Sunday, June 15, 2014

A Quilt Show, more Grannies and stain removal

Did you miss me yesterday? I went to the CQA (Canadian Quilters' Association) Quilt Show. It was a juried show and there were many amazing quilts to be seen. I was hoping to be able to share some pictures but no photography was permitted in the juried show. However the winners are posted on the CQA site.

There was an invitational show and photography was permitted. One of the featured artists in the invitational show was Renske Helmuth who is an extremely talented appliqueist and teacher. Renske coordinates efforts amongst quilters in her Guild to create quilts which are auctioned off at the Mennonite Relief Auction each year. This year the theme for the quilt project was Africa. Although my Mom is not part of that guild she was allowed to submit a small quilt and it was included in the quilt. The finished quilt was on display and I was able to take a picture to share with you! The title of the quilt is A Cooperative Effort. How appropriate!


Isn't this quilt stunning? Do you recognize my Mom's quilt? It is in the upper left hand corner with the three Masai. This is what it looked like before it was trimmed. These pictures and a few others were posted on my blog on July 19, 2013. It was so exciting to see Mom's contribution in the quilt. I just LOVE her block and think it glows in the finished quilt!



I now have a few more Godstone Grannies (GG) blocks to share. Most of them now have the path stitched to them so this means I can start sewing the blocks together. I'll be sure to share my assembly plan with you in the next few days.




Today I plan to continue removing the ink stains from my Mom's Lazy Punk blocks with hairspray. Karen left a great comment explaining why the hairspray worked. I thought I would share her explanation with you. Karen wrote that "the reason it worked was the alcohol in the hairspray acted as a solvent. Works great on most ink stains. It can also work on grease as it breaks it down, although I've found original blue dawn to work best on grease.

I keep hydrogen peroxide, blue Dawn, and alcohol in my laundry
cupboard for just such emergencies. I call it my first aid kit for fabrics!

Hydrogen peroxide works on protein stains like blood and grass. Blue Dawn for grease based stains. And rubbing alcohol for inks, dyes and lacquer based stains."


Thanks Karen for a very informative and helpful message! Stains will be no match for us now that we are armed with this great advice!

On Friday I test drove the Juki TL2010Q and I'll share my thoughts on that machine with you tomorrow. Until then, happy sewing!
Karen H

8 comments:

  1. First tell your very talented Mom that I think her block is amazing the whole quilt had me mesmerized while at the quilt show. I have always been drawn to African themed quilts. I have only ever embroidered one. Have never come across any patterns as I am no artist LOL. I am always on the look out for these kind of patterns. Thank goodness those stains came out of Mom's blocks. And your GG blocks are beautiful.
    Bunny

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  2. I use blue Dawn a lot too. It works really well in ink stains and also on dye stains. You know when the red fabric bleeds on the light one even though you had pre-washed them? Or the red thread bleeds? Dawn has been wonderful in fixing all these. Hope this help. Great African quilt.

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  3. I now have a few more cleaning supplies to add to my list. For some reason, buying them for quilting, is more fun than buying them for house cleaning. I went to the NJS when it was in Halifax in 2012. It was amazing. It's wonderful to see your mom's quilt, within in the larger one. This particular block is one of my faves on the whole quilt.

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  4. LOL - I was looking at the first photo before I read anything and thought - that sure looks like one of Karen's mom's Africa quilts. Then I started to read and it IS!. How neat. Neat GG blocks, too. Lucky you to get to go to a show. Me, I'm still watching the WC and it is fabulous - the refs are doing a great job compared to the last one.

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  5. Your moms block is fantastic! How nice for her. Great tips on cleaning. Thanks to the other Karen for that too!

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  6. Mom: beautiful quilt block in a stunning quilt!

    Karen H: thanks for the shout out. Thanks for the link to all those inspiring quilts!

    Jo: I agree, always more more than housework!
    Quilting forever...housework whenever!

    A Nudge: chocolate is a tough one. As someone who can rarely get the cup of mocha to my lips without spilling. My normal laundry routine is to douse any questionable spots with Oxyclean pretreatment spray. If that doesn't do it, before the item is dried, I'll try dabbing hydrogen perioxide and putting it on the lawn in the sunlight. If the item is colorfast you can try a concentrated soak in Oxyclean. Martha Pullen swears by long repeated soaks in Biz. As a last resort, on white fabrics, I'll try a bleach pen for spot applications. Good luck!

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