Talent Night

I participated in a Ward Talent Night at church earlier this year.  There were live performances (including my husband playing the piano and Cheetah performing the Samba) and displays around the room.  I was volunteered to display some of my quilts.  I set up a practice display at home, but then forgot to take pictures at the church.

It looked pretty much the same as the set-up at home.  However, I had some fliers by the sign inviting people to my new quilting group.  I am happy to say that there are about five people participating in a Ward Quilt Group which I host in my house.  It has been so much fun getting to know other quilters and teaching more ladies about sewing and quilting.

So far we have made table runners like in my display, had a quilting demonstration, and made pillow cases.  I look forward to more meetings with my new quilting friends.

XX,
Jasmine

Quilt Display

I was honored to be asked to have a display in the professional talent night at church for a second year.  (I won't mention that I think they were a little desperate for displays this year after they changed the date, maybe.)  You can see the display I set up last year here.  Out of the seventeen large quilts shown, only one was made before my previous display.   I wasn't as nervous as last year because I knew what to expect.

I loved how portable and free standing my new quilt ladder was.  (In case you missed it, I have a tutorial for the side-by-side quilt ladder here.)

The display this year was definitely brighter!

It was fun including my favorite quilts (Modern Farmer's Wife, Floating, and Quilty Kisses).

I kept smaller quilts in the basket again.  They were great for showing examples of different quilting styles.

One thing that was new this year is a quilt photo album I made.  (More on that in a future post.)

The best part of the whole evening was when three 8-9 year old boys came over and had to look at every single page in the album.  You know how much I love boys who are interested in quilts!

One reason why I was less nervous this year is because I set up a practice display at home.

It helped me keep a balance of height and color, even if it did make a MESS of my family room.

(Just keeping it real!)

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar.  Check them out to see what other quilters have been making.

I Have a Quilt Ladder!

I am so happy to say that I now have a quilt ladder in my family room!

This was a project for the entire family:  Daddy built it. Cheetah helped drill the holes.  Panda gathered the extra wood.  Monkey blew off the sawdust from the freshly drilled holes.  Mommy documented it and vacuumed.

Hubby wanted to build it out of oak to make it strong in case any of the boys decided to climb on it.  (They have been instructed not to, but you never know with my busy boys.)

Don't we all need another place to store display 6-8 more quilts?

How many quilts do you think are out in my family room now?  NINETEEN!  I was a little worried about being a crazy quilt lady with padded walls.  I hoped I didn't need the straight jacket to go with it.  Luckily, Sandra reassured me that I would be more in need of the straight jacket if I wasn't quilting, so I'm good.  Right?

One wall hanging, two table runners, and six bed size quilts are over on this side.

Two bed quilts and a minky-backed lap quilt are over here.  (Easy access to the minky is a must!)

Two more bed quilts and a table runner are in the middle.

Four bed quilts and three lap quilts are over here.  (Plus some blankets are hiding in that cream cube in front of the ladder.)

And Christmas Addition is thrown over the sofa for the easiest access.  (Even if I hide this Christmas quilt  with the blankets, Cheetah finds it and wants it kept out.)

19 quilts out in the family room doesn't even count the ones stored in the game closet.  Most of those are seasonal quilts I just take out for a little while. I'm not taking a picture of that, so how about one more view of the family room?  Hopefully all the quilts just make my room seem even cozier and more inviting.  :D

I will be using my ladder the way it is for another talent display at church, then I will stain the oak a darker color.

I did take pictures along the way.  Is anyone interested in a tutorial for making this hinged quilt ladder?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun linkys on my sidebar.  Check them out to see what other quilters are up to.

Different Ways to Hang Quilts

{A Picture Heavy Post}

I love decorating with quilts.  I put them on beds, on tables, on the walls, and anywhere else I can think of.  ;-)  Anyone entering my house can immediately see that a crazy quilter lives here.  Today I thought it would be fun to show different ways I hang quilts on the walls.

One of my new favorite ways to hang quilts is on this drapery rod in my kitchen.

I love it because there is no need to add a hanging sleeve.  Just use the clips to hold it up.

I have also used other styles of drapery rods to hang quilts.  This one is in my basement.

The hangers just mount into the sheet rock, so it is not super secure.  However, I can still rotate the quilts I hang here.

We used  a small drapery rod to hang a mini quilt in Monkey's nursery.

One thing I don't like about this method is how far the little quilt hangs away from the wall.

In addition to purchased drapery rods, my handy husband has built many quilt hangers for me.  One of my favorites in this one in my living room.  It sits flush against the wall.

Which is really nice, because it is behind my front door.

He made it to the perfect size for all of my cover story quilts.  (Thimbleberries and my own designs ~ one quilt for each month.) There is a hinge which opens up and a groove in which a rod rests.  He even cut away some of the top board so no pressure is put on the quilts.

My husband also built this hanger which is in my stairway.

It is really nice, because he was able to mount it straight into the studs in the wall, but there is no shelf to collect dust.

Another one of his creations is in my craft room.  This one has a shelf I store my rainbow scraps on.

He was able to mount it to the studs through the back board on this one as well.  The rod just sets on the side pieces. This was the first quilt hanger he made for me ten years ago, and I still love it.

My mom loved this next quilt hanger so much that she had my husband build three of them for her.  Mine is in the basement hallway.

It also mounts into the studs and is really secure.  He drilled holes into the side boards for the rod to slide through.  Originally it was just a plain rod, but my boys kept bumping it and it fell down frequently.  So my husband cut the ends off and added these knobs which come on and off easily.  The rod no longer falls down and I can still rotate my quilts.

In some of the bedrooms we have quilts hanging up with just a plain dowel.

We used some Command Performance hooks to hang this one up.

The one on display in Monkey's room is a store bought blanket *gasp* which I added a hanging sleeve to.

This dowel slides in between a couple of push pins.  Whatever works, right?

And I will also admit that plain push pins are sometimes used for hanging quilts.

I have heard that used sewing machine needles would work even better for hanging a quilt like this.

Our newest way to hang a quilt was my hubby's idea.

He found these hooks at the hardware store that hold the dowel while staying hidden.

On my husband's quilt I used corner triangles and tabs with extra give to hold and hide the rod.  We used four of the hooks to hold the rod.

If you want the rod and the tabs to show, then you don't have to stitch them to the back.  (This is a little quilt I finished for a friend.  Her sister did the cross-stitch.)

And here's the back.

Most of the time I make a hanging sleeve with a little extra give on one side.  It helps the quilt hang straighter without rolling around the rod.  I sew one side in with the binding and stitch the other down by hand.  I usually cut the sleeves 6.5 inches wide and hem the sides.  Instead of ironing it in half, I will have one side be about a half inch wider (3 and 3.5).  It may look saggy, but it works great!

If I know it is going on an even thicker rod/dowel I may have an inch difference.

What is your favorite way to hang quilts?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with Tips and Tutorials Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.  (Links on sidebar.)

A Quilt Display and Show

I was volunteered by one of my church leaders to have a display at our Stake Arts Festival last Saturday night.  It was a professional talent night with live performances and displays.  I was humbled that people thought of me as a professional quilter, because I don't feel like I am one.  Other displays included professional photographers, painters, a saddle maker, and another quilter. 

Even though it was stressful, I enjoyed the experience talking about quilting to lots of people.  As part of my display I showed what the three layers of a quilt looked like.

 I made the doll quilt out of scraps on Friday afternoon.  I look forward to quilting it using one of my long arm rulers.  I really enjoy trying out new quilting designs on small projects. 

I also had a basket of fun, smaller projects.  There were wall hangings, table runners, and doll quilts in my basket (Some were hiding in the back). 

It was nice to have a few examples of quilting with the walking foot.  I showed them to someone thinking about making a quilt without free motion quilting.  She said, "But I don't think I could quilt that straight." 

It was fun to pull out this table runner telling her that she doesn't have to quilt straight.  I loved hearing her say, "Okay.  I could do that." 

Knowing that one of my friends (who has only made two quilts before) wants help making a larger quilt made all the effort worth it! 

This fun evening came after an amazing day spent in the Salt Lake City area with my family.  After visiting an aquarium together, my sweet husband dropped me off at the Home Machine Quilting Show.  He then took the boys to the Lego Store. 

I didn't have much time to spend there, but I was able to do what I really wanted.  I visited booths for some of my favorite quilt shops, purchased items for Princess from Handi Quilter, and bought thread from Superior Threads. 

I only had twenty-five minutes to rush through the quilt display.  I am totally in awe of the talent other quilts have and received much inspiration from their quilts.  I especially loved Judi Madsen's trunk show.  Here are some pictures of my favorite quilt she displayed. 

Knowing I love simple quilts, is it any wonder that one of my favorite quilts was this chevron? 

Next year I hope that my mother will be able to go with me to the HMQS.  I sure could have spent more than one and a half hours there.  But, it was still worth going even for such a short amount of time.  :) 

As a side note, I just joined Bloglovin and added the button to my side bar.  Now I have to claim my blog, so here goes...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up at Let's Bee Social this week.