The Quilting Corner in Tilton, New Hampshire

Two years ago, Sue, Elizabeth and Barbara went to this shop on one of their Row By Row road trips. We blogged about it here. 

This year, after picking up her sister Becky at the airport in Manchester, Elizabeth convinced her to delay getting to the lake a few more minutes to make a stop in Tilton, New Hampshire at The Quilting Corner.  This shop is in a renovated textile mill of which there are so many sprinkled along the rivers in New England. 

At one time they certainly fueled the economy of these states and led to the acceptance of women working outside the home.  This particular mill made the first continuous woven drive belt and employed many women workers.

This shop has many samples and is clear and uncluttered with plenty of fabric and notion choices for any quilter.  She also offers classes in June and August but not in July.  Perhaps one year, we can take a class?

Their row includes three little turtles crawling through the grass taking their “home sweet home” along with them.  The kit comes with the turtle and grass shapes die cut and the fusible web already attached.  This row should go together quickly.

Bald Eagles

For many summers Elizabeth and Sue have held our own creative quilt camp in New Hampshire on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.  This year we are not able to get together for our creative endeavors but thought we would still bring you a little taste of New Hampshire as we know many of you who follow us enjoy our quilt camp virtually.  

Nothing is quite as spectacular as seeing an endangered species return to the wild in large enough numbers to actually get to see them in person.  Bald Eagles have been making a comeback in the USA since they went under federal protection in 1940. 

New Hampshire has approximately 90 bald eagles as of a bird count in January of 2015. As Elizabeth and her neighbors were standing out in the lake cooling off on the 4^th of July, two eagles landed on the shoreline.  One was a juvenile - identified by the mottled coloring of the feathers and the not yet white head and tail.  The other was a mature bird with all the plumage that makes us know with certainty that we are looking at the national symbol, the bald eagle.  We hope you enjoy these photos below which were taken by our neighbors, Joan and Neil Funcke.  (Photos above, PGFiber2Art)

Rowing in New Hampshire

On the opposite side of Lake Winnipesaukee from where Sue and Elizabeth hold their annual quilt camp is The Weirs, a popular resort town, where you can find The Quilted Frog. 

This is the third year Elizabeth has been able to visit The Quilted Frog for their row.  A very patriotic row this year, it includes two pieced blocks on the end of the row with an applique and embroidered firework/Lady Liberty theme in the center.

This shop is small, neat and clean with a nice selection of patterns and fabric. 

Don’t miss a trip to the bathroom which is all decked out for the Irish and the lucky, complete with a 3-D leprechaun.

Closer to the lake house is Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, famous for their on-line catalog and a large selection at their store. 

The row there features birdhouses, one even in the shape of New Hampshire with Lake Winnipesaukee as the entrance hole.  Very clever!

Lake Winnipesaukee Quilt Shops

Elizabeth shares this info about NH quilt shops:

A driving trip around Lake Winnipesaukee takes us to two quilt shops participating in the Row by Row Experience.  Since we had to drive to Belmont for a mooring sticker, we made stops at these two stores to collect their patterns and license plates.

Our first stop is the closest place to buy fabric and quilting supplies, the internationally known Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor at the northern end of the lake.  If you are ever in the Lakes Region of NH, this store is not to be missed. It is a quilter's delight!

This year their row features three appliqued loons on pieced blocks of Lady of the Lake, Delectable Mountain, and Bear’s Paw.

Further around the lake  to the south but still right off the Highway is The Quilting Frog in Weirs Beach, NH, right by the traffic circle. 

In keeping with their name, the row features a frog and some lilypads along with quilt blocks at both ends. 

When Sue arrives in another week, we will be visiting more shops around the state. Last year we also visited a few in Maine and Vermont. We'll see what this year brings; after all, we need some time for "quilt camp" too!

Not Everything in NH is Quilting

Believe it or not, not everything in New Hampshire is quilt camp.  As the season begins this year, Sue is still in Virginia and Elizabeth is in New Hampshire with her mother, Barbara, along with her husband, Bob and two long-time friends.  Everyone is delighted that the friends decided to come visit and we are taking some time to show off the Lakes Region and the two guys are working on building a new gazebo attached to the front deck, something Barbara has been wanting for a long time.  Here is the progress after three days of building.

We took some time to visit a local attraction known as Castle in the Clouds.  Lunch on the patio here is a favorite because of the spectacular view.  

 Also on the castle grounds is a pond with some of the biggest rainbow trout imaginable.  They get so big from tourists giving them food all summer!

 Of course, we like to take some time to look at our own view too.  This is from our community dock looking up towards the Ossipee Mountains where Castle in the Clouds is located. 

QC5 Day 4

July 3, 2014
Today started off similarly to the last two; a trip to the library to print some order receipts, followed by the post office for mailing orders.  The post office happens to be right next to Geez Louise, so of course we had to stop in and look around!  I found a set of 8 linen napkins that will be good for dyeing, and the real treasure, an old ledger dating to 1899!  Just look at the penmanship!

Yesterday I shared my sun printed fabric; today I added another layer with screen printing.  On the left is a sample Elizabeth printed on commercial fabric. On the right is my piece where I used the fern and pine cone screens that we made yesterday.  This is what it looks like now, although I don't think it is finished.  I think more layers are in order.

