Quilt Auction

A recent trip to old stomping grounds was multi-purpose.  Mostly I soaked up some quality time with dear friends.  I also sang in a friend's wedding and attended the Michiana Mennonite Relief sale where a quilt I designed (about 250 quilts/afghans/comforters were sold that day) was sold to benefit MCC.

Here it is in line to be sold.  The black, pink and white one.

Here it is waiting to be the next one on the display.

Difficult to fit a King size quilt on such a small display piece, but they did what they could.

They stretched it up high enough to cover the auctioneer... (Still not showing the whole diamond in the center) clearly that wasn't going to work!!

I was disappointed to note that it sold for only $550.  I guess it's the economy, of course it's a size that most people can't use and it's feminine... but I thought it was a pretty quilt.  It sold at 9:05 am.  Shortly after that they got an auctioneer that was much higher energy and then people started to focus a little better, I sure wish he'd been the auctioneer just a bit earlier!

Here are some of the other 250 pieces auctioned off.  From small wall hangings to the large ones.  There were some really pretty ones in the mix but mostly ultra traditional stuff in very federal colors.  (Not exactly my thing.)

The front row showed some of the quilts unfolded, this was an especially pretty one.

Lots of time and detail in these two!

I was pretty amazed with how low things were going, people bidding that morning were getting bargains.  But it's all for charity and every bit helps.  I designed and cut the the fabric as we went along, my mother-in-law pieced it and I don't remember who worked with us at the ironing board.  It was hand quilted by a group of Mennonite women from her church with help from the sewing circle at another Mennonite church nearby.  I never did actually get to study the quilting, things just went by a little too quickly for that.  I wish I had a good photo of the whole thing, but it was a little big to get good photos.  I also wish I knew who bought it, but like I said... it just went by a little too quick for that.     

I'd like to do this again some year, a smaller quilt that is less gender specific and hopefully in a season when money isn't so tight for everyone and it can go for a little more money.  I would use hand dyed fabrics this time, no commercial fabrics.  I don't have any interest in hand quilting it though, which may explain why I have so many unquilted quilt tops in storage.  So maybe some day I'll find sewing and quilting buddies once more that can make projects like this possible once more.

Time will tell.   

Happy Quilting,
Carmen Rose

Sunrise in Studio B

I took this a few mornings ago. I don't know that I've ever seen the morning sunrise do something quite like this but I ran for my camera when I saw it. This pink hued light with shadows from the vases in the window and the light and the kitchen table... I thought it was a moment of light well worth sharing.
Grace,
-Carmen Rose

Quilt for MCC

My mother in law and I created a pieced king size quilt top this summer while we were visiting them. I was just going through photographs and came across these photos of the process. We visited family in Northern Indiana in July and whenever I’m there my Mother-in-law and I like to embark on some interesting sewing project. We’ve talked for some time about doing a quilt for the annual Mennonite Relief Sale in Northern Indiana. This is an annual event where lots of quilts are auctioned off to raise money to support the relief work of Mennonite Central Committee around the world. My MIL and I had talked about this a time or two and I told her I’d help if she ever decided to do one. So a long time ago she mentioned that quilts with lots of contrast go higher in the bidding. So when we went fabric shopping we came home with bright pink, pastel pink and black and white. The fabric stayed at her house for a long time. So while we were there in July 08 we brought out the fabric and got started, not knowing whether or not we'd be able to finish in the time we had.

Our tradition is that I cut and design while she sews. And if we have a third person to iron and keep the pieces coming back to me then we can really put together a complicated quilt pretty quickly in our little assembly line. I don’t think we had anyone ironing so she and I took turns. So these photos are from her home.

The kitchen table becomes grand central station for cutting and designing. (And hoping there is enough fabric!)
So we started by making some pinwheels. I laid them out to decide which ones we wanted in the middle of the quilt. I was going for a traditional Amish quilt design with the diagonal block in the middle. Here is my Mother in law ironing.
So I chose the black and white ones for the stronger statement in the middle.

Then we added a border around the middle block that made it fit to the needed size for the square line of pinwheels. We then added in the triangles.

And then the squared off border of pinwheels.

Then we put another border around it with pinwheels in the corners.

It really was a nice touch. By this time the quilt is king size (more by accident than design) so it was pretty hard to get good photos of a quilt that size in the living room.



The ladies of East Goshen Mennonite congregation will quilt this quilt top and hopefully have it ready in time for the sale this year in September. I really am looking forward to hearing what it sells for at auction. Every penny of the proceeds will benefit the Mennonite Central Committee which is an excellent international relief agency. Check out their site for some of the opportunities to give now, the need in Gaza is especially great at this time. My father-in-law worked with MCC a while back to clean and rebuild after Katrina for a number of months. And the money raised from the sale of this quilt will go to exactly this kind of service work. We also loved this idea at MCC, Relief kits for families in war torn Iraq and my family enjoyed this as a service project this year at Christmas. I do hope to get a photo of it completed with all the quilting. I really hope to get a good photograph of it, quilted or not. It's a big one but it went quickly and will quilt up beautifully.