Back-to-the-50's Car Show!

Time out from quilting talk .......... I want to show you photos from our day out at the "Back-to-the-50's Car Show" at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The show is sponsored by the Minnesota*Street*Rod*Association. We started the day with eye appointments. Silly thing to do because they put those drops in your eyes to check for glaucoma and then you have to wear those silly sunglasses to protect your eyes cause your pupils are wide open. Not a smart thing to do prior to going to a car show on a sunny day! But, we managed. We decided to eat lunch on the Fairgrounds. Who could resist this "Build-A-Better Burger" stand. Not us!

We ate our lunch at picnic tables that were set up next to the stand and within just a few feet of lots of cool cars...........like this one............

And when lunch was over, we started strolling the streets. I almost crossed the street for cookies but instead took this photo of the yellow cars that seemed to match the Chocolate Chip Cookie stand!

There were hundreds of cars (11,795) and hundreds of people (I think it's close to 300,000 visitors over the three day event). The streets of the Fairgrounds are packed with people and cars...........

 And they are really cool cars..........

 One of my favorites.......

 I liked the license plate on this little coupe that might be a "project car"........

 The motor in the car was from an old fire engine! Yes, I think this car could "GOKATGO"!!

 For all the Pink Ladies.........

 California or Bust!!!!

"Shop talk" at the Classics Plus booth. That's son, Devlin, on the left and husband, Steve, in the center. I believe the guy with the long sideburns might be Elvis. :-) Ya never know!

And one last photo of a beautiful 1958 Chevy BelAir.............

I had one similar to this when I was 18. It was blue with a white hardtop. My dad liked to buy old cars that he and my brother could work on. I had five cool classic cars between the ages of 16 and 19. The Chevy BelAir was a beauty and had a huge engine in it. That meant it could go fast. Too fast because my dad met me on the highway one day and said I to be going 80. That was the end of the BelAir. My dad traded it for a 1960 four door Mercury Comet. It did not go fast. It belched smoky exhaust and my friends knick-named it "The Blue Bomber". Ah, memories..........

If you enjoy classic/vintage cars and want to see more of the cars that were on display, just hop over to this blog.......California*Car*Cover. And for info on next year's car show, an event that is the largest of it's kind in the world, just go here.

Back to quilty stuff in my next post..........Have a good Saturday!

Sandi 

Inspiration!

There is nothing like going to a quilt show and coming away inspired. That was so true at the Minnesota Quilter's Show. Maybe it was because I haven't been to one since 2004.Then again, I think it was the quilts and the vendors. They were awesome!
While I was at the show, I had time to wander the vendors early in the day and then again after lunch. I found this delightful booth after lunch. It's the booth for Millie*P's*Quilt*Shop in Anoka, MN, a new shop in the Twin Cities area! I loved the name of the shop.......because it reminded me of my music teacher, Mrs. Mildred Parr. She was a dear lady. And she would have loved the pink fabrics in the quilts you see in these photos.

Owner of Millie P's is Becky and the shop is named after her mother........Millie Pearl! If you go here, you can read how the shop got it's name.  I look forward to visiting the actual shop next time I visit my son who recently moved to the north side of the cities. He just called with an idea for a quilt project, so I may need to buy some really colorful fabrics for a unique project!!! More on that soon.

In the Minnesota Quilt Show brochure, it states that "It's okay to photograph quilts except in areas where prohibited......and if you post pictures of quilts on your personal website, you must give credit to the person who made the quilt........and state that photos were taken at the Minnesota Quilter's, Inc. 34th Annual Show". And so........I'm going to share a couple quilt photos that were taken at the Minnesota Quilter's, Inc. 34th Annual Show.

When I saw this quilt, I was just amazed! It was unique and I had to take a photo........

The quilt titled "The Map as Art: Minnesota Geology 2011" was made by Aileen Lively of Mounds View, MN. Interestingly, she's from the city that my son just moved to. Who knows, maybe I can visit Millie P's and also meet Aileen, the maker of this quilt. I would love to meet her and tell it what an awesome quilt this is! The tag below accompanied her quilt and it says........
"Quilt interpretation of the map Bedrock Geology of Minnesota, for display at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Minneapolis, MN. October 2011"

As I took photos of quilts, I would take a picture of the label so that I would know the quilts maker, designer and/or machine quilter. Just double-click on the photos to see a close-up of the info............

I found another booth that "caught my eye" and guess what? It's also on the north side of the Twin Cities!  I think I see a road trip in my future. Yes, I know I pledged not to buy any cotton quilt fabric for all of 2012 but ............ if I make this quilt my son called me about.......well, there would be someone else buying the fabric. :-)  Sooooooo, on to the booth in the photo below.........That's Angie, owner of The*Noble*Quilter which is located in Elk River, MN...........

She had so many wonderful quilts on display from designer's you may recognize.....Terry Atkinson of Atkinson Designs, Linda Hohag of Brandywine designs (the wool applique quilt in the center of the photo is her design), and more. I thought this booth was one of the nicest looking booths and it was the open space for customers and that ruffle on the top of the booth curtains that made it so. It was very inviting!

I just wish I could remember the name of Angie's staff helper.  I didn't write it down and her name tag is turned around so even zooming in on the photo didn't help! .......(a little edit here........Angie e-mailed me that her name is Jessica!)  To visit the shop on-line, just go here.

This booth in the photo below fascinated me because there were so many varieties of quilt hangers on display.  And I just realized........this is another vendor from the north side of the Twin Cities.......it's located in Ramsey, MN!   It's called Hidden*Talents. They offer quilt hangers and some darling dolls and soon will offer quilts. This is not a "storefront" business, but you can find it just by going here!

I also enjoyed the booth on the right in the photo below. It's the Modern*Quilt*Studio.  Sorry this is not a good photo of it but it was filled with some really colorful and unique quilts. I wish I had spent more time at the booth because..........

it is not a shop in Minnesota........it's located in Oak Park, Illinois. However, this is also not a retail store but is a design studio. Check out their website here.

I hope you are enjoying this visit to quilt vendors at the Minnesota Quilter's 34th Annual Show ............ because I have a couple more vendors to share and another quilt!

If there was one booth where I really wished I had not made that pledge to "not buy any cotton quilting fabric in 2012"........this booth was it............

It's SewBatik, a shop located in Mayville, North Dakota. And I believe that's owner, Diane in the photo below. She was so kind to let me take her photo and I told her how I wished I could buy some of her lovely batiks.......but a "pledge is a pledge"!  So I took her card and I'm thinking come January, I will probably order up a few batiks for a project I have in mind. ;-) 

This is an on-line shop/design studio so just go here to check it out!

This booth made me smile. It's Flower*Box*Quilts ...........

There were so many wonderful patterns and samples on display. They all made me smile. But the thing that really, really made me smile............well, that was how the husband of designer Michele Crawford spoke so lovingly of the patterns, quilts and books designed and made by his wife!!!!!  I was intrigued by a couple of books that were written by Michele and may order them later on. They are titled "Just Cut the Scrap" and the second book, "Just Cut the Scrap Again".  They are great for using your stash. I have lots of stash. That's why I pledged not to buy any cotton quilting fabric this year. ;-)  So, to check them out, just go here.  They are located in Spokane, Washington. So glad for on-line shops that let us be there when distance is more than a local road trip!
I said there would be another quilt and it's this, a starry-spectacular quilt that involved a trio of ladies from Tennessee. It was one of my show favorites and a design that I know my son would really like. I love how the stars almost look like they twinkle!!!!! It's called "Red Star at Night 3 Quilter's Delight"...........

It was submitted to the show by Loretta Painter of Norris, Tennessee. The label below reads....
"This quilt top was pieced by Loretta Painter. Three people worked on the quilting: Kate Meyers with her APQS long arm machine, Cyndi Herrmann and her Gammill long arm, and Loretta Painter with George using the push pull method of quilting."

Okay, that's about all for this post except for this one last quilt.........I've seen this saying before but never on a quilt..............

The label says....."Keep Your Fork" by Sally Neckvatel...."What's to come after our deaths? Keep your fork, the BEST is yet to come!"

I love pie so I will "Keep my fork"............just in case!  And speaking of pie...........I baked a blueberry pie yesterday and it was sooooooooooo good. I was hungry for pie and Heidi posted a photo of pie on Facebook. It looked so good, I had to make a pie. LOL! If you love pie and tractors and summer fun, visit Heidi's blog Hen*and*Chicks for a peek and you may have to bake a pie, too!  Oh, and in case you're wondering, my kitchen curtains are finished but I can't take a photo because we haven't found the right "tie-back" hooks yet. Looks like we are going to have to order some on-line.

I have more quilt photos to share............wooly stuff is coming up. Wool and threads were at the top of my shopping list and I found both. It's so hot, I suppose one wouldn't think wool right now, but I am planning a little wool project for this weekend. I just might share.......... Back soon.

Have a great Friday!

Sandi

Please note.........If there is any photo shown above of you, a shop owner, or you, the quilter, that you do not want posted.........just e-mail me and I will remove the photo. I checked with most shop owners for permission but not all so just let me know if I need to remove a photo.

More Minnesota Quilt Show photos.......

There were so many beautiful quilts at the Minnesota Quilter's show last weekend. I took a lot of pictures and will share a few that are my favorites. This quilt was one of the first ones that "caught my eye". I had to wait until a group of ladies had finished studying it before I could take this photo.....................

I love applique quilts and the colors in it are just beautiful. I loved this quilt!  Now, each time I took a photo of a quilt, I took a photo of the card next to it so I would know the maker of the quilt. When I took the photo of this card, I was momentarily surprised when I saw that the quilt's maker was Pam Botten, a member of the quilt group in Prior Lake where I used to live. I remembered seeing Pam work on the blocks for this quilt!! She does really beautiful applique work and hand-quilting!  The quilt was entered in the "non-judged" category although I told her I thought it was worthy of being in the "judged" catagory. I called and asked her if she'd mind if I shared her quilt on my blog and she said "oh, sure".  :-)  She said that she was inspired by a quilt made in the 1860's by Susan McCord that is on exhibit at the For Museum. She personally felt that her hand-quilting was not as fine as it should be but wanted the quilt completed. Her thought was, and she said I could share it ........"finished is better than perfect" and I liked that quote a lot. However, Pam's quilt looks pretty much perfect to me!  I'm so glad she let me share it with you all, because I think this quilt is just lovely. Pam is an MQ member and has earned ribbons for quilts entered in the Challenge project that MQ does.  Photos from this year's challenge coming up in a post later this weekend.
Not far from Pam's quilt was one of my favorite booths.........."Trims on Wheels". It was my first stop where I bought a few little goodies for that crazy quilt of mine that is eternally "in progress".  Shop owner Edie Roelens is winding trims in this photo. She "rolled in" from Wyoming but if you would like to check out her trims and embellishments just go to her site......Trims*on*Wheels!

And across the room from "Trims on Wheels" was another crazy quilting booth where I also did a little shopping. This was "The Bead Ranch"...............

and you will find info here. Owner and crazy quilting artist, Sherrill Lewis is pictured in the photo below. She made the beautiful crazy quilt that you see on her left and was stitching on blocks for another project that she is holding in her lap.

I could have spent a fortune on beads and trims and other embellishments at both of these booths. However, I don't have a fortune...... and so ......... I made some careful selections and here are the goodies that I bought and will add to my own crazy quilting project........

That's about all I have time for right now. I have been busy this week making kitchen curtains. They are finished except for getting the hooks so I can add the tie-backs. Then I'll take a photo and share what they look like. In the meantime, I have more quilt show photos I'll share. Next up will be some more quilts and photos of a couple of new local shops and some that may be near you! The Minnesota Quilters Show may be held in Minnesota but the variety of vendors come from all over the United States and so do the quilts! I am so glad there is such a great show that we can get to so easily!!
Big day ahead...........eye appointments for me and my husband. I am excited to look for new frames as I realized that I've had my current glasses for more than five years! And after the eye appointments...........we are off to the Back-to-the-50's*Car*Show at the Minnesota Fairgrounds in St. Paul (MN).  I don't think there will be any quilts on display. Hee hee! But there will be hundreds of really cool, colorful classic cars!
Have a great Friday!
Sandi

A Day-Out at the Minnesota Quilters Show!!

This past Saturday, I did something I don't often do...........I got up really early to catch a bus to go to the Minnesota Quilter's Show over in Rochester, MN!!  I joined other members of our quilt group, Kindred Kwilters, for a whole day of quilts and shopping at this annual show. This was a great way to do this........get on a bus and someone else gets to worry about the driving and the parking when we arrive. All we had to do was get our hands stamped and the show booklet and we were ready to go. We scattered in all directions but here are four members of our group.........

I'm fairly new to the group so I still don't know everyone, but I do know Connie, our treasurer is second from left and Dottie, our group president is second from right! They are all smiles because..........we are going to spend a whole day at the quilt show!!!!!!!
The Minnesota Quilter's Guild does an annual show. It rotates between four cities in Minnesota. This year it was in Rochester. Next year it's Duluth, up north and then St. Paul and St. Cloud are next (not sure of the order for them). What I like about that is ........... it gives quilters in all corners of Minnesota a chance to visit a show in their area. 
Minnesota has some fantastic shops and an amazing number of well-known designers and quilting artists. I'm going to share a few photos the next couple of posts and will tell you about some of my favorites. I asked permission of those shop owners whose photos, I'll be sharing. All the photos here and in the next couple of posts were taken at the Minnesota Quilter's Show.
One of the most well-known shops in Minnesota is Gruber's*Quilt*Shop near St. Cloud. Owner, Sue, is on the right. I've been to Gruber's a couple times. My first visit was long ago when they were a smaller shop that shared a grocery store space. We would visit there when we were vacationing in the Brainerd Lakes area in central Minnesota. Now the shop is located in Waite Park, MN. It is well worth a visit!

The show was located in three venues at the Rochester Civic Center. Non-judged quilts were in one area, and specific exhibits in the central area and in the final hall the judged quilts. I have not been to an MQ show in years. Too many family and personal health issues and summer activities. But this year.........I was so glad to take that bus and get up early!!! I walked through all the show once and then again. When I entered the second hall and saw the quilts ahead, I stopped cold and just went "oh, my". This was a special exhibit of quilts made from Jennifer Chiaverini's quilt design for "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler". It was sponsored by Glad*Creations, a shop in Minneapolis. The variety of colors in the quilts made each one unique. I have all the patterns that I collected when Jennifer offered them free on her website. Seeing these quilts made me think, I really should get those out and start these blocks. Oh, so many fun quilty things to make and just not enough time!

I wandered in and out of exhibits and vendor booths, and then spotted two of my favorite quilt shop friends.............

That's Janice, on the left, owner of Firefly*Quilt*Shop in Mankato, MN and staff member, Luci. They were all smiles, too, and said it had been a great show.
Tucked in a corner of the central hall was the Quilts of Valor booth. They had quilts blocks made for guests to sign that will go into a quilt for a member of the Armed Forces. I've never made a quilt for QOV but my friend, Connie, and I are working on a quilt for a local vet.

I have more photos to share but that's it for today. I'll share more tomorrow about quilts, vendors, and what I bought. Yes, I had a shopping list and I found the items on my list........and a bit more. Imagine that!!
In the real world............Today, I'm working on kitchen curtains. I have had a hard time focusing on them because going off to a quilt show is the best thing ever to get one motivated to do quilty projects. However, it's not keeping me motivated to sew these curtains because I'd rather be playing with the stuff I bought. So, the goal is to get these finished by Wednesday mornign and then back to quilting stuff. :-)
It's going to be another hot day here in Minnesota and more storms may be on the way. It has been necessary to keep a close eye on the weather these last few days. I love a good thunderstorm but not the stuff with high winds and hail. We've had a bit of hail three times in the last week. The weatherman promises nicer weather for the weekend. I'm holding him to that forecast!
Have a good day!
Sandi

Flag Day!

Today is Flag Day. This would have been my dad's 86th birthday. The photo above was taken on Memorial Day when my mom and I visited my dad's grave to put new flowers in the vases on his headstone. He rests toward the back where the two flags are located. I always enjoy going home at Memorial Day time. I still think of it as Decoration Day. And this year was a bit special. My dad would have been so pleased with what came about.........
There is always a service in the cemetary and at the bridge in Lehigh. But then, a few months ago, the local VFW post was dissolved when the post commander passed away. No one came forward to take the position and so the post had to be dissolved. That made a lot of local folk very sad. Without the Post it seemed there would be no Remembrance service. That just didn't seem right. So, my brother Doug and I tossed about some ideas.........and a few phone calls and then info in the local newspaper..........and a remembrance service came to be! There's more on this service but first..........
After the service was over, I joined my brother at the Lehigh Historical Society..........

