautiful pink poppies were blooming.  They have been growing there since Augusta Kohrs’ day.  I asked if they sold seeds in the gift shop and our guide said they did not.  Then she said, “Just help yourself!”  I’m so glad we were there when there were mature seed pods.  Next year I should have pink poppies in my garden to go along with the purple ones I already grow!

There was an authentic chuck wagon.

And a pretty authentic looking “Cookie!”  He offered us boiled coffee, which Bob tried.

I loved all the little accoutrements.

And how ingenious is this little basin which hangs over the wagon wheel!?!

They still raise longhorn cattle here.  I tried to get this guy to lift his head for a glamour shot, but he was too interested in the lush grass.

It was a great spot and I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area.

One last note.  Not all early settlers were as prosperous as the Kohrs family.  This photo was on display in the car museum, of all places.  The reason I like it so much is because of the shelf decoration.  I always say that the thing that differentiates humans from animals (besides the fact that we have a soul) is that humans decorate.  No matter how bleak the surroundings or how difficult the lifestyle, people have always made an attempt to beautify their homes.  I love it!

 

 

 

 

We had so much fun with the Summer Bow Tie blocks that people are clamoring (well, at least asking) if we’re going to do another block for fall.  Well, of course we are!

What was the Summer Bow Tie Block Challenge all about?  It was about making a quilt block a day.  It was about getting into your sewing room if even for just a few minutes.  It was about using up some scraps!

If you’d made one quilt block each day from the beginning of summer until the end of summer, you would have made 94 blocks!  I’m not sure anyone managed the one-a-day approach, but it still kept many people sewing.  Lots of people are finishing up their quilts now and posting them on the Facebook page.  Here’s Toni’s that she posted today.  There are lots of photos on the Facebook page.  Feel free to check them out.

Ready for the next challenge?  How about Hour Glass blocks for fall?  Did I hear a moan?  Really, they’re easy.  It’s just a twice sewn half-square triangle–kind of like biscotti–twice baked cookies!  If you make one block each day during fall, you will have 91 blocks made before the first day of winter even sets in!  Here’s what an Hour Glass block looks like.

A few minutes ago I decided to make a few blocks and takes photos so I could post this tutorial  Since I have shelves full of fabric bolts, it’s really tempting to just pull a few down and start cutting.  But, I really need to do something with all my scraps.  So, I pulled out one of my scrap bins.

I cut a bunch of 4-1/4″ squares.  These will make a 3″ unfinished Hour Glass block.  Note: You can make any size blocks.  The formula is this–add 1-1/4″ to the finished size you desire.

I cut some cream solid to go with them.  You can get ten 4-1/4″  squares from a strip.  Mark a diagonal line on the solid squares.

Pair a solid square with a print square, right sides together.  I used two matching solids and two matching prints.  This will yield four Hour Glass blocks.

Stitch 1/4″ on each side of the drawn line.

Cut apart on the drawn line.

Press to the print fabric.  (Yes, I have an orange iron!)  You’ve made a half-square triangle–and you’re half way finished!

Now take two of your half-square triangles and put them together, light against dark, dark against light.  Snug up the center seam.

Draw a diagonal line that passes through your stitched seam.

Stitch 1/4″ on either side of the line and cut apart.

Voila!  An Hour Glass block.  Wasn’t that easy?

Here’s a little pressing tip.  Wiggle the intersection a bit to loosen a stitch or two.

Finger press seams in opposite directions.  This really eliminates bulk in you seams.  A teeny tiny four patch will show up in the middle if you do this correctly.  Your seams will press to the light, but that’s okay.

Turn it over and give it a press.  Trim away the dog ears.  There it is–your first Hour Glass block.  Actually, you’ll get two blocks from each pair of fabric.

Since I did two pair, I ended up with four blocks.  This is a very traditional way to put Hour Glass blocks together, but there are lots of possibilities with this block.

Use two different prints when sewing your half-square triangles together.

Much more scrappy.

If you put your four blocks together with all the browns facing in, it forms a pinwheel.  Magic!

Or you can just mix them up for a scrappy effect.

You don’t even have to use a solid if you want to go totally scrappy, like this.

I hope you’ll join in the fun.  Come to the new Facebook Page, A Quilt Block A Day.  Even if you don’t make blocks, it’s fun to watch everyone’s progress.

