Iowa Shop Hop June 16, 17, 18

Barn Quilt in Monroe, Wisconsin
This little trip was a fabulous getaway that my husband planned, the pictures are in no particular order, as I never can figure how they will appear when I upload them, and I just might make then disappear if I mess around too much.
Anyway, he got on the Internet and found quilt shops in the Northeast corner of Iowa, and Southwest corner of Wisconsin to check out. We toured the countryside, which was beautiful, visited a John Deere engine plant, to see how they are made, and were to end up in Monroe, Wisconsin Friday at 6:00 for a hot air balloon rally.

Garden in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
We started at 7:30 am. and drove by expressway to Clinton, Iowa. From then on we took back road, and county roads. You see so much more. There were beautiful rolling hills, farm animals in pastures, and crops. The corn there as well as here will be tasseling out by the 4th of July!! It has been a perfect summer so far for the crops. Ron could not get over seeing huge boulders in the middle of a field. (Has to do with the glaciers coming through millions of years ago.) Those beautiful orange day lilies and hollyhocks were in bloom everywhere. Because the rainfall and the warmth and sun the gardens are beautiful.


Housecoat on display at the Vesterhelm Norweigian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.
Here are a couple of pictures from this wonderful display. I was in awe with the quilts. Some were as far back as the 1800's. It was to showcase quilting by Norweigians. I had to take pictures of it all. One quilt was made out of lingerie fabric. It looked so soft. Signature quilts
seemed to be prevalent in the display. They were beautiful.


This quilt came from Kendall County, Illinois
This was the first quilt I saw when I started looking at the display.

Title of the display.

This shop was in New Hampton, Iowa

Again, when you travel to different areas, new fabrics and patterns show up. You don't always realize how many fabric and pattern companies are out there. We stopped at shops in Osage, Decorah, Dyersville, Oelwein, Independence, Greene, Waverly,and Cedar Falls, Iowa. We did see other things that the town may be noted for. (quilt shops are not always the highlight of the town) Every shop is different. At the one in Cedar Falls, Ron came in (surprise, surprise) and actually picked out fabric for a quilt he would like me to make. (No picture)

Barn Quilt, actual quilt.

The other thing we were always on the lookout for was Barn Quilts. This quilt was on display at a rest stop in Grundy County, Iowa. Most areas had the 8 x 8 foot displays which were easy to see. Others were pretty small. If you did not know where to look you could miss them. I got a few good pictures. Some were taken as we drove by, so you can figure what they may look like!!

Store display at the Moose Patch in Waverly, Iowa

The Basilica, St Francis Xavier, in Dyersville

We had visited this one several years ago. It has beautiful stained glass windows. Dyersville used to be the home of Ertl toys.

Holy Family Catholic Church.

There was a Trappist Monestary, New Melleray Abby. This area was in a beautiful setting.

The sky as we headed home

Needless to say, we did not get to see a balloon launch on Friday evening. Starting Thursday night with our stay in Decorah, storms started to come through. There were tornado and storm warnings When we got up on Friday the skies were blue and beautiful. As we headed toward Wisconsin the black clouds were gathering behind us. The eventually caught up with us. By the time we got to Monroe, it was pouring. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and the launch was to be at 6:00. We did talk to someone at the fairgrounds, who thought they would launch. After much consideration we decided to head home. We were going to have a 3 hour drive. If we had known for sure they would go up and no storms we would have stayed. We kept hearing about storm warnings.

I had a quilt workshop on Saturday. If that had not been in the works we would have stayed overnight and been there for the Saturday launchs. We did not hear if they did launch. We were both disappointed, but there is always next year. I won't schedule a workshop.

Another barn quilt

All in all it was a fun 3 days. I had my "Quilters Travel Companion", the latest version, and I do keep a written diary as we travel. I have started keeping a log of Barn Quilts. I pickup brochures for reference. They are a great way to see the countryside. Traveling the backroad leads to great adventures. You just don't know what you will see.

Have a great day Quilting

Mary

Ryan's Round Barn

Saturday we went to Kewanee, Illinois to join in the celebration of this 100 year old barn. The celebration was to be from 10 am untill dusk. Unfortunately, a rain storm came through and spoiled the festivities. There was to be antique tractors, tours of the barn, artists and musicians and even quilts.

