This quilt top was a fun one to make. I saw it on Pinterest and I found the pattern on ETSY. It was created by Kate Henderson. Her ETSY shop is Kate Henderson Quilts, and she lives in Australia.
The fabric that I used for the quilt is a Moda fabric purchased at the Virginia Highlands Quilt Shop in Abingdon, Virginia. Kim is the owner of the shop, and she will actually be doing the long-arm quilting for this quilt. I hope to enter it in the Washington County Fair. It just looks like a county fair quilt. I am not entering it because it will win. I just want to show it off!
The fabric was called Story Time Fabric by American Jane, and I had the white background fabric from another project. The print fabric used a layer cake plus a charm pack.
I’m bordering the fabric next week and taking it to Kim. I like these big block quilts that do not require a lot of time, although I will admit to having the “stars” turned in the wrong direction several times. I’d post on Facebook, and people would tell me which stars were turned wrong. I could not see them!!! Had it not been for figuring out that others could find my mistakes more quickly than I could on my own, I’m certain this quilt would have stars pointed in the wrong direction.
My sweet little rescue dog died last night. She captivated everyone, and now she is gone. I can’t even think about this so I am trying to stay busy.
I put the border on my quilt top and it is ready to go. I talked about the quilt last week here. The colors are so pretty and I love the designs on the fabrics . All of the fabric came from fat quarters — most purchased at the Virginia Highlands Quilt Shop. Kim, the owner, is wonderful. In the picture below, there are lots of flowers, but I also see some red shoes, lemon slices and sheet music. There’s also a cat sleeping by the quilt.
Let’s see what is on this side of the quilt top…the bright blue has beach flip flops, there are orange cats, and there is some Alice in Wonderland fabric.
Here’s another…lots of flowers, some cursive writing, more flip flops…this time on white…and peppermint candy.
And finally…there’s that sheet music again, some gold and black butterflies and lots of flowers. Everything is bound by by the back and white border. I believe that the fabric did not repeat more than once. That was my goal. Some fabric did not repeat at all.
I’ve pressed the quilt and folded it along with the backing (paw prints) and the black and white stripe which will bind the quilt. It is ready to go to the quilter. This will be machined quilted by a long-arm quilter.
This was on my list of something I wanted to do. I’ve checked it off. It will be January/February 2019 when I get the completed quilt back.
I will put this in the RiverCliff Cottage AirB&B. It will be durable and I think guests might enjoy looking at the different fabrics. I hope so anyway.
I’ve been looking at blogs that are for retirees. Most are centered on the finances of retiring. So few are centered on the living of being retired. As I am retired, I want to be productive and I want to see the results of my efforts. This quilt is a good example of something I did not have the time for when I was working. Now, I do. And I’ll have a pretty quilt!!
Last winter I started making a quilt top. I love old, scrappy quilts where nothing matches. Mine is not old and scrappy, but very little matches on it. A friend on Facebook suggested naming it “The Quilt of Many Colors.” I liked that name and that is what I call this quilt top. Here it is…
What I”m working on today is a 5″ border of a small black print that will go all the way around the quilt. I’ve laid the fabric beside the quilt.
Finally, the quilt will be edged in a black and white stripe fabric…
So the whole thing will look something like this..
And the best thing yet, is that this quilt will be backed in this fabric…
I’ve tried making a quilt top before with little success. There are some really good quilters in Mendota, and I am intimated by them. I saw my cousin, Alisa Lamb, put together one of these quilts with triangles sewn together for her daughter, and I thought..”I can do that!” So..I did. I’m also going to sew the 5″ border on it, but that’s it for me. I’ll be taking it to someone to do the actual quilting, put that cute dog backing on it, and to add the striped binding.
After this, I’ve gained even more respect for quilters who do the whole thing.
I rent our guest house as an AirB&B, so this quilt will go in that space. With white Euro shams, white bed ruffle, white pillow shames, it should work pretty well.
Best of all, I finally made a quilt top!
Update! So after I wrote this I planned to just whip out the machine and sew the borders on the quilt top. But no…wait! Because I have the attention of a gnat, I sewed the right side on the wrong side of the quilt. Here’s what it looks like and I”ll be spending the evening seam ripping.
Today is a muggy, soggy day and the North Fork of the Holston looks like coffee. But not plain coffee…no no no! This coffee is all fancy with color. As Mike and I were driving on the golf cart (it’s the way we roll…it used to be a Porsche…what the heck happened???), we saw a procession of brightly colored kayaks floating by. They were “floatin’ the Fork.”
“Hi…I said….I want to take your picture!” “Will it be on Facebook?” they asked.
“Even better… I replied.” It will be on my blog called RiverCliff Cottage!” Where ya from?
One said...”Kingsport!”
Someone yelled…“Johnson City!”
And another yelled…“Gate City!” (Probably in the blue canoe…Gate City…a Blue Devil.)
The muggy day and coffee-colored river didn’t bother them. At all! They were having fun. And they were prepared. In the picture below, can you tell what’s wrapped tightly in the plastic bag? In the red canoe?
Ok…here’s the “poop”! It’s toilet paper! Ya never know! And might I say I love that two-person kayak. The girl in front knows how to kayak the North Fork!! You go girl!
Back in the woodshop, here’s a project that we’ve Mike has been working on. It’s my barn quilt for his shop exterior. He has multiple layers of paint on a well-sanded 4 x 8 piece of plywood. He used a latex outdoor paint since this will hang outside. It will be cut in half as our squares will be 4 x 4. I’ll have two barn quilt squares…not sure what the second will be, but the one we’re doing this week is definitely a Sawblade pattern.
The Sawblade pattern will be in these three colors. I’ll be taping this off tomorrow. Yay!
I’m excited, since I’ve wanted to do this for a long, long time. I found my pattern off of this website. It’s the Cedar Falls, Iowa Tourism Group featuring the Quilts of Black Hawk County. Here’s a picture from that website that I found on Pinterest. The barn belongs to Kenny and Nancy McKenna and is called a Double Windmill. I’ve seen it also called Sawblade, and since it’s going on the woodshop, I called it by that name.
I hope that in the future we have a Washington County, Virginia Quilt Trail.
Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. Please come back or if you wish, looks for the word “comments” and leave me a comment.
If you love quilts (who doesn’t?) and you want to see some beautiful quilts, please go to Abingdon’s Quilt Block Party. There are about 20 businesses participating by displaying quilts. I went to Light’s Mill. Love that place.
I have two quilts in the party, but I wasn’t sure where they ended up. As it turns out, they were at Light’s Mill where about 100 quilts are displayed. It’s a great place to display the quilts. There are lots of pictures with this post. That’s my Harvest Spice quilt below taking up a lot of room. It was a nice surprise to find it so easily.
And turning in the other direction…
Other direction…
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More…also upstairs was a little alcove of what I call “message” quilts or “love” quilts. They were quilted for a cause.
Please, Lord, bless the precious hands that quilted this one.
Another…
More..
More..this one is eye catching. It looks complimentary to Harvest Space.
More…recognize the quilt with the blues pictured below? It is the 2013 Mendota Cemetery Quilt.
More…here it is again. Thank you to the Carrier family…because of Billy and Patsy’s generosity, this quilt lives with me.
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More…very spring like in this area.
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More…this looked simpler than some of the others. I wonder if I could make it? Are you kidding me?
More…this snowball design was one of my favorites. So colorful.
More…
Whew! Aren’t they beautiful? I saw one name over and over again. “Mary Hogston.” If you know Mary, please tell her she has made some beautiful quilts.
Chris, Margie and I went on a roadtrip to the Virginia Highlands Quilt Shop to see Kim (the owner). It’s time for the fabric selection of the Mendota Cemetery Quilt!! Do you like a white and red quilt? I hope so.
It’s hard to tell when looking at this picture, but it is going to be so beautiful. Chris and Linda will be cutting it out next week and then the sewing will begin. I’m going to prepare a Facebook page to follow its progress — from purchase to the time that someone owns it. More about that in another post.
I’m glad we bought the fabric in Abingdon this year. Kim had done the quilting on the 2013 Cemetery Quilt, and we wanted to support her and to keep it local. She’s got such a nice quilt shop. I want to show you around.
Please someone find me and inject sewing talent into my head and hands. I just don’t have it, but I so want it! I love this quilt.
Here’s some fabric shelves..how would some of these look in your stash?
Some fall-themed fat quarters…honestly, I would have been all over these in September. Now, I’m drawn to spring colors.
Oh my gosh…thread. Look at this!
A few things for those who like to make doll clothing. That’s not me, but my sister Nancy loves baby dolls.