 

Bob was born and raised in Montana, and we go back as often as we can.  We generally drive, and one of our favorite little towns to stop in is Ritzville, Washington.  Unfortunately, in the last 20 years that I’ve been traveling through there, the downtown has lost many businesses.  We would always have a meal in one of the downtown restaurants, but they’re all gone now.

Our favorite was the Circle T, but even its sign is gone.  The Whispering Palms is closed, too.

As is the old theater.

I think the bar and grill is hanging on!

No gas today.  Most of the business has moved out by the interstate exchange.  Bye, Ritzville.

Well, you know you’re in Montana when the sconces in the restaurant look like cow skulls!

We stayed in Kalispell and had breakfast at Sykes.  Yep, 10 cent coffee!

We went with some of Bob’s family to Glacier Park for a picnic.

There’s a handsome bunch!

We were on the shores of Lake McDonald.  Breathtaking!

I love the tenacity of trees.

I think it’s so cool that they still have the red busses in the park.  (Yellowstone has yellow ones!)

This is the Conrad Mansion in Kalispell.  The grounds were the prettiest I had ever seen them.

Kalispell has some cool old buildings, like the fabulous art deco TV station.

 

And the very proper City Water Department.

The old theater.

We had lunch with Vernon and Thelma, now both in their late eighties.  On the wall was this picture of Vernon and Pastor Pete.  I think Vernon is as handsome as Marshall Dillon!

We had breakfast one day at Wheat Montana.  Loved the poster.

This is the view from Bob’s cousin Glenn’s house.  Talk about Big Sky Country!

Wheat fields in the front of the house and the Flathead River out the back!  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Another tenacious tree.  It’s a long ways from the river now, but I think spring floods have had a go at it a time or two.

A couple more old signs.

And a Beaverslide!  For those who don’t know, it’s used for stacking hay.

Next, our visit to the state penitentiary!

 

Before I show the rest of the quilts I took pictures of, I should tell you about the ones I didn’t take pictures of.  There were tons of quilts that had beading and bedazzling on them!  The workmanship was superb, but I’m not a glitz-your-quilt kinda gal, so I didn’t take pictures of those!  I did, however, take photos of the more traditional quilts.  These are the ones that float my boat!

First, a little humor.  This is a feedsack quilt!  Yep, made with modern, plastic feedsacks.  How funny!

I recently saw another version of this quilt at the Sisters quilt show.  I’m gonna make this one someday!

When I first looked at this quilt, I saw bow ties–gray bow ties pointing left and cream bow ties pointing right.  On closer examination, though, this quilt is a combination of snowballs (red floral) and four patches.

There’s something to be said for quilts from solid fabrics.

Love the gradation of colors on this quilt.

Love it!  There’s a lot of work in this border.

Isn’t this gorgeous?

This antique quilt was in the Latimer Quilt Museum’s booth.

So was this one.

Don’t miss the border treatment when looking at this quilt.

Great setting.

This was a “quilt rescue,” according to the info.

I’ve always called this block Girl with Nosegay.

Fabulous Drunkard’s Path.

It’s made with bias edges!

Lots of inspiration.  I’ve gotta go sew!

 

Yesterday Connie and I traveled to Tacoma for the Pacific West Quilt Show.  It was a gorgeous day.  This was the view from the street in front of the convention center.

I’ve always been crazy about poppies.

And evidently I’m not alone!

Especially orange poppies!

There were several “poppy” quilts at the show.

And other floral quilts.

As one friend put it, “It’s a very esoteric show!”

I’d have to agree with that!

There were lots of landscape quilts.

Some traditional barns in a not-so-traditional setting.

Barns that are a bit more abstract.

I love this village!  She drew it with Elmer’s glue then used dye to create the design!

There was some amazing quilting to be seen.

The whole cloth quilts were stunning.

Nice use of hand dyed fabric.

How can his quilt be perfectly flat but look like it has a big bubble in the middle?

Can you even imagine drafting the center of this quilt?

It reminded me of this quilt from the 1930′s.

There were some great pictorial quilts.

I loved the draft horses.

Isn’t this beautiful?

I loved these pens!  Perhaps it was made for an author or calligrapher.

I thought the next three quilts were quite unique.  They’re made in the style of Northwest Indian button blankets.

More “traditional” quilts tomorrow!