I also shared a picture of the t-shirt I started.  Well, I'm back to square 1 with that project.  It needed to be soaked in a soda ash solution before dyeing, so I did that this afternoon - forgetting that the warm water would wash out the color magnet!  So its been drying the rest of the day and I will have to redo the color magnet tomorrow.  (Soda ashed items cannot go in the dryer - they can catch on fire!)

Meanwhile, I put another piece of fabric in the dye I had prepared and couldn't use for the t-shirt.  I did some gelli plate printing and more screen printing, and prepared a silk screen for breakdown printing - that has to dry completely so at least 24 hours, maybe longer because of humidity.  So far I am really happy with the new screens we created yesterday.  More pictures of those prints tomorrow.

Ended the day with a late afternoon swim in the lake - it was like bath water, but still refreshing.  After dark the rain storms moved in - lots of thunder and lightening to go with the fire crackers being shot off all around the lake.  I'm sure there will be lots more of that tomorrow.

QC6 Day 3

July 2, 2014
Today was a better day, at least I got started on some things.  It's hard to believe its day 3 already - I feel like I've been in a fog.  I took 2 hour naps at 5:00 for the last 2 days.  But today I made it through the whole day awake!  This morning I spent some time figuring out what to start on.  I intended to start with gelli plate printing a background layer, but then side tracked to 2 other things and never got back to the gelli plate, so that will be on tomorrow's agenda.  First I prepared a piece for sun printing.

 

I started with a fat quarter that was pale yellow from a previous dye bath and placed it on a foam core board covered with plastic.  You can see from the pink on the sides that it has been used before.  The first step is to saturate the fabric with water, then apply paint.  I used Pebeo Setacolor that was diluted about half & half with water and brushed it on with a foam brush; I used, green, yellow and blue and blended them together.

 It picked up a few spots of paint from the plastic, but that's OK.

Then I placed my printing objects on top.  I had some new stencils I wanted to try, but they didn't take up enough space so I added some natural elements - ferns and wild flowers.

After everything was in position I covered it with a piece of organza and tacked it down. That keeps things from blowing away or shifting position if there's a breeze while it sits in the sun.  It needs to sit in a sunny spot until its dry.

When it's dry, you can remove the organza and printing elements.  It needs to be heat set (with an iron) before washing.  You can always add another layer of sun printing or other surface design technique.  Here's the finished piece, although this photo came out lighter than it really is; the color above is more accurate.

The second thing I worked on today was trying a new product called color magnet.  Its a dye attractant, so when you dye something, more dye is attracted to the parts that have the color magnet applied.  I screen printed some flowers on a shirt, and left it to dry overnight.  Tomorrow I will apply the dye. (You can see the sun print in the background - that is the true color.)

And one more thing I did today was make and tape more screens!

The fern and pine cone were gathered on my morning walk, and tomorrow I will be able to print them!

Quilt Camp Day 2

July 1, 2014
I'm off to a slow start this year.  This morning we had to go to the library to make some image copies to burn screens that we had orders for.  Then come back to the house and make the screens, package them for shipping.  By then it was lunch time, so it made sense to eat before we headed off to the post office, Keepsake Quilting and the grocery store.  By the time we got back, I was ready for a nap!  Got up to eat dinner and clean up, but still am not too energetic so I am blogging instead.

I did start off the morning by sorting through some of my supplies and playing with some pieces from previous years, on the far end of the table.

Elizabeth prepared a previously dyed piece with a flour paste resist so it could sit in the sun to dry.  While we were at the library, a small critter jumped up on the table and walked across it.

After our stop at the post office, we headed on to Center Harbor where Keepsake Quilting is located.  They claim to be the largest quilt shop in the US, and have a huge mail order business as well.  Since it is July 1, this is the first day of the Row by Row Experience shop hop and we wanted to pick up their free row pattern. 1250 shops in 34 states are participating.  From July1 through September 2, quilters can stop in a participating shop and pick up a free pattern.  Most shops will also have kits available if you want to make your row exactly like theirs, or you can choose other fabrics.  If you make 8 rows from different shops in your travels and combine them into a quilt, you can take it to a participating shop to be eligible for a prize.  Here is Keepsake's row:

Guess it's time to figure out what I'm going to work on tomorrow!

Quilt Camp 6!

June 30, 2014
Can you believe it?  For the 6th year in a row, my friend Elizabeth and I are in New Hampshire for our "quilt camp"!  Actually, she would be here regardless since we are at her family's summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee! They are kind enough to invite me and let me stay as long as I want so we can play with fabric, dye, paint, all kinds of surface design and stitch.  How lucky can a girl get??  We arrived late last night, so today we are just getting started with setting up the garage "studio" and unloading the car. Also, getting settled and taking a nap or two, so today is kind of slow - no real work yet.  But stay tuned for more on our adventures in surface design over the next few weeks!

Here's the house with the garage off to the right.

Work tables set up in the partially cleared out garage.

The car is unloaded but supplies not yet organized.

Lunch break on the deck with the view of the lake.

Barbara's already been here for a week, so she's sewing up a storm!