After looking at all these wonderful fabrics and colors, we never waivered on red and white. It’s so clean. So cheerful and happy.
There is much, much more at the Virginia Highlands Quilt Shop. If you go by and visit Kim, please tell her that her friends from Mendota sent you!
Did I tell you this year’s quilt is called “Crossroads?” Our cemetery is about the crossroads we each will approach …when we leave this life and go to the next one. The Mendota Cemetery ensures that our friends and neighbors making this transition can leave their earthly body behind with dignity and grace.
Today Chris, Marie and I purchased fabric for the 2014 Mendota Cemetery Quilt. It’s going to be a beauty…A Heartbreaker…A Quilt to Love….and I’ll post on that later this week. But today’s post is about another quilt. Do you remember this quilt?
Of course you do! I had it on my Facebook page and on RiverCliff Cottage numerous times asking if you’d like to buy a chance on the quilt. I was begging! Every week! This was the 2013 Mendota Cemetery Quilt. So many hours went into making this quilt. Chris Schanzenbach led the process. She is one of the most gracious women I know. Her hands at work…
Machines whirring along. This is Margie — if we were in high school, and obviously we’re not, Margie would be voted “Best All Around.” Definitely.
This quilt raised almost $2,000 — all of which went to the Mendota Cemetery. It will be put to good use. The drive of the cemetery was resealed this past summer. We love that cemetery on the hill.
The quilt came to life as “I’ll Fly Away” and that is what is stitched onto the label of the quilt. See my name? Yes! I helped a teeny, tiny (really teeny, tiny) bit! Everyone has a talent…Patsy is our lead sales person…I’m the PR person…Margie does it all…Chris is the lead quilter. Linda is right in there with Chris. Everyone pitches in.
Initially, we drew for the quilt during the Mendota Homecoming. Over 1400 tickets had been sold spanning 42 states and 8 countries. Pretty cool for a little country quilt.
The very first ticket sold was to Mrs. Ruth Rice, and that ticket turned out to be the winning ticket. Amazing.
In a very generous decision, Ruth’s family (she has been ill and is of an age where she does not get out), decided that the quilt would be immediately donated back to the Mendota Cemetery Association to be “re-raffled”. We called it “Ruth’s Quilt.” It just seemed right. More tickets were purchased, and a little under 600 tickets were sold between August and December for Ruth’s Quilt. I bought approximately 100. I wanted that quilt. I bragged that I had about a 1 in 5 chance of going home with the quilt. During the Mendota Christmas Dinner, we had the second drawing for the quilt. Chris reached in and drew out Billy Carrier’s name. Billy is Ruth’s son-in-law. It was settled. The quilt was meant to reside with the Rice/Carrier family. We laughed, congratulated Billy and went home. I recall my sister Nancy and I saying on the way home that “we just were not meant to have that quilt.” Drat!
Screech! Not so fast!!
That same night, Patsy and Billy called and said they wanted to drop in for a minute. They arrived at about 10 pm. They were carrying the “I’ll Fly Away”…”Ruth’s Quilt.” Billy, who I have known all my life along with Patsy, wanted to give me the most amazing gift I’ve ever received. I told him…then them…”No!” It was too much! Seriously! I really said that! They reached out with the quilt, and oh…you might as well know…I jumped up and down! I was so happy!!
So now you know. I have “I’ll Fly Away…”Ruth’s Quilt.” Here it is draped over the chair. It’s actually moving to the bedroom in the spring, and I’ll show you pictures.
And the disclaimer…The person who sold a bunch of the tickets has ended up with the quilt!! Please understand it was all above board! And I’m in love with it. Please don’t hate me because I have this beautiful treasure. I walk by it and touch it. I think of Ruth…I think of Billy and Patsy…I think of Chris…and I understand that “loving your neighbor” is not just words in Mendota, Virginia. We don’t always agree…we are all different…but we do love one another.
I’ve blogged about the 2013 Mendota Cemetery Quilt several times. Here’s one. It’s called “I’ll Fly Away.” I believe this quilt is a girl. I picked “her” up at the post office today to take “her’ picture. She loves lying around on my porch. She’s a queen! I’ll get better pictures in a few days.
The talented Mendota women worked so hard on this quilt…many thanks to Chris, Linda, Margie, Lisa, Nancy and others who put in the required time. I pinned a few pieces. Once. My job is to help sell the quilt. I’m not sure how I got this job except that I don’t sew very well. I did get to sign it though.
