Journaling – Sandy Gilreath

Putting on a Show

I’ve written before about how special my quilt guild (the Heart of Georgia guild) is to me. I recently celebrated my 20^th anniversary as a member and the sisterhood just gets stronger. I spent this past weekend with those sisters at our biennial quilt show. If you are local, I hope you had a chance to attend.

This year’s show displayed nearly 200 members’ quilts. And the 58 quilts hanging on the rails above the floor level were made by our guild for residents of the Methodist Children’s Home. Each resident receives a quilt when he/she moves in and keeps it for life. Our guild makes many quilts for this endeavor.

Quilt Show weekend is a special time for us. We work together to present some of our latest work to friends and family – and to visitors who may be quilters, but not members of a guild as well as those who want to become quilters. We want our sisterhood to grow!

I’ve written about several shows in the past and included photos of fabulous quilts. I’m doing that here for this latest display, but this time I remembered to take photos of some of the work that goes into getting it all together. This year, our quilt show leader was Helen. She did a fabulous job of organizing everything, but it’s not a one-person job. Everyone helped!

Here is Dewey demonstrating use of his longarm machine at the show. Yes, he loads all that in his trailer, brings it over, sets it up to demonstrate, and allows visitors to try it out!

Before the show can even be laid out, someone has to collect all the information on the quilts and plan the layout. This year, and for the past several shows, that person has been Dewey. Dewey is our quilting brother. A gifted artist at the longarm machine, Dewey is also quite the handyman and quilt show designer.

Dewey arrived and started setting up the poles (he had help from a quilter’s husband) and identifying which quilt would hang where. This is after two weeks’ work developing a layout on computer and then on the butcher paper.

Here Kaye is checking her quilts in. Each quilt is labeled and in a pillowcase. Data has already been sorted to assign a number to each quilt so it can be hung in the correct space.

As all those quilts come in, members resort by number to put them in place.

Here you see some quilts ready to be hung and stepladders ready.

And, the quilts are up! I took no photos in progress, I was busy on a ladder.

Sherry was busy (with some helpers) in the weeks ahead of the show making ribbons for the awards. These are the three ribbons to be awarded to recipients of votes by all viewers who attend the show. There were 18 more ribbons made to give to winners of votes by members on Thursday night.

While Thursday night’s votes were being counted, members and friends enjoyed food and conversation.

Julie’s farm-themed quilt was a big hit!

Carol’s Montana quilt was beautiful! By the way, there were many many beautiful quilts here…I shouldn’t share them all….just a representative sample.

Kathy’s scrappy quilt was fabulous…I had to share a closeup of her feather quilting on her longarm machine.

Deann won a ribbon for best hand quilting….for a different quilt…but my photo of this quilt shows the stitches more clearly.

Sheila’s masterpiece, Mimi’s Garden, won best appliqué and was quilted by Dewey on his longarm.

This is my Celebration quilt. It took home a ribbon for best quilting on a home sewing machine.

After everything was set up and ready, we welcomed visitors from 9:00 – 5:00 for two days. Then on Saturday afternoon, all this process was reversed. Quilts were dropped (gravity helped that process go faster than putting up), folded, reinserted into those pillowcases, resorted by quilter’s name, checked out, and carried home.

We’ve had a few days to put everything away at home and reflect on the fun we had. We are already thinking about the next quilt (it’s probably in progress) and planning how to make the next show better. I hope wherever a quilt show fits in your life; as a participant or a visitor, you make time to experience it.

The Rebellious Weathergirl

My latest finished quilt is a journal quilt of sorts. The background squares are color coded to the lowest temperature of a given day, the melon appliquéd on top indicates the high temperature. My quilt has more than 365 blocks, and they aren’t arranged chronologically, but the quilt still tells my story of 2023.

While I was sewing on the binding, I dropped the quilt to the floor to go get more thread, and I loved how it puddled…where the front and back are visible and melons of two sizes show in the same shot.

