Day 2.....

As I sit here on my bed at 11pm--I am trying to remember when both of our phone alarms rang this morning--and I believe that was 5:30--and we were in St. Louis. Crazy--busy day.  On the bus at 7am--should've took Dramamine quicker!! Will make sure and do better with timing that on the way home!!!  Arrived in Paducah ahead of schedule!! About 11:30am.
Went right to the Finkle building--

where one can find rows of tables filled with AQS books at a much discounted rate and vendors!!! While in the building there was a bit of "biker" flair to some of the surroundings...and seemed a bit out of place until we came back and saw this sign...

Apparently this building must be used as church when not a quilt space!!! Too funny!
Of course I had to purchase a kit in the first vendor space--wool applique Woodland baby animals--watch for those photos tomorrow!!
Paducah has very quaint architecture and adds so much to the appeal and charm of this show...

We had lunch in this great bakery and deli--chicken salad on a delicious cranberry walnut bread--along with a cowboy chocolate chip cookie for dessert...

Once again--cool things to look at--those bakery letters have such a great art deco feel to them--love it!!
Meet up with tour group again at 2pm--then off to the Rotary Quilt Show--more vendors--Cherrywood Fabrics recieved a substantial portion of my fabric allowance!!! Love these fabrics--it is what I made Promise Kept with!!!--antique signature quilts and Hoffman challenge--forgot photos of this place.
Finally to hotel at 4pm--just enough time to clean up, call taxi and get to the awards ceremony. Such a buzz of excitement in the air!!!

 

While my name didn't get called to go up on stage--everyone here wearing a lime green contestant ribbon is a winner--they took the chance and entered a quilt--if no one enters how would we have shows!!
After a quick shrimp salad at The Whaler--we had to make a mad dash--fast walk--to the convention center to the Sneak Peek Event. A limited amount of tickets were sold for this event. The pathways were not crowded and it was easy to see the quilts up close and personal. We had to go to the upstairs space to find the wallhanging section--but there 1433 is me!!!

Lois had to pull sneek the curtain back to get a good angle for the camera. While she was taking this photo a passerby said--Look she made her hair the same color as her quilt!! WooHoo--I actually did--thanks Maria!!!
We spent 2 hours walking through vendors--found a new thread to try--photo tomorrow--and then bus back to hotel.  Wow what inspiration overload--but oh so worth it!!
But wait there is more....when we arrived in our hotel room this afternoon my amazing husband had this cheerful bouquet of flowers waiting for me!!! My biggest cheerleader...thank you hon...Love you for Always!!!

Paducah or Bust--Day one....

Wow 12 hours on and off in the bus.....let's just say that I am so glad that my dear Husband totally convinced me that I needed to sit in the front of the bus. Even sitting in seat 2 and Dramamine at regualr intervals...my stomach was twirling around like a circus clown!! Extremely thankful for the audio library book on the iPad---I may have dozed off through a chapter--but thanks Ashley and Jan for the audio hint!!!
I picked up Lois in Rock Valley at 6am and we headed off to the Holiday Inn Express in Sioux Falls where we joined up with about 12 other crazies waiting for the bus coming from Crafty Corner in Worthington. Left at 7am and headed south down I 29 with drizzly gray skies. Stopped at McDonald's in Sioux City for breakfast and pick up another passenger. Left Sioux City with lots of rain--just rain--no ice!!! Pit stop at first rest stop into Missouri--felt so good to walk around in SuNSHINE!!! Yes there still is a sun up in the universe! St. Joseph was the next stop at Cracker Barrel for dinner and another pickup. How amazing it was to see freshly mowed green grass along with all the flowering trees!!! BEAUTIFUL--oh man just thought--should've taken a photo to prove it!! Will try get some spring photos tomorrow!! Once again back on the bus for the final push to St Louis--this is where the circus came into play!! Pick up another passenger in Kansas City. Man did it feel good to get to the motel!!! I would guess that there are about 30 of us along with the Husband/Wife team from Crafty Corner.
There were several ladies that had read the NWIowa Review story about Promise Kept--so they asked me to explain a bit about the quilt to everyone--with a microphone and turning around to the back of the bus--I so love public speaking...NOT..but I managed to get through explaining most of the elements--with Lois' prompts from the side. One lady had been to the Minnesota State Quilt Show last year--where Promise Kept had won a First Entry award--and she remembered seeing it hang there. I thought that was pretty cool!!! Nice to see that it made an impression on someone!!
Well it is another early morning tomorrow--although I am getting quite used to getting up early--as the last 6 weeks have had 4 trailers and 7 semis of market hogs going out--that comes to 1500 head of hogs being sorted and loaded--along with moving 500 nursery pigs to finisher, getting in 500 new pigs and vaccinating them. Then add in the 28 customer quilts that were quilted!!!
A big shout out to a wonderful son-in-law  Tyler for helping Loren load the semi this morning!!!

Yes we have matching shirts--and no we did not plan it!! How funny is that--but yes this is the ultimate road trip!!!! Our standard answer to the crowns --Yes, we are Queens for the week!

Day one was ended with a nice supper at Max and Erma's--nice Applebee's type resturant--in a mall next to the Motel.
Paducah by noon tomorrow---see you then!!!

