Spring Road Trip

I mentioned in my last post about my Farm Quilt that I mostly finished it while on vacation. So how about a little road trip post? There will be quilt-related photos.

We stayed in East Tawas, Michigan. I was excited to go, not only because we had been there before and I knew about the pretty scenery, but because there is a Ben Franklin store there! 

See it there next to the old time movie theater? 

Ben Franklins are variety stores that have been around in some form or another in the US since the 1920s. There are very few left. Years ago, part of their inventory was fabric and crafts, and last time we were in East Tawas, I bought fabric for several donation quilts. Shortly before our vacation, I read that the BF there no longer had fabric. Waaah. But I did need some embroidery floss to finish the embellishments on my quilt and thought there was a good chance they'd have that. Somehow, I did not find it. I was disappointed, but a check online that evening showed a quilt store a couple miles north of town. Yay! That wasn't there on our last trip. (Turns out they opened just before the lockdown for Covid in 2020. I'm so glad they made it through that rocky time.) So on the one rainy day we had, off we went. Before looking at all the luscious fabric, I asked if they had floss. They didn't but said they were sure BF had it, and even told me where to look in the store. To thank them for that information and because I like to support independent quilt stores when I'm on vacation, I made sure to buy some fun things. I'll show you in a few paragraphs, but here is the store.

We went back to the Ben Franklin, and sure enough, there was the floss right where the fabric used to be. 

When we go on vacation in small towns, we always try to check out a few things: the history of the area, interesting old buildings, museums, the library, antique stores and bookstores. Well, those in addition to the usual sights. By chance, I had heard of a brand new bookstore, so off we went (on the the same rainy day) to take a look. It was just getting started--didn't even have a sign aside from a white board outside with advertising in dry erase marker that you couldn't read from the road. There were no customers. Oh no! We looked around for awhile, and I wanted to get something, but what? In the small art section, I paged through a book with color palettes in it made from plants. It was more of a book for people who dye their own textiles but would also appeal to people to like to explore color for quilts. Me! So, of course I had to buy it to play just a tiny part in getting that bookstore started. (A quick look on social media this week, showed that there is now a proper sign above the door. "Bookish." Yay. I'm sure the owner and town will boost marketing now that the summer season is beginning. I'm hoping her many years of success. I forgot to get a photo, but it's in a cool really old building, shared with a coffee shop.) 

So, here's my vacation souvenir haul:

At Erin Matthew quilt store, I added to my collection of chocolate brown and turquoise tone on tone prints that I started on vacation last year. I grabbed a charm pack of Wallflower by Tilda that I had just seen online somewhere and fallen in love with. And then those precut turquoise prints. So easy to just pick them up without having to have them cut. The smaller one is called a French fat quarter, 19 by 27 inches, just a little bigger than usual. The other two are one-yard cuts. My husband found the socks, which will be perfect to wear for treadle quilting. (Yes, he went into the shop with me and was immediately rewarded by the owner with a Hershey kiss.) The floss, of course, is what I bought at BF (with some non-quilty items). Actually, I bought two skeins--one's already partly used. And then, the book. Not too bad. 

I'm mulling over what to do with the fabric. I downloaded some patterns that I love that are related to the Wallflower fabric collection, but I would need a fair amount of additional fabric to get the right vibe, so now I'm thinking about a design from an antique top I saw on the Foundry section of the Quiltfolk website a couple of years ago. I might be able to mix the turquoise prints and the Wallflower pack. We are expecting a major heatwave this week, so it will be a good time to rest and design and maybe even sew.

So what other things did we see on vacation? We went to the local historical museum, and of course there were quilts. 

                       This one was my favorite. Might need to make a copy.

We saw lots of beautiful nature, some of which I've posted here before, but I'll include just a few photos along with some quilt inspiration.

                                              Beautiful Lake Huron

                                                         Lovely hikes

                     One of my favorite lighthouses, in the sun and in the mist.

                           Rustic buildings on a bike ride (Quilt inspiration?)

                                                    A barn quilt!

                                        And lots of sunsets from the pier.

Okay, that's enough. No, one more. I got my quilt (last blogpost) hung this week, so we can enjoy it awhile this summer.

Our living room is shady this time of year--mutes the colors a bit, but keeps the quilt from fading.

Now I'm done. Thanks for sticking with my rambling. And thank you so much for your lovely comments on my previous post. I've tried my best to respond, but am still having no-reply issues. If you didn't hear from me, know that I appreciate what you said. 

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything.)

Farm Quilt

 Back in the 1970s I wanted to be a landscape painter. When I lived on the edge of a small town in 1977, I rode around the country photographing barns, planning to use them as models for paintings. I managed to begin one of those paintings, but never finished it. Life got too busy for that hobby, and then when I later discovered quilting, I abandoned painting altogether. I'm really too messy for painting; fabric makes a mess, too, but it's easier to clean up.

Last summer I started taking photos of barns again while on vacation--this time as inspiration for quilts. And today I have a quilt to share, not from one of the recent photos, but from two I took in 1977.

Okay, that might be enough for anyone who just wants to see what I made, but if you are interested in the process and some details, here's more. First, those old photos, fuzzy images from a cheap old film camera.

I took digital photos of the photos and enlarged them to use as patterns, tracing over major lines with a marker for seams.

I also made a tiny sketch of my idea.

I traced the barn parts and added more lines on newsprint for a pattern,

divided it into sections, and traced each in reverse on freezer paper for no tear-off paper piecing. 

                   Sorry about the bad images. These were hard to photograph. 

The first part of my piecing was with fabrics from my scraps. I gradually built up the quilt top, piecing sections and layering fabrics to determine the next placements. I ended up having to shop for some greens (as well as the sky) because I didn't have enough on hand. So now I have leftover fabric for more landscapes if the mood strikes again. Here are some in-progress photos.

I cut a narrow freezer paper pattern piece to help me attach the sky to the land piece. This was the only tricky seam in the quilt. All the others were straight seams. I used a technique from one of my Ruth B McDowell piecing books for curved piecing. Since the seam was gentle, it was pretty easy to do. 

A finished top:

I quilted the quilt the way it wanted to be quilted, mostly following structural details and contours of the land with a walking foot, but meandering in the foreground and sky with a free motion foot.

I finished the quilting and did the machine sewing on the binding and sleeve just before we went on vacation and did the hand sewing to finish them on the porch at our charming rented house. The binding is a combination of two navy prints.

I also started the embroidery of the fence wire, but didn't quite finish it until I got back home. Just for fun, and because it's kind of part of my art signature, I also added four buttons from my ceramic collection by Sandra Lance.

Here are the usual garage and driveway photos back at home. I should have probably taken the quilt to a farm. In recent years, I have not found those barns from the photos in the area. I suspect they have been demolished. We still have lots of similar barns around here, though.

                                           Breeze bulge at the bottom.

                                I suppose that red button could be a wheel.

           Yellow button just 'cause it matches. I think this is wheat, so not a bale.

I like how some of the flowers poke through the fence. They are the last bits of fabric that is in a very old bedspread and many past quilts. I see my fence wire is sagging a bit. Tired, old fence.

The back is a woodprint I've had for years. Joel Dewberry, I think?

                                                   More breeze play.

On the driveway, again.

          If you look really close, you can see my initials and date below the button.

Some stats, such as they are--

Pattern: My own, based on my own photos

Size: 43 3/4 inches by 23 7/8 inches

Fabrics: A variety of old and new cottons/batiks

Binding: Two navy prints, cut 2 5/8 inches

Batting: Hobbs 80/20

Thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; Superior King Tut in White Linen for bobbin when quilting; a variety of all kinds of threads for top quilting thread (I think I finished up at least five spools); Superior Treasure in Antique for hand sewing.

Embellishments: Hand embroidery with DMC floss in 3072 (Beaver Gray); four ceramic handmade buttons by Sandra Lance Pottery.

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer 115 Treadle for walking foot and free motion quilting and first stitching of binding.

I was going to share some other photos from our trip, including quilt-related ones, but I think I'll put them in a separate post in a few days. This is enough for now. I must say this though: When I started this quilt, it was meant to be a somewhat challenging distraction from all the horrific and disturbing things going on in the world--and because I live here--in my country. As I worked on the quilt, I was often thinking of the chaos we wake up to every day when tuning in to the latest news. I was making a seemingly idyllic scene, but as I worked it felt more like a protest piece. Protest about so many governmental actions that affect farmers/food security/human life--all of us:

--Ping ponging imposition of tariffs 

--The dismantling of US Agency for International Development (USAID) 

--Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

--Proposed cuts to clean energy programs and climate protections 

--Cuts and proposed cuts to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to food banks and schools, food safety regulations and agricultural research, and

--Recent raids on agricultural workers without regard for their constitutional rights.  

My fabric picture of a farm is pristine--no people, no equipment. Is this beauty or a prophecy of loss? I can hold two thoughts in mind as I view it--appreciation for the beauty of farms/farming as well as a sense of outrage over decisions that would certainly roll back progress made in addressing a basic need of humans--food security and safety--and result in the loss of farming livelihoods and communities.

As Willie Nelson said, "Farmers and their fields are the fabric that holds our country together."

I'm linking up today with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Brag about Your Beauties, and later this month I'll link up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for June's Favorite Finish. (Update: At her request, I'm also linking up with Andree at Quilting and Learning What a Combo for Free Motion Mavericks. And with Frederique at Quilting Patchwork Applique, too) I appreciate your comments if you wish to make them. I know some may not agree with what I have said about my protest, but I believe that we have a right to speak up (and must) when we disagree with our government. This is my way, whether you agree or not. Know that I might not post related comments, but I will respond to you personally through email. 

Keep quilting; keep speaking up.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything. )