The barn is considered a marvel as it is completely round. Most round barns are actually built as octagons. This one really is round. When the structure was being built, the pine was soaked in water overnight before being applied to the studs.

This is looking up to the ceiling. I could not believe the whole structure. It was so fascinating. Just look at all the wood that was used.

The barn was built by a Doctor Ryan to house his herd of 50 black angus show cattle. The cattle were imported from Scotland, because he liked black animals. No expense was spared and was completed in 1910. It is 85 feet across and 90 feet tall, including the 10 foot tall cupola. The barn is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974 and was the first round barn in Illinois to be listed.

We had a great time checking out the barn, even though there were not festivities. We had lunch at a cute Bistro in the "Good's" furnishing store in town. Here is another modern marvel. This is a furniture store that just kept growing and growing. People come from afar to purchase furniture. We can hear ads on the local radio stations for it. This is at least 2 hours away from where we live and even farther from Chicago.

I had Hungarian Goulash Soup for lunch. It was a recipe made with pork and sauerkraut. It was delicious. It reminded me of stuffed cabbage shredded. I had to see if I could find a recipe to recreate it. I did and it was delicious.

Wednesday, we are traveling to northeast Iowa. We are going to stay in Waterloo one night and Decorah the second. On our way back we will be stopping in Monroe, Wisconsin for a 6:00 pm hot air balloon launch. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather stays nice. We are planning on arriving home late Friday night.

On Saturday, I am taking a quilting class with Penny Haren, Pieced Applique. I am so looking forward to this class. She is going to speak at Pride of the Prairie Guild on Thursday evening, but I will still be in Iowa.

I am up to 157 klosjes. I will be taking handwork along. Traveling on highways I can do handwork. Backroad, I want to look around and take in the scenery. I hope to see a few Barn Quilts along the way!!

Bus Trip -- Shipshewana

On Tuesday morning I was up bright and early (5 am) to go on a bus trip to Shipshewana, Indiana for the day. The United Airlines Mainliner Club has been sponsoring this trip for a lot of years and was told on Tuesday, I am always the first to sign up for it! There is the draw of 2 of the neatest fabric stores!! Actually the rest of the bus goes for the biggest flea market around. It is a 2 day affair and is held every week. There used to be a lot of antique dealers a long time ago, but as always times change and now there are a lot of dealers that sell the latest things!! There are also vendors of produce, and flowers, and baked goods. The food on the grounds is fabulous and reasonable. This is in Amish Country, so you know the food is great.

As I said I go for the fabric. I first head to "Yoder's" Department store. There is groceries, hardware, clothing, shoes, and of course "FABRIC". They carry several great lines and a variety of other fabrics. One young lady came in to purchase a veil for her wedding. I found fabric for the borders and backing for my Farmer's Wife quilt, plus a few other items.


After I have walked through all the fabric I walk to the "downtown" of Shipshewana. It is only a couple of blocks away. There is a Quilt Festival June 23 - 26, and Eleanor Burns is going to be the guest speaker! There will be workshops, and a show with vendors, a Shop Hop and I want to go!!! It all sounds like so much fun. I may be too late to get to see Eleanor, but may be able to attend the show and go on the shop hop. I found out the shop hop theme is "baskets", my favorites.

Anyway, I was going into town to check out my other favorite shop, "Lolly's". They are in the Davis Merchantile building. Several years ago the original Davis Merchantile burnt to the ground. It was formerly a hotel and had been converted to a lot of cute shop, one of them being "Lolly's". The merchantile was rebuilt and now "Lolly's" has even more space and fabric. Their batik line is incredible.


Here is just a little of the 30's fabric. There is Jo Morton, other Civil War fabric, Kansas Trouble, the Japanese fabrics are beautiful. Lots of layer cakes, charm packs and of course fat quarters. Everyone is very helpful. You can go on fabric overload! It is a great place to visit. Needless to say I just had to have a few more pieces to add to my stash. Seems to me I am supposed to be getting rid of it!! I just replaced a few items.

This is one of the displays in the Merchantile Building. There are quilts all around. The inspiration is endless!

