Quilt Show Draws A Crowd

The quilt show is over for another 2 years; we'll be back in September 2011, if our needles hold out! I've updated my Quilt Gallery at right with the two quilts I had in this year's show. Not My Grandma's Flower Garden started as a retreat project in 2005, and I finished it this month. Let Freedom Shine is made from blocks I won in a block exchange in July 2007. I finished it just minutes before I was due to check in for Flower Valley Quilting Guild's 2009 show.

Since there were about 300 items on exhibit, I've just included photos of a few here. The variety of styles is always evident at our shows. The quilt at right is made of counted cross stitch panels depicting lighthouses. Our only male quilter, Marty, made this quilt from cross stitch to quilting and label. It won the Viewer's Choice award as well as 2nd place in bed size quilts.

My two quilts were in the Wall Quilt division. The blue ribbon wall quilt was this one, made by a 10-year old girl who is a neighbor of one of our most experienced and creative members. Many people who have seen the photo, as well as those at the show, remarked that it reminded them of the strippy patterns used by the Gees Bend quilters. The young girl picked her colors, arranged the blocks, sewed them on Barb's machine, and then even did some of the machine quilting learning to "drive" Barb's long-arm quilting machine. Quite a lot of talent for the first decade of life!

All of our more recent shows have included a showcase by a featured quilter. This collection of work drew many admiring visitors, because Wanetha (seated at left) has perfected various techniques of piecing, applique and embroidery, and she is a sought after teacher as well.

Wanetha's traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden with its unique appliqued border highlights its owner's commitment to perfection, and it earned a blue ribbon for bed-sized quilt.








This quilt by Jane S. greeted show visitors with some light hearted whimsy. "It's in the Bag" is its title, and it has won honors at other shows for its maker.









Miniatures are exact scale replicas of full sized patterns. This little Storm at Sea was a prize winner in that division and again, precision counts. And Theresa does have a great eye for color!

Back in the wall quilts, the white ribbon went to this marvelous diary of a retired teacher's family and career. Using licensed prints from the Dick and Jane series, as well as photo transfers of her family, Judy K has created an album in textile form that will be cherished forever.

Soon we hope to learn how many visitors our show had, and how much money we made on our raffle quilt. (No, I didn't win it....) Thanks to many friends, including Marty H., Barb F., and Gary and Karen M., for coming. On Sunday at show closing I stayed, as did many others, to help take down and sort the quilts for pickup, as well as to break down the exhibit poles and drapes and return them to containers for the exhibit company to pick up. The school gym was completely transformed in about two hours, with many willing bodies there to do the work. Outside of aching feet and one blood blister on my right hand, I was no worse for the weekend.

Now, it's time to go through my stash and pile of UFOs in my "fabric aging room" and see what to work on next. Also I'm co-chairing our Charity Quilts Committee for next year and it's time to start deciding on what to make for that, as well. But first, I think I need to clean and reorganize the sewing room before it's time to move the plants inside, since many of them live in that south window in the winter. And it's blowing colder outside!