I knew from the start that my arrangement of blocks would not be chronological. I had seen quite a few photos of temperature quilts using various blocks to show the high and low temperatures of the day and with my love of journal quilts, I thought it would be fun to do. Some people even include stitches to depict rain, snow, wind, but temperatures seemed enough for me.

i decided on appliquéd melons as my quilt block and chose to use a range of Cherrywood hand-dyed solid fabrics already selected by another quilting blogger. I cut 3” squares of fabrics, made a melon template that fit within that 3”, and was ready to sew.

Each day in 2023, I checked the previous day’s temperature data, recorded the figures on my spreadsheet, pulled the fabrics from my dedicated stash, and appliquéd a melon. On days when we were away from home, I recorded the temperatures for Macon and for our physical location, stitching the blocks when I returned home.

Early in 2024, I assembled the blocks on the design wall in monthly arrays, and made photos. I also assembled two chronological arrays using 365 blocks; one for the temperatures at home, one for the temperatures in whatever location we had been. With trips to Scotland, Colorado, and Louisiana, there were visible differences in those two arrangements.

Here I’m removing days from the Macon arrangement and replacing them with our travel days.

This is the final layout I assembled…reminding me of the Dots and Vines quilt I made similarly with circles.

I used a variegated thread to stitch it all together with a meandering quilting line.

I uploaded those two photos to Spoonflower (an online digital printing service) and had each one printed on ½ yard of cotton fabric. I was then free to arrange the 400 blocks in a more pleasing arrangement than the calendar provided. So I spent a few days moving blocks and looking, moving again, and finally settling on an arrangement that pleased me.

The image on the top left shows chronological temperatures in Macon, GA 2023, the image on the right shows temperatures wherever we were.

The back of the quilt holds records of the two chronological layouts, and a strip that shows the temperature range assigned to each color. The label is a vintage doily overdyed with indigo dye and the title, The Rebellious Weathergirl, acknowledges the fact that I knowingly broke the rules of temperature quilting. The quilt measures 50” square and is finished with a ⅜” plaid binding.

Mimi’s Boys Working

I’ve written about this quilt before, but didn’t have good photos of the quilt or the risque fabric involved. Recently, one of the grandsons loaned the quilt to me to use in a couple of talks I was giving to quilt guilds.

The story always brings smiles to other quilters, and I have renewed determination to make a quilt for myself where I include some of this fabric.

I love toile fabrics, and selected this to make quilts for two little boys some twenty years ago. And, yes, I still have some of the fabric left. I don’t think of myself as a hoarder, but a collector of stories. And fabric holds stories. Especially fabric like this that has had a few years of life.

The fabric line from Moda, called Tom and Huck, features scenes of boys painting a fence, fishing, swimming, opening a treasure chest; things you expect boys to do. I made a few blocks, pieced them together, and had two cuddle quilts for grandsons.

I selected different scenes to feature in the largest blocks and named the quilts based on that scene. This quilt is Mimi’s Boys Working, the other is Mimi’s Boys Fishing.

Years later, one of the grandsons made me realize that a new line of fabric had put swimming trunks on the diving boy. Until then, I didn’t think about my boys being embarrassed that I had made them quilts with nekkid swimmers on them.

A little web research turned up an image of the later line of fabric complete with trunks. I guess I have to approve, because the trunks are blue. This later line of fabric was released by Marcus Bros, not Moda. I don’t know the ins and outs of fabric production, competition, and copyright, but I bet there’s a story there.

While this quilt was on loan to me, I took it outside for a photo shoot at a local library.

More details of this quilt are in an earlier post here.

And speaking of stories, I’m reminded of one about my Daddy diving into the water at a Sunday School party and his trunks coming off. It seems the adventure was unplanned and he borrowed swimming trunks from a chunkier friend. Thankfully, he was a skillful swimmer and could stay under water long enough to retrieve them.

Valentine’s Day Ride About

I made this using my newest sewing room toy, a needle-felting machine. I felted the wool heart to an old quilt remnant, then to a bit of vintage ticking, then to denim. More to come on that new tool.