Then I walked to "Rebecca Haarner's" shop. There are old quilts on display and for sale. This shop is tiny and full of surprises. I found lots I would like, but could not afford this time. She had this cute bed with layers of antique quilts.

On the way back to the bus I passed this cute display of a "Flower Bed". My friend Jo and I had been talking about this very thing on Monday.

We all had to be on the bus and ready to leave by 3:45 to go to dinner at the Das Dutchman. We have the most incredible family style chicken dinner. Everything is homemade. Bread, potatoes, noodles, stuffing and of course chicken. The pies are made fresh daily, and we all traded to get the piece we wanted. After the meal is done we had about 45 minutes to head for the bakery and stock up on pies, bread, salad dressing, noodles. all in remembrance of our wonderful dinner. By 6:00 we are back on the bus and on our way to the reservation center at O'Hare Airport. The noise level on the bus going home is quiet. It was another wonderful day shopping!!!!

Here are my klosjes from last week. I have 124 and already have 10 more I did on the bus to Shipshewana! I did start to put 4 together at a time to see how my sewing is matching up. Last week I cut a lot of fabric for hexies and into strips and more klosjes. I am ready for a lot of hand sewing!

Untill next time, Happy Quilting!!!

Cutie Pinwheel

Rae Ann is hosting a give away of pinwheels. Pop on over to her blog to enter. Just leave her a comment on why you love pinwheels.

Spider Web and Quarter Turn

Yesturday, I talked about a quilt that I had not worked on in several years. "Quarter Turn" by Open Gate patterns. Here is what 2 of the blocks look like. As you can see there is a positive and negative image. I have completed the sewing of the half square triangles for all 48 blocks. I have seperated the triangles for 10 of the blocks to start sewing the squares together. Now that I am started, I would like to get this quilt done soon. Wish me luck!!

Then in the evening I had to make one of these blocks. This is the start of my selvage quilt. One block at a time!! It is weird, but now you have to figure how much of the words and symbols of the selvage do you want to show, as well as how much of the actual fabric. I know I am thinking too much. My friend Kim from the quilt shop helped my collection of selvages. Then I realized I still have a lot of fabric that has not been cut and have a wealth of selvages on my own, short pieces, as I have a lot of fat quarters. Up to now I have been throwing them away. One more thing to save!!

Yesturday, too, I started cutting out 10 1/2 inch squares to sew together for the backing of my "Carolina Christmas" quilt. As long as I was needing selvages, decided I should start cutting up the fabric for the backing of that quilt. I have a long way to go, that quilt is huge!

Happy Quilting,

Mary

Klosjes and Mini Quilts

Good morning. I was able to get some sewing done this weekend. My Klosjes are progressing quite well. 14 more to add to my stack. I have 8 more done for this week already. I carry my little box with me and seem to find a little time to make one or two. I can't believe how fast these are building. You almost feel like you need to keep doing them forever! The day will come when I can start assembling them into a quilt. It feels so nice to do handwork again.

In this past week I also got these little quilts finished. They were supposed to be for different projects, and I decided it was time to move them out of my sewing room, so I was able to creat 3 miniature quilts from them. The little tops sat for several months because I was afraid to machine quilt them. Well, I decided to take the bull by the horns and set up my machine and very carefully start to quilt them. I am so pleased with how they turned out! Just taking my time and not feeling rushed did the trick. All of them have been quilted in the ditch, which they tell me is the hardest to do.

I tried to rearrange some of the things in my sewing from, to make it look like there isn't quite so much to work on!! Basically I tried to hide them. While doing that I came across a quilt that I had started a couple of years ago and decided it was time to work on it. The pattern is "Quarter Turn" by Open Gate. I figured out how I can make enough half square triangle to make 2 blocks at a time. So yesturday and Sunday, I sewed pairs of trianagles to make 40 blocks. Now I just have to cut each set apart and piece the blocks. The block is based on a negative and positive use of fabric. (Plus there is a basket design in it) I love basket quilts. Now I am anxious to piece the blocks and put it together. I have my work cut out for me today!!

Got to go so I can make some of the blocks to show you. Have a good quilting day.

Mary