A weekend in Nebraska

Last weekend the Ukester and I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska to take in a few events and visit a few friends.  First and foremost the "Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain".

This group is eight, talented people who have been together for over 20 years.  They sing, strum and use humor with the ukulele.  All music genres are open to reinterpretation, played flawlessly and leave you with a smile on your face.  Whether you are a music enthusiast or not (notice I didn't even mention ukulele enthusiast) you will enjoy this group.  If they are close to your area they are worth the tickets to go see.

This was one of my favorite pieces they performed.  George, the one in the middle, had decided they would play a Handel piece and the rest of them rebelled a bit.  :)   (This video is from several years ago and only has six of the eight members in it.)

Since we were close to Lincoln I had the opportunity to go to the University of Nebraska to see the  International Quilt Study and Museum.  This was a fun side trip.  The quilts were beautiful and you can get up close to them which is always nice.  Of course there are many quilts that I could have taken pictures of but these are the ones that I took to remember for my own self....ones I might like to replicate.

The Seven Sisters is a favorite of mine that is on my "someday" list.  The red and white of this one is so  striking....

Check out that hand quilting....I doubt mine will be like that!  Wow!  and without the aid of our electric lights and good eye glasses.....probably done by oil lamp or candle. 

One of the exhibits featured quilts in photography.  In this photo you can see a Turkey Tracks quilt in the background.  The Turkey Tracks quilt they had exhibited was also one of my favorites.....

It's not exactly the same quilt as in the photo but very close in design and time period.

Beautifully executed in yellows, red and greens and wonderfully preserved for us to enjoy.

The humble nine patch.  I just keep coming back to it.

This one would be so easy to replicate in todays reproduction fabrics.  Love it.

If you are going with a group it would be more fun to plan ahead and get the tour guide and try to do a behind the scenes tour, if possible.   If you drive a long way to look at just the quilts, well, you might be a bit let down as there aren't that many on display at one time.  

After leaving Omaha we headed back to South Dakota to visit some friends before heading home.  But on our way we stopped at Vermillion, SD to tour the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota.  This was a little gem that I didn't know anything about. They have over 15,000 instruments in their collection and about 1500 on display.  Very rare and the most inclusive collection in the world. Lots of wonderful history wrapped up in that building. Worth the trip and go on a Friday when they have their "brown bag lunch concerts" .  

That's it.  A great weekend in Nebraska and South Dakota.  :)

Close up...

A friend just sent me this picture of my quilt that I posted about here.  (You can also read more about the  quilt process in the labels section under 1800's and nine patches.)

This gives you a better look at the random baptist fan quilting and the two different pinks that were used in the quilt.  Just thought you would like to see it.  My earlier pictures didn't show those two details very well.

Have a good day!  :)

Give away winner

Look what came in the mail!

Rhonda over at Ravelly1-quiltzblog.blogspot.com has a drawing each week for her unique mug rugs and I was the lucky winner a few weeks ago.  Each week she comes up with some creative design and makes these wonderful things and gives them away.  Be sure to stop in at her blog and see what she is up to.  She also has some unique patterns for BOMs that are free too.  Check her out and be sure to say hello!

Thanks, Rhonda! I love it and my husband really thinks it's neat too.  :)

Ta Da!

It has been a while since I posted.  Thank you to those of you who have hung in here with me!  :)

In earlier posts I wrote of being in an 1800's group and showed the blocks I was making and exchanging with members of my group. (See Nine Patches under Labels). On Tuesday night we showed our finished quilts at our guild meeting - one year after we started!  All of our quilts are quilted and bound!  :)

Our exchange parameters for the 9-patches were:

• browns from 1800 reproduction fabrics
• white/cream background with black/brown designs from 1800 reproduction fabrics

The 3.5 inch 9-patch blocks then had to be made into a Double Nine patch block.  It was then up to the piecers discretion as to how they wanted to put the quilt together using sashing, alternate block, etc. Triangles/curves could not be added to the blocks to manipulate them into stars or some other design. We swapped enough so that each of us ended up with 160  3.5"  9-patch blocks.

Below are pictures of my quilt.  I am standing third from the left in the top picture above.

As you can see I decided to leave off the border.  Thank you to those of you who voted.  It was 50/50 in favor of the border and not.  I was leaning toward no border but felt that I should put one on since I had so much fabric.  However, it just kept saying to me that it was fine the way it was and I am pleased with it.

I machine quilted it with a longarm pattern called Random Baptist Fan available here.  This was a very easy pattern to quilt and it gives the general look of the Baptist Fan without the fussiness of it. My picture doesn't show it very well. I practiced on another quilt first before this one and once I have that one bound I will post it. 

Our group is almost done swapping blocks for our second quilt!  I will post about that at another time.  

Thanks for reading.....happy stitches and keep your needles threaded!

Over the River and through the....

It has been below zero temps here the past few days and on days such as these I pause to reflect on the people who settled this northern land.  How did they ever survive in such frigid temperatures with so little to protect them?  Many nights when it is cold like this I slip beneath my clean sheets, fleece blankets and cozy quilts and I proclaim aloud, "Thank you, Lord, for my warm, clean bed and home, running water and soap, and plenty of food to eat." Some nights my husband and I will add different things to the list.  I think of the homeless people and cannot imagine how they survive here and other than MN's very generous welfare package I cannot imagine what keeps them in this state.  But, by the grace of God, there go I.

I digress.  When I think of the past, I can't help but think of riding in the sleigh and going to Grandma's house.  Well, let's switch it up a bit and go in the summer!  Here is a quilt I machine quilted not too long ago for Deanne from Northfield, MN.  I don't know the name of the pattern (sorry) but it reminds me of going over the river and through the woods to either one of my Grandfather's houses in Kentucky. For some reason the stars remind me of catching lightning bugs in our hands.  :)

Deanne's accurate piecing helped keep the quilt straight.

I have a non-computerized Gammill Classic that is 22 years old and I do not have a stitch regulator.

I love the scrappiness of her quilt and the block used in the bottom of the quilt.  Lots of fun things to look at while quilting!

Deanne also did fantastic machine applique but you cannot see it in these pictures.  

Thanks Deanne for the opportunity to work on your fun quilt.  :)

Everybody stay warm, enjoy the sunshine and be grateful - no matter where you are!