This past summer was no different until the end of July. I had picked up a few rows in late June and early July, but had no firm plan on what to do with them. I had seen the photo list of the Minnesota rows and had a mental list of a few I'd like to put together--but most of them were quite a distance from my home.
My brother likes to go on long motorcycle rides during the summer, and he usually asks if I'd like to ride with him (and I haven't turned that down yet!). At the end of July, he asked if I wanted to ride to Brainerd with him, so I did. I asked him if he'd be interested in riding a little past Brainerd to visit the shops that had rows I was interested in, and he agreed. So off we went, stopping in Aitkin (Sew Much & More) along the way, and going to Country Fabrics in Brainerd. After lunch in Brainerd, we headed out to Wadena (Hometown Crafts and Fabric) and Perham (Bay Window Quilt Shop) and I bought a kit at each store. I saw the winning quilt at the Perham store and as I was paying, I commented to the clerk that I was collecting rows but I'd never have a winning quilt (Row By Row started on June 21, and there had been quite a few winners already). She commented that last year there were winners into September, so if I was interested, it was not too late. That put an idea into my head!
There was one more row that I wanted that day, and it was at Piecemaker's Quilt Shop in Hackensack. We worked our way from Perham to Hackensack, but I was worried I wouldn't make it there before closing time. I thought perhaps they'd be open until 5:30 or 6:00 (and it was already after 5PM), so we stopped and I called. Someone answered, and when I asked how late they were open, she said, "5:00, but I'm still here". I mentioned that we were about a half hour away, and she said she'd be there. (The Quilt Minnesota shop hop was going on, and several stores had extended hours during the hop. In the past, Piecemaker's had been on the QM shop hop--but they were not participating this year). We drove to Hackensack, and I got their row kit and their license plate as well. I was so happy to be able to include their eagle row in my quilt! Every time I've been to that shop, I've been treated very well. I can't say that about all quilt shops.
Within a week of the bike ride, I had all five of those rows together. I had already picked up a few other rows (Quarry Quilts in Sandstone, Quilted Dog Quilt Shop in Cloquet (more about this one later), Hingeley Road Quilt Shop in Floodwood, Kelly J's in Duluth, and Quilt Corner in Beaver Bay--they had two different kits, so I bought both), and started planning my quilt. After I sketched out my design, I realized I needed one more horizontal row, so my husband drove me to Superior, WI, and I bought their kit.
Once I had my quilt top laid out on my 'design floor' (living room floor), I realized that the pieces weren't going to fit perfectly. The rows are supposed to measure 9 1/2" by 36 1/2" so they finish at 9x36, but a few rows were a little off. So I had to figure out how to make them all fit and ended up adding a few pieces of fabric here and there.
I had a piece of fabric in mind for the back, and there was just enough to fit after I pieced my two vertical rows into the back. Whew!
I made a label that identified the rows:
Then I quilted the whole thing on my sewing machine (Janome MC6600p--love that thing! Got it at Kelly J's in December 2010 and it's THE BEST sewing machine I have ever had!)
By this time, it was the middle of October, and I'd been seeing winners pop up all over on the Minnesota Row By Row Facebook page. I FINALLY finished this quilt on October 21, 2016. After calling several local quilt shops to see if they'd had a winner yet, I found one relatively close that hadn't yet had a winner. My husband was off that day, so we went out for lunch and drove to the Country Schoolhouse Quilt Shop in Superior, WI.
The prize for being first to turn in a finished quilt with at least eight rows is 25 fat quarters. If a person has used that shop's row, there's an extra prize. My prize was a Moda 30s Playtime fat quarter bundle (30 fat quarters--the extra five FQs were the bonus prize from the shop)!
This quilt was a lot of work, but I have a beautiful row quilt. And I can cross 'make row quilt' off my bucket list! One of these days I'll finish the rows from the past few years and put them together.
I need to thank my brother for putting all those extra miles on his bike for me (we rode 475 miles that day!), and my family for being so understanding throughout the making of this quilt. The dining room was rearranged for a few days while I quilted this quilt, and there were several days when they were on their own for dinner. Things are somewhat back to normal now--at least until I get going on my next quilt!
