First Saturday Fiber Review and Challenge

Fabric and my new ruler

One of my local quilt shops does a fiber review every first Saturday of the month. My first Saturdays are usually full up anyway but I decided to add going to this. It's conveniently early in the morning which gives me time to go and then do the next regularly scheduled group activity I do for first Saturdays.

Fiberology Lab is a quilt/yarn shop so they review and introduce brand new products and talk about upcoming events and classes. This was my first time going but she gives away a free item and gives us a challenge. Last first Saturday she gave away a mini charm pack and gave everyone a challenge to make something with it. When you bring the item back the next first Saturday you get $5 off whatever you purchase that day.

This month's challenge was to make a square out of a free fabric she gave us. We were given a fat eighth of a new fabric she got and she encouraged us to use more of the line if we could. She did say she wanted to use the blocks as part of a shop sample if we don't mind. I did purchase a few more of the fabric in the collection to make my challenge block. I also picked up the ruler she demoed. It's a 45-degree Kalidescope & Dresden plate ruler from creative grids. I ended up using the ruler to make my challenge blocks. I wanted the ruler to help make a Halloween quilt I had an idea for. I figure this was a good test for it. I like my blocks and I can't wait to show them off next first Saturday.

The shop also does a sit n stitch 3 times a week.  I can only go to the one on Tuesday nights because the other times are while I'm at work. It's a nice time to be social and if I need any help with a project I can ask the shop owner's advice.

Tonight's sit and stitch was quiet since there were only 4 people. It's handwork only. Most of the people that go, crochet or knit. I can't do those but I have enough handwork with my million hexies project to keel myself busy. I usually grab dinner before I get there and tonight's tea came from dinner. I stopped at McAlister's Deli and got a tea to go with my sandwich. I like their tea. It's not something that stands out as very different, but it's still a good tea to have with lemon.

Berry Box Table Runner finished

Table Runner front

After I finished my row by row I did take a few days off but got back to work. I have a few projects pinned together ready to quilt. I have so many that I don't have any more basting pins. I pulled out the smaller safety pins I had, to put together my Berry Box table runner.

Quilting it was easy for me. The design was a four patch in a four patch so I played on that theme and did a four patch on point in the boxes. It took a day for me to work on it but I feel I was being thorough. Plus I was working on laundry and getting a lot of distractions from family and friends.

Table Runner back

In the end, it's a pretty spring/summer table runner that I have yet to decide what to do with. I may put it on display later or give it away as a Christmas present. It does have a lot of fabrics I really love it so that's a hard choice.

I did not get a tea shot for Sunday while I was quilting but I do have a photo from a previous visit to a tea room I use to go to a lot. It was called Tea at the Gallery and unfortunately, it is closed but it was a fun place to visit. They had all their teas in silver canisters on one wall so you can pick your flavor. I remember this was one of the first places I saw some exotic teas. The first time I saw monkey picked oolong tea I swore the label said 'monkey pickled oolong' which sounded bizarre and gross. This mistake still makes me laugh to this day.

Row by Row Experience 2019

So this year's row by row theme was Taste the Experience. I wasn't certain about this year because I didn't end up making last year's. I did get into traveling for the rows this year and found time to go to some new shops because of it. I had a few of the rows put together before I started my hustle for Dragoncon but I didn't start the bulk of working on Row by Row until I got home. Even then it took two weeks for me to get my attention back to sewing. I had a touch of the con crud the first week and then spent another week obsessing over if anyone got the tags I hid.

When it was all said and done I made 8-row patterns and found a new way to connect them all. The shapes lend themselves to a different looking quilt then what I've done in the previous years. I think I like this one a lot. I finished it on Sept. 29th but wrote the 30th on the label because I worked myself to death and forgot what day it was. I was tired of looking at the thing.

Not as many shops were participating in my area so quite a few are from out of town. I had gone through Georgia for half the rows. I was able to turn the quilt into my local shop. The shop owner has seen all my previous row by row quilts and said she thinks this one is my best yet. I feel the work put into this one.

Small errors that caused a few headaches

I do have to say, every time I've participated in the challenge, I do learn something new. This time it was the pineapple row that taught me something new. I have been told next year is going to be completely different so I'm excited to see what happens next.

Dragoncon Swag n Seek

Another one of the major projects I did was hexie tags for Dragoncon. I did make 25 costers from the smaller hexagons but then I had cut some larger 3 1/2 hexies and made these cute tags out of them with a bit of batting, a stabilizer and a piece of ribbon. They were super easy to make and super cute.

In the end, I made 300 of them to give away and hada blast doing it. The two weeks before Dragoncon I did nothing but make tags. Everyone who found them or I swapped with loved them. I'm not planning on going back next year but I am going to make more of these.

The con was a blast and I have tons of photos if anyone wants to see them. I think the best part is hanging out with my friends. I got a lot of swag from just the swap meet and then shared it back out to all my friends that didn't go. I plan to make a shadow box to display some of the items I got.

Fairest of the Fair?

Mom turning in her quilt

Mom's pillowcase.

It looks like Skipped a few months but it's not because I wasn't busy. Quite the opposite really. I submitted quilts to two local fairs. Two quilts to the Anderson County Fair in July and three to the Tennessee Valley Fair in August. Mom also submitted quilts to both of these fairs. She was reluctant at first but because labeling and prepping is not as strict as a quilt show I convinced her to do it.

 I think we did really good at both fairs. I placed on most of the things I submitted. Anderson County is a small local fair they do get a lot of entries but not as many as the bigger fairs. At Anderson County I submitted two quilts, my Rose for My boyfriend in small bed quilts and the Fruit Salad quilt as a baby quilt. I won a blue ribbon for Fruit Salad, and third on the other. The larger bed quilts category is usually got so many quilts I'd never place due to the competition. I was still thrilled about what I received.

Quilts hanging at Anderson County Fair

Mom submitted a pillowcase and a quilt in the first time category. Since it was her first time ever showing something she felt that fit her. Her pillowcase won first place and she got second for her quilt. It was successes like that that fueled us to enter the next show in the regional fair in September.

At Tennessee Valley Fair we submitted three each this time. In table toppers and placemats I submitted my camera and then the same two quilts I submitted for Anderson County. The larger quilt had to go into the general bed quilt category because they didn't have a baby quilt category for this fair and Fruit Salad is too small to be a bed quilt. I did not win anything on Rose for my boyfriend in this fair but took home second for the other two projects.

Ribbons won at TN Valley Fair

Mom submitted her quilt in the same category as fruit Salad and got third place on it. She submitted an appliqued placemat in the table topper category and got third there. The pillowcase won second in Tennessee Valley also.

Overall the experience was really fun and it's always encouraging to win. I am going to try to submit to a quilt show one day. I keep telling myself I plan to.

Today's tea is another specialty tea I got from my travels. This one came from a shop in Pensacola, FL. I don't remember the shop's name and I'm surprised I had the tea as long asI did but it was tasty and now it's gone. It was a Belgium black chocolate tea. It was very nice with a dark chocolate hint. There were actual chocolate chips in the blend. I hope to find more in the future. I just have to remember the name of the shop I got it from.