Quilts of the Plains 2015 Is Almost Here!

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scrap quilt photo
I’m busy quilting the last of my projected quilts for this years show. I really love how this is turning out, and it will be a perfect gift for a lucky person in my life. It’s a secret, so I don’t want to say much more.

Hi everyone!  It’s been a great year, and I hope you’ve had some time to work on your quilt projects.  I’m finishing up on the last two king-sized quilts that I intend to exhibit into the show.  As you may, or may not know, I am the Chairman of the Quilts of the Plains annual outdoor quilt show, held in Wray, Colorado each year.  The event is held on the Saturday AFTER Fathers’ Day each summer.  That being said, This years show is on June 27, 2015!

The Quilts are on display for ONE DAY ONLY, June 27, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Most quilts are displayed along Main Street from 3rd to 5th Street, and antique and miscellaneous items will be displayed in the Wray Museum.

The quilts will not be judged, but the Viewers will vote for their favorites.  The overall winning quilt will be awarded a BRAND NEW JANOME SEWING MACHINE, and Viewers’ Choice Ribbons will be awarded in each of the categories listed below!!!  I hope you’ll enter, and GOOD LUCK TO YOUR QUILT!!!

We NEED your quilts, or we won’t have much of a show….  We don’t have a restriction on the items you enter.  You may have made it this year, or many years ago.  We kindly ask that you not display items that have previously been in the Quilts of the Plains Show.  You may enter as many items in each category as you wish, and we LOVE seeing the creativity that each and every person has exhibited in their quilts.

The categories remain the same.

Large Bed Quilt

Small Bed Quilt

Baby Quilt

Quilted Wall-hanging

Quilt made by youth – age 18 and under

Antique Quilt – Made at least 25 years ago

Miscellaneous Quilted (Quilt Related) Item

Entries will be accepted at Rainbow Fabrics from Monday, June 22 to Thursday, June 25.  If you have a need for an accommodation outside of that schedule, please let us know.

Raffle Quilt Photo
This photo was taken a few months ago, as I was beginning to quilt the raffle quilt for Quilts of the Plains 2015. As you can see, the colors are gorgeous, and the fabric is all batiks. The blocks were made by local members of the Quilters’ Anonymous group here in Wray.

Again this year, we have a spectacular raffle quilt.  Made of batik fabrics in lovely shades of blue and cream, you are gonna love this one.  The quilt is on display at Rainbow Fabrics.  Tickets are ON SALE NOW through the day of the quilt show.  The Disappearing Hourglass blocks create a very beautiful block, and the quilting was done by Fellow Quilter, Brian Clements.  (ME!)  Tickets are still only $1 each, or 6 tickets for $5.

We rely upon the help of many volunteers.  If you can help, we’d be grateful for anything you can do.  We need people to hang the quilts, take quilts down, push a cart along and hand quilts to the folks up on the ladder…  At the end, we need some volunteers to take down quilts, fold quilts, sort and checkout the quilts to their owners.  We will have an information table, and need people to sit and sell raffle tickets.  Even an hour or two is a huge help!  Please let us know how you’d like to help.

Lastly, I must thank our sponsors.  The quilt show is presented by the City of Wray and the Wray Chamber of Commerce.  The main sponsor is Rainbow Fabrics, and supporting sponsorships from Foltmer Drug/RadioShack/Main Street Clothing, Box Elder Ranch, First Pioneer National Bank, Leigh Floral, Wray State Bank, Ann & Steve Brethauer, and Wray Lumber Company are much appreciated.

If you’d like to receive information on this show, or be added to our email list for upcoming shows, please leave me a comment, or contact me at the following:

If you have any questions, please email Brian at fellowquilter@aol.com or call  (970) 597-1313

Or to reach Wanda at Rainbow Fabrics, she can be contacted at rainbow@plains.net or call (970) 332-4343

Thanks for your support.  I hope you can come to the show!!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian Clements

Christmastime in Nebraska

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Hello everyone.

This past weekend, we tripped to see my family in Central Nebraska.  I thought I’d share a couple of photos with you, of some of the traditional sites that we stop to see.

On Saturday, we stopped in Minden, Nebraska.

Minden Courthouse 2014b 4x6Minden has been dubbed the Christmas City.  Even when I was a kid, we would usually take a trip there to see the lights, and sometimes catch the Christmas pageant.

Minden Courthouse 2014a 4x7

On the way home, Sunday, we stopped at our good friends, the Corey’s.  They were instrumental in helping us get our computerized light show up and running several years ago.  We stop and see them every year, and they always invite us in for some home-made goodies.  This year it was Rosemary’s delicious pizzelle cookies.  Yummy!!!

Corey Christmas Lights 2014a 4x6

If you’d like to check out their display, it runs until New Years Eve.  Shows last about 15 minutes and keep repeating all evening long.  Their farm is located east of Culbertson, Nebraska on U.S. Highway 6&34 and one-quarter mile north on County Road 376.

We had a really nice visit with most of my family.  Lots of chatting, eating and fun…  My Mom showed me some of her quilt projects recently finished and also in progress.

My brother showed me a barn quilt that he’s working on, but more about that in a future post.

Have a creative day!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

Keep on Truckin’

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Hello everyone.  It’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks.  Thanksgiving is but a memory, and Christmas is heading our way.  I’ve been truckin’, so to speak in my studio.

I’ve been sewing more of my scrap blocks, and now I’m up to 350.  That means only 50 more to go…

I’m also finishing my last customer quilt job for this year.   It is a beautiful quilt, for one of my great quilt piecer friends.  She definitely keeps her sewing pedal to the metal!

