Kankakee County Barn Quilts

On Saturday I attended a lecture at the Kankakee Historical Society Museum. It was about the Barn Quilts that are being installed in Kankakee County. Their quilt guild has had a large influence working with the county in promoting tourism. Jerry Legan is the maker of this wonderful barn quilt. He said he started it on Monday, last week, and got it made this far by Wednesday!! It is wonderful. Jerry is very active in the guild and on the Kankakee Barn Quilt Committee. He draws up the Barn Quilt blocks that will be created and installed.

The folks that own this quilt are considering the fan quilt block to be placed on their barn. Would a single fan block, or a block of 4 be the decision. It will be fun next year to see how it is presented. The quilt was very delicate, beautiful and quite old. The blades in the fan have signed by former residents of the county. It has quite a history.

Rhubarb Pie is the name of the block pictured here. This building is on the grounds of the Kankakee County Museum. This is an out building to a home owned by Dr. A. L. Small whose hobby was horticulture. Dr. Small claimed to have the largest privately owned Rhubarb Farm in the United States.

It was a great afternoon. We added 3 more to barn sightings to our list. You never know what you will see on an afternoon drive.

Farmer's Wife Show and Tell

On Saturday, Prairie Stitches, had a show and tell of quilts made over the past year. A support group was created for all of us that wanted to make "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt". Each month we received the instructions to make at least 10 blocks. A lot of the quilters found this very doable. We would come the next month and show off the blocks we had made. The last set of blocks were given in September 2010. It was then agreed that we would meet January 22, 2011 to show off the completed quilts. Nine quilts were shown yesturday.

Kathy was the first to show hers. She used a variety of fabrics, and decided to not put borders on hers. She did make all of the blocks.

Jan, also, used a variety of fabric, and made hers into a lapsize quilt. She also put a small borders on hers.

Carol used all Jo Morton fabric, and has the top completed, just needs to be quilted. Hers, has all the blocks, and has a border.

Mary Ann used all Kansas Troubles to make her quilt. She to made all the blocks and put the borders on hers.

Jan made hers using her stash. She has 2 extra blocks, and a small border. She was the first one to finish her quilt. She showed hers for the first time in October!!

Jo, made hers into a kingsize. Her shashing corner stones was made into friendship gold friendship stars. What an undertaking! So wonderful. Then there is mine. As you can see, I used a different fabric combination all together. Thirties fabrics. I did make all the blocks and added a single border.

I'm sorry, I don't remember this ladies name, she did hers using Kansas Troubles fabric. It looks like she has made all the blocks One other lady showed a picture of her quilt. She used one of the Moda lines, and the quilt was sent to California as a wedding gift.

It was great to see the quilts. There are several more we would like to see yet. They are still being worked on. Some of the ladies said their quilts are still works in progress.After seeing our finished quilts, two more ladies have decided to start the journey on their own "Farmer's Wife".

Prairie Friends Quilt Bee Christmas

On Sunday our quilt bee "Prairie Friends" got together at Barb's house for our annual Christmas Bee. We have been holding it in January for the last several years, as we find that December does get busy with family traditions. Barb was gracious to hold it for the second time in a row. She made a wonderful dish with chicken breast in a puff pastry. The rest of us brought the trimmings. Barb had all her lovely Christmas decorations adorning home and table. It was a lovely afternoon of friends, fellowship and food.

Bee friends standing are (left to right) Bonnie, Linda, Marita ,Marge, Lyn and Judy. Sitting is Barb, Marcia and myself.

We all have agreed we are going to work on finishing some UFO's. We will be meeting again the first weekend of February for our annual Bee Retreat. We get together on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a local hotel to sew, eat, sew, visit a quilt shop, sew, sleep a little, and of course sew a lot. We always have a great time. All that can attend are so looking forward to it.

Have a great week of sewing!!

Sewing and Win

Good Morning!! I have been busy already in tne new year. These are my finishes so far! Two wool pincushions, 7 Snap Happy small bags, 2 pouches from Skiptomylou.org, and 13 decorative tree napkins, made into ornaments. My new years resolution is to use what I have. So far so good.

In December I won the beautiful table runner from Jocelyn, at Happy Cottage Quilter. It looked so nice on Christmas day for our dinner Thank you Jocelyn again, for a wonderful prize. I still have it on the table! I haven't seen the robins again, I am sad to say. Today is another beautiful blue sky day. No snow,All of it is gone for now.

Happy New Year to all

and a great year of quilting

and good health!