Accuquilt Barn Quilt Block--contest

My name is Terri and I am addicted to quilting contests....I guess that is what I would have to say if there were a 12 step program for quilt contest addictions!!! I just find such a rush in the challenge of designing for a specific project!!!
I received an Accuquilt Go Baby as a prize for making it into the final round of the McCall's Quilt Design Star contest--no dies to cut the fabric shapes--just the little machine to make the cuts--yeah--didn't seem right to me either--so when I found this contest put on by Accuquilt to design a Barn Quilt for their factory in Omaha--thought it was worth a shot--might even be able to get a cutting die out of the whole thing and then finally be able to use the Go Baby!!!
I was working out in the studio and came upon this block scrapbook on my bookshelf...

So a bit of history behind this scrapbook--it is from my Great Grandmother--Mrs. Joseph {Katie} Horn. It was in my Grandmother's--Mrs. Peter J. {Minnie} Vis' possesion and my Mom gave it to me. Inside are newspaper clippings from the Kansas City Star from the late 1920's to the late 1930's. It has been a fun connection to look through this a feel a conection with an ancestor who apparently appreciated quilting--or at least the free weekly patterns. So I decided if I found any blocks that might look great on a barn with a bit of redesigning--I would enter the contest.

 

Above are 2 of the 3 from the scrapbook that I decided on doing some redesigning with...The Quilt Without A Name and The Secret Drawer. I spent a few evenings working in EQ7 software playing with adding a line and doing some recoloring of the blocks. Then submitted my designs and waited to hear what blocks made the 100 vote.

Last week was an extremely busy week on the farm--3 semi loads of hogs going out--and a big spring ice and snow storm--resulting in many power outages along with a severe lack of sleep. So imagine my excitement to check the website on Wednesday morning to find that 2 of my blocks had made it into the 100 vote!!! Prize for that is points to purchase a fabric cutting die for the Go Baby!!!! But there is still voting to be done to see which of the 100 blocks will be selected to be turned into a Barn Quilt for the factory.

There are still a few days left...so lets see what we can do!!

 

The Secret Drawer block I added some triangles, 16 patch in center, and thread to the spools. I renamed it The Thread Drawer.

 

The Quilt Without a Name I added the flying geese through the center and did some more recoloring. Since this block--has no name--I decided to honor the woman who so carefully saved these patterns from the newspaper and so I call this block Great Grandma Katie's Delight.

 



The link below will take you to the home page where you can find the voting page. There will be 100 blocks to look through and you are welcome to vote for 5. I believe my numbers are 45 and 59--but these pictures are what to look for.

Thanks for joining me in this fun--and if any of you happen to find a 12 step program for quilters--let Loren know!!!!

http://www.accuquilt.com/barnquilt.html

 

 

Promise Kept is going to Paducah!!!!

...and so am I!!! Just a quick post--will give more details later. But I am over the moon excited that I have a quilt that is going to hang in the AQS Paducah, Kentucky show!!!

Quiltmaker's 100 block tour!!

Need anymore quilty inspiration??? Check out the blog tour for Quiltmaker's 100 block volume  6!!



Heading there myself right now!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I have seen the Blogger's Quilt Festival on many of the blogs I read and decided that this is the year I would try it for myself. I have been "making things" most all of my life and decided to try my hand at longarm quilting 5 years ago. I think I have found my creative place. When I first started I was scared that I wouldn't know what quilting designs to use, now I see designs as the third and final layer of the quilt's big picture!!

This past summer I was part of McCall's Quilt Design Star contest. This quilt "Created to Complete" is my interpretation of Opposites Attract, the theme in the final challenge round.

My husband and I are total opposites--but together we complete each other. Blue and Orange are opposite each other on the color wheel, yet together they complement each other perfectly!!!

 

My husband's side of the quilt--very structured and predictable--log cabin block in a Field and Furrow setting is perfect for my farmer husband.

 A freeform hand drawn random circle design is perfect for my sometimes CreativeADD mind!!!

Yet together it works just as it was meant to!! CREATED TO COMPLETE
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy yourself on this Quilt Festival tour!!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Stats....
Created To Complete
Designed, pieced and quilted by Terri Vanden Bosch --me
Size 36 X 48
Traditional and curved piecing, ruler work and freehand quilting, photo transfers, crystals,piped binding
Best Catagory--2 color, Art, Professionaly quilted

Created to Complete

Wow--after a few 2:30AM nights--I have a finished McCall's Quilt Design Star Final challenge quilt!!!

With the theme of Opposites Attract--I went with the Compliments Complete theme--same thing just a little different.
 On the color wheel Blue and Orange are directly opposite of each other and therefore called Complimentary colors. They were each created by the Master Designer in such a way as to fill in the gaps for the other color. Always working perfectly together to bring out the best in the other color. The cool blues of bone chilling ice and the warm oranges of a cracking fire make for a great word picture to understand just how wonderfully Complimentary colors work. How would an orange snowstorm feel--or a blue sunshiney day--that just isn't right!!
The definition of Complimentary--mutually supply each other's lack; serving to fill out or complete.
With this definition in mind, Loren and I are the perfect complimentary colors. Both created by the Master Designer in such a way to combine our strengths and weaknesses to totally completely understand and "get" each other.
In the opposites that follow see if you can pick out the pattern---optimist/pessimist, dreamer/realist.random/controlled,procrastinate/prompt,calm/wound-tight,spiteful/forgiving and this last one should give it away--oldest/youngest.  Yes, I am the first one in all the opposites...

 

So just a quick little overview of "Created to Complete!!"