Saturday, October 10, 2015

A Few of the Quilt Shops we visited this past summer

I was asked if I had taken any photos of our travels and especially some of the quilt shops along the way.  Alas, I didn't get any inside photos but did take some outside photos of these shops.
Here's some of them.  Wish I had remembered to take them all.  Next year, I'll get some inside photos and I'll have my Bobbin Robin to go along with me.


Quilt Works in Albuquerque.
Great shop!  Lots of fabric and personable staff.
That's my Thunderbird in front.
Desert Rose Center in Tucumcari New Mexico
  Alas, not open on Sunday which is the day we went by them
 but took the photo anyway.  They are on the Old Route 66.

Great Plains Quilt Company in Burlingame, Kansas.
Another nice shop to visit in a beautiful town.

Quilter's Cupboard in Akeny, Iowa.  Cute little shop with more fabric than you'd think it could hold.
That's our Thunderbird in front.
Desert Rose Quilt Shop in Sioux Falls, SD.
Liked their pattern!
Quilter's Headquarter's in Sioux Falls, SD
An added bonus that they had a Quilt Trail block on their shop.


Here's the location of the Quilt Show where one of the vendors attending
 brought in their row by row license plate for me.
 
Lickety Stitch Quilt Shop in Lusk, Wyoming
Alas, another that we missed because we were traveling thru on Sunday.
Looks like it's a great shop.




Thursday, October 8, 2015

Baby Quilt and my Bobbin Robin

I've posted before about starting this baby quilt.  It's from a pattern from Quilter's Dream in Colleyville, TX that they sold, called "Fishy Chevron" which was adapted from Scrappy Chevron by Libby Prather and uses Quilter's Dream 2015 Row pattern.  Anyway, the quilt is almost all done, just sewing on the binding now.
Meanwhile, I also picked up the "Bobbin Robin" pattern that was presented this year for Row by Row participants to make and use on their travels. Got her finished last week as I didn't pick up the pattern until we got back from our trips.  She's making her entrance on this blog with her first Row pattern and quilt.  She'll also be around when my Row By Row quilt is finally finished and if I remember, she'll be around when I visit shops next year for Row by Row 2016.  btw.  the theme will be announced tomorrow, Oct. 9.

In the picture on the left is "Bobbin Robin" then Beverly Ingram, owner of Quilter's Dream, and me on the right.  You should see this quilt made from batiks and Moda fabrics.  Really stunning.

yt1 (Rainey had to post!)

Beverly suggested that I  show you what I did with Bobbin Robin's boots.
As suggested in the pattern, I had bought shoes designed for 18" dolls (American Girl type dolls).  Went to Walmart and they had a little package of boots for less than $4.  They are slit up the back to make it easy for a child to slip on the doll (since the doll's feet don't bend).  

After I had made Bobbin Robin and got her stilt legs readied to put into her body, I needed a way to use the boots to help hold her steady while I fit the legs to her body.  I had a couple of empty plastic spools from Coats & Clarks  (size that holds 300yds) that just barely squeezed into the boots.  They held in enough that they could be used to steady her body while I adjusted where they went into her body.  I then thought that I would probably only need to use the air dry clay (suggested in the directions with the pattern) to permanently hold the spools inside and there would still be enough clay inside the boot to give the boots the weight needed to hold everything steady when all was done.  That meant that she could have a change of shoes in the future.

So, I put a couple of wads of the clay inside each boot pushing it solidly into the toe area and leaving a good layer on the bottom to push the spools into. 

When you push down on the spools into the clay, it's going to go into the holes in the bottom of the spool but you don't want the center hole full of clay .  It's ok for it to go into the other holes in the spool as it helps hold the spool into the shoes.  This way, you can remove Bobbin Robin from her shoes and change to another set of shoes in the future, since her legs won't be stuck in the shoes permanently.

 I then used one of the stilts (wooden skewer) to push down the clay in the center hole to kind of squeeze it out of the center hole thru the bottom so the center hole wouldn't get filled up with clay.  I did that so both legs would sit at the same level in the boots and it helps balance Bobbin Robin. 

I had left the spool tags on the top end as one was made in the USA and the other in Eygpt, but it's not necessary.

If you use normal shoes instead of boots for your Bobbin Robin, you can probably still use spools in those shoes and either paint the spool or leave a layer of thread on the spool as "socks".  I haven't tried that yet.






Thursday, October 1, 2015

My Row by Row Experience continued

Have you asked others about what to do with all the row patterns you may have collected over this past summer?  Some have not liked the look of the different rows together in one quilt if using the suggested fabrics.  As I looked thru the winning quilts turned in and shown on facebook, some had coordinated their fabrics as they added the rows.  It really made some nice looking quilts.

At bee last week, I was asked to show my "baby quilt" to a scrap class, to show the class that a row could be used in other quilts besides an official "row by row"  AND that a person did not have to use the fabrics suggested for a row pattern, just that the row is built using the pattern.  That means one did not have to purchase the kit offered by the store to complete the row.

BTW, the baby quilt was made from a supplemental pattern  offered by Quilter's Dream quilt shop in Colleyville, TX that included their row in the pattern.  My baby quilt was made with calico fabrics; their pattern sample used bright batiks.

What I did to get a coordinated look in my Row by Row quilt that I've started (still not finished yet) was to pick an overall background fabric to use in each row.  I also used some other fabrics for other parts of the rows and made sure to use those fabrics in several of the rows, like adding in the Row by Row raindrop fabric in place of sky backgrounds.

Other things to do with your Row by Row Experience patterns is to use them to make baby quilts, Table Runners,  Bed runners, and even small wall hangings from single rows that you may have thought outstanding.

Since I collected so may row patterns this summer, I've been able to sort them into categories to get future coordinated looks in some quilts.  I even have a couple planned to give to those that helped along the way.  I just have to get going on those!

On a Side note, I'm sad to say that Lone Star House of Quilts has closed.