kristakz

Woohoo, got all my 4-patches done! Just need to trim them up to make sure they are square. I raided my scrap bin and was able to get most of the patches from real scraps. I cut into a few of my bigger pieces, to make sure I had the fabrics evenly distributed. And now we have to wait a week for the next clue and my sewing group won't get together until Saturday next week, so an extra day to wait.

Mariposa

My progress so far. I'm using purples.

Battle Axe

I'm off to a quilt auction again today. What do you bet that I come home depressed.....about the low prices. I'm not planning to buy anything. It's just a good outing for me.

I'm going to give the guy that runs it a small piece of my mind, and we'll see how that goes. Right now none of the auctions will accept a machined (long armed quilted) quilt. They are purists that want hand quilted only. Well, that needs to change and someone step over the line. FHQ or FMQ needs to come of age.

What say you?

Battle Axe

Kristakz, that part is what took me the longest. All that trimming and squaring. Some that didn't pass got pitched.

Mariposa, I love purple. Yours should be great. My Allietare had purple.

joe'smom

I hate squaring up. It seems to be harder on the back than anything else and is so time-consuming.

Mariposa, your purples are wonderful.

Marcia, who are the people who only accept hand-quilted quilts? Do quilters submit them for auction or are they discovered quilts?

AlvaStitcher

Well I just couldn’t stand it! I’ve started making the 4 patches! LOL. Decided to just use the fabrics I have on hand and if it works, OK! If not, OK Too. I made 90 so far and will work on some more another day. I’m not going to beat myself up like other years trying to keep up week to week. Have a quilt to get done for husband for Christmas. The blocks are done; all paper pieced and kind of show the story of our marriage. The blocks need to be sewn to sashing, then the top completed and then quilted. Will not be the prettiest quilt but hopefully he will like it. Also have some costumes to make for Christmas service at church. Busy, busy!

AmyBible

Everyone's 4-patches are so cute! But they are so small - wonder how many will be used per block or if she is planning to use some in sashing or border. Hope the next clue uses a little bit bigger pieces

ckcowl - Your fabrics look great! Isn't a good feeling to bust your scraps? Anything goes!

Oh, Mariposa - your purples look so yummy.

Krista - way to go getting them all finished. I work weekend and most of the week but I'm doing a few a day and hope to be caught up by next Friday

joe's mom - I agree - trimming is the worst. I've been trying to sew/spin seams/press/trim 10 blocks at a time - seems easier for me.

Battle Axe

There were 86 quilts, about half were finished quilts, Hand Quilted, and the others were tops but none of them were hand pieced, just machine pieced. I gave the auctioneer the full force of my feelings.....he knows me well, so it didn't hurt at all. He said he had tried some machine quilted ones and they (??) just would not buy them.

I feel he had a successful sale. For the atmosphere. He had 4 buyers, quilt shop and furniture shop owners who bought the majority of the finished quilts. I recognized one who was a local person and one I had seen before there, and then the one I talked to was from Kansas. Now I am in Northern Indiana along the 80 - 90 turnpike. This man had flown in and was flying back out tonight, ahead of the storm. He bought 18 quilts spending about $320.00 each on an average. There was a 10% buyers premium which means he had to pay the auctioneer an extra 10% above what he bid. He was shipping the quilts.

Most of the quilts he bought were appliqued, Country Love, Rose of Sharon, Lone Star, all common patterns that have sold well at this auction. The local buyer bought 16 mostly finished although there were some tops included. Some local Amish women bought tops, just a few. The cheapest finished quilt was $250.00 and the most was $380.00 and one for $390.00.

He got rid of everything except for the 4 Humong people quilts called Elephants Foot that did not sell.

I actually bid on one. It was a top, Dresden Plate done very well in reds, wines, and florals. I bid it up to $85.00 and then let it go. I can make it for that.

I agree Joe's Mom that trimming is the hardest. I lifted my Janome off a table and messed up my left hip. Oh great.

Kristakz, where is your Autumn Sampler? I have one more block to make on mine. May be some Unkers salve on my hip and some ibuprophan.

Battle Axe

I think this auctioneer has a couple of accounts from Ohio and Pennsylvania that make these quilts for him I see the same patterns over and over, but they are well done and hand stitched. There is another auctioneer in our area that has a following of one lady I know in Canada. This second auctioneer has gotten $800.00--$1500.00 for this Canadian lady named Clara. Hers are exceptional in color, design and workmanship. This second auctioneer will only accept 3 quilts from one person but has his auction twice a year, so I think poor Clara is working her fingers to the bone.

They are not discovered, but made for the auction. I inquired about one quilt that I kick myself for not buying. It was every kind and color of Hummingbird appliqued. It was made in New York and only brought $300.00. That was the day I did not have $300.00. She never sent another one.

joe'smom

AlvaStitcher, I'm so glad you're jumping in!

Thanks for the interesting auction report, Battle Axe. I can imagine how discouraging it would be for a quilter to get $300 for something they put so much time into.

I managed to cut the rest of my neutral strips today, and now working on the red (my reds are a reddish orange).