On this glorious February 14, we spent the day celebrating things and places we love. We did some antiquing near Fayettevile and in Woodbury, traveled backroads all the way, had lunch at The Blackbird Cafe.

Vignettes with hearts were on display everywhere, whetting my appetite for things I’d like to do next year.

One antique mall had hearts cut from old quilts just lying around everywhere! And, most vendors there had items 14% off today.

This has neither hearts nor blue in it…but don’t you love these neutrals?

I found a few treasures to inspire me…most of them blue and brown. No surprise there. Brought home a few of them, you see.

A brown transfer plate filled with sewing treasures…I’m loving those vintage laundry pins!

I found quite a selection of printer’s blocks… I can’t wait to make images on fabric using these.

And in another store, my initials were in a printing drawer!

I made this little heart garland to add to our kitchen heart collection this year…cut bits of a vintage quilt that had been for a swim in the indigo dye pot.

I hope your heart day was wonderful, too.

Website Elves

The tree is up, the Santas are waiting. And in the world of the internet, elves are busy building something new.

My website is undergoing some changes and may not be available at times in the coming days…but it will be back. Frustration with technical issues has almost brought me to decide to stop blogging. But, no. I’ve decided to move to a new platform.

I’ve questioned my motives for writing a blog. Many sites you see are powered by the desire to sell something. I started with that in mind when I wrote a book about a quilt, but I quickly learned that I didn’t like selling. I do like sharing.

Sharing stories. Sharing quilts. Sharing photos. Sharing the joys that come to a small-town southern girl who sees an old lady in the mirror.

The web address will remain the same, sandygilreath.com.

Inspiration in Blue

We revisited Slow Exposures this weekend. Slow Exposures is a “juried exhibition celebrating photography of the rural south” (from their website, here). I wrote about it after our first visit to the exhibit in 2018.

As is always the case when we spend the day with these photographs, we feel inspired.

The display of photos entered in the photo contest at Slow Exposures.

Sometimes it’s the techniques used in processing the photos, sometimes it’s the way the photos are displayed, sometimes it’s the subject matter. This year, I was entranced by blue.

Two pairs of artists in the PopUp venues were working with cyanotypes. A cyanotype uses paper (or fabric or wood) that’s been treated with chemicals which are light sensitive. Laying an image on the paper, then exposing it to sunlight produces an image. Having done some of this myself with fabric, I’m intrigued by the new spin on things when other people do it.

Jim captured this image of Ashley and Danea’s cyanotypes under glass. Displayed in a coffee shop, the scene was impressive.

Ashely Jones and Danea Males shared their work in the popup Some Kind of Blue. Their work included cyanotype images on paper and on wood.

You can see more of their work at https://www.daneamales.com and http://www.ashleymjones.com

Some of the jewelry made by Ashley Jones and Danea Males. I had already bought one of their pendants when I snapped this photo.

In the Out of Town popup, Elizabeth Limbaugh and Tara Stallworth Lee had collaborated to share their interpretations of Alabama images. They had photographic diptychs, collages, and cyanotype prints.

Elizabeth is the one of the pair who works with the cyanotypes and she and I shared our love of the process and techniques we’ve used.

Elizabeth is on instagram @ewlfotografee

Vintage photos in wax by Dale Niles (at dalenilesphotography.com)

I loved learning about the encaustic process used with photos on our initial visit to Slow Exposures. This year another artist was exploring that process with vintage photos. I was intrigued since I love collecting old photos of known and unknown people to populate my stories in cloth.

So now I’m at home contemplating new ways to make and include cyanotypes and photographs in my textiles.

A few weeks ago, I pulled out some of my old images I had printed and assembled them into a quilt top. Another larger project is under the quilting needle now, but this is in the queue.

My earlier post about Slow Exposures is here.

Quilts I’ve made using cyanotypes are in these posts:

Fern Fronds and Fibonacci

GBI Blues

Annie Mae’s Lace is an older post with fewer photos, but here I describe the sun printing (cyanotype) processes I have used in detail.