I instagrammed a photo yesterday.  I hope you follow me there, so you can see the first couple borders quilting design.  I think it really ties into the fabric motif so nicely.

Well… today was going to be a full day of quilting on that quilt, but I had to change my plans to go to Denver for some supplies for our barbershop.  The new barber is set to move in on Monday, so we couldn’t wait for shipping, I HAD to go to the city!

I did manage to hit three quilt shops while I was there… and I found a great eagle quilt pattern, a couple yards of fabric, and an extra cone of quilting thread, just in case I run out mid-quilt on this current job.

It really was a beautiful day to be out!  I just love these nice December days in Colorado!

old truck in akronI took my camera along for the ride, and in Akron, I spotted this old truck.  I had to turn around and go back…   The door was open to the building behind, and I did poke my head in to ask permission, but nobody was around.  I hope they like how I photoshopped the image.  I just love playing with my photos!

This truck was empty today, and pretty soon, my quilting workload for Christmas will be unloaded as well.  I hope your projects are also coming along right on time!

Happy Quilting,

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

Our little Treasures

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Hello everyone.

Today, I’ll post my response to the assignment “Treasure”.  I was overloaded with ideas for this one.  Of course, my husband Joe is a treasure.  It’s been a busy week, and we’ve been coming and going it seems.  My new wedding band is definitely a treasure.  I can’t believe that we are now living in the world that we are.

I also treasure our dear companions, Dudley and Lucky the “kitty-potamusses”.  Although, they are getting up in years, they continue to be a comfort around the house.  Lucky has his own personal treasure.  It’s his purple pillow.  If he’s not eating or going downstairs to do his business, you’ll likely find him luxuriating on the famous purple pillow.  What a life…

I hope you enjoy meeting our boys!

dudley eyes wp_1024 lucky on the purple pillow wp_1024

Have a creative day!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

County Road PP

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Hello everyone.  I’m posting another photo today for the Photo101 assignment “Double”.

Q:  There are a three doubles in the photo.  Can you find them?

county road pp wp_1024

I know this is a quirky photo, but I noticed the doubles, and thought it was a perfect response to the assignment.

Have a creative day!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

A:Two Sinks, Double P’s, and the diptych of Buddha

The Edge of Paradise

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Hello everyone.  For today’s photo challenge, I’m taking it back to quilting.  The assignment, “to capture an edge”.  Of course to me… I think of the edge of a quilt, the binding.

This quilt has 4 different treatments to the binding, but today, I’m going to give you a detail shot of the flowers, accented by the edge treatment between the center and the border.  I really love color, and the combinations in this quilt are perfect.

bird of paradise quilt wp_1024I paper-pieced this beautiful quilt nearly 10 years ago.  Bird-of-Paradise blooms are one of my favorite flowers, and I just love this design.

Have you tried paper piecing before?  It is time consuming, but the results are such perfect, sharp points.  I’ve learned a few different methods over the years.  If you are curious, a link to a paper piecing tutorial can be found here.  This is the way, I do it nowadays.

Happy Quilting,

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

 

Glass Fringe

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Hello everyone.  I’ve had a busy beginning to this Thanksgiving week.  I am a few days behind on the Photo 101 challenges.  I’m going to catch up now.

For Tuesday’s assignment, we were to photograph glass.  Our house is filled with glass.  To be specific, we both collect glassware, and our home has 47 windows.

I just finished sewing 80 more strip sets for my scrappy quilts, and turned off the main studio lights, thinking I’d head to bed.

However, I noticed the awesome fringe on this lamp, just outside my studio in the hallway.  It’s late in the evening, so not much light in the upstairs hallway, except for one of the bulbs in this lamp.  I love the effect that a lone light can play on the mood in the area.

I had to play with my camera.  My favorite things about this photo…

lamp fringe wp_1024

1-the mood the light gives.

2-playing with the juxtaposition of in-focus strands against the out-of-focus ones in the background.

3-the way the layers just lure you into the center of the lamp.

I hope you enjoy this photo too.  Have a great night on this Thanksgiving Eve!

Create something special!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian

Sunset Lane

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Looking South from Sunset Lane
Looking South from Sunset Lane

Hello everyone. For today’s assignment, “Landscape”, I headed out around our great town with my camera in hand. I thought about a shot of Stalker Lake. Umm, not today. I saw the bluffs behind the school, and actually settled on a spot just down the road. I expected to focus more on the cliffs, but the sunshine was bound and determined to take center stage.
I was glad there were a few clouds to add more interest to the gorgeous blue sky.
The dirt road does pull you into the scene, and I love the way the sun rays explode in the sky.
I’d say it’s another beautiful day here on the eastern plains of Colorado.
Have a great day, and be inspired.
Fellow Quilter,
Brian

Kewpies

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Hello everyone.  Today, for my Photo101 posting, I’d like to share this “Swarm” of Kewpie Dolls.

My Sister-In-Laws doll collection is very large.  You can’t help but wonder what they might be thinking, Right?

Enjoy this small sampling of some of her favorites.

A few of Ann's Kewpie Dolls...
A few of Ann’s Kewpie Dolls…

Her first doll was made by the Cameo company, and she received Kewpie (We call her “Number 1”) for her birthday as a small girl.  “Number 1” is on the right with the necklace.  If you want to read more about Cameo Dolls click here.

Have a creative day!

Fellow Quilter,

Brian