Finishing the "Jewels of Summer" Southern Indiana Shop Hop

My intention was to take a picture at each quilt shop on the shop hop, but...I must admit I got distracted! Once the shopping started, picture taking was not my first priority. I got pictures of SOME of the shops.

We started out early this morning--my friends from Lynnville, IN, were at my house by 6:30 a.m. their time. (I call that zero dark thirty!) Our first stop of the morning was Craft Town in Salem, IN. I'm sorry to say I didn't get a picture of this shop. I think we all found items to purchase there. (I have pictures of my purchases at the end of this blog. I succeeded in doing my best to support these quilt shops in this "bad" economy and managed to buy something at each shop.)

...on to Margie's Country Store and L & L Yard Goods in Madison, IN. (I just love Madison. It is such a scenic little town with great shops. I want to go back just to spend a day browsing all the unique stores.) Margie greeted us and showed us their version of the Shop Hop quilt. The shop is small, but it is packed with lots of nice samples and products.

Here is the Shop Hop quilt for Margie's Country Store (along with some Shop Hoppers).This is a picture of Margie's shop.I bought my Kaffe Fassett fabric here. This fabric has a lot of the colors I used to decorate my house. I thought it would give me some ideas about accent colors I could use. If you look closely at this next picture (I think if you click on the picture you can get a close up.), I'll bet it will make you laugh! This is what greeted us just across the street from L & L Yard Goods. I'll bet the girls at L & L didn't know just how colorful their neighbor's laundry was today. Here is a picture of one room in the shop.Next, we visited Sharynn's Quilt Box in North Vernon, IN. I found a pattern here to use for our guild's Comfort for Kids quilts. I didn't get a picture of the shop, though. We did stop shopping long enough to get a bite to eat at the Subway there.

The Quilting Bee in Edwardsville, IN, was our next stop. I found some more fabric for my living room wall hanging here. I think I might have purchased a book too! This is the Quilting Bee...

Our last stop was The HollyHock Quilt Shop in Corydon--what a nice little shop. They had great refreshments--home-made goodies! They had some patterns I had never seen. I managed to buy a few things here, and I found a "jewel." That meant that I got to pick a free fat quarter of my choice! That was fun. We finished the day at Magdalena's restaurant. We needed the break!
We managed to make one more stop before we headed home--the Birdseye Dairy Barn. Some of the girls had not experienced an ice cream cone from there. You really have to see them to believe them. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Now, here are my purchases--something from every shop...

All in all, it was a very good day!

Southern Indiana Shop Hop

I’ve been hot on the Southern Indiana “Jewels of Summer” Shop Hop trail! On Monday, some friends and I hit three of the shops. First, we stopped in at The Stitching Post in Washington, IN. We were greeted by the owner Mary Dell. I bought some linen thread here. Next, we moved on to The Village Mercantile in Boonville, IN. Here we found Marilyn in her tiara! We enjoyed the crackers (oil, ranch dressing mix, and red pepper flakes were added to Saltines). I found a wool ornament pattern I just couldn’t do without.
From there, we headed to Sew-Tech in Evansville, IN. I found some orange, yellow, and red fabric here. (I’m eventually going to make a wall hanging to decorate my newly painted living room.) Tomorrow, we are heading out bright and early to the other shops—Sharynn’s Quilt Box in North Vernon, Margie’s Country Store in Madison, L & L Yard Goods in Madison, Craft Town in Salem, The Quilting Bee in Edwardsville, and The HollyHock Quilt Shop in Corydon. I’ll let you know how that goes!!!!

Quilt Gardens in Amish Country

A friend of mine just informed me of a unique happening in Amish country in northern Indiana that some of you might be interested in. It is a quilt garden tour. Check it out at http://www.amishcountry.org/quiltgardens/. There are some beautiful pictures of the gardens at the site. I gathered this information from the website. It sure looks like something I’d like to do.

What You Need to Know about the All-New Quilt Gardens Tour
- It's easily accessible, eco-friendly and just a single tank of gas (or less) from most of the Midwest's major markets
- It's absolutely free and totally flexible- you set the pace
- It's the perfect way to experience the beauty of Northern Indiana's Amish Country through a panorama of artistry, gardening and tradition

There are 80,000 glorious blooms, 16 gigantic gardens, 16 super-sized murals, 32 juried designs, and 7 welcoming communities all placed along the nationally-recognized Heritage Trail Route.

...a colorful patchwork . . . inspired by quilt designs... powered by imagination.

