Category: Quilting

Iowa State Fair: Quilt Sew-In

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Hello everyone, this is Heather speaking…

It’s July, and in Iowa – particularly if you are anywhere near Des Moines – that means it’s time to start gearing up for the annual Iowa State Fair.  According to the countdown clock on their website, we have a little over a month until the fair kicks off.  So it was no surprise to me to find a preview ad about the fair in the Sunday paper this past weekend.

There are several new attractions, including a contest for sculpting butter (you have to have seen the famous butter cow sculptures to understand the appeal of this event) and the chance to learn about wine making.

But, there is a new event that really caught my attention – a quilt sew-in.  The Iowa State Fair has a long tradition of contests in the “Fabric and Threads” category, but this is different, not a contest at all.

Quilt Sew-In

According to the information posted on the Fair’s website:

Stop by the first-ever State Fair Sew-In to try your hand at simple quilting. Volunteers will be on hand to teach quilting basics. Each participant will receive a commemorative pin, and completed quilts will be donated to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and Iowa Angel Tree Camps.

Naturally, this prompted some questions from Yours Truly, so I sent an email and got a bit more information from State Fair officials.

This event will be free and open-ended, during the entire run of the fair (August 13 – 23, 2009), from Noon until 5pm, people will be welcome to stop into the Varied Industries Building and participate.  There is no registration, and no requirement to bring fabric or any other supplies (although donations are being accepted in advance of the fair) for this event.  You do not have to pay to participate, and you are welcome to be involved for as long or as short a time as you like (a great way to get into an air conditioned building and out of the summer heat for a while).

I also asked about patterns for the quilts and was told that these would be choosen in advance by officials, but that there would likely be several patterns being used at any one time during the Sew-In.

I think this is very exciting news, and if I get to the Iowa State Fair this year, I intend to participate (yes, me, the non-quilter) at least for a little while.  And, while I’m there I’ll get to stop into see the quilts that have been submitted for judging – always a treat!   If I go (subject to weather and scheduling), I’ll be sure to report back with some pictures.  Hope that I see a few of you there as well!

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Heather

PS – for more information on the Iowa State Fair, you may want to follow them on Blog Spot, Twitter, My Space or Facebook.

FREE Pattern – Patriotic Tablerunner

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July 4th is almost here – you might be planning on grilling, or having a picnic, or maybe just enjoying some ice tea on the porch while you watch the local fireworks display.

Are you tired of ‘decorating’ by buying appropriately themed paper plates?  I thought a new tablerunner was in order this year – and I had been asked to make a June pattern for OLFA’s website, it was perfect – my pattern would be a tablerunner and I would post it here for my readers as well.  (If you haven’t checked out the patterns on OLFA’s website, you might want to.)

You’ll love this pattern – it really does make up a great runner in a hurry!

The key to how quickly this pattern can be made is that it uses the “Stitch & Flip” method of quilting.  Never used this method before – don’t worry, I’m going to walk you through the basics – then you can download the pattern below and try it out for yourself.

  • Lay out the backing fabric for your placemat, right side DOWN against the table.
  • Lay your batting on top of that, with the center point of the batting marked (as you will see in my pattern – I suggest folding the batting and marking the center with a pen)
  • Take your first strip (for this pattern, it’s a red fabric strip), and lay it along the center line.   This is laid right side UP.
  • Take your next strip (white in this pattern) and lay it right side DOWN right on top of the red fabric.
  • Now, sew through the white strip, the red strip, the batting AND the backing – one line of stitching (on either side of the white strip), using a 1/4″ seam allowance.  This was the ‘stitch’ part of the “Stitch and Flip” method.
  • Next, FLIP the white strip down (so it’s now right side UP), and iron flat. Yep, this was the ‘flip’ part of the method.
  • It’s just about that simple – just repeat these steps, alternating between red and white strips to create the stripe pattern seen in the picture above.

It might seem a little tricky when you get to the stars at the edge of the table runner – and to be honest, those stars are why I rated this pattern as ‘intermediate’ for the OLFA website.  I suggest you try making one using scrap fabrics first – after trying the scrap version, if you decide the star is too frustrating, then consider making your placemats with applique stars instead.  Or use a blue/white star print for the edges of your table runner.

Pattern for Patriotic Tablerunner – I hope you enjoy it!

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Quilt in a Hurry

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Well, it’s that time of year – graduation, and all the excitement that goes along with it.

My family was recently invited to a graduation for Kelly, the little sister of my daughter’s best friend. My first thought was – how did it come this quickly? My second thought was – I don’t have a quilt ready!
Honestly – we got the invitation in the mail, and didn’t realize she was graduating this year!

For her older sister, my daughter and I had made a very special quilt that was meaningful to us and the recipient, with pictures and memories. But with such short notice, there just wasn’t any way to do something similar for her sister. And yet she’s very important to us and my daughter and I wanted to make her a quilt.

After a little thought, we decided there isn’t anything faster than a Turning Twenty quilt pattern. We used book number 3 – Turning Twenty Around the Block. Yes, you’ve seen me blog about these quilts before, but it’s true – the Turning Twenty patterns make up quickly and can be very versatile, allowing for framed ‘pictures’ in each of the blocks if you choose. It’s also a vibrant pattern (at least if you use a good contrast color) that catches the eye of the viewer – perfect for a young woman.  If you’ve missed my earlier posts, just click on the link above, or check out the website of the designer, Tricia Cribbs.

Kelly grew up so fast, we weren’t sure what her hobbies were or where she was going to school next year, but we did see her drive by our house everyday in her yellow and black FJ Cruiser.

So we thought we couldn’t go wrong with a yellow/black quilt.  I checked out my fabric stash – can you believe I only had to go to the store and buy 1 fat quarter to make this quilt happen?!  (Okay, perhaps my stash is a little large.)  As you can see in the picture below, we decided to make black the predominate color, as a quilt with more yellow than black could be hard on eyes that were overworked from study!

My daughter and I got busy and made this a team effort. I cut out the blocks, she sewed them together, I quilted, and we both worked on getting the binding done. It took a couple of late nights (but to me that really was easier than going shopping at a mall).  After all the other guests had left we stayed and visited with her parents.

The last time we saw Kelly that afternoon she was headed to her bedroom with her new quilt wrapped around her, saying “I Love my new quilt.”. Was it worth the extra hours staying up late to get it done?  You bet! I also got the bonus of extra quality time with my daughter – which is always welcome.

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila