Welcome to the Let's Bee Social!
It's been a very busy time for me during the past week....
The first bit of news is how much fun I had at the Brussels Fall Fair. I've been attending this small rural fair since my kids were in public school, but didn't start participating by entering crafts or quilts until 2013.
This year, when I brought my items in, I stuck around to talk to the ladies in charged of the Quilt/Hobby Crafts area. You see.... there are only two entry options for machine quilting in the Quilts section compared to ten options for entering hand quilted quilts. And it's getting few and far between for hand quilting entries. I am hoping they will consider expanding the possibilities for entering machine quilted quilts. Not taking out any of the hand quilting options, but ADDING more possible entries for machine quilted quilts. It was pointed out to me that you can enter machine quilted table runners and place mats in the Hobby Crafts section. Lots of available options there!
So I volunteered to help set up the display of the entries for the Quilts section. And really had a lovely day, getting to know the other ladies who are annual volunteers. One of them invited me to join a group of ladies who meet in town at the local library once a month to work on their UFO projects. I explained that I really don't have any UFO's in the sense that most of us consider a UFO. And I'm not a hand sewer at all. But then I got to thinking about it. This may be a good opportunity to start an English Paper Piecing project. Maybe a small one. It would be nice to meet with some local stitchers in real life on a monthly basis. I was also offered, and am considering, joining the Fair committee. Still have my fingers crossed that they will open up the Quilting class to offer more of us the opportunity to participate and keep this fair alive!
In other news....
My little baby boy turned 16 on Sunday. Because I had a trunk show to provide for the Halton Hills Quilters' Guild on Monday evening, I had offered to take Russell for his beginner's drivers license on Tuesday. But of course he did not want to wait one more day, so his sister kindly offered to drive him into town for the test. And he passed! Yay!
What am I working on this week?
I chose my fabrics for the MOD Bear Paw QAL.
Cut everything out. And started to sew!
My Bear Paw blocks are finished....
My Big Bear is finished now....
And my top is complete!
Cut everything out. And started to sew!
My Bear Paw blocks are finished....
My Big Bear is finished now....
And my top is complete!
The MOD Bear Paw QAL started on September 3rd!
You can check out the introductory post here.
There's still time to join in!!!
Now... It's your turn for Show and Tell!!!
What have you been working on?
- Click on at least a few of the others who have linked up.
- In your blog post, please include a link back to my blog.
- Grab the "Let's Bee Social!" button from above and put it on your sidebar. This way others who visit your blog that week can join in the fun! Share the news of this new linky and Let's Bee Social!
- Following Sew Fresh Quilts is not required. But it sure would BEE nice!
20 comments:
You did have a busy week, Lorna! So glad things continue to go so well for you and I hope that the Fair expands out some possibilities. :)
Sounds like a good idea with the fair. I am doing the same with our local show in my my new town next week. I think it opens a lot o possibilities of getting to know people and groups. Good work with the MOD Bears PAW. Looks great.
I love your blue bear. It's such a fun quilt.
Your blue bear is great!
Sounds like you had a great time at the Fair!! Congrats to Russell - and he shares a birthday date with our youngest son! Love your Bear Paw Quilt!
It's always nice to sew with other quilters. You can get lots of inspiration that way. I've finished 560 of the 938 HST's. I didn't get a chance to work on them this past weekend, since I was demo'ing vintage machines. They are being made on vintage machines, but, the stitching was done, it was the cutting, etc that was needed. Hopefully I'll have some blocks made in the next few days. (PS: I worked on them yesterday at a local quilt store, while chatting with the owner. She is fun to stitch with).
I'm surprised they had so few options for machine quilting as it seems so many more do that now then hand work. have fun if you join up with the monthly group
It looks like you took home lots of awards...congratulations! A new quilting group would be fun. You will meet interesting people and move outside of your quilting comfort zone. Your blue bear is lovely!
Sounds like you have been one busy lady. I think you should join the ladies for some in person sewing. I wish my guild was able to get together more often just to work on personal projects. And yay! for passing his permit test, how funny he couldn't wait for one more day for momma. We turn 16 next weekend, so let the fun begin with that down here :|
I find sewing with other quilters a great way to get out and about. Some of my most long cherished friendships are with people I've met quilting. Love the bear quilt.
I think it takes people speaking up with our local Fairs to see any change. I have been speaking to our local one about looking into expanding even the machine quilting categories. For instance, last year I won Grand Champion for machine quilting with my hand-guided longarm, but lost out at the next level to a quilt done on a computerized machine. IMHO, there needs to be categories for hand-quilting, machine quilting on a DSM, hand-guided longarm, and computerized longarm.
An EPP project would be a great way to spend a bit of time with real-life stitching friends! Of course, I think everyone should have an EPP project or two :)
It is nice to branch out and get involved - hopefully you will achieve some positive change in the organization of the fair. That would be wonderful.
Also wonderful to meet up with like minded stitchers! Have fun getting to know the new sewing group!!
Wow! Look at all those ribbons! I would love to find some local ladies to sit and sew with, so I would say give it a try. Maybe you'll catch the EPP bug! ;)
What a fantastic load of entries you had!! I was really pleasantry surprised at the amount of entries into the Handicraft sections at our local Village Flower Show in August. They kept having to move the classes in the morning as more entries came in. It really does take proactive people to keep these things going and I suggested some changes last year and was delighted to see some of the classes I had recommended in the brochure this year. Fingers crossed they will take your suggestions onboard.
What I consider my two local fairs have both revamped their classes to accommodate more machine quilting AND longarm quilting. So many people are quilting by cheque these days that if they want entries at the fairs, they have to make changes to hopefully attract more entries and keep these country fairs alive. I noticed that all the hand quilted entries are way down, some fairs not having a hand quilted Grand Champion because there were no entries in either the pieced or appliqued categories. Sad and scary for the future of our fairs.
On the other hand, I'm of the opinion that you should not be out competing or visiting guilds until you get those farm critters ready for me! Heeeheeeheeeee
So glad that you had a great time at the Fair. Hopefully, they'll broaden their horizons and more machine quilted items will be showcased.
Good for you, spreading the word and love of machine quilting, we all must do our bit to keep this craft alive, I do hope they take your suggestions onboard!
Congrats on all those fair ribbons!
Linking up for the first time ever! Good for you bringing change to the fair. I've done something similar in my area.
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