Machine Applique Class

This is a picture of the students who took my machine applique class.I taught the class (using my own pattern) on Saturday, June 20, at the Dubois County Museum. A close-up picture of the project can be found at http://quilterbeth.blogspot.com/2009/05/messy-house-and-paducah-quilts.html. I sure enjoyed teaching the class; and if I do say so myself, my students did an excellent job. They were very hard workers...

Sandra is busy tracing her pattern pieces onto fusible in this picture.Nancy and Joyce were working so hard they didn't even notice I was taking pictures!Ann is checking to make sure she has all her pieces traced....and their projects turned out great!
Pamela used autumn colors for her version.Chris used a great vase fabric!I'm thinking Jean was pleased with her piece.Sarah used the coolest fabric for her vase.

Surface and YoYo Series at St. Meinrad

A friend and I went to the St. Meinrad, Indiana, Archabbey Library painted quilt exhibit by Denise Mucci Furnish (a member of LAFTA—Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) this afternoon. Furnish has seven quilts from her Surface Series and one quilt from her YoYo Series on display. (There are also some ceramic pieces by another artist displayed.)

If you are a “quilt purist,” the display will be painful for you. The quilts have been totally painted over with acrylic paints. However, if you can get past the thought of painting all over a quilt, you might find you enjoy the rich surface texture brought forth through the paint. Furnish says she is using discarded quilts for her pieces in this exhibit if that makes you feel any better!

The following information came from the artist's statement--She says she chose quilts because quilting is a craft medium most commonly associated with women’s domestic work; and that as a painter, she appropriates the remains of quilts and paints on them, interacting with their form, pattern, and surface. The worn quilt becomes a metaphor for aging. The deteriorating fabric and remaining quilting stitches combine with paint to create a rich surface. Beneath the wrinkled layers of paint, fiber retains a history--a trace of what went before.

This pink quilt welcomes you to the exhibit. I have taken a full view and a close-up view. This quilt was a Grandmother's Flower Garden in another life. Remember, you can click on the pictures to get a closer look.

This is a closeup of the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. You can really get a "feel" for the texture created with the paint in this closeup.This is the Mariner’s Compass quilt. If you look closely, you can still see remanents of the Mariner’s Compass blocks (especially in the closeup).
It is easier to see the circular Mariner's Compass blocks here.This quilt didn't have a label next to it, so I don't know what quilt pattern was used.
This is a closeup...
She also included a YoYo quilt in her exhibit. It looked like she had done some painting on it, but it was very different than the others. She mounted a YoYo top over canvas that had been painted yellow and had been printed with the words, “YES” and “NO,” in black ink.

This is the full-sized view of the YoYo "quilt." This is a closeup of the quilt.From the pictures, it is hard to tell how large these quilts are. I would describe these as "full-sized" quilts. The YoYo quilt is long and narrow. It definitely would not have fit any bed I know of. Personally, I would have liked to see a photo of the original quilts next to these versions. I think it would have enhanced the exhibit.

Finally Home--Porch Decorations

I apologize for not updating my blog more often in the last few days. We have had two funerals within a week--one in Springfield, IL and the other in Utica, KY. I was in Tennessee when I learned of the first death. I had just gotten to Fairfield Glades (after having been in the car for about six hours). We stayed one day and drove back home (another six hours on the road). The next day I headed to Springfield (another 5+ hours in the car). The day after that, I drove back home (another 5+ hours in the car). I had a day off and then had to make the trip to Utica. At least that wasn't quite as far--about an hour and a half in the car each way. I sure have done a lot of traveling (and no quilting) in a short time.

I'm home for a little bit now. I will be "doing" the Southern Indiana 4th Annual "Jewels of Summer 2009" Shop Hop with some friends next week. We are hoping to hit all of the shops sometime during the week. Now that should be fun. I will try to take pictures and report back.
I would like to share my front porch pictures with you. (I'm just so proud of myself that I actually did something with it this year!) I usually don't have anything on my front porch (primarily because I'm seldom home), but this year I have been home a bit more and am having an easier time taking care of the flowers. I also have "decorated" with a few of my quilts--just so passersby will know I'm a quilter. I'm really happy with how it looks. If you look closely, you can see me (taking the picture) in the window!
Our porch is very narrow, though, so it has always been hard to decorate. I'm not sure if you can tell, but between the two chairs is a fountain. It is really nice to sit outside in the evening after it cools off. I'm not sure I'm going to sit out for the next couple of nights, though, the heat index is supposed to be 100-105 degrees!