We’ve sold 550 tickets and have about 1000 remaining. It’s a beautiful quilt, but we’ve got to sell tickets to a lot of people, so I started thinking about a way to get more people interested. I prayed about it. So much trouble in the world, and there’s me…”excuse me…God…I know there is a lot going on…but can You give me some insight on how to sell 950 tickets for a really good cause?” No lightening…no thunder…so I went to sleep. When I work up this morning, I had an idea. God is not just a god of big things…I believe He’s interested in small things, too. Don’t you? Here’s the idea that I woke up with this morning.
I’m asking everyone on the my blog to support the quilt and buy tickets. All proceeds benefit the historic Mendota Cemetery — a lovely place that has never turned a family away in need nor charged a family. It relies on your love and support. However, this is not the idea. The idea is that in addition to asking you to purchase tickets…I’m asking you to help me in ensuring that every state in the United States has someone who purchases at least two tickets for a chance at winning this quilt. I’ve got Wyoming and Minnesota locked up and it’s not even 5:00!! Who do you know that lives away from here who might help us out? Who would love to own this quilt? Who loves rural America where we have to work really hard to get our mowing paid for because we want to continue honoring a tradition of helping families in need? Who wants to help because it’s the nice thing to do? I’m not beneath begging!
I’m having pictures developed of the quilt..better ones than what I’ve posted here. If you reach out to a family member or friend in another state and ask them to purchase a quilt ticket (actually at least two…I really wish for five), let me know how many tickets and what their address is, and I’ll send the tickets directly to them with a self-addressed, stamped envelope so they can easily return the completed stubs and their check. Easy as sitting in a rocking chair..
Think about it and reply back to me on the blog or email directly to rivercliffcottage@gmail.com address. I love it that you take the time to read my blog. I’m sorry I must try and sell you tickets, but it’s important.
Here “she” is on the swing. She’d love to be swinging with you.
The 2013 Mendota Cemetery Quilt is almost done. The quilting is finished and the binding will be started and completed next week. Here’s your first peak…
Sigh. Don’t you love it?
Do you think we can sell 1500 tickets @ $1.00 per ticket? The unveiling of “I’ll Fly Away” will be at the Mendota Cemetery Benefit by Dale Jett & Hello Stranger on Friday, April 26. Those graves at the Mendota Cemetery are reason enough to try. This community cemetery has never turned anyone away nor charged for burial.
Hi! I have not been on the RiverCliff Cottage blog for a few days. I couldn’t find my camera cord! Tonight, I found it in the car, and I was so happy! Grabbed it and…here I am!
On Wednesdays, a group of ladies meet in the afternoon at the Mendota Community Center. It really should be Hamilton School because our Mendota children that attend public school shouldn’t be put on a schoolbus in the dark and returned home in the dark, but there are others that must answer to that poorly made, badly thought out, disgusting and selfish decision. Can you guess my opinion on this?
Anyway, back to the quilt. Do you remember the name of it? I’ll Fly Away. We sing this at church. Some glad morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away. To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away. I’ll fly away, O Glory, I’ll fly away. In the morning…
Months ago I posted about a trip to get the fabric. Here’s the post, but here’s a picture of the fabric that was selected.
There’s been steady work on the quilt since that day, and I stopped in and pinned eight squares and checked on the progress.
Here’s what the quilt currently looks like…there’s been a lot of cutting going on. In my mind’s eye, I see all of the ladies jumping up on the table singing.. “There’s a Whole Lotta Cuttin’ Goin’ on!” Jerry Lee Lewis on the piano, the Mendota ladies singing into their scissor mics.
Check out those little squares that have been pieced together.
Here’s a test. What do these squares have in common? Scroll down for the answer.
The answer is that the blues always face the upper lefthand corner! Did you notice that? That is one of the things I learned Wednesday.Here’s some more squares. The ladies who are leading this quilt project have a firm vision of what the completed I’ll Fly Away quilt looks like.
Here’s Margie…sewing up a storm. Yep…she’d definitely be up on the table singing.
Mendota hands working at putting pieces together. I love this.
And…more Mendota hands sewing away on this vintage Singer.
This quilt will be “coming out” on Friday, April 26, when Dale Jett & Hello Stranger return to Mendota for the second annual Mendota Cemetery Benefit.