And in Annie Mae’s Lace in the Garden, there are more photos of the same quilt.

Quilted Clutch

I’m still here; sewing, just not posting…but here’s some stitching to share.

I have long admired the quilting work of Cindy Needham. Many times, she enhances her amazing quilting with fresh water pearls.

I needed a purse for my grandson’s wedding, had a bit of cotton fabric I had dipped in the walnut dyepot…it matched my shoes exactly.

So I gathered a few of Cindy’s stencils I had purchased, reread her instructions, and modified a zippered bag tutorial from Jenny Doane at Missouri Star Quilts.

I used wool batting and silk thread. It was fun!

With the flap open, you see I used clamshells, wavy lines, and pebbles on this portion.

And the view from the backside with the purse opens shows the cathedral window quilting that wraps from the front to the back of the bag.

And, I confess, I was pleased with the feathers.

Here is a link to Cindy Needham’s website:

Here is a link to Jenny Doan’s tutorial for the zippered bag.

Little Pillow in Blue and Brown

What better way to spend rainy afternoons than playing with fabric?

We had a lot of rain last week, so I was inside the house more than usual in the summertime.

After weeks and months of working on big projects with other peoples’ styles and color choices in mind, I took a break to play.

You may remember some of these pieces when I wrote about walnut dyeing here and here.

I pulled out some pieces I had overdyed in walnut or indigo and combined them with others lying around.

Bits of vintage fabric in browns and blues, some fun improvisational embroidery, and I had a little pillow. I used simple straight stitches, seed stitches, and a few fly stitches to embellish the pieces in the log cabin block.

The back of the pillow is made with vintage linen from South Carolina.

This is one of my doll chairs sitting on the buffet in the dining room. The chair is about 20″ tall and the pillow measures 7″ square (well, sorta -it’s a bit wonky).

A quick little project is always rewarding and the stitching is soul soothing. I love my little chairs – now they all need pillows. I’ve assembled some smaller blocks for pincushions, too.

Note: Since this post was published, I’ve been asked about the quilt in the background. Here is a photo of the full quilt. And an earlier blog post here described its construction. This earlier post was when I only posted one photo per blog – but more on this is coming soon.

Celebration

WooHoo! This one’s done!

People often ask, “how long does it take to make a quilt?” There’s usually no way to answer that…but this one was 20 years in the making. I pieced the blocks long ago, pulled them out in February and presented the quilt as a gift early in May.

I learned a lot about quilting at the turn of the century watching the then HGTV series, Simply Quilts. On that show, a line of fabric designed by Susan Branch was featured with this pieced combination of Lemoyne Stars and half-Lemoyne stars. I was entranced. Entranced by Susan Branch’s art work, by the fabric, by the star pattern.

I bought the line of fabric in fat quarters, downloaded the show’s pattern, and began piecing stars by hand. They were lovely. I enjoyed many hours of piecing the stars while visiting with family and friends.

Then they sat in a box for years. Many years. I had memories of laying out the blocks on the design wall, labeling their position in a spreadsheet array, and putting them aside. I thought it was a failed project because the white background fabric was so thin that it wouldn’t work to assemble them.

I opened the box earlier this year to learn that I was wrong. I had put them away because the solid white blocks were the wrong size to connect with the stars. Whether I read the directions incorrectly, pieced incorrectly, or whether there was an error in the instructions, I don’t know. Fortunately the solid blocks were too big, not too small. All the stars were consistently the same size, so I just trimmed the solid blocks to fit and stitched them together. They went together perfectly. Well, there are a few less than perfect points…but let’s chalk that up to an inexperienced piecer stitching them by hand.

Twenty years of experience gave me the knowledge I needed to make the blocks work.

Here are the blocks on the design wall in February. The box on the apron of the sewing machine is where they lived for years.

