Amish Quilt Auction

my bidder number

This past Saturday there was an Amish Quilt Auction in southern Wisconsin, near the communities of Brodhead and Albany.  We are lucky to have relatives that live down that way and we spent part of our weekend at the auction with friends and family.

one of ten racks of quilts and quilt tops for auction

There were hundreds and hundreds of quilts: finished quilts, King-size quilts, antique quilts, pieced quilt tops, baby quilts and everything in between.  And that was just under the quilt tent.  There was another tent devoted to Amish furniture and other goods, as well as a farm equipment auction, food, cold drinks and a horse that made ice cream (by pulling on the hand crank).

under the quilt tent

We had a fantastic time - there were a couple professional auctioneers that kept things lively - and I came home with two quilts. One is a double-wedding ring quilt in very bright colors, and the other is red polka-dots on a tan background. These are bright and modern looking quilts; they are not a good representation of the traditional designs, historic quilts, antique quilts and solid colors that dominated the auction. But they are in keeping with my personal aesthetic. 

double wedding ring quilt, queen size

All the quilts went for good prices and I hope will provide for the kids of the Clearview school, and all the members of local Amish communities, in the coming year.

red ball quilt, full size

And if you are interested to attend in the future you are in luck.  It is an annual event.

detail of double wedding ring quilt

What is it about a trip that inspires the need for new things?

With our trip coming up tomorrow, I was inspired to make a few things: 1) a custom camera strap and 2) fingerless gloves. (Hey, I needed something to calm my pre-travel jitters!)

I had been eyeing some beautiful camera straps on etsy, like these and these but decided to try something else, something a little different, on my own.

I invited DH up to the sewing room to browse my fabric stash and we settled on something that he likes as much as I do (we are equal opportunity photographers, so this was essential), some fabric inspired by Ghanaian adinkra sybols. Examples of adinkra symbols can be found here.

I basically made a cover for the existing camera strap. Just a long tube, hemmed to length at each end and sewn with a seam up the middle of the back. It is a snug fit, so it won't slip around. It is removable, so I am free to choose something else entirely different next year if I like. I also just covered our existing strap, so no need to purchase any additional hardware to make this compatible with our camera. Sure you can see some of the original strap poking through at each end, but that's alright with me. You can't beat the custom look.













The pattern for the other project is from a book I received for Christmas. The Maine Morning Mitts seemed perfect - something to keep the chill off my hands and something to keep my fingers free for knitting. I used the Rowan Colourscape Chunky bu Kaffee Fassett in colorway Ghost. It's 100% lambswool. I dropped down a couple needle sizes to account for the thicker wool and now they feel cozy against my hands. I can't wait to sport these around the city.

Also, for any new or experienced fiber enthusiasts out there who want to expand their understanding of yarn and how it's made, I highly recommend The Knitter's Book of Yarn (Parkes). The level of detail was perfect for me and her writing about the origins and history of particular fibers was fascinating. I have a much greater understanding when to use which kind of yarn - and on which projects - than I had just three weeks ago. I mean, I understood that you should use sock yarn to make socks, but as for how different fiber combinations subtly work for or against each other, well, that was a different story. After reading this book I walked into my LYS with a much greater understanding of what I was looking at - where the yarns came from and why certain blends were offered over others. I can't recommend this book more highly. Besides, it's chock full of cute/beautiful/imaginative patterns and what could be more inspiring than that? Knowledge plus inspiration equals one happy momma.

A few pictures of our trip when we return. Until then, be good.

Tame those needles!

So my knitting needle storage is a bit out of whack. And with all my recent sewing progress, I thought, when not endeavor on making my own storage cases for the needles. Sure would beat the clear plactic curtain pouches I've repurposed. See?

I am thinking of two different storage cases (one for straights and one for circulars) + a case for travel and/or WIP's. That means three cases total folks.

My inspriation and idea for the circular storage case is from Offhand Designs. However, I am going to make it simple, and only a storage case for circular needles and not all the other accessories. I am thinking that clear CD sleeves would be perfect for this?

My inspriation for my straights and dpn's is from the colored pencil rolls I made awhile back, originally blogged about here.

Lastly, my accessory/travel case ideas come from The Organized Knitter.

Here's my progress. This is my first attempt at designing something(s) so here goes nothing! It's also a good thing that I started with the straights case as I realized that I own 10 size 6 dpn's. Anyone up for a trade?


I made the exterior with some gift fabric from mom, a yard of Valori Wells home dec fabric in aqua. The 'learn to knit' ribbon was something that I picked up years ago at Avalanche Looms while vacationing with my parents. The interior fabric is from the vintage sheet stash. The orange pocket lining is left over fabric from a cooperative baby quilt that was made for this little guy, and the batting is again a left over flannel receiving blanket from the stack in the twins' closet. The pictures here seem to be a bit off with the colors - it is a bright piece, but the colors all work really well together. The seem a bit off in these photos, or maybe it is just the drab background that it making it all look strange.


I felt confident going into the project with my previous experience with the pencil rolls. This next project, for the circular needles, is a different story. This one will take some time and planning. I do have more ribbon to use, and more of the aqua fabric - or there is another yard of the same print in brown I could pull from. Hmmm...decisions, decisions.