Its almost that time again...

Quilt Show Time!

[caption id="attachment_149" align="aligncenter" width="229"] Left click and open in a new tab to see the flyer![/caption]

You may or may not already know i belong to the local quilt guild, The Crossroads Quilters Guild of Effingham, IL. and that each year for the past nine years we have held a pretty darn nice quilt show. This year is our tenth year, and we are hoping it will be even better than years past.

The first show took place at the local school, i was not a part of the guild at that time, matter of fact i didn't even know there was a quilt guild in the area until i went to that first show.  The next year the show was moved to the local Hendelmeyer Park Recreation Center, it had great lighting, a great large area to display the quilts, but we didn't have a sound system so to announce events i literally had to stand in the middle of the room and scream each and every event... Every, Single, Hour, all, Day, Long. The venders of the show dubbed me the Quilt Show Crier. Oh and let's not forget the lack of air conditioning. i don't know if you have ever been to Southern Illinois or not but it can be (and usually is) very very very hot in September.  I joined the guild after the second show and we stayed at the Rec Center for a total of six years. The heat was always a issue but we dealt with it. In 2001 we were able to move the show to the Thelma Keller Convention Center, Great location, nice carpeted flooring, a sound system to announce events, lights in the parking lot that didn't flicker on and off, and a big plus Air Conditioning! Granted ever since we had the added air conditioning we have had a cold front and have been known to start our days with jackets on. Mother nature, got to love her irony!

The show improves each and every year. The judges have told us in a previous year that we may have had a few less quilts at that year's show but the quality of the quilts on display had improved 100%  Categories have come and gone, and as time goes by we do our best to add to or take away from the categories to keep up with the quilting world. Want to see the quilts? Well most all of the quilts, starting from the 2005 quilt show can be found online. Just pick a year and enjoy!

2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012

This years show takes place on September 20th & 21st and i hope to see a few of you there, or better yet why not enter a quilt in the show?! Because of the holiday weekend we have extended the deadline from this past Sunday September 1st to this upcoming Saturday September 7th. If you would like your quit and its info to show up in the book we need to receive your information by September 7th to include it. Anything after that will not be in the show book so if you want to be sure to get your quilt listed in the show book you can email the information to our shows Chairman Marilyn at the email on the entry form! You can find the entry for on the Quilt guilds blog at:  Crossroads Quilters Guild

Want to come to the show to see the quilts but don't want to bring your husbands along? Well it just so happens that at the same time the Corvette FunFest is also taking place! Now i am not condoning you leaving your husbands alone and unsupervised at car show why you come check out all the pretty quilts on display.  Just be sure to leave them with a cell phone, a peanut butter sandwich for a snack, and be sure to take the credit cards away from them (just in case he decides to make a unsupervised purchase) and all will be just fine!

The importance of triming your threads

Trimming your threads when you piece your quilt top is a big deal, a VERY big deal. I have heard it all "of its ok, a few threads are  not going to cause a problem." "what's the big deal its just a thread its inside the quilt its not going to get in your way."  Well no its not going to get in my way but they can shadow through the fabric causing it to look like a pencil mark on your quilt.  Even more important it annoys the heck out of judges at quilt shows! Take the time to trim your threads before you bring it to your quilt for quilting.  and why your trimming your threads make sure you don't have any "short seams" that are going to pull apart at the slightest tug.!

Sometimes, even for the ever persistent thread trimming quilting, sometimes a stray thread sneaks into your quilt without anyone seeing it until its "Too Late". Yap, from time to time even i don't see a thread that needs trimming until i have already quilted over it and it is now shadowing through the light color fabric standing out like a sore thumb.  But never fear, it can be fixed!

Take a look at this photo, do you see that dark brown thread shadowing a line in the creamy fabric? Go ahead, look closer, you'll see it...



Now take a look at the tools i am going to use to "fix" that stray thread. My handy dandy thread snips, and a teeny tiny size 13 crochet hook. Word to the wise, that crochet hook is easily broken if you drop it and it lands hook first on a concrete floor. Don't ask me how i know, lets just trust me on that one k?



First thing you need to do is to decide if the thread is actually attached to the quilt top and its not just a stray tread you picked up off your clothes or the floor.  If it is attached to the quilt at a seam or to some machine applique stitching here is what you need to do. #1, take the crochet hook and as close to the seam (or applique stitching line) as possible stick the hook into the fabric. I know, i know, in the photo the hook isn't that close to the seam line. I couldn't get a good photo if i got the hook right on the seam so lets just pretend that its much closer than it really is ok?



#2 CAREFULLY wiggle the hook around until you catch the thread



#3 SLOWLY pull the thread back out of the same spot that you inserted the crochet hook being VERY careful to not grab any of the woven threads of the fabrics itself. If there is quilting stitches OVER the thread it can be a bit more difficult to remove. (see the end of this post for more info it the thread has quilting over it!)



#4 give the thread a very slight tug and then cut it as close to the fabric as possible



#5 run the blunt (non hook end) of the crochet hook over the spot and any small amount of thread (& any batting that just happened to pop up!) will pop back into the fabric and disappear!



See all gone!



If the thread is lose and not attached to a seam then you don't have to worry about bring it out near a seam, just use the hook to grab it near the middle if possible.

If there is quilting stitches OVER the thread i can be a bit trickier to remove. You might have to take it out in small sections instead of one long thread. Do the same steps as above EXCEPT insert the crochet hook into the fabric of the quilt top near the row of quilting stitches and pull the thread out a bit at a time, cutting it when needed and moving towards the seam were the thread is attached. If you have lots of quilting over the thread it may, and will take a lot of work to make this work so try to do it before you do any tiny background fillers like pebbles or McTavishing!