As I thought about a quilting design, the obvious was to quilt feathered wreaths in the open spaces. That seemed too pretentious to me for these fun fabrics. I wanted a curvy design to contrast with the pointy stars. So I stitched an overall vine in green thread, then echoed it in a fine white thread. I like the result.

Here you see I marked a suggested path for the vines with a wax pencil (removable with a hot iron). You also see that I do not feel compelled to follow those lines very carefully.

I called this one Celebration. It was given to a family member who had reason to celebrate…but I was celebrating the completion of a big UFO! I considered calling it WooHoo, but went with the more discreet name.

This full view was taken with a drone…a great way to photograph a quilt without a sleeve.

The quilt measures 80” square. I’m pleased with the green vines on back and front, echoed with a finer thread in white. The green is a 30wt cotton thread. The white is a 100 wt silk.

I loved that this outdoor image captured the shadow of real leaves on my quilted leaves.

The on-location photos were taken at a rescued country store, Mildred’s, in Houston County.

Prayers and Squares

I made lots of new friends at our recent guild quilt show. Two of them, Flo and Jan, invited me to visit their Prayers and Squares group at one of their meetings. I went this past Sunday and was touched by the love they are stitching together.

Angela and Linda are tying a nautical-themed quilt.

I had heard of Prayers and Squares before; I have a friend who is a cancer survivor. Faye had received a loving gift of a quilt from a group during her time of healing. I didn’t realize there was an international organization involved.

Prayers & Squares is an interfaith outreach organization that combines the gift of prayer with the gift of a hand-tied quilt. That statement is from their website, here. Begun in 1992 in California, their website now lists thousands of chapters worldwide. I visited with the one at Hopewell United Methodist Church near Milledgeville, chapter #1241.

Grace says she doesn’t always color coordinate her wardrobe to the quilt she’s working on…but I couldn’t help but notice that she did that today.

This group of eleven women meets monthly. On the day I visited, they were celebrating their fifth anniversary as a Prayers and Squares chapter, and they were putting finishing touches on their quilt #170.

The emphasis on these lap-sized quilts is simplicity. Members take donated fabrics and coordinate them with a theme or motif appropriate for the recipient.

The emphasis is on the prayers, not the squares. Each of the quilts is tied, not stitched, to secure the layers of love. “Each knot represents a prayer.”

Jeanene works to get all the layers smooth before final stitching is done around the edge.

Not all of the members are quilters outside of this group. Flo, who learned of the organization and started this chapter, says that some people said, “I’d like to help, but I don’t know how to sew.” Her reply was, “can you pin, can you cut, can you tie a knot?” All skills are welcomed.

Becki and Ginny are pinning quilts, backs, and batting together in preparation for machine closure. Becki’s recent sewing project at home was a granddaughter’s prom dress.

Especially welcomed in this group was the talent for organization possessed by Patty. A retired helicopter pilot, Patty used her military-like precision to ensure efficient work habits. Every quilt has a design sheet specifying each step of the project. Projects are carefully labeled with what’s to be done next. Zippered bags hold projects at every stage of development – so when the group meets to work, each person just picks up a packet and proceeds to the next step. Patty has since moved away, but her presence is felt with every quilt this group makes.

The bin holding projects at every stage of work to be completed…members had already pulled bags and gotten to work by the time I took this photo.

This is a quilt made by Patty in recognition of this chapter of *Prayers and Squares*. Charter members’ names are embroidered on the bindings of the books. The fabrics used for the books are left over from quilts the group had made and presented to people who requested prayers. The fabrics are in the order of the quilts made using them.

Embroidery on the back of Patty’s quilt pictured above.

I wrote earlier about a quilt I made for a friend, Every Stitch a Prayer. That experience ties me to these women who meet to sew and pray for someone in need every month.

Flo with the latest prayerful quilt ready for the recipient.

A closeup of the tag that goes on every quilt. On the back are instructions for laundering the quilt.

If you want to know more about this organization, perhaps joining a chapter near you, or even starting another group, check out the website at prayerquilt.org.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: