Boise Basin Quilters Show Part One

The BBQ show is in June now. Has been for the last couple of years so the shows really pile up in early summer. It used to be in the fall which I liked better because so many of the quilts were in fall colours and the vendors had tons of fall and Christmas things. Hmmm, doesn't seem right to be complaining about a quilt show now does it? So I will stop. I took lots of pictures so we will spend a few posts at the show. The pics are not in any particular order. This is a very simple quilt but I really liked the colours.

You are going to think I did something either really wrong or really fancy with my camera when you look at this picture. But it is really just a close up of a quilt you will see in a sec. I love the scrappy chaotic way this was done.

Suitable for any old scrap don't you think? I envision just making piles of colurs and going for it. I wonder if it is on a foundation? What do you think?

See, here is the whole thing. Really striking.

I am always a sucker for this pattern. I have made it several times and probably will again. It always looks so different depending on the colour palette chosen.

And always a sucker for stars, too.

The fabrics in this one were really unusual.

African I am thinking.

Here is a look at the whole thing.

Lots of precision sewing and cutting here. Not something I would want to do but it sure looks great. Look at how those tips meet.

Here's a little more of it.

Oh, and the whole thing. The play of colour through it is fantastic.

I have this pattern. I have never made it and I sure would have never chosen these fabrics. But it looks great. I think I will pull out that stash of modern big prints I have been sort of collecting and the pattern and see what I can do.

Don't you just love it? Brown background. Who would have thought of that? Well, obviously, this quilter. Not me.

Really cool, huh?

Guess you want to see the whole thing. Here you go.

When I go to a show I like to visit all the vendors first and see what they have, then the quilts, then go back and shop the vendors. I usually enter and go to the left because most people go to the right and that way I am kind of out of synch with the crowd. I started this show in the second row in on the left and the most phenomenal quilts were in that row. The rest of the show just couldn't hold a candle to that first row. It would have been better if I had started from the right and seen this row last.

This quilt was in the same row. I love black and white and brights.

This is such a cool take on a quilt that usually would be done in traditional colours. I just love it.

Don't you? More to come in a few days.

Time to head for Council

And the quilt show there. We usually do some riding along the Weiser River Trail along with heading to the show. We rode a new to us part of the trail this year. Part of it is deep in the forest right along the river. A really beautiful ride.

The Council show was a week shorter this year (it is usually 3 weeks long) and had fewer quilts than usual. It is actually amazing that such a small town (like under 1000) can manage to put together a show every year. I only have a few pictures to show you. I know this one looks like it needs to be rotated but really, this is how it was hung, so this is how I left the picture. It's flannel.

This was a block of the month at a McCall shop. There were several versions in the show.

And I have a block by block show of my favourite quilt. For some reason I don't have a shot of the entire thing, but I really liked the different star centers. And the colours. Lately it seems like I have been taken over by a pod person -- I have been really into non primitive and even )shudder) pastel-ly colours.

So, are you ready for the block by block?

I love this one. Heart's are always a favourite of mine. Isn't this a great block? And I even like the blue! See, I told you, a pod person has taken me over.

This is a great block, too. I like the greens and pinks. Cottage-y.

Simple 9 batch in the star center. Oh, yeah, I like the 9 patch corner posts and the striped sashing, too. The plaid in the corner blocks look great here I think.

Pinwheel. I have been making lots of pinwheel blocks lately working on stashlets. They are my current most fun way to use up left over half square triangles.

Another center style. And another great plaid. I think I have mentioned that I have trouble with plaids. I really like them but never seem to be able to find ones I really like. This quilter not only found some great ones but put them to great use.

Another.

Okay, this is not my favourite block in the quilt. And you can guess one reason -- blue. But I am just not crazy about the friendship star block. Never have one. Usually I substitute a different block when it is in a pattern. I don't know why it doesn't appeal to me but it just does not. More great plaid though.

This one is great. I told you last time I think how shoo fly has become a favourite block. Some of the blocks have a great stripe, too, instead of plaid. And, oh, you can just see the border print in this pic. I like it, too.

Another different center.

Cute spool variation.

And another really cute one -- a little snow ball flower. There's that plaid again!

Well, that's all for tonight. For some reason blogger keeps giving me page errors instead of loading my pictures. I have Boise show pics for you and, coming soon, Sisters!!!

%#*%)(*)!@@ chip sealing!

Both of our favourite bike ride routes are in the midst of chip sealing. Grrr. For those of you who do not know what chip sealing is, it is a process where gravel is spread all over the road and left there for cars to run over and flatten. Then after a week or so the excess is swept off and oil is sprayed all over the gravel. It is messy, dirty, and really bad for bike riding. Oh, well.

Let's move on to something happier. Well, maybe. I have been working on stashlets again. Yes, I know, this is a little too big to really be a stashlet. I have been digging in my boxes of orphan and extra blocks. These all went together nicely but I am afraid I don't like the border at all. It is sitting on my end of the couch waiting for me to unsew. Okay, on to real stashlets. That tan fabric is from Thimbleberries and is really quite old. I have used it in lots of things and still have more left. It is an old favourite.

How about this one? More Thimbleberries fabric. That's what the black and tan holly in the middle block is. Kind of weird colours for holly I guess but I like it. And that black moon and star fabric. I have that in several colours and it is an absolute favourite. It's one of those I will be sorry to see all used up.

How about this one? The red churn dash blocks were left overs and the sailboat fabric was left from a commission quilt I made for a friend's new grand baby boy. I almost didn't add a border because I liked the bright blocks and sashing but the sailboats are nice. Again, a little large for a stashlet. I guess I need a new name for something larger than a stashlet but smaller than a quilt. Quiltette? Quiltling? Quiltkins? Hmm. That naming concept definitely needs some work!

You have probably seen the large quilt that these log cabins are left over from. It is one of my favouites. I think they look good with these borders. That fabric in the first border is the oddest shade of brown. I didn't realize when I bought it how odd it was. It is kind of hard to find something to go with it. Oh, it's a Thimbleberries, too. Wow, I have a real theme going on today, don't I?

I fell in love with this ray gun fabric when I bought it. This is the first time I have used it. It's another one of those love objects that is hard to use. Love is blind, right?

I am not sure what this block came from originally. I don't really care for friendship stars and that is basically what this is. I like this combination, though, and I have some binding cut for this that is from a fat quarter that was in a little bundle. Talk about weird and hard to use colours. It is a greenish yellowish brown. You will have to wait to see it though until this one is done.

My favourite red white and blue again. I am going to use the blue print that makes up the churn dash for the binding. Those giant half square triangles have been hanging around for a long time. And finally found a good home.

Here is some really old fabric. Complements of JoAnn's. From before I started to buy most of my fabric at quilt shops. You know, before I became a quilt fabric snob.

And more of it. I like this one better. All kinds of stars. I love churn dash blocks so much and hadn't realized until recently how similar shoo fly is so suddenly I am making lots of shoo fly blocks, too. You do see the resemblance between them, now don't you?

Funny how that white tone on tone print shows up in the pictures. It is not anywhere near that definitive in person. It almost looks like a chicken wire print here, doesn't it? Hmmm, back to chicken quilts. You know, I have never made one.

I had the lodge-y fat quarter that makes up this sashing buried in the fat quarter boxes. It is a nice shade of golden brown. Toast colour. I love toast colour. One of my favouite shades of tan.

And now for something completely different. Brights. These are left overs from a couple of quilts I made a while back for the grand kids. Two grand kids; two quilts -- just similar enough but not quite the same to be even. Know what I mean? Still more 9 patch variations. You are probably tired of seeing these but I always seem to have 9 patches left over.

One more time.

I had lots of homespun strips left over from a rail fence quilt. They were lots of different widths so I found the most common width and trimmed to that size. Uses them up nicely I think.

So I was watching Jaws yesterday while I was sewing. And one of the lines was "That's some bad hat, Harry". Now you probably knew already that that line was from Jaws. But I don't think I have watched it since the first time I saw it. I am a credit reader and knew that this was always at the end of "House". Now I know where it came from. It's almost as much fun as "Bad Robot" at the end of "Fringe". Did you know that there is a web site called closing logos.com? Well, I didn't either, but now I do. And that the pictures that go with the verbiage are called "vanity cards"? I need a vanity card, don't you?