Last Look at "Thoughts of Spring" Show

I'm back! Home from another teaching trip. That makes four down, two more to go... At times I think I'm getting too old for this, packing stuff up, lugging it around... but I do enjoy meeting new quilters and I love teaching... Sometimes my life is just sooo busy (like this past month) but then there are slower times too, when I can recuperate and re-charge... so I guess I'll probably keep at it for a while yet...
OK, back to the quilt show. Ready to see a few more quilts or are you getting tired of hearing about our Show? I think this will likely be my last post about the Show, then I'll get back to telling you about my trip- which seems so long ago now...
We are so very lucky in our Guild to have such a varied membership- from beginners to advanced and all levels in between, those who love to hand-quilt, those who love machine quilting...well, you get the picture. So to finish off, I just thought I'd show you a few of the lovely large quilts. I have been working away at editing my photos - cropping, correcting exposure, etc. It takes a while, especially when you have over 200 shots...I am slowly adding them to an "album" which will be accessible from our Guild Blog. When it's complete and ready for viewing, I'll let you know so you can have a look through it if you wish, to see the entire show. I'm hoping to have it done by tomorrow night or Monday for sure. Stay tuned...
It seems with each Show I see (not just our own) there are fewer and fewer hand-quilted quilts. I guess there are fewer hand-quilters these days and although there are younger women taking it up, we seem to be producing quilt tops so much more quickly now with the advent of rotary cutters and quick-piecing methods, many of us are anxious to have them quilted quickly so we can move on to the next one... The long arm quilters who do it as a business are busy these days, for sure... There were only a handful of hand quilted bed quilts in our Show. The beauty at the top right (Double Wedding Ring) was done by my good friend Susan Dobson- it was a (surprise) wedding quilt for her daughter Kathryn. Susan worked so hard to get it quilted and bound in time for the wedding, and Kathryn was surprised and thrilled! Next (above left) is Star Diamond by Barb Foster - this was beautifully quilted (by Barb) and was admired by many viewers. The design is from an April 1933 issue of Ladies Home Journal. At right, is Spare Change by Sue Robertson (hand quilted by Joan Gallagher). This is a "nickel" quilt variation (made from 5" squares), resulting from a Guild workshop.

And here are several of the many beautiful machine-quilted bed quilts in the show... First is Southern Ocean by Sandi MacMillan and quilted by Natalie Carleton of Florida. This was done as a BOM - Block of the Month from Sandi's fav shop in Stuart Florida, The Jam Patch. I absolutely love the colors in this quilt, and I think Sandi did a great job choosing the fabrics for each block. It's a shame our racks were not quite wide enough to display this quilt full out "flat", it's such a beauty!


Next is Gail Mitchell's Beach Birds (Can you tell I'm a blue lover??). Gail made this quilt for her young grandson Mitchell - he chose the traditional Birds in the Air pattern and all the blue fabrics- you can read more about it here and here on Gail's Blog. She pieced and put it together while "snowbirding" in Myrtle Beach, sent it home to be quilted by the Mattinsons and had it ready for our Show. Way to go Gail!



Lastly here at left is Pinwheels and Patches by Trudy Corey, quilted by Nancy Colpitts. This quilt really appealed to me for it's simplicity of design and the neutral palette: I don't know why but I just loved the soft gold-beiges, browns and blacks together. When you looked at it closely, you could see that the quilting design was unusual - skull and crossbones! There must be a story there Trudy??
Because I am anxious to get back to blogging about my Connecticut trip, whose focus was Crazy Quilting, I thought I'd end off tonight by showing you several of Ann VanWart's gorgeous CQ pieces from the Show. Ann does such lovely work - she has a great eye for color and her stitching and embellishing skills are impeccable. First is a small purse she did for her granddaughter Laura's First Communion. Next is Crazy Quilting Heaven a framed piece measuring 22" x 18". The final piece below is Dreaming in Technicolor, 17" x 16".








Piece,
Linda

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads." ~Erica Jong