I brought along some quilts and wallhangings to share......and also the bears that some of you may remember from a post about my front porch.......

 There's a vintage loom on display and it was the perfect place to hang a quilt..........

Here's my brother, Doug, as he frames photos of local veterans from the Lehigh area who served in the Armed Forces during World War II.

And while I was there visiting, I got to thinking that perhaps I could do a blog for the Lehigh Historical Society.......a place where events could be posted and there would be photos of interest to those who live in and grew up in Lehigh. So I asked the board president, Roger, and he said "Go for it!"  And so I did and if you go to Lehigh*Historical*Society, you will see some more photos of the lovely little town where I was raised!

Have a good day everyone!

Sandi

A visit to the Princess Diana exhibit!

A week ago Friday, my daughter, Collette and I enjoyed a day out to celebrate our birthdays. I treated her to a visit to the Princess Diana exhibit that was at the Mall of America. Collette loved Princess Diana when she was a young girl and still does. I remember getting up early to watch her wedding on TV. She was away at Girl Scout camp and missed it (I don't think we had a VCR at that time). Collette happened to be here visiting when news came on the TV that Diana had been hurt in a car accident. It was then, and still is, hard to imagine someone so young and vibrant is gone.

The exhibit of Diana's personal items is done so well. It starts with her family and childhood and progresses through her engagement, her wedding, her clothing, and how her charity work continues. There are film clips that show Diana as a young child. Fascinating and makes me wish we had movies of our family when we were young kids. We loved seeing her wedding gown and walked around the dress (displayed in a climate controlled case) more than once to see all the detail of the lace and stitching. Also on display, were 26 of the gowns and outfits that she wore for various state and charitable events. Some were very recognizable. They were beautiful in their design and the fabrics and the details! We each had a favorite suit and gown. Collette bought the book on the exhibit and I bought a set of postcards. Photos were not allowed except at the gift shop where you could take the photo above. We spent almost two hours in the exhibit and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would go again! However, it all ends here in Minnesota this Sunday and the collection will return to Althorpe, her home in England. It returns to the U.S. for exhibit (go here ) and will open in Louisville, Kentucky in September. It is well worth seeing!

It has been a very busy, very hectic week here at the Andersen Haus. :-)  I barely got any stitching done although I had big plans. Sometimes plans don't go like you think they will. However, new kitchen curtains are finally in progress so maybe next week, I'll have something fun to share!

Have a good weekend!
Sandi

What's keeping me from blogging?

I thought that was an appropriate title for this post. I seem to be a very sporadic blogger lately and it's just because there is a lot of stuff going on in my life. Lots of family things, summer stuff, you name it!  And I am cleaning and sorting through files, papers, and magazines from the past dozen years.........and that takes time!!! I've even hired a friend to help me with some of this sorting and organizing because I am serious about getting organized! Plus, I am serious about finishing some quilty projects, working on some new penny rug designs. So much to do!  I have a number of photos to share but they will have to wait til this weekend or early next week. I can't have a post without a photo, though, so I picked this one.........

This is at Dolliver State Park near Lehigh, Iowa. It was my favorite place to go for a picnic when I was a kid. We had many a Bible School picnic here and family reunions. It is still a lovely place to picnic, camp, hike, bike, and just enjoy a summer day. My mom and I took a drive when I was home at Memorial Day and the sun shining on the cliffs was too pretty to pass up. If you've been there, you know that the water is just below the cliffs and what you can't see.........there were kids swimming and playing there! Dolliver is one of the prettiest state parks I've ever seen. If you are near Lehigh (or Fort Dodge, Iowa) check it out. The drive through the park is just gorgeous!

All for now.

I'll be back to regular blogging real soon!

Sandi

It was a great day for a Birthday!

Today was my birthday. It's been a great day but it's almost over. It was a really good week and maybe tomorrow (or Sunday if that's when you are reading this), I'll finally post some pictures from this past week. Maybe I'll post just one photo...........

This is the field across from the farmhouse where my grandparents lived just east of Lehigh, Iowa. Look at that beautiful field of young corn and that gorgeous sky!! I loved to go get the mail when I was at grandma's house and would look across the road at this field. Ah, memories.
Back soon...........
Sandi