Today was a quilt-related shopping day. I guess I should invoke the “I am on a holiday” or “fabric emergency” excuses so the fabric purchases made are guilt free.

Four of us headed south to Bellingham and Lyden for the day. The only fabric purchases I made were 3 yards of a yellow-green fabric that matches some pumpkin fabric I bought last year after the shop put it on sale after Halloween. This qualifies as an “emergency” purchase because without this fabric, I could never complete a quilt from that pumpkin fabric. I also bought some 120″ wide muslin and a brown/green leaf print to be used as backings. These could also be emergency purchases as without them, my flimsies will never become finished quilts.

I was on an annual leave today from work so I was technically on holiday. If I am on a holiday I am allowed to purchase fabric as a souvenir, right? Either way, fabric emergency or on a holiday, these purchases were “calorie free”.

After lunch at the Olive Garden, we headed north to three quilt shops in Lynden. At Tangled Threads, I found the BQ pattern that I had been looking for and an interesting log cabin / pumpkin table runner pattern.

Today was a wonderful day spent shopping with fellow quilters. Although I technically slipped and purchase fabric, I did not purchase any fabrics on speculation. No fabrics came home with me to merely join the existing stash in the studio. All fabric purchases have a specific and intended purpose. Once in a while, everyone on a diet slips and indulges themselves, right?

This is a picture of my chicken collection–or at least the part located in the kitchen. I have been collecting chickens for years. They used to all live in the kitchen, but now because of over crowding, they have spread their wings to other parts of the house!

I spent a few hours last night washing, dusting and rearranging them. You can see where there is a coffee mug missing–that one was not in the picture because it was already in use–for my morning coffee.

These are some closeups.


So how does this post connect to quilts? Below is a picture of a quilt hanger featuring a chicken (of course) that hangs in the kitchen. The quilt on the hanger was part of my Certo Jam entry to our local fall fair in 2004.

This is a closeup of the fabric–pears and blue fabric with dark spots that I like to think are blueberries. The jams that I entered into the contest were pear jam and blueberry jam.

You might ask why put a quilt with a jam entry. The story starts some years prior when I decided I wanted to enter some of my jam in the fair. There was a special category for the best Jam that was sponsored by Certo. I also wanted to enter the category sponsored by Kellogg that was for the best decorated Rice Krispie squares.

I decided that I would cut my Rice Krispie squares in the shape of rectangles and I would wind licorice ropes around them to make them look like bales of hay. Well you can’t display bales of hay on a plate, so my husband came up with the idea of putting my Rice Krispie hay bales on a hay wagon. My husband made the cutest little hay wagon from leftover pieces of wood and used my son’s mechano set for the wheels .

When it was time to take the entries to the fair, I discovered that I had forgotten to actually enter the Rice Krispie category. However, I did remember to enter the Certo jam class. I didn’t want my husband to be offended because I didn’t use the wagon he made, so my mother suggested that I display my jam on the back of the wagon.

Our parade each year usually includes local organizations using hay wagons as the base to their floats so I decided that I would make the hay wagon into a Certo jam float like you might see in the parade. Every other entry was rather plain in that they just entered their two jars of jam. I won that year – I am sure only because my entry was the only one that was decorated.

Little did I know that a fellow quilting friend of mine had been entering the Certo jam contest each year and she was accustomed to winning. Needless to say, the jam wagon set the bar for future years and future entries. The friendly rivalry was on.

The following year–2003, we both tied for first place. In 2004, I was short on ideas–there are only so many ways you can display jam. I came up with the idea of making a quilt featuring the fruits that would end up being in my jam. I chose pear and blueberry because there is a strong contrast in the colours–essential for a quilt. The following photos show the quilt lined basket with the jam–another winning entry.

Does anyone recognize this quilt pattern? My mother and I thought this would be a great table topper quilt done in seasonal fabrics. This quilt was also at the fair, but unfortunately, the pattern was not identified.

UPDATE: The mystery is solved. Thanks to Kim @ A Peach in Stitches, the name of this pattern is BQ from Maple Island Quilts. Several sent me the name, but Kim provided a copy of the pattern jacket so I know exactly what I am looking for in the quilt shop. Thanks, Kim!

Of course a fair is not complete without quilts.

This quilt was my favorite quilt–I loved the drama created by the bright colours on a black background.

This quilt was machine quilted with bright green thread. The contrast of the thread against the black background really showcased the excellent quilting skills of the long arm quilter.

I liked this quilt for the picket fence border treatment. It was an effective way to frame the “garden”.

I thought this quilt would be an excellent stash buster. The alternate blocks were random strips of fabric in various widths. I thought the striped blocks went well with the stars.

I definitely seem to be attracted to bright quilts!

I have not been doing much quilting, but I have been busy. Yesterday we headed south to Lynden, Washington to attend the Northwest Washington Fair. We stayed for the evening concert–Terri Clark.

This was one of the best concerts I have seen in a very, very long time. Terri is a proud Canadian artist who has recorded three platinum albums and who holds 13 Canadian Country Music Awards. Terri is reigning Female Vocalist of the Year and has won the Fans’ Choice Award five years in a row. Terri is the only Canadian female member of the Grand Ole Opry. Terri definitely plays for the fans–her enthusiasm for her music and impromptu comments between songs makes you feel as though you have known her for a long time.